Having prostitutes, nudity, and sexual acts in a video game is really much more of an adolescent fantasy than an adult fantasy. An adult doesn't need a video game for those things. He/she can buy porno flicks or nudy magazines. An adult can go to a strip club. Some adults even have real live sex occassionally and don't need to have toon sex in a game.
That sort of thing would probably repel more adults than it attracted to the game. And the people who would be drawn to it (drooling teenage boys) would be told not to play it.
I wouldn't care if someone made a game with gratuitous sex but I wouldn't play it. As someone else pointed out, the community it would attract would be absolutely the worst. Far from being mature individuals, they would be the least mature (regardless of age) players in the MMORPG genre who would flock to a game of that sort. Which might be a good thing when I think about it because it would, perhaps, keep them out of whatever game I was playing at the time.
Imagine the incessant shouts of, "Looking for Prostitute!!. C'mon ju ho's I'm LFP. Will pay 10 plat and an anti-bacterial potion for 5 minutes with a prosty."
Yeah, I think I would pass on that game. I have no desire to have virtual sex with characters run by a bunch of confused teenage boys and fat, middle aged men.
Perhaps this may be appealing to many, but is it appealing because it has not been done? Will it actually keep your attention after the novelty wears off? Probably not.
However, what about a adults only server for new games period, not for it's content but just the fact that it is not swarmed with 12 year old's. I have no idea how you would do it, or police it, but it would be nice for a change. <Flames begin here>
No doubt children can be a pain in games. However, today's children are tomorrow's game masters. Some of the best and most imaginative and innovative role-players I've come across have been kids. Although none of us play games to babysit, we should embrace and encourage the children, not push them away. You'll be surprised how eager they are to learn and be accepted.
I've seen immature attitude and behavior melt away, not only in game but in real life. We once had the father of a 14 year old boy come into a particular game on his kid's account to find out "just what the heck goes on here" because the kid was acting strange - doing his homework; going to bed on time; doing his chores; being more respectful, etc. This "kid" is now in about 25 years old and is still an integral part of that game - running events and such.
Someone else I remember was a 16 year old who held so much respect among other players, even adults, that they flocked to him in droves, coming to him for dispute resolutions, etc. The only thing that made me suspect that he was younger than he seemed to be was his unbridled outrage at "unfairness." Adults tend to be more jaded and accepting about that. He never lied about his age - indeed, he was rarely asked - because he just projected an older image.
On the other hand, I also remember one particular "snert." There are lots of meanings of the word - my favorite is "snotty-nosed, egotistical, reprehensible teenager." (see, I can hate them too!) This kid went so far that I ended up banning him from my planet, refusing to give him jobs or to have anything to do with him. About a year later, he politely asked me if I would be his in-game "mom." When I asked him why, he responded because I was the only one who never allowed him to get away with any of his crap.
I think the mmorpg world would be a much less vibrant experience if we excluded our children from it. Indeed, adults are much more difficult to mold into "good playmates" than children.
Show respect and demand respect. Those are the keys to a better gaming experience, no matter the ages of the players around you. Ignore those who annoy you. They will go away because they cannot sow discontent in a fallow field.
it's just that "adults" post in forums more and have bigger mouths and
the kids that play dont care about that as much they just play
Look at Wow as an example
it is a huge success it has over 2 million subs and i would wager that most are not adults
Old ppl are the minority
so a game for old ppl is relly a dum idea and would fail miserably and probably never get outta alfa or beta and then it would just have to cease to exist
Thank you all for your replies (hope some devs got to see that) :X.
However, I would like to clarify something for a small subset of you:
I didn't mean that adult content should be added gratuitously, but that giving the game an adult rating would allow the creators to not RESTRICT any adult content that would be NECESSARY to create an IMMERSIVE environment.
It's a sad truth, but countries with low gdp/per-capita or unequal distributions of wealth are usually plagued with prostitution: (Like another poster had mentioned) Cities like Freeport that are governed by Tyrants with only their self-interest in mind wouldn't outlaw prostitution and considering that the city was inhabited by humanoids, prostitution would probably be rampant (there were even allusions to it in the dialogues with some of the denizens).
Such inconsistencies really destroy the realism of the universe within the game; unless the entire universe is disjoint with our own (so that none of the sociological parameters in our world hold true there), there will always be something that requires a mature understanding.
Object-permanence and physics naturally follow: A limb that was struck by an axe and resulted in death could not be the same limb it was before (unless it was replaced). ... or using another example from EQ2: There is an execution plaza, yet nobody is ever executed. Despite the corrupt nature of Freeport's citizens (that imply evil alignment), none of them ever commit a crime..... even in Saudi Arabia there are individuals that commit acts that have nothing short of the death penalty.
If you can make a realistic game environment without any sex or violence, then it does not contain any conflict (or at least not any human conflict)... unless the humans in the game have evolved beyond the need to maim and kill each other... (maybe they could play card-games to determine outcomes of war... oh the suspense!)
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
Adding sex/sexual acts in a game, especially and MMORPG; is a bad idea - A horrific idea.
The aforementioned game, Vampire the Masqeurade; is a good example of a dark, gritty, "adult" game.
But it never went over the top. It wasn't gratuitous. Example: It had sexual themes like strip club, half clothed women, prostitutes, even that sexual rendevous you had with that Malkavian woman that owned the Night club.
Or violence wise: It had some scary-ass/gorey stuff. Like that prosthetic limb model photographer. Or that flesh consuming demon in the abandoned hospital - Along with some other rather horrific levels in the game.
It had less permanence than what the OP stated. But it was gritty, it was graphic, it was "adult"; it had a realism to it. But it never went over the top.
It didn't have copious amounts of gratuitous bloody, borderline nauseatic gore. It didn't have graphic sexual situations; showing genitalia, actual sex acts, etc.
The trick is not crossing that fine line between "Mature" and "Adults only".
Realistic violence I'm all for in a game. I'd like for once to see someone cleaved in half when that sword passes through their body; instead of having little blood squirts temporarily come from the struck avatar. I'd like to see blood temporarily come from, and later develop scars, from area's that have been struck - "It's only a flesh wound!"
I'd also like to see limbs be lost, fingers severed, hand's "replaced", deformations take place, all from the "got lucky with" mortal wounds.
But having sexual situations/acts/full nudity in a game is a bad idea. It's a horrendous idea in fact. When you have people trying to simulate fellatio in a game like Asherons Call with the /beg command; you know that having it actually programmed in as a feature is only asking for severe trouble. It'd also cause the game to be put in the AO rating category; which would cause the game to economically plummet.
"The greatest trick the devil played on humanity in the 20th century was convincing them that he didn't exist." (Paraphrasing) C.S. Lewis
"If a mother can kill her own child, what is left before I kill you and you kill me?" -Mother Teresa when talking about abortion after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979
The problem with having some things in MMORPGs as opposed to, say, Vampire of the Masquerade is that MMORPGs don't end. Those games do. You go through, you beat it, it's over. You can start over, but it's usually over.
If I get a scar in an MMORPG, how do I get rid of it? Magic or something? A lot of people want realism, but then they want some off of the wall fantasy thing to heal whatever they don't want, such as a scar. I don't mind scars, the only problem is getting rid of them.
Then losing body parts, how do I get it back? Am I just stuck that way until I die and respawn? That's good n' all, but I don't wanna play for weeks missing legs. I'd just end up suiciding to get my limbs back.
Plus, while I think whatever you do in your digital bedroom is your deal, I don't personally like being approached by ingame hookers. I've had it happen before, and it's kind of annoying. Especially the ones who just don't go away.
"Hi."
"Hello."
"Wanna cyber? $5."
"Um, no I'm good."
"C'mon it'll be fun."
"No thanks."
15 minutes later...
"So you don't want to?"
"...no..."
But I also don't want to have to wander away from doing something I want to do just to get rid of someone. Then again, there's always /ignore.
As already said, there's a very fine line between mature and just blatant "omg teh sex0ry!" Tread carefully.
Originally posted by Finwe Adding sex/sexual acts in a game, especially and MMORPG; is a bad idea - A horrific idea. The aforementioned game, Vampire the Masqeurade; is a good example of a dark, gritty, "adult" game. But it never went over the top. It wasn't gratuitous.
I'd like to add the Fallout series (including the old Wasteland) to the short list of games where this has been implemented in great way.
The dirty, run-down towns of the Wasteland/Fallout world includes plenty of "adult" themes such as drugs, prostitutes and quite a bit of violence. But it never feels out of place - the harsh post-apocalyptic world sort of needs these ingredients to make it gritty and full of life as envisioned. It never feels like it has been tacked on to make some kid go "woohooo a pr0stitute!!1! and g0re this game rulez!!" just to sell a few extra copies.
Comments
Having prostitutes, nudity, and sexual acts in a video game is really much more of an adolescent fantasy than an adult fantasy. An adult doesn't need a video game for those things. He/she can buy porno flicks or nudy magazines. An adult can go to a strip club. Some adults even have real live sex occassionally and don't need to have toon sex in a game.
That sort of thing would probably repel more adults than it attracted to the game. And the people who would be drawn to it (drooling teenage boys) would be told not to play it.
I wouldn't care if someone made a game with gratuitous sex but I wouldn't play it. As someone else pointed out, the community it would attract would be absolutely the worst. Far from being mature individuals, they would be the least mature (regardless of age) players in the MMORPG genre who would flock to a game of that sort. Which might be a good thing when I think about it because it would, perhaps, keep them out of whatever game I was playing at the time.
Imagine the incessant shouts of, "Looking for Prostitute!!. C'mon ju ho's I'm LFP. Will pay 10 plat and an anti-bacterial potion for 5 minutes with a prosty."
Yeah, I think I would pass on that game. I have no desire to have virtual sex with characters run by a bunch of confused teenage boys and fat, middle aged men.
Perhaps this may be appealing to many, but is it appealing because it has not been done? Will it actually keep your attention after the novelty wears off? Probably not.
However, what about a adults only server for new games period, not for it's content but just the fact that it is not swarmed with 12 year old's. I have no idea how you would do it, or police it, but it would be nice for a change. <Flames begin here>
Witty saying to amuse you goes here.
if ur looking for realtime or um...well adult-based (u know what I mean) then try Second Life www.secondlife.com
No doubt children can be a pain in games. However, today's children are tomorrow's game masters. Some of the best and most imaginative and innovative role-players I've come across have been kids. Although none of us play games to babysit, we should embrace and encourage the children, not push them away. You'll be surprised how eager they are to learn and be accepted.
I've seen immature attitude and behavior melt away, not only in game but in real life. We once had the father of a 14 year old boy come into a particular game on his kid's account to find out "just what the heck goes on here" because the kid was acting strange - doing his homework; going to bed on time; doing his chores; being more respectful, etc. This "kid" is now in about 25 years old and is still an integral part of that game - running events and such.
Someone else I remember was a 16 year old who held so much respect among other players, even adults, that they flocked to him in droves, coming to him for dispute resolutions, etc. The only thing that made me suspect that he was younger than he seemed to be was his unbridled outrage at "unfairness." Adults tend to be more jaded and accepting about that. He never lied about his age - indeed, he was rarely asked - because he just projected an older image.
On the other hand, I also remember one particular "snert." There are lots of meanings of the word - my favorite is "snotty-nosed, egotistical, reprehensible teenager." (see, I can hate them too!) This kid went so far that I ended up banning him from my planet, refusing to give him jobs or to have anything to do with him. About a year later, he politely asked me if I would be his in-game "mom." When I asked him why, he responded because I was the only one who never allowed him to get away with any of his crap.
I think the mmorpg world would be a much less vibrant experience if we excluded our children from it. Indeed, adults are much more difficult to mold into "good playmates" than children.
Show respect and demand respect. Those are the keys to a better gaming experience, no matter the ages of the players around you. Ignore those who annoy you. They will go away because they cannot sow discontent in a fallow field.
Most gamers ARE kids (<18)
it's just that "adults" post in forums more and have bigger mouths and
the kids that play dont care about that as much they just play
Look at Wow as an example
it is a huge success
it has over 2 million subs and i would wager that most are not adults
Old ppl are the minority
so a game for old ppl is relly a dum idea
and would fail miserably and probably never get outta alfa or beta and
then it would just have to cease
to exist
Thank you all for your replies (hope some devs got to see that) :X.
However, I would like to clarify something for a small subset of you:
I didn't mean that adult content should be added gratuitously, but that giving the game an adult rating would allow the creators to not RESTRICT any adult content that would be NECESSARY to create an IMMERSIVE environment.
It's a sad truth, but countries with low gdp/per-capita or unequal distributions of wealth are usually plagued with prostitution: (Like another poster had mentioned) Cities like Freeport that are governed by Tyrants with only their self-interest in mind wouldn't outlaw prostitution and considering that the city was inhabited by humanoids, prostitution would probably be rampant (there were even allusions to it in the dialogues with some of the denizens).
Such inconsistencies really destroy the realism of the universe within the game; unless the entire universe is disjoint with our own (so that none of the sociological parameters in our world hold true there), there will always be something that requires a mature understanding.
Object-permanence and physics naturally follow: A limb that was struck by an axe and resulted in death could not be the same limb it was before (unless it was replaced). ... or using another example from EQ2: There is an execution plaza, yet nobody is ever executed. Despite the corrupt nature of Freeport's citizens (that imply evil alignment), none of them ever commit a crime..... even in Saudi Arabia there are individuals that commit acts that have nothing short of the death penalty.
If you can make a realistic game environment without any sex or violence, then it does not contain any conflict (or at least not any human conflict)... unless the humans in the game have evolved beyond the need to maim and kill each other... (maybe they could play card-games to determine outcomes of war... oh the suspense!)
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
Adding sex/sexual acts in a game, especially and MMORPG; is a bad idea - A horrific idea.
The aforementioned game, Vampire the Masqeurade; is a good example of a dark, gritty, "adult" game.
But it never went over the top. It wasn't gratuitous. Example: It had sexual themes like strip club, half clothed women, prostitutes, even that sexual rendevous you had with that Malkavian woman that owned the Night club.
Or violence wise: It had some scary-ass/gorey stuff. Like that prosthetic limb model photographer. Or that flesh consuming demon in the abandoned hospital - Along with some other rather horrific levels in the game.
It had less permanence than what the OP stated. But it was gritty, it was graphic, it was "adult"; it had a realism to it. But it never went over the top.
It didn't have copious amounts of gratuitous bloody, borderline nauseatic gore. It didn't have graphic sexual situations; showing genitalia, actual sex acts, etc.
The trick is not crossing that fine line between "Mature" and "Adults only".
Realistic violence I'm all for in a game. I'd like for once to see someone cleaved in half when that sword passes through their body; instead of having little blood squirts temporarily come from the struck avatar. I'd like to see blood temporarily come from, and later develop scars, from area's that have been struck - "It's only a flesh wound!"
I'd also like to see limbs be lost, fingers severed, hand's "replaced", deformations take place, all from the "got lucky with" mortal wounds.
But having sexual situations/acts/full nudity in a game is a bad idea. It's a horrendous idea in fact. When you have people trying to simulate fellatio in a game like Asherons Call with the /beg command; you know that having it actually programmed in as a feature is only asking for severe trouble. It'd also cause the game to be put in the AO rating category; which would cause the game to economically plummet.
"The greatest trick the devil played on humanity in the 20th century was convincing them that he didn't exist." (Paraphrasing) C.S. Lewis
"If a mother can kill her own child, what is left before I kill you and you kill me?" -Mother Teresa when talking about abortion after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979
The problem with having some things in MMORPGs as opposed to, say, Vampire of the Masquerade is that MMORPGs don't end. Those games do. You go through, you beat it, it's over. You can start over, but it's usually over.
If I get a scar in an MMORPG, how do I get rid of it? Magic or something? A lot of people want realism, but then they want some off of the wall fantasy thing to heal whatever they don't want, such as a scar. I don't mind scars, the only problem is getting rid of them.
Then losing body parts, how do I get it back? Am I just stuck that way until I die and respawn? That's good n' all, but I don't wanna play for weeks missing legs. I'd just end up suiciding to get my limbs back.
Plus, while I think whatever you do in your digital bedroom is your deal, I don't personally like being approached by ingame hookers. I've had it happen before, and it's kind of annoying. Especially the ones who just don't go away.
"Hi."
"Hello."
"Wanna cyber? $5."
"Um, no I'm good."
"C'mon it'll be fun."
"No thanks."
15 minutes later...
"So you don't want to?"
"...no..."
But I also don't want to have to wander away from doing something I want to do just to get rid of someone. Then again, there's always /ignore.
As already said, there's a very fine line between mature and just blatant "omg teh sex0ry!" Tread carefully.
I'd like to add the Fallout series (including the old Wasteland) to the short list of games where this has been implemented in great way.
The dirty, run-down towns of the Wasteland/Fallout world includes plenty of "adult" themes such as drugs, prostitutes and quite a bit of violence. But it never feels out of place - the harsh post-apocalyptic world sort of needs these ingredients to make it gritty and full of life as envisioned. It never feels like it has been tacked on to make some kid go "woohooo a pr0stitute!!1! and g0re this game rulez!!" just to sell a few extra copies.