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September 01, 2005
5 Questions - Matt Entin, High Voltage
Welcome to "5 Questions", a new series on the Sex & Games blog.
Who are you, what do you do and what are you working on?
I’m Matt Entin, a writer-designer for High Voltage Software. I’m currently working on a sexually-themed comedy game that hasn’t been announced. So, in accordance with my NDA, I can’t tell you what it is.
What makes sexual content work in a game?
When it’s used appropriately in context and doesn’t feel exploitatively tacked on to the product. The difference between “Leisure Suit Larry” and “BMX XXX” is that “Larry” is ABOUT sex while “BMX XXX” is about extreme sports with sex arbitrarily tacked on to boost sales.
What is the biggest challenge facing developers of sexually themed content?
The public perception that video games are entertainment for children. The ESRB exists for a reason: an M rating means you should be 17 to purchase an M-rated title. Yet in spite of that, we are accused of peddling pornography to children. As a culture we’ve accepted the fact that movies are made for a wide and varied audience. We’re comfortable with the MPAA ratings system. Filmmakers are free to make “Last Tango in Paris” because the public understands that the movie wasn’t produced with an 11 year-old audience in mind. If you’re a parent and you bought your child an M-rated title and are shocked by the content, maybe you should blame your lousy parenting and not the game industry. Everything you wanted to know was right there on the box, bigger and bolder than it would be on a DVD case. Yet it still seems that a large percentage of American parents somehow don’t grasp the ESRB ratings-system. I can only hope that as time passes, parents will become more familiar with the ratings-system and start taking responsibility for the sort of content that gets in their children’s hands.
What's a typical design meeting like for Leisure Suit Larry?
Our number one priority is that the game is funny. Sex is the spice in our laff stew. When dealing with sexual themes we ask ourselves: Can we discuss this subject? Can we use these words? Is this an idea that has real merit or is it merely for shock value?
If Larry were a game designer, who do you suppose he'd make a game about?
Acclaimed porn director Henri Pachard (Wet Panty Spankers, Mandingo Mistress).
Check out Matt's games and company at www.high-voltage.com.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at September 1, 2005 08:30 AM | Discuss this post on our forums