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March 27, 2006
Topic for Discussion - are Sex and Serious mortal enemies?
During GDC, I noticed some strongly conflicting themes between the Serious Games Summit and the Sex In Games sessions.
The overall attitude from the world of Serious Games (that is, creating productivity or learning software using game technologies) is that they are apologetics for games with harmful adult content. The reaction I saw from several people was that politicians want to censor games, and that Serious Games come to the rescue by showing that games can be a force for good: "We just created a game that helps cure cancer in kids! Want to censor that, Senator?"
There's a dangerous logical fallacy there. As far as I know, no one is seeking to make all games illegal; they just want to keep adult content out of the hands of kids.
Thus, the likely political response to Serious Games is to use it as ammunition in favor of censorship: "This game that cures cancer is great. Why can't the rest of you make more games like that, instead of trying to corrupt the youth to make a quick buck?"
If that happens, with Serious Games and Sexy Games put on opposite sides of the censorship issue by politicians, will the two groups be fighting a civil war within the game industry? If not, how can we prevent it?
Bonus question: If it comes down to a brawl between Serious and Sex, what happens to games that are both (such as a game that teaches the importance of safe, responsible sex to kids)? Will they be the peacemakers between the camps, or will they be destroyed in the crossfire?
Posted by IanSchreiber at March 27, 2006 09:00 AM | Discuss this post on our forums