All the talk of Dragons Crown and sexualization in games has me thinking about the merits of pornography as it relates to video games.
Hear me out.
Think about games where there is a romantic component that involves sex or games with sexual themes, ex: the Elder Scroll series, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, the Fable trilogy, Saints Row, the Witcher, Fallout.
All of these games have subplots of some kind that, sometimes, involve your character having sex at some point. But none of them are explicit to the degree that pornography on the internet tends to be.
But it's clear that there is an interest for that sort of thing.
Think about the legion of Rule 34 art there is for any game, comic, book, entertainment series you can name. Think about all the flash games and videos depicting said art in animated form. Think about how it's a joke that when games like Skyrim come out, there are at least 10 different mods who's sole purpose is to let you see naked people in the games. The desire is there, but the need is being meet mostly by other fans and not the makers of said entertainment.
Now, it's not that hard to imagine why this is, I doubt Bethesda or id software wants to be associated with porn, the sigma here in the west could be a bit bad for business. Still, I think there is a untapped market here.
Let's look back at Dragon's Crown.
That game is littered head to toe with sex. I admit I've only see screenshots and videos, but the atmosphere of the game is ripe with sexualization. My question is, why stop there? Why not just go the full mile and add more explicit sex to the game?
Now some arguments agains might be:
1. Adding explicit sex to the game would detract from the core gameplay.
-I would say no, givin that the other games I've listed, (the Elder Scroll series, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, the Fable trilogy, Saints Row, the Witcher, Fallout), have sexual themes, but no sex. I'm going to go out on a limb and say games of those kind can have their established gameplay elements in addition to gameplay that is explicit sexual content.
2. No game retailer would sell there games.
-True. But we live in a world where digital distribution is a thing. These kinds of sexual games do not have to go through the Walmarts and Game Stops of the world.
3. Pornographic games getting bigger budgets and high profiles would somehow undermine them as an art form.
-This idea is based on guilt by association. The association with porn as an indictment of games. This association is flawed. The flaw being, we as a society do not indict movies or television show or web show simply because websites like Brazzers exist. Sarah Mirabelli career does not invalidate Kerry Washington's.
Ok, that's decent enough for a starter, what do you think?
(real talk though I'm down for Vanillaware making a pornographic game that still worked on its own as contemporary video game. I'd drop 30-40 bucks on it.)
Hear me out.
Think about games where there is a romantic component that involves sex or games with sexual themes, ex: the Elder Scroll series, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, the Fable trilogy, Saints Row, the Witcher, Fallout.
All of these games have subplots of some kind that, sometimes, involve your character having sex at some point. But none of them are explicit to the degree that pornography on the internet tends to be.
But it's clear that there is an interest for that sort of thing.
Think about the legion of Rule 34 art there is for any game, comic, book, entertainment series you can name. Think about all the flash games and videos depicting said art in animated form. Think about how it's a joke that when games like Skyrim come out, there are at least 10 different mods who's sole purpose is to let you see naked people in the games. The desire is there, but the need is being meet mostly by other fans and not the makers of said entertainment.
Now, it's not that hard to imagine why this is, I doubt Bethesda or id software wants to be associated with porn, the sigma here in the west could be a bit bad for business. Still, I think there is a untapped market here.
Let's look back at Dragon's Crown.
That game is littered head to toe with sex. I admit I've only see screenshots and videos, but the atmosphere of the game is ripe with sexualization. My question is, why stop there? Why not just go the full mile and add more explicit sex to the game?
Now some arguments agains might be:
1. Adding explicit sex to the game would detract from the core gameplay.
-I would say no, givin that the other games I've listed, (the Elder Scroll series, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, the Fable trilogy, Saints Row, the Witcher, Fallout), have sexual themes, but no sex. I'm going to go out on a limb and say games of those kind can have their established gameplay elements in addition to gameplay that is explicit sexual content.
2. No game retailer would sell there games.
-True. But we live in a world where digital distribution is a thing. These kinds of sexual games do not have to go through the Walmarts and Game Stops of the world.
3. Pornographic games getting bigger budgets and high profiles would somehow undermine them as an art form.
-This idea is based on guilt by association. The association with porn as an indictment of games. This association is flawed. The flaw being, we as a society do not indict movies or television show or web show simply because websites like Brazzers exist. Sarah Mirabelli career does not invalidate Kerry Washington's.
Ok, that's decent enough for a starter, what do you think?
(real talk though I'm down for Vanillaware making a pornographic game that still worked on its own as contemporary video game. I'd drop 30-40 bucks on it.)
