Hitting the Club

[Icehearted]

After my play-through's of ME2, I have noticed that I would occasionally stop by the local dancer to unwind after a hard day of saving the universe (sometimes several times in a row). Christ, I never really thought about it until now but titillation was my way of rewarding myself in game.

Not too sure how to feel about that.

Own it. I can't decide if it's better or worse for these virtual women to be more realistic or not, but whatever the case, you found a harmless means of gratification in a video game and that's just fine.

I've never been to a strip club but there is a place where women in tight unitards dance on stage like strippers. It's extremely boring, and the women look unhealthy and kind of burned out. These women manage to be less sexy than most games would depict people in their line of work, though I would say that in many cases, like GTA4, it's actually pretty off putting as those women look cartoonishly ugly.

 

[Vault101]

I guess I'd like to hear from the female players on this one -- I don't think I'd be too enamoured to a chip'n'dale joint in an open world game, and would avoid it if at all possible.

for whatever reason I generally don't even notice the "strip" aspect of alot of the games Ive played (as I mentioned before the assari in ME seem to be a special case different to our cultural Idea of strip clubs)

I get enjoyment out of clubs because I don't do it in real life, in Mass Effect I'm hanging out in some pirate queens lair on omega and its cool...it adds to role playing, and essentially thats what I'm doing..same with Fallout NV eather way..in the end its just another game environement

And the sex scene in the original Mass Effect made me laugh so hard I sprayed tea over my keyboard.

I think they were going for romatic rather than sexy...and to be fair I actually find the build up more cringe worthy than the scene itself...the scene itself was actually ok for game models..and I'm actually glad they went there because we need boundry pushing (did that sound wrong? it probably did)

 

[Callate]

With all due respect, this article seems like it would have profited from a single visit to a strip club. Hey, you're never going to have a better chance to explain it off as research.

More seriously, there's something to be said for being the kind of person who has gone to a strip club- and knowing you're not the kind of person who makes a habit of it. As to the experience itself, it varies a lot- partly on the club itself, but to a much greater extent on the people who go with you. Going with a couple of female friends who had a very teasing kind of interaction with the strippers themselves was kind of fun. Being around a group of men who went in with particular, vaguely predatory expectations of how they would interact with the strippers (bachelor parties, joy...) was downright creepy.

I haven't been to one in a good decade, and I don't miss 'em. But I am glad I had the experience.

 

[WarpZone]

Uh. I'm not gonna say anything in this article is inaccurate or illogical, but I don't understand why any of it needed to be said. That's like asking "Who are we *really* trying to please when we decorate our HQ in a video game?" The video game character can't sense any of this, and the benefit of spending the time doing it is purely aesthetic, so obviously we're doing it for ourselves. Why did you have to say "maybe" so many times on that last page? Are there seriously players out there who will clock 40 hours in a GTA strip joint, no missions, no objectives, no cheevoes, and claim they did it because they were super into the role? That's somehow creepier than just looking at some titties because they're there!

 

[brmcconnell]

I expect more from the Escapist: this was a dissapointingly shallow article and lacked critical perspective.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I guess you completely forgot about female gamers and what it might look like to them. I personally roll my eyes at the pointless aspect of video games pandering to male gaze and making me feel like the game wasn't even close to aimed at me. I usually grit my teeth and get it over with if I go in those places.

I expect more from the Escapist: this was a dissapointingly shallow article and lacked critical perspective.

Indeed.

 

[J Tyran]

The club in ME2 was not a strip club though, just a club with dancers. Many night clubs have podiums and poles, some hire professional dancers others let the club goers use them. The writer of the article confesses to not having been to a strip club but mistaking a night club for a strip club shows he has never spent much time clubbing in general.

 

[MrCollins]

The club in ME2 was not a strip club though, just a club with dancers. Many night clubs have podiums and poles, some hire professional dancers others let the club goers use them. The writer of the article confesses to not having been to a strip club but mistaking a night club for a strip club shows he has never spent much time clubbing in general.

Perhaps, but the point still stands that it exists as a place of titillation, and you can get a lap dance, which does still fit his point rather well.

The last strip club, I visited was the clubs in Saints' Row the Third (yay Humble Indie Bundle). The appeal there is very much the absurdity of the activities going on, as was described in a previous post. Then again, the whole game is based on an immature-instant-gratification-giggle-at-taboos style. So it hardly feels out of place, in other games, I never really spend a lot of time in clubs, in ME, I just did the quests that took place there, but didn't really stick around.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I guess you completely forgot about female gamers and what it might look like to them. I personally roll my eyes at the pointless aspect of video games pandering to male gaze and making me feel like the game wasn't even close to aimed at me. I usually grit my teeth and get it over with if I go in those places.

I feel the same thing, and I'm not even female. Personally I think it's far more insulting to know that a game expecting the player to be titillated by a blue alien's jiggling breasts was aimed at you than to know you were excluded from the target audience entirely.

 

[Milanezi]

The only thing I would say is that they aren't always gratuitous in Video Games. I agree that ME2 was a bit much but in terms of GTA, your character is a seedy individual and as such has dealings with other seedy individuals. THe Strip Clubs provide a nexus for several missions and it helps to bring the world into a more realistic frame of reference.

Ok that was a bit of a soap box. Personally i don't really get titty bars and aside from the 2 i have been to in my life I have no real desire to go back. I don't tend to visit them in video games unless it helps the story (Roman really wanted to go to the Triangle Club), especially given the amount of real pornography that is available on the internet.

Exactly, many games have missions happening inside the club, or being given to the player inside the club. For instance, Hitman had a mission inside a strip club.

 

[Batou667]

And the sex scene in the original Mass Effect made me laugh so hard I sprayed tea over my keyboard.

Same here.

Spoiler

But it wasn't tea.

Spoiler

If you catch my drift. *wink wink*

Spoiler

It was coffee. I hate tea.

Anyway, on-topic - man, the writer of this article is suffering some real First World Problems if visiting a virtual strip-club which makes perfect sense within a game's context is making him contort in tortured ethical doubt. Some issues just don't need to be examined under a high-strength magnifying glass.

Why are strip clubs, or hookers, or brothels, in videogames at all? A combination of contextual realism (the world of GTA without hookers would feel artificially clean and sterile) and a way of exploring the character of the protagonist and the game setting. It's the same reason Mos Eisley Cantona gets visited in Star Wars - to succinctly show the kind of world of black-market goods and violence the protagonists were delving into. The story would have worked just as well if they had waited outside for Han Solo to finish his drinks and wander outside for a whizz, and they could have left out the whole shooting Greedo bit, and the arm-cutting bit, and Alec Guinness' awesome "hive of scum and villainy" line. But the film would have suffered.

Why do we, the players, visit strip clubs in games? The same basic reasons: it makes sense within the role we're "playing", and as a way of exploring the digital world we're in. Newsflash: what we do in games doesn't necessarily reflect on us in real life. I've mowed down pedestrians in GTA; I've reloaded the same checkpoint a dozen times to get through a firefight with no friendly NPC deaths in Halo; I've carefully planted and watered seeds in Pokemon and spent unhealthy amounts of time coordinating Tina Armstrong's bikini with matching nail polish and hair accessories in DOAX. Each of these made sense within the context of the game, but I don't think any of these says anything about me as an individual. Anybody who was interested enough to pick up the controller would have acted more or less in the same way in each respective game.

It's very trendy and post-feminist to affect a slightly guilty tone and introspect about one's relationship with sex, or porn, or women, but sometimes: sod it. You only live once and life isn't for endless worrying.

And finally, as somebody who's visited a couple of strip joints in their younger days, I can attest that games don't give a particularly good representation at all on anything other than the very shallowest level. The goddamn expense, for one thing. Would the OP be so cavalier about visiting virtual strip clubs if it cost him $200 (real money) each time? I don't think so. It's easy to be puritan when your wallet is at stake.

 

[Milanezi]

I guess you completely forgot about female gamers and what it might look like to them. I personally roll my eyes at the pointless aspect of video games pandering to male gaze and making me feel like the game wasn't even close to aimed at me. I usually grit my teeth and get it over with if I go in those places.

I feel the same thing, and I'm not even female. Personally I think it's far more insulting to know that a game expecting the player to be titillated by a blue alien's jiggling breasts was aimed at you than to know you were excluded from the target audience entirely.

I'm not arguing, BUT Star Wars also had "pro dancers", most famously in the image of the Twi'Lek dancers in Jabba's place. The Extended Universe got SOME Twi'Leks a more important role, but mostly they're the pole dancers of Star Wars. Whereas the Asari from Mass Effect, are like that by nature, but from a cultural perspective it's all fine and accepted, when thrown into an intergalactic community it became obvious that they could do something they were 110% okay with, and get money from it, since most other races are so inclined to admire them...
OKAY, now getting out of the LORE, and into a development perspective... Yeah, it brings money because it capitalizes on the HUMAN tendency to turn on at the mere idea of sex/erotism. In my opinion, it's the classic scene of the "gritty underworld" as well as the "extremely liberal future", it's very clichéd. But I don't think it's reason for anyone, even women, to feel offended, many friends of mine (girls), played GTA V, Mass Effect, and my girlfriend herself was by my side as I got through that Hitman level with the strip club.
Other media get to use this mechanism to attract the public (yes HBO, I'm looking at you and your almost hardcore porn True Blood), TV Shows, Movies, Books.
I understand, however, that the use IN EXTREME, becomes boring, like, again True Blood, many sequences of sex there are obviously meant to just "eat" huge chunks of the episode in order to elongate the story (more episodes you have more money you make), it's like water in your beer, you get more, but not that good.
The games given as an example, though, they did not exaggerate, the strip clubs were part of the story, part of the essence (Mass Effect didn't even have a strip club per se, more like a night club in a liberal future). But for Duke Nukem, Duke HAD to go screaming big and offensive, but it missed the jokes (and the gameplay)...

 

[Hagi]

Wait what?

People actually consider these digital strip clubs titillating instead of just silly? I'm sorry but what else would you call the great Commander Shepard in a race against time to stop the Reapers taking a break at the local strip club to watch some tits and ass? Seriously? That's the savior of the universe?

I can understand strip clubs in games like Duke Nukem, it's designed to be silly so it fits. But strip clubs in more serious games like Mass Effect are just idiotic pandering that I do no appreciate at all, it only detracts from the game as a whole.

There is, as you say, nothing wrong with strip clubs. But neither are they so amazingly special and necessary that they're worth the effort of including in a serious game if you ask me. No more or less necessary than the option of including a dry cleaner and I honestly can't remember ever visiting the Citadel to get all the blood cleaned off my armor.

 

[antidonkey]

I'm very Meh when it comes to strip clubs. Sure boobies are awesome but having to pay for them greatly diminishes the experience of getting to see them. Plus.....why spend 100+ bucks to go home horny and rub one out when I could just stay home and rub one out saving 100+ bucks? I'd much rather round up the friends and hit a normal bar.

 

[grigjd3]

Wait what?

People actually consider these digital strip clubs titillating instead of just silly? I'm sorry but what else would you call the great Commander Shepard in a race against time to stop the Reapers taking a break at the local strip club to watch some tits and ass? Seriously? That's the savior of the universe?

I can understand strip clubs in games like Duke Nukem, it's designed to be silly so it fits. But strip clubs in more serious games like Mass Effect are just idiotic pandering that I do no appreciate at all, it only detracts from the game as a whole.

There is, as you say, nothing wrong with strip clubs. But neither are they so amazingly special and necessary that they're worth the effort of including in a serious game if you ask me. No more or less necessary than the option of including a dry cleaner and I honestly can't remember ever visiting the Citadel to get all the blood cleaned off my armor.

So Richard Feynmann, one of the more famous particle physicists of all time, regularly went to strip clubs. The guy developed the standard model of particles and had some lap dances while he did it. Honestly, far more silly is the idea of one person in an epic struggle to save the galaxy from an ancient evil fleet of AIs because they decided that there is a fundamental imbalance between biological and mechanical intelligence that will destroy everything. That's the unrealistic part. The idea of important people enjoying a strip club in their off-time, well, that just happens, no matter what most people prefer to believe about their heroes.

 

[Hagi]

Wait what?

People actually consider these digital strip clubs titillating instead of just silly? I'm sorry but what else would you call the great Commander Shepard in a race against time to stop the Reapers taking a break at the local strip club to watch some tits and ass? Seriously? That's the savior of the universe?

I can understand strip clubs in games like Duke Nukem, it's designed to be silly so it fits. But strip clubs in more serious games like Mass Effect are just idiotic pandering that I do no appreciate at all, it only detracts from the game as a whole.

There is, as you say, nothing wrong with strip clubs. But neither are they so amazingly special and necessary that they're worth the effort of including in a serious game if you ask me. No more or less necessary than the option of including a dry cleaner and I honestly can't remember ever visiting the Citadel to get all the blood cleaned off my armor.

So Richard Feynmann, one of the more famous particle physicists of all time, regularly went to strip clubs. The guy developed the standard model of particles and had some lap dances while he did it. Honestly, far more silly is the idea of one person in an epic struggle to save the galaxy from an ancient evil fleet of AIs because they decided that there is a fundamental imbalance between biological and mechanical intelligence that will destroy everything. That's the unrealistic part. The idea of important people enjoying a strip club in their off-time, well, that just happens, no matter what most people prefer to believe about their heroes.

Was Richard Feynmann having to develop said standard model of particles on a very, very urgent deadline or else the entire human species would cease to exist?

I'm not saying it's unrealistic for important people to go to strip clubs. I'm saying that it's unrealistic that a character who, no matter whether you go renegade or paragon, is always portrayed as duty-bound and driven knowing that he's got no time to spare and that the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance decides to take some time off to stare at some random stripper.

It's the same kind of silly that exists in many games. You're on this grand epic quest to stop some evil wiping out humanity, it's constantly mentioned how dire the situation is and then you spend your time doing side-quests to deliver bread or find some pieces of lost jewelry, apparently lacking the attention span that right now there's a giant dragon/reaper/demon/whatever rampaging about supposedly killing thousands of people. And you're supposedly the only one who can stop him. And, being a duty-bound and driven character, you spend half your time utterly ignoring that threat.

That's what's silly.

 

[Frankster]

I'm not saying it's unrealistic for important people to go to strip clubs. I'm saying that it's unrealistic that a character who, no matter whether you go renegade or paragon, is always portrayed as duty-bound and driven knowing that he's got no time to spare and that the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance decides to take some time off to stare at some random stripper.

It's the same kind of silly that exists in many games. You're on this grand epic quest to stop some evil wiping out humanity, it's constantly mentioned how dire the situation is and then you spend your time doing side-quests to deliver bread or find some pieces of lost jewelry, apparently lacking the attention span that right now there's a giant dragon/reaper/demon/whatever rampaging about supposedly killing thousands of people. And you're supposedly the only one who can stop him. And, being a duty-bound and driven character, you spend half your time utterly ignoring that threat.

Glass houses dude, considering all the superflous BS sheperd does in the games (playing FEDEX for every person in the galaxy that misplaced something ever, going to do non essential character quests, generally dicking around), theres a lot more to be riled up about if you really want to push the "hero is in a hurry to save the world so is totally unrealistic!" angle then stopping off at omega or cho on your way to meeting aria or fulfilling optional sidequests and staying a few mins to dance with the dancers or get a quick dance.
And in Me3 the sense of urgency of needing to go back to earth ASAP before the reapers destroy it is non existent regardless of the presence of strip clubs or not, you could take the strip club out and replace it by a bar or heck, a restaurant and it wont change a thing in the game besides there being no asari dancers and club music and people dancing horribly.

 

[Falseprophet]

As to the experience itself, it varies a lot- partly on the club itself, but to a much greater extent on the people who go with you.

This lines up with my limited experience. I can count the number of times I've been to a strip club on one hand, all for birthdays or bachelor parties. Save for the very last time, I found it boring or depressing. The last time was entertaining, but I wouldn't go again.

And strip clubs show up in games for the same reason they show up in other media: an easy way to introduce sex and grittiness at the same time.

If it's a story about mobsters or outlaw bikers, you're guaranteed to have at least one scene in a strip club. If it takes place outside of North America, sex slave trafficking might be involved.

If it's about cops whose investigation takes them into seedy territory, they're going to interrogate strippers or hookers.

If it's one of these modern "vampires who act like the Mafia" stories, there's going to be a visit to a strip club or goth-fetish club at some point.

If it's cyberpunk, use whichever of the above three options is the closest fit and add cybernetic implants and mirrorshades.

If it's a Vietnam War film, there will be a scene where the GIs proposition or are propositioned by Vietnamese prostitutes. (Or Playboy Bunnies, if it's Apocalypse Now.)

If it's a pulpy sword and sorcery story, they'll indulge in ale and whores at some point. If it's a more recent epic fantasy with pretensions of grittiness, the asshole main characters will indulge in ale and whores in between saving the world from slightly bigger assholes.

If it's space opera, there will be at least one sexually liberated culture to ostensibly demonstrate the "free love future", but more likely because the author is a dirty old git.

You get the idea.

 

[cynicalandbored]

I get enough seedy underbelly in real life, I don't feel the urge to visit it virtually...

 

[braincore02]

I've been to one strip club in real life. It wasn't especially thrilling. Internet porn is much cheaper and more instantly gratifying.

I went to a couple of strip clubs in GTA simply because they were there, I happened to be driving by, and hadn't been in them yet.

It invariably proceeds in this manner. I think, it being a GTA game, "ooh an interior space!" Musn't forget that a building just having an interior in this series is enough to provoke a little curiosity. Then I wonder, "anything interesting in here?" I go inside. I see the lap dance prompt. I get a lap dance. I fail to see how it was really entertaining, more of a lame gameplay mechanic (if it can be called that) so the devs can get credit for being so edgy as to have it in the game.

I then kill everyone in the club. The firefight spills out into the street. Eventually I wind up with a little less money in front of the nearest hospital. I never really see the need to go back inside a strip club, because it's more fun to just drive on sidewalks and run people over en mass in my SUV.

I've never felt a need to analyze the experience enough to write 2 whole pages about it, but I'm not paid to write on a deadline, or at all.