I see it as a bit of an ink blot test really. If all you see is boobs, then that's all you will ever see no matter which ink blot gets put in front of you. If the sight of something sexual upsets you every time, and still that's all you see, then perhaps the issue isn't with the game.
I can't help but imagine an analyst in the background running metics on everyone's reactions to various stimuli and selling that data to some marketing aggragator to tweak their next round of targetted ads. It sort of spoils the mood.
"So yeah… what exactly are your rewards for sexing up an enemy?"
Fap Fap Fap Fap... Unhhh!
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse. - FARGIN_WAR
Good article, I appreciated the ludicrous stories/images and offer up several chuckles in thanks. Having said that, it's a minefield kind of topic but one probably worth exploring.
In my experience so far it seems pretty well split by gender re what men and women generally think of it. Most of the women I know find sex in mmos to be problematic unless it's a bit of private ERP within a relationship. In contrast, most of the men I know get mild to lots of pleasure from the visual stimulus mmos can provide. I know at least two men who use mmos as porn since their religion bars it. LOL
Sex in MMO's is fine. Just the same as anything else. And there is a Sex Based MMO. I dont recall the name currently but it is the full gamut from reading the description, from benign to your most perverse late night google searches *whatever those might be*...
Then there is the WoW private servers that include all nude avatars...or Mortal Online complete with dangly parts. Then there is Age of Conan. I had the pleasure of early beta testing this game and I was sad to see launch...why? because alot of the nudity vanished with launch. The one that come to mind the most from that game...on Tortage, in the sewers, there was a canibal chief you got to kill....in his little corner spawn, prior to launch, was a female naked torso that had been eaten on....gratitious breasts? I thought not...it lent to the scene of a savage who eat people....not clothes, but people....With launch? ...suddenly clothed...as were alot of the formerly nude in the land of Set, a desert full of decadent perverts.....conversly, the ladies in the north all got fur tops, which made sense!
So, do I care if I see nudity in a game? not really, it's not like I cant mistype a url and have more pr0n that I can shake a mouse at. If it contributes to the feeling of the game or continuity, then great. I wouldnt mind see a MMO that is a long term endeavor and you could possibly meet an NPC in game or...flag yourself for sex...and meet up with another character and get in game bonuses for being married or even a way that your character and the other character's traits are combined, from looks to attributes, to generate a "new character" which inherits something from it's parents. Perhaps always a set of twins so both get the character or what ever.
I liked the Witcher and collecting the card of the wenches I had conquered. Same thing could be in a MMO....go to a brothel...bed the NPC well...get a line on the underground black market....seduce the princess..(I cant help but think of Anne Rices Sleeping Beauty series here)....and get some NPC henchmen or some other bonus.
Now that I think about it....would not Gor be a good MMO setting for this kind of game?
I could type out a whole article on the down side to this kind of thing, having been the DM (taht's GM to you non-DnD peeps) on a White Wolf D20 website for a few years. Suffice to say...it's a wierd feeling to know that Eve (played by Steve) and Leigh Ann (played by Leroy) are RPing a Lesbian relationship.....or...the one that bothered me the most was the constant watch out for predators looking for younger kids and trying to fight that.
Originally posted by maxima29 Nothing wrong with running around age of Conan with your enlarged boob potion swinging your axe or having a relationship with a companion in swtor. But unfortunately some are not mature enough or understand the topic like a recent poster on here hating on swtor comparing how he does not get enough free from swtor and the pain and trouble it causes his is like a rape victim. Now that's crossing the line and somehow this site has yet to take that post down.
If there's a post like that around, then please report it. Mods go through the forums daily, but unfortunately, sometimes we miss something that needs to be looked at. It's more than likely an oversight.
When it comes to sex this site has some of the most uptight people working for it on the internet. In the last year you guys have done far too many bits on sex in mmos and each one has always had the same tone....sex is dirty and something people shouldn't talk about openly.
I'm glad to see the younger generation hasn't been beat over the head with this dark age idea, and you can often see them confused by the idea that looking at...whatever gender you find attractive is wrong in some way.
MMOs are about human interests, sex is a big part of that and will always remain a big part of many of them.
I'm talking about sex openly and I'm not saying it's dirty.
What I'm saying is that it's difficult to make a sex-based or overtly sexual viable on a multitude of levels: not simply as a game, but also as something worth marketing to cultures that do not share the same openness towards sex.
That said, if you have a good game, you shouldn't have to need sexual representations to make it worth playing., right?
Worth playing ? Does it ever make a game worth playing ? Does it add something to the game for some people....yes.
I guess when we talk sex there's intercourse sex and there's naked/mostly naked running around in sexy outfits but doing normal mmo things.
I have 0 interest in the former but the latter for me at least makes the game more fun/interesting. I enjoy the sexy armors, the ridiculous costumes. Take the exact same game and give one normal looking armor and the other TERA style armor and I'll pick the TERA one every time.
That all said...not every game needs to be designed for me. If they make an mmo that has actual sex in it. I'd probably give it a pass but I wouldn't rage about it being made on these forums. I simply wouldn't play that particular game. If it gets other people playing then it needed to be made and good for anyone that enjoys it.
This article is a joke right? The idea of sex being in an MMO to replace combat is just stupid. Sorry, but there's no other put it. Sex doesn't have to be a core feature/function. It could be a social one.
What you wrote here follows the logic of "if we add eating food to the game, how do you reward the player when they eat or feed their enemy." The thought is just ridiculous. If you add sex, like GTA, it could heal the players involved or give them some kind of buff or level up their charm or stamina chat. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to come up with uses for sex in MMOs or games in general. if you're going to write an article about this, at least be half way smart about it.
Everyone, look up a game called "sociolotron" before talking about sex in a MMO!
That is not much better than Second Life but you have a point...
I was wondering since the first Scarlet Blade thread (and the following numerous others as well), so much fuss about games with so dismal portrayal of sex, haven't they heard about the genre eroge?
I mean, seriously, Larry? Lol. Don't get me wrong, I like Larry, I was a huge Sierra fan back in the days and played almost all of their games including Mr. Laffer's attempts on the opposite sex (though after the two Passionate Patti episodes the series got worse and worse), but if you want to cite an adventure game according to the topic of sex, why not citing Lula?
Nice tracklist in the end, I'd like to add Chef's favourite cooking recipe from South Park, since in mmo's we do crafting all the time http://youtu.be/tM9rnqdAx00
Second Life has a large subculture dedicated almost exclusively to sex. Entire zones made to be strip clubs and brothels. Entire player-made lines of penises, breasts, and vaginas for your avatar. Toys, positions, furniture; everything you can think of and then some. Its almost crude if it wasn't so much fun. In my opinion sex is one of the best ways to actually role-play. Because sex is so big in America, almost everyone knows and loves it. And it's not all about sex. There are bowling alleys, movie theaters, restaurants, and theme parks that you can take your date to before taking them back to your own pleasure palace that you built just for her/him.
I'll admit cyber sex has, in the past, been kind of labeled a poor man's way to have sex; available to those who are too socially awkward to have the capability in real life. And I also admit that I fit into that category at one point in my life. I've always had a very vivid imagination, and that translates into good role-playing. Meeting people and forming relationships with them in Second Life has actually helped me approach and meet women in real life. It's given me ideas and was a platform to test what works and what doesn't, based almost solely on things I say and how I act. I'm not saying I was ever a womanizer either on the internet or in real life, all I'm saying is that given the right tools, role playing can actually help people solve problems in their real lives, whether its sex or playing baseball. I honestly don't see what the big deal is. To me, sex is as natural as walking down the street. Sometimes I do still feel awkward doing either one of those, but putting yourself out there and taking the risk, even in a video game, can be a big step.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
as long as men have dicks, boobs will sell. there is really no point in getting all up tight about it....Donna, let the boy watch...just...let..the boy....watch...
Sex as a social element of an MMO, ok. Give me tasteful /emotes, and I'll find them boring; give me mature /emotes and I'll make virtual porn. But sex as THE primary element of an MMO, no. At least, not until we all have cybernetic implants so we can feel it.
This article is a joke right? The idea of sex being in an MMO to replace combat is just stupid. Sorry, but there's no other put it. Sex doesn't have to be a core feature/function. It could be a social one.
What you wrote here follows the logic of "if we add eating food to the game, how do you reward the player when they eat or feed their enemy." The thought is just ridiculous. If you add sex, like GTA, it could heal the players involved or give them some kind of buff or level up their charm or stamina chat. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to come up with uses for sex in MMOs or games in general. if you're going to write an article about this, at least be half way smart about it.
I don't think oversexed games are really that important of a topic in the mmo discussion (probably since there haven't been any good ones) except insofar as it might lead to objectification.
Objectification, frankly, is a mental "gateway" leading to many many abusive behaviors. Simply put we have less compassion for objects than we do for real folks.
I would love a game where your female avatar could have a beautiful genuine smile, room shattering optimism, a brilliant sense of social grace, a sharp wit.
But those things only come into the mix through roleplay (even a smile is better expressed through words than through polygons, at least so far. A coupleof girlfriends I have had (and one that I am chasing at the moment, wish me luck) have a smile that can make any pain disappear faster than any narcotic. That instantly wraps itself around your heart and refuses to let go. But how can that be captured in any mmo? It can't. Soooooo we get tits. And if all we have to differentiate one female character from the other is armour/clothing and physical traits such as boobs... objectification can begin.
The same applies to male characters I am sure, but I do feel that at least in this nation we have a much bigger objectification issue regarding women than men.
Thanks for reading! Itch Da skull
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Sex and romance both potentially have a place in a genre based around creating virtual worlds for avatars. The problem is that as far as mainstream gaming goes we're very much still in the Pac-Man era when it comes to realistically (and tastefully) dealing with the subjects. That's why most attempts come off as puerile or vulgar, why they're met with such derision. Gaming has successfully translated the gamut of experiences that books and movies capture and even arguably enhanced them, but have failed to bring an iota of suspense, passion, and eroticism that a few minutes of channel surfing on cable can provide-- that's actually rather sad.
A good step would be to stop thinking only about the act and the potential for titillation and start considering the psychology and the other trappings that make it such a seminal (har-har) part of the human experience.
Originally posted by Atadis Well technically good sir, research has proven that the electrical signals sent to the brain during sexual engagement are linked to the Hypothalamus neurons which engage aggression...I dunno what rock you've come out of but sex and violence are very much related, more than you think.
Studies also show that imagining something and dreaming about something is indistinguishable from actually doing something, based on how well we can read information from a brain. Most sane people can tell the difference between imagining something and doing something. There is a large gap between "some neurons fire" and "sex and violence are related".
I don't know what rock you read that under, but sex and violence generally only co-exist in the minds of unstable people.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Sex and nudity are only deemed bad from religious conservatives. Sex was originally celebrated and was looked at as a gift of being a human being until Religion came into the scene and messed up everything. Some time in the past when man was creating religion while sitting in a cave they decided that sex would get thrown in to the sin's like theft and murder. Look at some of the wacky shit some religions make people do still today in the age of information, its pretty ridiculous but anyway this is about sex and not religion but its hard to separate the two when one is the cause of the other being "bad".
I read a few posts in this thread about the objectification of women, like men are the only ones that lust for sex here or something. Watch any Maury or Jerry Springer show and see all the women who have no idea who is baby daddy. There is a cougar dating website now for women who seek out sex with young dudes, come on man. The whole objectification of women bs is kind of old now. Everyone loves sex, even women.
Sex is natural, all of us here are products of sex. When people can grow up and understand that its not a bad thing and educate their kids instead of not talking about it like its bad, we wouldn't have to deal with articles like this or situations brought about from parents who want to shelter their offspring from life.
But anyway sex in a mmorpg, I really don't see the point unless its part of the story. I really wouldn't care for a porno type game or having sex like that in a game for any other reason than just to have it in there.
Comments
If it weren't for sex none of us would be here.
I see it as a bit of an ink blot test really. If all you see is boobs, then that's all you will ever see no matter which ink blot gets put in front of you. If the sight of something sexual upsets you every time, and still that's all you see, then perhaps the issue isn't with the game.
I can't help but imagine an analyst in the background running metics on everyone's reactions to various stimuli and selling that data to some marketing aggragator to tweak their next round of targetted ads. It sort of spoils the mood.
"So yeah… what exactly are your rewards for sexing up an enemy?"
Fap Fap Fap Fap... Unhhh!
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
Good article, I appreciated the ludicrous stories/images and offer up several chuckles in thanks. Having said that, it's a minefield kind of topic but one probably worth exploring.
In my experience so far it seems pretty well split by gender re what men and women generally think of it. Most of the women I know find sex in mmos to be problematic unless it's a bit of private ERP within a relationship. In contrast, most of the men I know get mild to lots of pleasure from the visual stimulus mmos can provide. I know at least two men who use mmos as porn since their religion bars it. LOL
Sex in MMO's is fine. Just the same as anything else. And there is a Sex Based MMO. I dont recall the name currently but it is the full gamut from reading the description, from benign to your most perverse late night google searches *whatever those might be*...
Then there is the WoW private servers that include all nude avatars...or Mortal Online complete with dangly parts. Then there is Age of Conan. I had the pleasure of early beta testing this game and I was sad to see launch...why? because alot of the nudity vanished with launch. The one that come to mind the most from that game...on Tortage, in the sewers, there was a canibal chief you got to kill....in his little corner spawn, prior to launch, was a female naked torso that had been eaten on....gratitious breasts? I thought not...it lent to the scene of a savage who eat people....not clothes, but people....With launch? ...suddenly clothed...as were alot of the formerly nude in the land of Set, a desert full of decadent perverts.....conversly, the ladies in the north all got fur tops, which made sense!
So, do I care if I see nudity in a game? not really, it's not like I cant mistype a url and have more pr0n that I can shake a mouse at. If it contributes to the feeling of the game or continuity, then great. I wouldnt mind see a MMO that is a long term endeavor and you could possibly meet an NPC in game or...flag yourself for sex...and meet up with another character and get in game bonuses for being married or even a way that your character and the other character's traits are combined, from looks to attributes, to generate a "new character" which inherits something from it's parents. Perhaps always a set of twins so both get the character or what ever.
I liked the Witcher and collecting the card of the wenches I had conquered. Same thing could be in a MMO....go to a brothel...bed the NPC well...get a line on the underground black market....seduce the princess..(I cant help but think of Anne Rices Sleeping Beauty series here)....and get some NPC henchmen or some other bonus.
Now that I think about it....would not Gor be a good MMO setting for this kind of game?
I could type out a whole article on the down side to this kind of thing, having been the DM (taht's GM to you non-DnD peeps) on a White Wolf D20 website for a few years. Suffice to say...it's a wierd feeling to know that Eve (played by Steve) and Leigh Ann (played by Leroy) are RPing a Lesbian relationship.....or...the one that bothered me the most was the constant watch out for predators looking for younger kids and trying to fight that.
If there's a post like that around, then please report it. Mods go through the forums daily, but unfortunately, sometimes we miss something that needs to be looked at. It's more than likely an oversight.
To give feedback on moderation, contact [email protected]
Worth playing ? Does it ever make a game worth playing ? Does it add something to the game for some people....yes.
I guess when we talk sex there's intercourse sex and there's naked/mostly naked running around in sexy outfits but doing normal mmo things.
I have 0 interest in the former but the latter for me at least makes the game more fun/interesting. I enjoy the sexy armors, the ridiculous costumes. Take the exact same game and give one normal looking armor and the other TERA style armor and I'll pick the TERA one every time.
That all said...not every game needs to be designed for me. If they make an mmo that has actual sex in it. I'd probably give it a pass but I wouldn't rage about it being made on these forums. I simply wouldn't play that particular game. If it gets other people playing then it needed to be made and good for anyone that enjoys it.
This article is a joke right? The idea of sex being in an MMO to replace combat is just stupid. Sorry, but there's no other put it. Sex doesn't have to be a core feature/function. It could be a social one.
What you wrote here follows the logic of "if we add eating food to the game, how do you reward the player when they eat or feed their enemy." The thought is just ridiculous. If you add sex, like GTA, it could heal the players involved or give them some kind of buff or level up their charm or stamina chat. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to come up with uses for sex in MMOs or games in general. if you're going to write an article about this, at least be half way smart about it.
That is not much better than Second Life but you have a point...
I was wondering since the first Scarlet Blade thread (and the following numerous others as well), so much fuss about games with so dismal portrayal of sex, haven't they heard about the genre eroge?
I mean, seriously, Larry? Lol. Don't get me wrong, I like Larry, I was a huge Sierra fan back in the days and played almost all of their games including Mr. Laffer's attempts on the opposite sex (though after the two Passionate Patti episodes the series got worse and worse), but if you want to cite an adventure game according to the topic of sex, why not citing Lula?
Nice tracklist in the end, I'd like to add Chef's favourite cooking recipe from South Park, since in mmo's we do crafting all the time
http://youtu.be/tM9rnqdAx00
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
Second Life has a large subculture dedicated almost exclusively to sex. Entire zones made to be strip clubs and brothels. Entire player-made lines of penises, breasts, and vaginas for your avatar. Toys, positions, furniture; everything you can think of and then some. Its almost crude if it wasn't so much fun. In my opinion sex is one of the best ways to actually role-play. Because sex is so big in America, almost everyone knows and loves it. And it's not all about sex. There are bowling alleys, movie theaters, restaurants, and theme parks that you can take your date to before taking them back to your own pleasure palace that you built just for her/him.
I'll admit cyber sex has, in the past, been kind of labeled a poor man's way to have sex; available to those who are too socially awkward to have the capability in real life. And I also admit that I fit into that category at one point in my life. I've always had a very vivid imagination, and that translates into good role-playing. Meeting people and forming relationships with them in Second Life has actually helped me approach and meet women in real life. It's given me ideas and was a platform to test what works and what doesn't, based almost solely on things I say and how I act. I'm not saying I was ever a womanizer either on the internet or in real life, all I'm saying is that given the right tools, role playing can actually help people solve problems in their real lives, whether its sex or playing baseball. I honestly don't see what the big deal is. To me, sex is as natural as walking down the street. Sometimes I do still feel awkward doing either one of those, but putting yourself out there and taking the risk, even in a video game, can be a big step.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
What games would you play for "Sex reasons" anyways?
Scarlet Blade I guess, but even that's just a "Try it out and laugh at how ridiculous it is" before uninstalling it the same day..
Something more like Kabod Online which suffers more from being a terrible pay to win game then the nudity?
Would need a game that's actually good in some way dare to include it.
Sex as a social element of an MMO, ok. Give me tasteful /emotes, and I'll find them boring; give me mature /emotes and I'll make virtual porn. But sex as THE primary element of an MMO, no. At least, not until we all have cybernetic implants so we can feel it.
+1
Deathtowhores: Practice make perfect!
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
Objectification, frankly, is a mental "gateway" leading to many many abusive behaviors. Simply put we have less compassion for objects than we do for real folks.
I would love a game where your female avatar could have a beautiful genuine smile, room shattering optimism, a brilliant sense of social grace, a sharp wit.
But those things only come into the mix through roleplay (even a smile is better expressed through words than through polygons, at least so far. A coupleof girlfriends I have had (and one that I am chasing at the moment, wish me luck) have a smile that can make any pain disappear faster than any narcotic. That instantly wraps itself around your heart and refuses to let go. But how can that be captured in any mmo? It can't. Soooooo we get tits. And if all we have to differentiate one female character from the other is armour/clothing and physical traits such as boobs... objectification can begin.
The same applies to male characters I am sure, but I do feel that at least in this nation we have a much bigger objectification issue regarding women than men.
Thanks for reading!
Itch
Da skull
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
Sex and romance both potentially have a place in a genre based around creating virtual worlds for avatars. The problem is that as far as mainstream gaming goes we're very much still in the Pac-Man era when it comes to realistically (and tastefully) dealing with the subjects. That's why most attempts come off as puerile or vulgar, why they're met with such derision. Gaming has successfully translated the gamut of experiences that books and movies capture and even arguably enhanced them, but have failed to bring an iota of suspense, passion, and eroticism that a few minutes of channel surfing on cable can provide-- that's actually rather sad.
A good step would be to stop thinking only about the act and the potential for titillation and start considering the psychology and the other trappings that make it such a seminal (har-har) part of the human experience.
Definitely the Great Staff of Badonkadonk +3.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Studies also show that imagining something and dreaming about something is indistinguishable from actually doing something, based on how well we can read information from a brain. Most sane people can tell the difference between imagining something and doing something. There is a large gap between "some neurons fire" and "sex and violence are related".
I don't know what rock you read that under, but sex and violence generally only co-exist in the minds of unstable people.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Sex and nudity are only deemed bad from religious conservatives. Sex was originally celebrated and was looked at as a gift of being a human being until Religion came into the scene and messed up everything. Some time in the past when man was creating religion while sitting in a cave they decided that sex would get thrown in to the sin's like theft and murder. Look at some of the wacky shit some religions make people do still today in the age of information, its pretty ridiculous but anyway this is about sex and not religion but its hard to separate the two when one is the cause of the other being "bad".
I read a few posts in this thread about the objectification of women, like men are the only ones that lust for sex here or something. Watch any Maury or Jerry Springer show and see all the women who have no idea who is baby daddy. There is a cougar dating website now for women who seek out sex with young dudes, come on man. The whole objectification of women bs is kind of old now. Everyone loves sex, even women.
Sex is natural, all of us here are products of sex. When people can grow up and understand that its not a bad thing and educate their kids instead of not talking about it like its bad, we wouldn't have to deal with articles like this or situations brought about from parents who want to shelter their offspring from life.
But anyway sex in a mmorpg, I really don't see the point unless its part of the story. I really wouldn't care for a porno type game or having sex like that in a game for any other reason than just to have it in there.