Playing Dirty: We fit together!
by Bonnie Ruberg 
{ Mar 15th 2007 at 11:00AM }
Every other week, Bonnie Ruberg contributes Playing Dirty, a column on sex and gender in video games
:
Watching Alexey Pajitnov receive the First Penquin award at this year's Game Developer's Choice Awards, it occurred to me I'd never really thought about the face behind Tetris. Sure, I'd heard Pajitnov's name plenty of times, but the man himself, and that lovable, Santa-bought-hair-dye beard, those were off the radar. Who knows what I expected of the infamous Russian: someone stiffer, more stand-off ish, a gaming visage for the Cold War itself. Not that Tetris has much to do with politics. In fact, for me, the game has always represented something totally different. I associate Tetris with sex.
At first, the idea sounds absurd. Colored blocks remind you of sex? Deprived gamer alert! But think about it: the point of Tetris is to make things fit together. Blocks float down to fit in the spaces left open by other blocks. When things fit together right, they make a solid line, a happy, unified whole. When they don't fit right, blocks leave ugly, open patches, the gaping black bane of Tetris existence. To win the game, you need to make sure every block finds its hole.
When we talk about Tetris as a metaphor for sex, there are two different ways we can look at it. First, there's the literal level. Just like those blocks, people physically fit together when they have sex. Most often, we insert our different extremities (Let's not limit ourselves to penises here) into our different orifices. Similarly, there are lots of different block groups in Tetris: long, thin block groups, square block groups, block groups shaped like L's, like S's, and like tiny T's. Just like extremities and orifices, each group fits into certain openings, and some better than others. In that way, Tetris is like sex stripped down: no aura, no foreplay, no nothing.
The other way of looking at Tetris is as a metaphor not just for sex, but for sexual orientation. When we play, we're not always fitting together the same kinds of blocks or the same kinds of holes. If we stretch our imaginations a little bit farther, we can consider these different shapes to be different people engaged in sex. We could well imagine, for example, that two square shapes that meet surface to surface are a pair of lesbian lovers. On the other hand, two S shapes, one of which cups the back of the other, might look like two gay men. And the long, thin blocks that find the long, thin holes ... There's room in this game for everyone.
But if there's a lesson to be learned in Tetris (besides how to play a game so long that it haunts your feverish, casual-game ridden dreams), it's not about sex, or even sexual orientation, it's about acceptance. No one block/hole combination in the game is any more important, or normal, than any other. Neither, in the grand scale of things, is any one pairing of body part and orifice, of gendered person with gendered person. In Tetris as in society, it takes all different shapes and kinds to make the game as a whole fit together.
Bonnie Ruberg is a writer, researcher, and all around fangirl with a big crush on games. Find more of her work at Gamasutra, The Onion A. V. Club, or her blog, Heroine Sheik. She can be reached at 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JodyAnthony @ Mar 15th 2007 11:03AM
Whew, what a relief! Now I don't have to be embarrassed of my L-shaped penis.
sonymnms @ Mar 15th 2007 11:15AM
umm...bonnie are you sure you're straight?
Grimolfr @ Mar 15th 2007 11:09AM
This article is so shitty.
Liquidize @ Mar 15th 2007 11:19AM
I'm waiting for the summercamp "there is no tetris filth in my sex life" post with wii people....
jadenguy @ Mar 15th 2007 12:50PM
that's bull, because everybody knows that the straight piece is the best tetris piece ever and every other piece does it's best to accommodate it if anybody wants to get anything done. also, eroticizing sex doesn't work here, i think. the game can be interpreted to offer abstract biological movement like sex or eating or whatever, but making it out to be sensual seems a bit far fetched. if anything, it's mechanical and necessary, only enjoyable in terms of survivability.
Kyle @ Mar 15th 2007 11:42AM
Wooooooooow joystiq are you really that desperate to have a sex column that you're willing to publish this? I know we're horny game geeks and any time a girl writes about body parts going into orifices we're supposed to wet ourselves with excitement, but really. Can't we just accept at this point that the main place our industry and sex intersect are in the minds of people playing games, and not in any real meaningful way?
Breserk @ Mar 15th 2007 11:32AM
Out of ideas, Bonnie? You're stretching it. The several first articles which appeared here were great. (The Castlevania one in particular!) The last few.... Not so much.
Matt B @ Mar 15th 2007 11:36AM
In that perspective, does the ATM orgasm money all over your hands? You did stick in your card.
Josh @ Mar 15th 2007 11:46AM
Geez.. you guys need to open up. And asking her if she's straight after that article pretty much shows you missed the whole point. Philistines.
JodyAnthony @ Mar 15th 2007 11:42AM
if sex was like tetris, how come I can last more than 5 minutes in a game of tetris?
WD @ Mar 15th 2007 1:16PM
Wow, scraping the bottom of the barrel with this article.
WebPimp @ Mar 15th 2007 11:48AM
I'd kind of have to agree with Kyle on this one. This seems to be kind of a stretch to have a "mature" theme on your site. For what you do, I don't see a need for it.
Rob Stevens @ Mar 15th 2007 11:49AM
There's nothing wrong with this article that can't be explained by Bonnie's being a Freudian. :)
Seriously, Bonnie, keep it up. You've come a long way since your PlanetGameCube days!
JodyAnthony @ Mar 15th 2007 11:52AM
I would like to say that I enjoy these articles, even if this one is stretching a little. keep em up
James @ Mar 15th 2007 11:52AM
"When I play RPGs starring effeminite heroes weilding oversized swords, I associate the experience with sex. Here are characters secure enough in their masculinity that they actively persue alternate-gendered style while still clinging to their grossly phallic swords, satisfying an inner need to "oppress" others using said masculinity. These strangely contradictory elements are essential to understanding the Japanese sexual mindset."
I've got the idea for the next collumn set!
pocketmnky @ Mar 15th 2007 12:16PM
Come on guys; if she thinks about sex when she plays Tetris; so be it. If anything this should serve as a very informative view into the female perspective on gaming and sex in general.
There is something so much more subtle about the woman's psyche that could put the emotion of Tetris into the emotion of sex. I say Bravo. These other guys would prefer Hot Coffee style in your face sex in their video games; Women just don't tend to work that way.
Hammer @ Mar 15th 2007 12:19PM
I like the tongue in cheek aspect of this article (which some of the other commenters are completely missing, or which I'm conjuring out of thin air - I'm not sure which), however it's far from the best thing that Bonnie has written. It may well have been more appropriate for her Heroine Sheik blog rather then Joystiq.
Fortyseven @ Mar 15th 2007 12:43PM
People need to fucking relax and stop reaching for the axe when something doesn't meet their expectations. Just move on.
Markusdragon @ Mar 15th 2007 12:25PM
Yesterday I said on a podcast that Tetris was a metaphor for the Berlin Wall and the iron curtain.
You mean to tell me that the iron curtain was made of sex?
fulci zombi @ Mar 15th 2007 12:26PM
Sooo, what, you finally played a copy of sextris?
Crono @ Mar 15th 2007 12:29PM
This one is totally a stretch. A 100 yard stretch. Deprived gamer alert is right. You gotta have your mind on sex all the time for tetris to remind you of sex.
I've got one of the dirtiest minds out there (just ask my wife), and while the thought had occurred to me, I never thought of "2 square blocks next to each other" as lesbians, or spooning L's as a pair of gay dudes. This is the definition of a stretch.
Do you also think of sex when you put your key in your apartment lock? Or in the ignition of your car? Do you think of strap on sex when you plug something into an outlet?
I mean seriously.
Muku @ Mar 15th 2007 12:43PM
I'll agree that it was a bit of a stretch here.
@ pocketmnky
Not all females think that way, just seem Bonnie does. Never as I as a female gamer ever thought of Tetris relating to sex at any time while playing it. Perhaps some other females do, but none that I ever have met.
shivr @ Mar 15th 2007 1:17PM
A very cute article :3
James @ Mar 15th 2007 1:18PM
I couldn't and can't accept this as tongue in cheek because it still tries to come across with some intelligible and yet still heavy-handed moral. The article isn't clever, it's hardly satirical, and when combined with the theme of the articles as a whole (sex, sexuality, gender, and related elements in gaming) it just feels tacked on as there really isn't too much to write about.
Also, to pcketmnky, just FYI- that's an incredibly stupid sexist outlook. Men and women have different viewpoints even within their own genders and while they may /tend/ to think in terms of X, Y, or Z, it's hardly a rule of thumb (ironic phrase usage OMGZ!!)
marke @ Mar 15th 2007 1:21PM
stop this column, it sucks. just think about the premise for this article and then you might realize you are wasting your life
sonymnms @ Mar 15th 2007 6:49PM
Im bringing sexy back! WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!
Tetris = sex ...Sure, maybe,... guess you can look at it like that.
Bonnie=Pervert.. definitley
Jackson Pritt @ Mar 15th 2007 2:51PM
I have to agree with James.
The admittedly ENORMOUS stretch to make Tetris about sex, just for the "payoff" of a ehavy-handed moral about how it's OK to be different is basically crap. As someone who basically agrees with the final statement it's even more annoying to see it presented with this tacked-on video game analogy.
Once you take away the tacked-on nonsense this article has nothing to do with games or gamers outside of an overarching blanket pronunciation about how we should all obey the Golden Rule and cherish eachother's individuality which, while it's a nice thought, doesn't belong in a blog like this.
Sean @ Mar 15th 2007 2:05PM
Reading these comments is a little disheartening. "Playing Dirty" is about presenting a different viewpoint. I think this column does a great job of exploring ideas that most of us haven't considered before. Bonnie does a fantastic job because she doesn't demand that her readers agree with these unexpected ideas; she just asks that we consider them. I, for one, enjoy the intellectual exercise.
I may ultimately reject the idea of Tetris as a metaphor for sex, but along the way I've been forced to consider the role of sex and metaphor in games, the abstract and concrete qualities of Tetris, and the phenomenon of emergent narrative in puzzle games.
For those of you opposed to differing points of view, well... You know what to expect from the column. You don't have to read it.
As for me: I love your column, Bonnie! Keep it up!
Martin Austin @ Mar 15th 2007 3:02PM
@21 jadenguy --
I think you wrote a much better 'article' than Bonnie. Very well done sir!
James @ Mar 15th 2007 5:23PM
*sigh* Fine Sean, I'll bite.
It's important to keep in mind that Ruberg's belief that Tetris supports diversity as "it takes all different shapes and kinds to make the game as a whole fit together" is mired in three main problems. From a gameplay standpoint, it is important to keep in mind that a part of Tetris' challenge comes from the diversity of the blocks and that if the game were comprised of merely "straight" pieces it would be a simple matter for even the most inexperienced player to quickly aquire a record-shattering score. Likewise, from a social standpoint, the name Tetris comes from the Latin "tetr," meaning "four." Each piece is a configuration of four blocks, indicating that all pieces are inherently the same, is a parallel to country of origin, the former Soviet Union. Designed under Marxist and Lenninist socialist philosophies, all people are meant to be truly equal with equal rights, earnings, and priveleges due to a lack of class. Saying it takes "different shapes and kinds," while true as far as occupation is concerned, is detrimental to the communist social concept and is unlikely considering Alexi Pajitnov's background. Finally, all but the most skilled Tetris players are incapable of using every block, which according to Ruberg's line of thinking must ultimately represent misused or placed individuals. These "people" are disruptive to the world around them, ultimately causing failure if there are enough of them. By elliciting frustration from the gamer, these blocks are desired by players to be removed and ostracized. A more accurate lesson from Tetris, by Ruberg's line of thinking, is "God dammit it would be nice if I could get rid of those L shaped blocks/black people/muslims/rich white bastards/insert social, religious, or racial group here."
There's some BS counter-intellectualism, Sean. It can be read in Bonnie's article and Tetris just as easily, but that doesn't mean it isn't a bunch of crap.
Rubang B @ Mar 15th 2007 7:28PM
Oh come on you assholes, you've never thought about sex while slamming those I's and L's into those tight spots? What ELSE can it possibly remind you of? The premise of this article, the Tetris-as-sex metaphor, was really obvious, and Bonnie's not the first to have used it. But what Bonnie did do well was take that premise and use it to craft a nice essay about sex and gender orientations and how they all fit together in this crazy Tetris pie we call life.
Rubang B @ Mar 15th 2007 7:31PM
On the other hand, if you have unprotected Tetris, you should definitely see Dr. Mario.
reppy @ Mar 16th 2007 5:15AM
This sounds like something someone would think up when they were stoned.
"No man, don't you get it.. this song.. it's about SEX, man.."
"Uh, this is the Hokey Pokey."
"Exactly, a bunch of Hokey Pokey is what it is! And I'm telling you what it's all about: SEX!"
Here's a better metaphor: when I get home from work, I stick my key in the door. My key, and my key only, will get the door to open up. Once I'm inside, the possibilities are limitless. Sometimes, I bring things home with me. I'm usually able to get them in through the front door. Other times, I sneak things in the back door.
If I don't go straight home to that door after work, I can get in trouble. I feel kind of silly, keeping the keys to all these old doors that I no longer even visit. But a part of me can't seem to let go of the past. Besides, one day, those doors might need opening.
Reminders:
- Do not slam the door, or knock too loudly.
- If you're sure you won't wake anyone, push the bell.
- Make sure the door is open and ready to be entered.
- Do not try to fit too many people in your door at once.
reppy @ Mar 16th 2007 5:16AM
@ 31
Not even while playing "Sextris" did I ever think that Tetris had anything to do with sex.
Shockz @ Mar 16th 2007 7:40AM
http://www.duelinganalogs.com/?date=2005-12-20
That's all I have to say about it.
Je2037 @ Mar 16th 2007 3:12PM
Boooooooooooooooo
void @ Mar 17th 2007 4:36AM
"No one block/hole combination in the game is any more important, or normal, than any other."
Actually, the long piece is the only piece that can score a tetris, thus proving that size does matter.