Sex & Games

a great topic for consideration.
my impression, gleaned from close (very close) study of adult materials and MMORPG interactions, is that people tend to be turned on by situations involving some level of power and control. although writhing flesh is very appealing, memorable interactive sexual situations seem to stem from relationships involving stakes/consequences and ownership. (in that respect, a successful sexual simulation is very much like a successful storyline.) for example, guiding (or being guided by) a non-player character to safety has some vague sexual overtones, which could be made less vague if the character (or player) were wearing a torn loincloth and being chased by a drooling tentacle monster. (it would be easy to infer sexual situations in the classic story of mario rescuing the princess, and in fact, i have no doubt that many have done so.)
an interesting game might allow the player to explore their own sexuality, by experimenting with different types of sexual situations -- varying their level of control, or the manner of risk and reward. (imagine if nintendogs was modified to feature naked people!) being able to customize a virtual sexual scenario through trial and error might allow players to invent more rewarding real-life situations. or it might just turn the players into liutenant barclays.

Personally, my philosophy for erotic design is based on the premise that there are 3 main types of sexual aspiration: wanting sexual specialties; wanting sex with someone special; wanting to feel special by being sexually desired by others. The first type is all about specific sex acts, body parts, toys, situations, roles, etc. and encompasses a great deal of what makes porn work for people (watching the specialty you desire is a strong enough stimulant even though *you* personally aren't even directly involved). The second type is about sex partners more than the details of what you're doing with them (this is also present in porn for people who fixate and fantasize on the pornstar as a desirable individual- very different from the person not caring who is in the scene so long as there is a particular act). The third type is about identity and emotional affirmation and involves wanting to feel wanted (this isn't just lovey-dovey romance, it also covers a lot of the psychology in SM play and other sex situations where the people involve are playing roles and *need* the other person's active participation to obtain the eroticism). Though complicated, the third type is very common in a passive porn-like medium: romance novels and erotic literature. Through text-based descriptions the thoughts and feelings of the people involved can be communicated (and enjoyed) by the viewer just as a "specialty" based viewer will be able to see what they need in a porno if all they really need is naked bouncing breasts to be aroused. There are countless variations on combining these 3 types of erotic aspirations into sex experiences for games, but to do this more game designers have to study human sexuality and grasp the psychology that makes sex media work for different people, in different ways, and on different levels.

I was trying to figure that out myself a while ago. I agree with Kelly - especially from what I've heard of what turns females on, being desired is very important ("everyone wants to be the girl that everyone wants" one girl said).

Other than that, I think it's very important to tease. Pornography that just jumps right into it never works for me, but when there's a lot of "video game foreplay" it can be much more erotic. I figure that's why games that don't truly even have any adult content become erotic to people. Heck, anyone remember Tomb Raider? My friends kept backing her into corners and jumping just to try to see her cleavage and ass, but she never once got naked.

Finally, I do think that there has to be payoff for a real adult game. You can't be teased forever, especially in a male game, or his piece would simply explode. But that, too, sort of reveals one of the problems with games directed toward men - no man I've ever talked to has ever watched more than 10 minutes of a porno at once; once they get off, it's over, interest is lost. That's why I feel that humor and a strong presense of at least one other thing (adventure, battle, puzzles, etc.) is important.

Charles Jackson said,"That's why I feel that humor and a strong presense of at least one other thing (adventure, battle, puzzles, etc.) is important." I totally agree with that, which is, my guess, one of the reasons naked skins are so popular. Take that ingredient, and mix in a little of what Kelly and MattyMatt said, which is to add a little control, or interactivity with the other characters of the game to add spice. Take for instance, someone develops a baseball computer game. The game pits the guys against the girls. One of the girls gets up to the plate to bat. She opens her shirt to create a distraction. The pitcher throws, she hits a line drive and makes it on to first base. Now she can interact with the first baseman before the gamer gets another batter. The tease factor would be in full motion in this scenario.

Yes! And that bit of tease combines all the elements - a hint of erotica, humor (ha ha, girls always win because they have boobs to show off!) and good gameplay. It also gives the male players a good challenge - few females will care if a man flashes their package while at bat.

the erotic baseball game is a really neat idea -- combining "normal" play with sexual elements to create a game that's both fun and titillating. (in fact, titillating BECAUSE it's fun. the play-context of a game seems to be like an activator for the sexual elements; without fun, interactive genitals are boring and inert, like using Poser.) i wonder if there's a way to make the "play" aspect more inherently connected to the eroticism? to most people, baseball isn't sexual; so i can imagine a player getting frustrated with the baseball aspect if all they're looking for is eroticism. the baseball might seem like an interruption in the sex.
for example, imagine a platformer in which a player leaps around and collects power-ups; with each power-up that a player collects, another character loses one item of clothing, and if the player can't collect them fast enough (or collects a different type), then THEIR character starts to lose clothing. that way, there's game-mechanic-tension to provide the necessary context, mixed with the genitals that the player is eager to see. and the player's game-mechanic actions are directly related to the game's sexiness, so there's no switching back and forth between game-mode and sexy-mode.
i'm kind of surprised someone hasn't invented something like that already for a sex/chat site (or maybe they have): a game in which two flirting players compete to strip the other.

That's exactly what I'm trying to come up with (as are many others, I'm sure) - a game that's fun not just for the sex. All these "porn games" really just get boring to me in about 5 minutes after the novelty and shock wear off, and I'm sure that's true for other people too. Something with real gameplay that just also happens to have nudity/sex/etc. would be better all around - think about HBO shows; they might almost all have at least one nude scene these days (Sex and the City sure had plenty!) but they're good because of things other than the nudity and sex.

Charles, remember Bizarre with John Byner on Showtime? Classic.
Without getting into specifics, I hope to design a golf game using a totally different twist other than the animal antics of Outlaw Golf, and an adventure/ shooter game that will lend itself to several opportunities for eroticism simply from the plot itself.
Being a longtime gamer, I've noticed alot of "missed opportunities" from playing games of several types, that I've been very surprised that noone, that I know of, ever picked up on them. This is why, prior to finding this SIG, I couldn't even find anything suggesting that eroticism be mainstream in certain genres(?). Especially since the early x486, and prior to 3dfx, computers had "Sorcerers 101" and "Cobra Mission" available for them.
Believe me, I've thought of several fun ways to use eroticism, So I'm sure you can come up with one. ;)

Well I have some too, but the grass is always greener on the other side, right? I always saw it in two different methods - story-driven sexuality and gameplay-driven sexuality. Story-driven sexuality isn't difficult at all; one just adds sex into the storyline. The gameplay-driven is the difficult one, adding sex as perhaps a sort of minigame or even the main game.

I was expiramenting with using a system the exact opposite of La Blue Girl (in which the girls get each other off to win). In my case, the winner was the one who turned the other one off so much they lost. To "heal", the player uses viagra or masturbates, etc. More humorous than sexy, but hopefully a balance can be found :)

Ok, I see what you're saying. Yeah, having sex as the main ingredient and giving it a high-entertainment value would be tough. It'll be interesting to see what you finally end up with.
I think one of the things that will increase the opportunity for game developers to slip effective eroticism into games will be the physics chips soon to come out. This will increase the "life-like" effect and give the games extra realism. Don't you think?

I don't mean to show my nievete by not even knowing about the physics chips, but I'd definitely agree that added physics can't possibly hurt! I still can't get over how realistic they are now!

Yes, it kind of goes back to the sex vs. violence - unless you're a major BDSM fan, you don't want to mix your sex and violence. However, all games need some form of conflict, and sex isn't one that can currently hold a long-lifetime game.