Everything you wanted to know about gaming and sex (but were afraid to ask)

by Ross Miller { May 29th 2008 at 2:00AM }

The use of sexual content in video games is not exactly the industry's proudest bullet point. Daniel Floyd, a student of Savannah College of Art and Design (home of noted game designer Brenda Brathwaite), has produced a nine-minute video that lays out sex's relationship with video games pretty well.

Floyd covers the history, the current state of affairs, and how we might progress as an industry in incorporating sex in a mature way. Admittedly inspired by Zero Punctuation, the video is very entertaining and easy to follow. Check it out and get educated.

[Via Rock Paper Shotgun]

Tags: industry, sex, video-games

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Anticrawl @ May 29th 2008 2:10AM

Custard's Revenge made my grandma cry. But the mention of MUDs makes me want to install zMud and take a romp in AoC or AvP.

Trickob @ May 29th 2008 2:19AM

Custard's Revenge = the Ultimate Epic Fail

Anticrawl @ May 29th 2008 2:21AM

Indeed it was, and hit especially hard to home with my family.

But anyway, watch the video. The best part was the ending (and not because it was overly long).

Tyler Jones @ May 29th 2008 2:23AM

Brillantly put and made. A few over used images, but the dude def. deserves an A.

reppy @ May 29th 2008 2:32AM

An OK video. It didn't really say anything new though, and did it in a childish manner. That's my main gripe against this video: a mature and complex topic.. with silly images and the cartoony voice over? I don't know. I guess when most of us can't stay focused for more than 30 seconds, you have to resort to stuff like that.

BananaBoat @ May 29th 2008 3:52AM

Let's not forget that he uses his own definition of what is sexy, as a basis for how sexually charged video games are shallow. Is Japan an immature country for liking blatantly adult games (with sex, mostly made by illusion soft as far as 3D is concerned) or less blatant "Cheap thrills" like Dead or Alive:Xtreme Beach Volleyball? Who is this guy to tell a country that their sexual preferences are odd? (even if they are sometimes. Eels. Nuff said).

It's a message that will stick sooner or later; That sometimes sex (The actual act of sex, not sexy things like big clothed boobs etc) is needed to advance the plot of a video game, just like it's needed to advance the plot of alot (maybe too many) films. Trying to do it with a goofy cartoon, dubbed over with a goofy childish sounding voice (goes a long way toward making the medium seem mature..) isn't going to help though.

reppy @ May 29th 2008 5:19AM

Good points. I agree with the overall argument by the video (i.e., less gratuity, more sex in the actual plot development.. and the sex does not need to be graphic). But the presentation makes it a little harder to take it serious.

Not saying it's a bad video by any means-- just pointing out a few things-- overall it's good.

Nate @ May 29th 2008 8:52AM

I have to disagree. I think the format is the only thing that makes it interesting and actually does a lot to get the point across. Tons of people have written articles on why sex in video games isn't a big deal, but how many of those have any of us actually read? They're boring as hell. This one is amusing, but still takes the subject seriously. It'll get a thousand times as many hits as one that was in a more formal format. I think it was brilliant.

Paviel @ May 29th 2008 2:34AM

Even in some Mario games there is some implied sexuality. Like in Super Mario Sunshine, where Bowser Junior calls Peach his mom, and Paper Mario 2, where a computer falls in love with Peach after observing her in the shower.

And then there's sUpeR MaRio GalAxY. Not only are those seven letters highlighted just so, but there are some scenes that are (to quote Yahtzee from Zero Punctuation) "appealingly fucked up when taken out of context, like... crawling around on the exterior of a giant woman picking debris out of her rampant pubic hair."

Phi Nguyen @ May 29th 2008 2:39AM

Hey, a video from my hometown! My sister's going to SCAD next semester. Luckily, she's getting 20K+ in scholarship money a year. That school is so frickin' expensive.

This video was amusing to a game nerd such as myself but I can't imagine a non-gamer being able to sit through this entire video and therein lies the problem. Reppy (in a post above me) has a very valid point. If we are going to get our voice heard by the general population, it is not going to be with videos that are inspired by zeropunctuation.

crab battle @ May 29th 2008 2:41AM

First of all, I really like this video. It's well done, logical, easy to understand, and raises some good points.
However, his proposed solutions are somewhat half-assed. The reason why games don't delve deeper in sexuality is because society says no. Too much sex, even if tasteful, means an "AO" rating by the ESRB. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo won't certify it, and most stores won't carry it. In other words: retail death.
Movies can get slapped with a "R" and "NC-17" rating, but people can still watch them. Music gets an "explicit content" advisory, but we can still buy it. With an "AO" rating, society just gives a giant middle finger to the gaming industry and trots along its merry way. What the fuck are game developers supposed to do? Hell, even if there is practically no sex in a game (Mass Effect) it gets labeled as a fucking porn simulator. If the ratings system and policies are fixed, then we can get sexual creativity.

Philip (Fernando Rocker Defence Force) @ May 29th 2008 3:23AM

I never thought I would see the day when someone would talk about getting "sexually creative" on the 'stiq.

Levi @ May 29th 2008 4:13AM

"However, his proposed solutions are somewhat half-assed. The reason why games don't delve deeper in sexuality is because society says no."

So you are saying that in order for a developer to include strong mature sexual content in a game, he has to wait for society to change? I couldn't disagree with you more. It is an artists creation that causes culture to change. History proves this. He even shows recent examples in other mediums. Movies, comics, Elvis' hips, they all caused a controversy at the time , and society eventually grew to accept it.

I agree that the AO rating is a death note to a video game, but it is going to take a maverick developer, and a supportive publisher to challenge our societies norms. It's already happening right now. Mass Effect caused a stir with its suggestive content, but everybody with a sane mind ignored the controversy and the game turned out to be a hit.

Nate @ May 29th 2008 8:58AM

I agree with those that disagree with you. Rockstar is proving that if you have a good enough game, you can put whatever the hell you want in there and Walmart can suck it.

The game developers need to keep coming up with hits that include sexuality so that parents, old people, and legislatures can see that having a strip club in a game doesn't make Bobby into a serial rapist. Most of those folks still think all video games should be like pac-man or tetris. Hell, even pac-man has you playing what is essentially a cannibalistic serial killer... but no tits! God help you if there are any tits!

Hammer @ Jun 30th 2008 9:55PM

The system isn't going to change first. Sure, retailers would never stock an Ao game, but that's where digital distribution comes in. A service like Steam can sell games (very well) without ever putting them in a wal-mart or gamestop. And that's what it's going to take for more mature games to sell in numbers high enough to both garner attention and not go bankrupt.

gamerprophet @ May 29th 2008 2:53AM

Good video, he made some very good points.

Nikonov @ May 29th 2008 2:58AM

Does anyone else find his sped up voice totally intolerable?

crab battle @ May 29th 2008 3:40AM

@ Philip

Yeah, that was poor wording on my part. Good thing the 'stiq has an edit button.

Alcevious @ May 29th 2008 3:40AM

I prefer video game enthusiast to video gamer. It makes me sound smart and has just enough irony to fool people into thinking I'm funny.

WMain00 @ May 29th 2008 5:08AM

So far the examples i've seen for sex in games have mostly been only slightly successful. Mass Effect's sex scene was hardly anything, and if you blinked you missed it. Surprisingly Fahrenheit did the question of sex quite well, even if one situation was a point click mini game...

I blame Fahrenheit really for kicking up the whole new question of "Should we have sexual content in games?" The answer is that yes, we probably should, but it would need to be handled correctly.

There's no point sticking in a sex scene into a game that has no reason for it. Sudddenly Duke Nukem stops his rampage and gives one of the females some sweet loving! Or after just been slashed and maimed by an alien twice, you decide to ditch the crowbar and the specs and tell Alyx how you feel.

Kazi @ May 29th 2008 5:48AM

Both of those examples are highly likely and would definitely fit (Though Duke wouldn't exactly be tasteful).

Alex @ May 29th 2008 5:09AM

SEX

I'M JUST 2 PEOPLE SHORT OF A THREESOME.

Tremendous.

Raptor @ May 29th 2008 8:02AM

Its call RATING SYSTEMS!!
HAVE THE STORES SHOW MORE RATING SYSTEM!!!
Then this will all be over.
PARENTS ARE STUPID!
Read and pay attention less. Bitch a complain more.

Evan @ May 29th 2008 9:12AM

I like his solution - depict more relationships in games. But before games can depict relationships with any credibility, games have to become more personal with the characters.

Right now I think games fail because they try too hard to be "epic". Games have you fighting a thousand minions in a world the size of a continent. But as game worlds have gotten larger and stories gotten less linear, they've lost the details that can make the characters and story personal and intimate.

Classic games almost always had one main villain, shown in cut-scenes or battled in every boss battle. It made the characters more personal because the game boiled down to the relationship between two personalities. But even that basic hero-villain relationship is missing from many modern games where you battle an army, gang, or species with no clear leader! Although some games try to create a strong or iconic main character, they lack strong secondary characters, and at best the main character is a loner with inner conflicts but has no relationships.

So, I'd like to see games with a smaller cast of characters, where every character is given a personality and relationship with the main character. I'd also like to see games with a smaller world, where every location is becomes important to the story. Smaller, but more focused on the details.

xGeneral DEATHx @ May 29th 2008 3:11PM

Well-met. I too believe that the large scale of games and movies these days seem to be pulling us away from what makes a great narrative: The viewers'/players' personal connection to the characters. To make stories more personal, the creative teams involved must remember that personal connections begin as one-to-one interactions. And now that I read what I just wrote, I almost feel a bit dirty.

lee @ May 29th 2008 10:18AM

wow. amazing video. i think gta is helping change it with its relationship/sex parts in the game. i say 10 years from now, when graphics are close to realism, relationships and sex will be taken a bit more seriously. its just that games still look like cartoons.

Carl Abrams @ May 29th 2008 11:04AM

There's some serious movie style sex in GTAIV right now without it being over the top. Go pick up a hooker and have a convertible - she either gives you a hand, oral, or full ride. Of course, then when you shoot her dead and take your money back, that makes it redeeming for the ERSB.

Going to the two strip clubs and sitting through all three dances - it's erotic without actually being the full Virtual Jenna. Those games are annoying, in that there's no real interaction. You simply dress the doll up, put whatever you into whichever hole you choose, and watch.

Having relationships in games will help - Mass Effect is done quite well in that you can make yourself grow with the character and care about them. I found myself quite annoyed in Oblivion that I couldn't actually relate more to the NPC's.

Misfit Toy @ May 29th 2008 11:14AM

Nicely done.

Varone @ May 29th 2008 11:49AM

He complains about the horrible misconception of 'gamers' as being nerdy shut ins, but he just made a 9 minute video talking about sex in games, overlayed with a comical voiceover and including little hand drawn people and giving consoles legs arms and eyes... I want my time back.

CJLopez @ May 31st 2008 9:18PM

I never saw him complaining, he just stated that when someone heard the word gamer or video gamer, his first though is the one protrayed on this video.

It's only a few people that knows that nowaday gamers aren't just your typical nerd, you can see a pretty gorgeous woman (take for example one of the girls of the PlayBoy mansion who stated she liked video games a lot) or a proffesional sport player and never give as though that he likes to play video games when he does

Dash @ May 29th 2008 12:52PM

I like the video for the simple fact that he is asking for games to try harder to talk about serious topics in serious ways. I believe a game can have a plot as good as any movie or book, and with complex characters. There are games out there that have it , and treat such topics as sexual relations, violence or politics in a tasteful way.

And for everybody that complained about the animation, saying it's too childish to be serious, well, unless you have read the academic studies (on Gamasutra there are many, and they are great), then you have to agree that this is the only way to have some people (like you) to see the presentation.

Zaber Guard @ May 29th 2008 3:47PM

Well done.
Like many before you, youv managed to make a logical argument over the content of something in games that are controversal. Sexuality is a very large issue in games these days, and It seems silly that by now people have note treated it like sex in movies or TV. I mean, my DAD played Mass Effect and saw the sex scene, and he was surprised that he saw worse on LOST (season finale tonight, gotta say it, my bad) he though it would be porno style 0h-my-god-how-do-they-do-that-it-cant-bend-that-way scen after he read a certain article by a Mr. Kevin McDouchebag (name not certain)
Well Done my friend, another voice to the rational cause

Sourcerer @ May 29th 2008 10:43PM

People in the industry are well aware of this fact, the problem comes from marketing, publishers, ESRB ratings, first party requirements, the list goes on and on. Games are getting there, Mass Effect took a step in the right direction but it was immediately exploited by the media until gamers retaliated and made their point. There was since a public apology.

In the grand scheme of things Games are still young like Daniel says. Movies were once young, and when they were new they were considered as games are now. Inappropriate - problmeatic for children and depicting of taboo subjects as a means of entertainment. This went away with time for movies, and will so for video games as well.

In a brief amount of time we will begin to see our fellow gamers taking important rolls in government, and other political places of power where they can help educate the unaware and lighten the load on the industry.

Our time is coming, just be patient.

digitalain @ May 29th 2008 11:46PM

As both an artist and a video game enthusiast, I found this video as a call to arms. I hereby promise to push the envelope of tasteful sexuality in video games.

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Stephanie @ Jul 11th 2008 10:42AM

You make a lot of really good points, and ones that never really had thought of till now. I admit to having given to watching Dead or Alive girls coyly touch each other and what have you, but when you mentioned ICO, my heart skipped a beat because I remember how intimate it was, and how much I cared for the two characters, as a 'couple', and individually. It would be nice to see a sort of 'chivalric romance' played up in some of these games without them feeling the need to make it gritty and whorish. It would be nice to see a full-fledged Peach on Mario kiss instead of just a peck for all his hard work.

It's so strange how America is indeed 'afraid' of sex, and how quick we are to either look the other way, or assume it's dirty and wrong. Sort of like how people percieve gay couples. They completely overlook the 'relationship' of them, focusing instead on the grisly image of two men humping each other. There's a lot more to it than that.

I hope you're right, and that eventually we will focus harder on content rather than visual cues to satisfy us. Some of the best games Ive ever played have been ones with a good relationship between the characters (Prince of Persia, Half-Life 2, etc)

Thanks for this!!!

Sasha @ Jul 30th 2008 7:35PM

No one mentioned games like Portal and Bioshock. These are games where you don't necessarily have a direct relationship to the other being, but you do relate to them in a one-on-one way. These games have both done very well. It is still sad that these games are the extent to which the non-gaming community will let us take our games. Bioshock is rated M for Blood and Gore, Drug References, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, and Strong Language. I imagine Portal is rated the game equivalent of PG-13. The point is we cannot show the slightest bit of sex, but we can show some poor fool getting burned to death. The same thing happens in movies when they rate it more mature if there is naughty words than if it is violent. The general public is unenlightened. It is sad, really.

Ralphomon @ Aug 1st 2008 9:54AM

Mighty Jill Off. In independent game, based on Mighty Bomb Jack, that deals with sexuality (and even BDSM, surprisingly) in a mature way, without over-sensationalising it, or making it some cheap gimmick, but just including it as part of the game's background. And excellent, fun and surprisingly sweet game.