tentacles are a symbol for tongues and phallus ... personally it''s the bondage fantasm I don''t get

As for the money driven market, I''ll just point you towards the discussion on Money based RTS we ha with Paul Cunnigham, I guess I am 100% with you on that one

GREAT IDEA!! J/k.. .but I''m sure it would sell. Just look at Duke Nukem 3D, don''t tell me you havn''t payed one those stippers to show there tits, eh?

Well for one, morality and whatnot aside, sex sells. People like it. Slap a girl on the cover, bada bing, someone will invariably buy it. It''s about money for a lot of companies, just like TV or magazines, except marketers know a large portion of their audience is horny teenagers/college kids. It reminds me of women''s check out stand magazines. Find one that dosen''t mention sex somewhere on the cover. Dare ya! They know their audience.

So is it bad? Yes and no. Yes because some designers include it unessesarily. No because as long as companies are clear about their sales pitch, (whether it is a sexually oriented game or not), why should it matter to you? You have enough personal taste to discern whether or not you would like it.
I heard mention here that instead of straight sex, it should be about love and the relationship between two people. I agree that''s a good theme and can be a strong one. But whether you like it or not, a lot of people like sex just for sex sake. If someone wants to buy a porn tape, that''s their business. If they want to buy a dirty (or slightly dirty) game, that''s their business, too. And if it sells enough to keep the company in business, it''s obviously got a place in this industry. We tell the industry what we want by sales, by purchasing their product or not. With the prominence of sexual themes in games, I think it''s a pretty clear sign of demand.

On the other hand, I would like game companies to use some prudence in their decision to include sexual themes in a game. Sex is every bit a part of life as anything else, and by all means include it at whatever level is nescessary to evoke the feelings you intend the player to have. However, if you make a killer game with immense depth and character, don''t populate your game world entirely with big breasted women in halter tops who can''t get their minds off the down and dirty. I do hate it when I expect a certain level of decorum from a game (which the game world generally establishes) and have it blown by throwing in blatent sex or innuendo. Inconsistency bothers me more than anything, and not just with sex. Over use, under use, or just plain incorrect use of any design element, including sex, is a nuisance.

Well thanks all! And you have a nice day.

quote: Original post by Ketchaval

What does sex contribute to gameplay, well that really is a sick concept too. Sex should be about loving couples, expressing that in a beautiful way, not about some way of getting ahead in a game, I cannot see that sex should really be used in games as some sort of prostitution or gold-digging mechanism, which is one way that it could be construed as adding to the game mechanism.

But why should sex only be about loving couples, when it isn''t so in the real world either? I really hate glorification (I don''t know if that''s the right word, but I mean hiding the "ugly" facts) and censorship, though I also hate the way games usually view females as only sex objects.

-Jussi

So how would one incorporate sex into a game? Games, by there nature, involve conflict. Violence is usually about conflict, so it''s easy to add into a game. Sex generally isn''t about conflict. It''s rarely about tradeoffs either.

The only ways I can think of are:
1) Gratuitous by-product. This is used a lot today. It''s the character or villain with extra large breasts and a skimpy outfit. Has little or nothing to do with the main plot of the game. It''s nice eye-candy, but that''s about it.

2) Sex is the goal. Whether it''s seduction or strip poker, the player''s goal or reward, is having sex with the character on the screen. This method can be mechanistic, and in most cases by the time the player has figured out the correct dialogue choices or whatnot they could have already downloaded a gig of porn from the internet. The other problem is holding the interest of the mature gamer. If the gameplay is dull, the payoff isn;t really worth it - it''s easier to go rent something. If the game is interesting then the payoff is irrelevant.

3) Sex as a tradeoff. For example, sleeping with one character means another won''t talk to you as openly. Sex becomes a choice like any other action in the game. Graphic display becomes optional - for example Fallout had a fade to black instead. But now we''re back to game mechanics and this reduces our use of sex for a selling point. Extra sex scenes would disturb the sense of continuity unless the game was concerned with the details of all relationships and had similar graphic displays for non-sexual activity as well.

4) Sex as an incidental option. Player can encounter sex, but it doesn''t really matter to the main plot. Could be an easter egg, for example. I distinguish this from item 1 since this would be only a few places and the player would have to take specific action to trigger it.

None of my ideas are employ graphic sex in a way that makes the game better, except for the first, which may not really be any better, and in rare cases the third. Anyone got any other ideas?

I have nocturnal illusions,..never played it..
I didn''t like paradise heights( for the story, it''s terrible. but the scenes/girls were pretty)

fatalrelations is cute cause the two make it out alive.

I only wish the story changed depending on what/who you choose.

nosex:
I choose aeris over tifa in ff7 (didn''t like Tifa)
But if ff7 was a dirty game, then(like most) you''d have to have(see scenes of) sex with both, I wouldn''t with Tifa(I promise Aeris!...hehe).

aeris was still better, even though only kissed her at the play.(i think),
and my second time playing I went with tifa half way...then switched back to aeris...i just dont like tifa...and it would have made me mad if the game forced me to be with her..like in other games...sex or not.

Point is i got to choose(at certain times) what I wanted to do/who i wanted to be with.

Sex or no sex, you should be able to choose in a game(Hear that nintendo!(Mario has to be with princess hmm? to this i say no!))!!!!! Damnit...Whether for laughs(debatable(spelling?)), or just what-if''s, or true sim style, or just for the sake of seeing something dirty. hehe.



I was teasing about the nintendo thing...but still I think more choices should be in games..even if they make no sense and don''t reflect on previous games.

you anonymous posters have real login names don''t you..hehehe!
Whether really shy, or just for laughs...it''s still funny to me.

check out this online game whorehouse.naken.cc
nice ehh?

sex in games to further the story and/or emotional envolvement to the game is IMHO a great tool, if anyone has played Xenogears (which i still find has the best story of any game i''ve ever played) used the main charactors involvement with elly to give justification to why he was willing to fight and overcome his internl conflicts... any way i gues what i''m saying is... uh... yes

To discuss this issue and not mention the Liesure Suit Larry games would be a mistake...

These games were fun and tasteful at the same time. I''m not sure what Sierra actually made off of these game but it was enough to follow the original game with something like 4-5 sequels.

As for avoiding gratuitous sleeze... I say yes. Kids grow up too quick already (I know most of you don''t have children yet, believe me it''s true) and having games that "normalize" this kind of stuff isn''t needed. If the game is geared for adults only, then ok... but otherwise, no.

Someone said that sex sells. To this I say, yes it does. But when it is overboard... it doesn''t (at least not yet). If you look at some of the stuff that Madonna released in the 90''s you''ll see that she was given bad press and in turn affected her album sells. But, at the same time she released her book the first printing sold out relatively quick (all of this is from memory, I don''t have hard stats).

There is a sub-culture that accepts sexual freedom/expression. Catering to these people would place you in the same classification as the adult video. You might make money but never the amount that you could make from the traditional game market. Your games might even suffer the same as the adult videos. Poor plot and lighting and horible acting

I do think that there is sex in games already. In the 3rd act in Diablo II... those two chicks in town are sexy! In UO on the paperdoll of some female characters... they were hot! And what about the box for Everquest? Thats a hottie!

The level of sex can be directly corrolated with T.V. [I''m talking about T.V. here in the states... as T.V. in other parts of the world is different. Germany for example; in shampoo ads... boobshots are OK. In the states, nope.] That being the level of "ludeness" on non-cable T.V. is about as far as you can go in a game. Go beyond that and you may be in trouble.

Americans are funny. They have some strange fobia about the human body... I lived in Germany for 5 and 1/2 years... I went to nude beaches (I was 19-24 at the time) and learned to enjoy the female form for something more than just a sexual object. I also had to try and not think about it for other reasons that should be obvious to most of you When I came back to the states... I realized that we were really inhibitted about sex and the sight of flesh.

Anyway... I''m babling... I think that sex, presented in the right way, can be utilized to extend a plot or to enhance game play.

Hmmm where did I put my latest issue of Playboy?


Dave "Dak Lozar" Loeser

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