March 29, 2007
Erotic Narrative in Games (or Romantic Narrative, for that matter)
It's interesting that our exploration of romantic or erotic themes has yet to approach that of other mediums. Granted, the medium's only 40 years old, and much of its quirks have yet to be understood. Still, we seem surprisingly behind. From a narrative point of view, it's a challenge to a create compelling drama, attraction or lust in a game, particularly when we're constrained by a conservative media and threats of pseudo- and sometimes outright censorship.
In Japan, where dating sims like those made by Peach Princess are common, the art form of the erotic narrative has advanced much, much further. One must wonder, with manga's smash arrival in America (have you visited a bookstore lately?), could dating sims be far behind?
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 09:11 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
August 07, 2006
Heroine-Sheik: Being the Doll
This statement from Being the Doll on Heroine-Sheik made me think:
More specifically, as a sub myself, I wonder if it would it ever be feasible to have a game that allows you to be the passive party.
Interesting thought. While many games allow you to be the active sexual partner, I can't think of any that allow you to be the passive partner. The challenge, of course, is that being passive somewhat limits the active nature of a game. A simulator could be created that allowed you to set things up... but that would be more tool than game.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 11:02 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
June 21, 2006
Vivox - Voice for Dating & Social Networking
Developers may want to check out Vivox's Precision Studio, communications platform that combines text, voice, video and multi-party communication.
Vivox is empowering the next generation of online dating and social networking communities with robust communication solutions that enable the sites to become a place to be, not just a place to get.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 11:37 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
June 09, 2006
Why Proper Anatomy Matters
Tony Walsh of Clickable Culture has made a rather startling and visually uncomfortable discovery about the ads for the new poke the doll game, Virtual Hottie 2. Apparently, the model in the graphic has a few more vertibrae than usual. It's basically a study of the uncanny valley combined with someone who slept through art anatomy class.
I'd include the picture here, but I won't, not because I mind ripping off Tony's hard work, but because it's... disturbing. So I recommend you visit the link. But you can't unsee it after you do.
Snake women will haunt my dreams.
Posted by KyleMachulis at 01:04 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
May 26, 2006
Interface: Free “Smut” As Deception
Yevgeniy Medynskiy of the Culturally Embedded Computing Group at Cornell University has a paper available online on Free “Smut” As Deception.
Deceiving the user of an interface is usually considered a poor design decision. It is rare to find deceitful interfaces, and most of the time if a user recognizes deception, she will try to ensure that that experience not repeated. In this position paper, I will examine the deception in the interfaces to Thumbnail Gallery Posts (TGPs) – ad-driven websites providing links to purportedly free pornography. TGPs are some of the most popular destinations on the Internet, and the design of many of them suggests repeat users are common. After describing the deception in their interfaces, and how it is accomplished, I will speculate on why this type of deception has become a norm and why the users of these websites tolerate it, unlike most other forms of deception.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 12:19 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
May 25, 2006
Sex-Interface-Aesthetics
"Sex-Interface-Aesthetics: The Docile Avatars and Embodied Pixels of Second Life BDSM" by Shaowen Bardzell and Jeffrey Bardzell of Indiana University is available online in pdf form for those of you interested in sexual content design.
We contend that virtual worlds enable the construction of a BDSM aesthetic that is connected to, yet distinct from, the real-life BDSM aesthetic, and that moreover the differences can largely be explained by structural forces associated with computer interfaces themselves.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:16 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
May 17, 2006
A To Do List for Developers
In his article on Clean Sheets Erotica, Help! I'm Turning Into an Anti-Porn Activist, Chris Bridges practically writes a to do list for developers of adult content. While bemoaning the state of the pornography he rented for viewing with his wife, Chris provides solid suggestions that would appeal to a more mainstream market and encourages producers of adult content to move away from the "nastier is better" theme.
For instance:
My needs are simple, I think.
* Normal looking people who at least look like they're having fun.
* No one looking at the camera.
* No movies that describe the women as sluts, whores, or bitches, or use the words "molest" or "gang" on the cover.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 09:02 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
Interview with Dani Bunten Berry
Though its connection to sex in games is nil (unless you count the fact that I wrote it 10 years ago), there's an interview with legendary game designer Dani Berry on In Newsweekly that everyone should read... and not because I wrote it, but because of what Dani says.
For those of you who don't know Dani, she was literally decades ahead of her time, working on multiplayer games at the dawn of this industry. She influenced may of today's great game designers, and as Alexander Sliwinski says in the opening, "In Newsweekly has transcribed and is publishing it here now not only because it gives great insight into a pioneering game designer and the state of the gaming industry at the time, but is eerily topical even a decade later."
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:39 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
May 14, 2006
Master John: Peripheral safety and feedback system for practitioners of BDSM
Master John: Peripheral safety and feedback system for practitioners of BDSM (pdf file) was a paper submitted by Chris Noessel to the CHI 2006 event held in Montreal earlier this year.
ABSTRACT
Master John is a design for a graduate school project for practitioners of BDSM, a set of sexual practices involving giving psychological or physical control to another person. The design for the system involves a sensor cuff for one participant and a feedback cuff for another participant. The system provides two useful functions:
1. A variable-strength, peripheral, haptic signal, which communicates levels of excitement.
2. A scene-interrupting signal, which warns of potential physical danger.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 07:54 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
May 11, 2006
Apogeevr: Voice - Making or Breaking the Experience
Ever wonder how the introduction of voice into a virtual world would affect user immersion?
That's a good question, and one that Noche Kandora asks on her blog, Apogeevr: Voice - Making or Breaking the Experience.
Would people still dish out the same meaningless drivel that they seem to often do via text while getting laid in Second Life? Or worse yet, would the stale and canned conveyances grow even more lame, devolving further into two- and three-word phrases uttered during the heat of cyberpassion?
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:14 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
May 10, 2006
Silverberg: Review of the Sexual Interactions Workshop at CHI 2006
About.com's Corey Silverberg has a review up of CHI 2006 recently held in Montreal, QC.
The day was broken down into four panels: sex and pleasure, pornography, on line representations, and intimacy. Each panel had four or five presenters who talked for ten minutes or so about their papers and then different moderators facilitated discussions with the whole group.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:31 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
MSNBC: Hot Monogamy
Check out the new report on MSNBC: Hot Monogamy: An Intimate Look at Love and Sex.
In February, Elle and MSNBC.com asked readers to talk about sex in our exclusive online survey. Specifically, we wanted to find out about sex in long-term relationships. Does it sizzle or fizzle once infatuation fades?
Over two weeks, 77,895 readers, half women and half men, completed the survey. Nine out of 10 respondents were in a monogamous relationship. Here are the intimate details they shared about their personal lives...
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:26 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
April 30, 2006
Self Taught and Self Deluded?
Why aren't developers of adult erotic entertainment contracting and consulting with sexologists? Almost without exception, the games in development in the past and the games in development today are made by individuals who are self taught and who have only a cursory understanding of what appeals to their audience sexually.
"I know what appeals to me sexually, and therefore, that will appeal to my audience sexually, too."
Of course, this only goes so far. If you're a straight guy, what you create might appeal to other straight guys, but even then, we're only talking about a subset of straight guys who share your particular interest and particular kink. Do you have any idea what appeals to, say, furries?
"I've studied this stuff a lot."
If you're making games, no. No, you haven't. As a full-time game developer for 24 years, I didn't have time master any field outside of the one I was crunching on. Human sexuality is a huge and complicated field, and the study of it is very new, actually. With the rise of online communities and emergent fetishes, it's also a fast growing field.
I'd like to suggest that we, as developers of adult content, start thinking about what we can learn from the experts.
What got me thinking about all this? This article from The Independent: Shere Hite: On female sexuality in the 21st century.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 09:51 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
April 29, 2006
Browsing Pornography: An Interface Design Perspective
At the recent CHI2006 conference, Anand Agarawala, Anthony Tang and Saul Greenberg submitted the paper Browsing Pornography: An Interface Design Perspective (pdf). It has value for designers of adult content, whether just a web experience or a fully functional game.
Abstract: As an extreme case of browsing, the pornographic browsing experience has several unique UI characteristics: it requires simple, lightweight controls; usage needs to be discrete; users’ mental and physical context need to be respected, and common, repeated interactions need to be supported. While we identify design goals for user interfaces to better support browsing of pornographic images and movies, the same goals are applicable to other non-controversial browsing activities.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 10:05 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
April 25, 2006
Apogeevr: The sterilization of dirty talk
I hate to be shortchanged when it comes to dirty talk.
Ain't that the truth.
Whether in a real or virtual setting, I just don’t want to feel as if I am listening to a supermarket-bought romance novel being read aloud.
Mm. Hm.
Check out the rest of Noche Kandora's article, The Sterilization of Dirty Talk, on her blog, Apogeevr.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:37 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
April 24, 2006
Apogeevr: Why the Orgasm?
Here's an interesting question:
Why is it that the on-screen orgasm continues to be regarded as the grand finale of a sexual encounter in virtual space, despite the fact that the love-juice explosion is totally simulated?
Check out the rest of the column here: Does faking it make it more real?
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:49 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
April 22, 2006
Are we doomed? The $40,000 MMO.
The other day, we reported on a new website devoted to connecting projects and developers.
At the time, we didn't notice that within the site, someone was soliciting bids on an Adult oriented MMORPG.
According to the listing:
We are looking to create an adult oriented MMORPG. The game would need to include 4 seperate areas each with their own abilities and weaknesses. A central location where all 4 realms can fight it out amongst themselves. Questing will need to be implemented for each of the realms. A public transit system to quickly reach other destinations, personal vehicles/animals & a housing district also need implementation. The game console will need to be able to play movies/slideshows. The overall feel for the game should be based on mainline Anime. We have some base characters that will need to be included into the game.
Anyone who's ever worked on an RPG or an MMO might be thinking another three letter acronym - WTF? There's lots here that doesn't make sense, but before we could get too far with that, we noticed this:
... and when you read that, you've suddenly forgotten the previous WTF. An MMO in 90 days for 40K? Right.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:18 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
April 18, 2006
Second Life Herald: Genital Review Female
As a follow up to our previous post on the Second Life Herald's male genital review, comes a new review from the Second Life Herald: Genital Review: Play Sexy (female).
One thing that should be mentioned is that the PlaySexy Clit is very talkative. It releases six different messages during the arousal phases, which can be turned on or off, though it's on by default. Luckily, it's all in whispers, so it's not like everyone hears it or something.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:20 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
April 13, 2006
No-holds-barred Workshop Explores Female Sexuality
The NY Press has a story up on a new workshop: No-holds-barred workshop explores female sexuality.
Sex educator Sheri Winston claims she can have 30 to 40 orgasms during a love-making session and orgasms that can last anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. “I’ll teach you how to have the best sex you’ve ever had in your life,” she says. It sounds like an infomercial or an ad at the back of Playgirl. But that’s what Sheri promises during her sexuality workshops. She actually bills herself as a Pelvic Priestess, a Blood Witch, and a self-certified “Pussy Professional.”
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 09:19 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
April 05, 2006
Casual Sex is a Turn Off for "Modern Women"
According to a study from Dr. Sharron Hinchliff of the University of Sheffield (and reported on here) , women are turned off by casual sex:
“They argued that women who have casual sex or one-night stands do it not because they are sexually liberalised, but because they have ‘lost control’ on alcohol or drugs or because there is ‘something lacking’ in their lives. They pitied these women and they saw it as deviant behaviour,” Dr Hinchliff said.
This has the potential for interesting design applications for makers of MMOEGs and others who hope to facilitate the emergent sex in their MMOs. Whether or not these findings hold true in virtual worlds is another matter, but it could suggest the need for systems that take MMOEGs to another level where relationship development can - and is encouraged - to occur.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 09:15 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
March 31, 2006
Gareth Schott: Sex in Games: Representing and Desiring the Virtual
Gareth Schott, a researcher from University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, has an abstract and a paper online: Sex in Games: Representing and Desiring the Virtual.
It is absolutely worth checking out for developers or others interested in the field.
No sooner is a visual medium invented than it is used for pornographic representation - videogames are no exception. This paper will chronicle the presence of pornographic imagery and depictions of sexual intercourse within videogames whilst attempting to examine the motivations for its inclusion and use.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 06:50 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
March 26, 2006
VUE Weekly: Sex sells, unless it's men
This article in VUE Weekly, Sex Sells, Right? Not if Your Art is Male Nudes, discusses the difficulties found when male nudes are displayed.
Bradley has good reasons to feel more passionately than most about the human figure. While female nudes, abstractly depicted, without a hint of sexuality, are already very difficult to exhibit (dealers are afraid of offending patrons, and the nude figure is simply not a big seller), Bradley discovered that his male nudes are positively out of bounds.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 10:54 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
March 22, 2006
GDC Tutorial: Emotion Boot Camp: Putting More Emotion Into Play
From Gamasutra comes this piece on a GDC tutorial:
On the opening day of this year's GDC, Katherine Isbister PhD and Nicole Lazzaro of XEODesign Inc. hosted a workshop aimed at helping game designers and their teams understand how to have authorial control over player choices. Specifically the emotions that these choices create.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 09:27 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
March 21, 2006
New Calendar: The Sexual Revelation
In this article on New Calendar.com, The Sexual Revelation, the concept of an older woman's sex life and sexual interest is discussed.
"There is a desire to be sexual, to not be dismissed by a culture that is so age-invested and favors the young and the beautiful," Barash said. "They really do want to be just as much in the game."
Thought Barash refers to "game" in a figurative sense, it has literal merit as well. In video games, do we really allow players this freedom of choice in avatars? In Second Life, yes. However, in most games, this isn't the case. As games branch out and become romantic/erotic/sexual worlds, such freedom of choice is necessary.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:33 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
Backspace: ER for Writers - Unbelievable Sex Scenes
In an article on Backspace, ER for Writers: Some of the Most Common Mistakes Writers Make and How to Avoid Them, writer Jerry Gross discusses unbelievable sex scenes.
Writing a believable sex scene is very difficult for writers, not because of prudery or embarrassment, but because too much attention is given to describing the participants’ sexual acts and not enough to their thoughts, their psychology, their state of mind.
One could apply this to MMOEGs easily. If sex games spend all their time on the visuals, the animations, they could miss the deeper and sexier connection - the one happening between players. In discussions with various individuals about their experience with emergent sex in games, it seems the text is often hotter than the visuals.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:26 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
March 17, 2006
Lost Garden: Sex, Design and Advertising
As a designer, I find Danc's Lost Garden blog to be consistently good reading, and his latest post seems particularly relevant to sex games.
He gives us new vocabulary to discuss sexual content in games. In particular, there are two important types of content: "visceral" (think of lots of hot naked bodies thrown into a game for the sole purpose of stimulating the sex-crazed part of the player's brain) and "social" (actual human interaction, or a reasonable simulation thereof).
Visceral sex games are those games that graft gratuitous sexual content onto mediocre, uninspired gameplay on the theory that "sex sells". But such games are vilified by gamers (for their lousy gameplay) and non-gamers (for their shocking content), and are rarely if ever successful in the marketplace.
So, if you're creating a sex game and you're relying on extreme sex content as your game's primary selling point, you might want to seriously rethink your design.
To summarize, games that rely primarily on visceral rewards end up causing several issues:
* They provide poor value to customers. Long term this lack of value often alienates customers.
* They are a poor business practice that seriously increases the competitive risks for your company and the industry.
* As a side effect, they encourage increasingly demented ads that strive to promote a shallow value proposition. This helps alienate both marginal customers and the world at large.
Posted by IanSchreiber at 11:51 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
March 07, 2006
Heroine Sheik: Identity: Video Game as Fetish
New story up on Heroine Sheik that I thought you'd be interested in: Identity: Video Game as Fetish.
And around here, at a site like Heroine Sheik, some might even claim we get off on games. Well, what if we do? Wanna fight about it?
Though not at all game related, this article, When is a Fetish not a Fetish?, on the blog love&hope&sex&dreams is also worth a read.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 07:31 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
February 23, 2006
American Sexuality Magazine: Halflings and Ogres and Elves, Oh My!
Sex SIG councilav Kelly from Black Love Interactive posted this on our mailing list a while back, but I realized today that I'd not posted it here. Sorry about that, and thanks Kelly!
American Sexuality Magazine has a piece about emergent sex in online worlds.
Many people would balk if you told them that your romantic partner is a troll who practices magic, slays dragons, and carries a wooden cudgel the size of her out-of-proportion head. Yet players of EverQuest, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), would probably just nod and ask how you met.
If you're interested in more info on emergent sex in video games, head over to MMOrgy.com
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 10:30 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
February 21, 2006
Gamasutra: MMORPG Dynamic Lifestyle Adjustment
Gamasutra has a piece up by David Langendoen, "Soapbox: As Time Goes By - MMORPG Dynamic Lifestyle Adjustment"
Like many Gen-X gamers, something called “Life” happened and cut into my game-playing time. I can carve 15- and 30-minute blocks out here and there and, once in a blue moon, find time for an all-out binge.
The issues he raises apply as much to our MMO worlds. How do the upcoming MMO erotic worlds make room and play for players who don't have hours to spend at a clip?
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 10:50 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
MMO Erotic Worlds - The Natural Evolution of Match.com?
"I met him online, you know, on Match.com. Don't tell anyone, okay?"
Back in the late 1990's meeting someone online or through an online matchmaking service like Match.com wasn't exactly something people liked to talk about. In fact, it was often viewed as a last gasp, somewhat desperate move. Many viewed it as frankly dangerous.
Now, online matchmaking is an acceptable and increasingly normal way to meet people, possibly due in part to its amazing financial and emotional successes stories like this one about Match.com.
eHarmony.com even boasts around 33,000 marriages a year.
Are MMO worlds that fascilitate love, relationships and social development (and, yes, online sex) poised for a similar cycle and similar success? It's not unthinkable. Meeting in a cyber world is as likely (as well as easier and safer) than meeting at a coffee shop. Whether developers of these games actively design for and encourage such interactions still remains to be seen.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 10:27 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
February 12, 2006
Regina Lynn: Older and Softer Could Be Better
Regina Lynn's latest Sex Drive column on Wired.com is interesting from a game design perspective for a whole bunch of reasons.
For one, she points out how erotica targeted at women tends to be, well, dumbed down or softened. Is this a stereotype? An assumption that this is what women want?
. . . movies marketed to women and couples bored me to tears. I didn't want soft focus and cameras lingering down a woman's body. If I was going to rent a sex movie, I wanted to see sex.
Regina challenges these stereotypes and also encourages people to experiment and explore everything that's out there, from games to traditional hard core offerings.
It's our responsibility as sexual beings to experiment and open ourselves to ideas that might not have inspired us in the past. I think we owe it to ourselves and to each other, because the more fun we're willing to have with sex, the stronger our relationships will be.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 09:27 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
January 20, 2006
Toward a "Moral" Sandbox
Found this article, Mature and Adult Game Design - Towards a "Moral Sandbox", on the blog PlayNoEvil. The article posits the following:
In order for games to mature beyond "Robotron" and "NetHack" - mindless or clever exercises in destruction - and to be taken seriously as an art form, games need to move towards meaningful "moral sandboxes". Environments where choices have persistent ethical consequences.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 02:40 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
December 31, 2005
Fair Play
Utopian Hell has another excellent piece up on fairness and diversity within video games. For some, evidently, this can be a challenging subject judging by the comments left on Astarte's previous post.
Open your mind and see what it's like from the female side.
So let me put you in the shoes of many women. So boys, brush the cobwebs out of your imaginations and try this on for size. It might give you just a little glimpse into what we see in video games.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 05:00 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
December 29, 2005
Men Seek Facts, Women Seek Relations
This article on ZDNet points to new research on male and female use of the internet.
"Once you get past the commonalities, men tend to be attracted to online activities that are far more action-oriented, while women tend to value things involving relationships or human connections," said Deborah Fallows, a research fellow at Pew and author of the report.
This is really at the heart of current design issues in sexual content in video games. The current sexual content out there is overwhelmingly designed for the straight male. New MMOEGs (massively multiplayer erotic games) in the works are hoping to take advantage of those human connections allowing for relationship formation. If these games can cater to both needs, so much the better.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 06:14 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
December 28, 2005
Sex & The Gray Gamer
Though sexual content in games primarily targets the straight male, a growing body of games, particularly the MMOEGs that are in development, are looking to include a more diverse audience.
This article from The Age offers information on the desires of the over 70 set, known to game developers as the gray gamer.
Queensland surveyor Judy Hardy-Holden said more than half the women aged in their 70s who had responded to a questionnaire smashed the stereotype that elderly women were over sex.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 10:25 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
December 23, 2005
WoW Diversity - Where's the Incubus?
Here's some food for thought from this Utopian Hell article Hot Girl on Girl Action (or how women get screwed in video games):
Video games, by and large, assume that whether you’re playing a female character or not, you’re going to want to have sex with a female character, or at least be sexually attracted to a female character (or monster).
Referring to Everquest and WoW:
I wouldn’t be so disturbed if the reverse were true… if there were Grim Tempters and Incubus to balance out the Temptress and Succubus. But there aren’t, and these aren’t the only two games to blatantly disregard the notion that female characters (and players) might want a different experience.
Read the rest of the article here.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:32 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
December 16, 2005
Platforms for MMO Sex Games at MMorgy.com
MMorgy.com has an article up about the various platforms for those interested in developing a massively multi-player online erotic game:
This is, by no means, a full list of all the software out there. It's simply something to get all of those out there that want to build a virtual world to explore their fantasies in...
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 11:29 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
Crude Graphics: Logan Hill
Check out Logan Hill's essay, "Crude Graphics: Leisure Suit Larry Taught Me Everything I Never Wanted to Know About Sex" on Nerve.com.
Of course, the graphics continue to get more realistic, so maybe things are changing. But right now, video game sex remains the equivalent of a kid who doodles dirty pictures in his notebook.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:46 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
December 09, 2005
Lapis Presentation Online
For those of you who are wondering what the Lapis fuss is all about, here you go: The Lapis Design Submission
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:18 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
November 23, 2005
Ms. Pac Man's Gay Kids
Happened across this older article from The Advocate which discusses diversity in video games:
"...the first time I saw Fergus and Patrick kiss, I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't believe it because they were characters in the virtual suburbia of The Skins, and back in 2000 kissing never really happened in video games, let alone a same-sex lip-lock. In a universe of power-ups and unlimited continues, I never thought something like sexuality would be the next hot feature.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 04:19 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
November 22, 2005
Better Sex through MMOG or MMOVSG?
Check out this excellent article on MMorgy.com. Though emergent sexual content finds its way into just about every game with more than one player, no one's yet asked which is better - the emergent sex in MMOGs (like WoW or Second Life) or that which will be found in the upcoming MMOVSG (virtual sex games).
"So, what will MMOVSGs bring us that we can't currently get with other worlds? Why should we throw down even more hard earned money when we can just watch a Dark Elf gyrate for a while and then go level grind some more? In this article, we go over some of the pros and cons of what MMOVSGs can present for the lonely/horny(/both)..." gamer.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 09:02 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
An Opportunity for Serious Games?
Some games attempt to train or teach the player how to respond to certain events before the real-world events transpire. Both military and business concerns regularly use such training software. Why not those trying to educate kids about the dangers of unprotected sex? Unicef's game Catch the Sperm took a stab at it.
This article on the policies in other countries points to a need for change. Serious games could facilitate such a change. Such games could also be tailored to various levels to take into account people's backgrounds, religious preferences and parental beliefs.
Major questions have been: Why are these rates in the U.S. so much higher than corresponding rates in other western industrialized countries? Why is the U.S. not a leader in the area of sexual health? Why do less affluent and less technologically advanced countries do a better job in dealing with problems that result from sexual behavior? What distinguishes the approaches and policies of other industrialized countries from those in the U.S.?
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 05:07 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
November 07, 2005
Can a Game Make You Cry?
Emotional interaction is an essential part of the immersive virtual intimate experience. This article from Wired gives an overview of a study about gamers and the emotions elicited from playing video games.
Posted by KyleMachulis at 11:33 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
October 19, 2005
Case Study: xXxenophile card game
A couple years after collectible card games (CCGs) made a big splash, this physical card game came onto the scene. It featured art that was definitely for the 18-and-over crowd, with strong sexual themes (of many varieties and persuasions).
CCGs were hot at the time, and this game targeted an underserved niche. The game itself was interesting enough (as would be expected from the venerable James Ernest), and the artwork was done by none other than Phil Foglio (who still has quite a following).
Yet this game was a commercial flop. What happened, and what lessons can today's game developers learn?
(Disclaimer: To my knowledge there has never been a rigorous business analysis of this game, so much of what follows is conjecture. I invite discussion from those with alternate hypotheses or more acute knowledge about the situation to respond here or on our forums.)
Lesson 1: Understand your genre demographics.
xXxenophile targeted a market where the majority of players were either under 18, or else adults who regularly played games with kids who were under 18. The number of players who could buy this game and expect to play it regularly was vanishingly small.
Sex games have the unfortunate disadvantage of having to cater to TWO target markets: sexuality, and the genre of the game itself. If you want to make a sexy FPS game, or RTS, or MMOG, or what have you, you had best look at who is playing those games. If most of the target market is kids, then you MIGHT be lucky enough to have found a niche where a lot of adults would be interested if only someone would make a more adult title of that game genre... but more likely, you'll find that very few people who would hear about your game would want to play it.
Lesson 2: Respect your genre.
By the time xXxenophile was released, it was established that CCG players overwhelmingly perferred to not wager or lose their cards in a game. But this game required 'ante' of every card in your deck, and in fact it was practically impossible not to end up with your deck and your opponent's hopelessly mixed up by the end of the game. While this did allow the rulebook to quip that "you're playing with everyone your opponent has ever played with" (and my personal addition, "...unless you use protection in the form of card sleeves"), the basic rules of the game made it unappealing for most CCG players.
If you're entering an established genre with a sexy game, you should have some idea of why that genre is popular among its enthusiasts, and what expectations your players will have of gameplay. If you make a sexy FPS game, you'd better have a variety of weapons. If you're working on a sexy RPG, there should be some form of levelling your character. Otherwise you risk losing the few hardcore genre addicts who would be willing to give you a try.
Lesson 3: Understand how people play your game.
xXxenophile included some cards that required players to remove articles of their own clothing (or forfeit the game). This made the game impractical for casual play with platonic friends, and downright impossible for gaming conventions or even play in a local game store or other public venue.
If you expect people to play your game in a private setting, loud sounds and music on the title screen are going to call attention to the player, who will then proceed to quit before they start. If you need an online (or local) community to form around your game, find and eliminate any aspect of your game that forces people to play privately. If there is a mismatch between your game's rules and the way people play it, you're in trouble.
Lesson 4: Have a good reason for your game's existence.
xXxenophile should never have been a CCG. There's nothing about its game mechanics that were CCG-like -- aside from the forced ante, the cards you put in your constructed deck didn't really matter since all the cards became community property during the game. As such, the "metagame" that surrounds most CCGs was nonexistent in this one.
In fact, it was later reprinted in non-collectible (and G-rated) form, under the name "Girl Genius: the Works" where it continues to do better in the hobby game market than the CCG market.
Don't just take a popular game genre and slap sex on it with the expectation of sales. Don't just add sex to your existing game with the hope that sex will make everything better. Normally, sex will fragment your market and reduce your total sales, unless there's a REALLY good reason why it's in there.
Posted by IanSchreiber at 06:18 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
September 21, 2005
Can Games Make You Cry?
Press release just in...
Can a Video Game Make You Cry?
Today's youth feel video games will soon equal or surpass other forms of entertainment in emotional impact
Half Moon Bay, Calif.-September 20, 2005 - More than two thirds of all video gamers feel that video games already surpass, or will soon at least equal movies, music and books in delivering an emotional impact, according to a study released today by Bowen Research, a firm that studies consumer attitudes and behavior regarding high tech products, consumer electronics, software and web sites.
"It is striking that young people today look at games as an entertainment medium that surpasses or will equal the more traditional things that touch us deeply, like books, movies, and music," says Hugh Bowen of Bowen Research. "Half of all gamers think conveying emotion is extremely or pretty important which suggests that games which can achieve more of this will be extremely popular."
Role-playing games evoked the most powerful emotions, but despite the explosive growth of multiplayer online role-playing games in recent years, most respondents still feel it is the single player role-playing gaming experience that delivers the greatest emotional punch. The next two most emotional genres are first-person shooters, followed closely by action games. Flying games and flight simulators ranked lowest on the emotional scale.
While "competitiveness" ranked as the top feeling conveyed by games, it's interesting that "honor/loyalty/integrity," "awe and wonder" and "delight" also were mentioned frequently.
Respondents overwhelmingly cited the Final Fantasy series of role-playing games from Square Enix as the most emotionally rich games, and the death of Aeris in Final Fantasy VII was the scene many people said made them cry.
More information about the study can be found at www.bowenresearch.com.
About Bowen Research
Bowen Research has specialized in the young male market, studying interactive entertainment and high tech products, since 1992.
Final Fantasy is a registered trademark of Square Enix.
###
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 10:05 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
September 04, 2005
Where are the games?
Diversity is an important issue in video games. There have been excellent books written on the topic, including one from Sheri-Graner Ray called "Gender Inclusive Game Design" which focuses specifically on women players, their barriers to entry into video games and what we, as developers can do about that.
While searching for future "Links of the Day", I'm surprised how difficult it is to find anything targeted at something other than the Straight White Man (SWM). Most online sex games even feature Straight White Women (or two women together for the purposes of male entertainment).
Doing a google search for "virtual woman, game" gives me nothing but sex links. Doing a google search for "virtual man, game" gives me more links on PacMan than I ever needed. Even adding "gay" to my search gives up no games.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 08:00 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
August 23, 2005
Evoking Emotions - Our Huge Design Challenge
This article explores one of the biggest design challenges facing video games today:
Bringing Emotions to Video Games
In games where human relationships are key, this challenge is even greater. How can we get players to care about their characters? How can we get them to care about a couple in a game world?
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 11:03 AM | Discuss this post on our forums
August 19, 2005
A Study of Sex in Video Games
Contributed by Sheri Pocilujko
Mia Consalvo's abstract, Hot Dates and Fairy-Tale Romances: Studying Sexuality in Videogames, looks at sexuality in games as a part of the storyline and also explores the heterosexual standard that seems to exist.
Interesting read.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 03:13 PM | TrackBack | Discuss this post on our forums
Console Games that Use Sex or Sexuality as a Reward Mechanism
Contributed by Ian Schreiber
Just a few examples of perfectly interesting and fun games that otherwise have nothing at all to do with sex and sexuality.
Metroid (NES) had its big "surprise" ending (that everyone knows about today), where it's revealed that the main character is female. The better your performance during the game, the skimpier her swimsuit at the end.
Golgo 13 (NES) cast the player in the role of a James Bond-esque secret agent, and several times during the game the avatar would spend the night with one of the lady NPCs. This restored the player's health.
Azure Dreams (PSX) had sidequests to make each of the eight girls in town fall in love with the main character and become his live-in girlfriends. There was an additional sidequest where you could get an item that let you see your girlfriends in swimsuits.
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (PSX) featured T-rated centerfolds of all the female characters in the game; they were hidden bonus items you had to find. There were also two bathhouses in the game that let you view video of the male and female characters bathing, respectively. (You'd encounter the male bathhouse early in the game on a well-travelled road. The female bathhouse was hidden in the depths of the most dangerous dungeon in the game, off a hidden path.)
Anyone care to share additional examples?
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 12:04 AM | TrackBack | Discuss this post on our forums
August 18, 2005
A Brief History of Romance in Console RPGs
Contributed by Ian Schreiber
Romances in RPGs are pretty common; there's actually a law in Japan that every female in a game must fall in love with the male lead. (Okay, not really.) These are predetermined by the game's plot, though; the player has very little control.
Final Fantasy 7 (PSX) was perhaps the first console game available in the US to give the player an actual choice of romantic partner, but it was very crude (you got "date points" by performing certain actions, that determined who would accompany the male lead in one cutscene, and there was a clear idea of who the "best" girl was supposed to be).
Star Ocean 2 (PSX) kept track of relationships between all 8 of your party members, both for friendship and (for opposite-sex couples) romance. Characters that cared about each other gave more support in combat, and the game ending paired off the most-compatible pairs of characters and told each pair's story (so there were a lot of possible endings). You could build relationships when characters fought together, or by performing certain sidequests or using certain items. You could wreck relationships by having characters use morally questionable skills (like forgery or pickpocketing) in the presence of others. It was the most complex relationship system I know of.
Can anyone else name other console RPGs that use romance as a plot device or game mechanic that is under the player's control? Please share.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 12:15 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
Link of the Day
How can we integrate intimacy into games? These three columns by consultant and designer Ernest Adams explore this issue and others. These articles are a part of Adams' regular series, The Designer's Notebook, on Gamasutra.
Explicit Sex
Dramatic Significance
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 12:09 AM | TrackBack | Discuss this post on our forums
August 11, 2005
Can games be sexy?
Here's a good article that asks that very question.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 07:25 PM | Discuss this post on our forums
Link of the Day - No Games for Women?
There are numerous sexually themed games online ranging from the hardcore to passive erotica.
However, it appears that sexual games are not being made for women. Despite an exhaustive search, none were found.
I did find this link about two women who made a sexually themed game that they hoped would attract a more sizeable female audience - or at least not exclude them as traditional sex games do. The link it referenced, www.playskins.com, was dead. The "wayback machine" at www.archive.org notes that the site died on September 26, 2004. Here's the last incarnation of the site. Link is safe for T+.
A related story in the Hindustan Times notes that women have a healthy sex drive as compared to men.
Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at 12:41 AM | Discuss this post on our forums