Unfettered Blather

If you could indulge me a moment, I’d like to kick off Sex Week with this YouTube video from Daniel Floyd who has some excellent information. Please clear off the next 9 minutes and 17 seconds of your day for his presentation.

All done? Good, we can resume. Mr. Floyd’s conclusion is that videogames need more sex. Not just more sex, but they need to handle sex in a more mature fashion. I disagree that we need more sex but I am fully onboard with the notion that sex is rarely handled in a mature fashion. At the same time, if gaming is an interactive medium, unlike movies which are merely observed, then we also have to resign ourselves to the fact that no matter how mature you handle sex someone is going to take the route of immaturity.

Let me just establish this right now. I don’t want to get into “What If” scenarios about how gamers will ultimately behave. I am only interested in the intentions of developers and the presentation of the subject matter. We all know that the gamer community is full of man children who will not be able to handle any sexual content in a mature fashion.

In general I don’t understand how we get so hung up on sex or the fascination with it. If you don’t have access to sex in some form then you’re clearly not trying. The insistence that we are constantly bombarded with sexual imagery, thought, and innuendo actually gets old after awhile. I really don’t enjoy having to swiftly change the channel because I’m not quite ready to have a birds and the bees talk with my 6 year old child. The idea that we need more sex in order to de-sensitize the masses is more likely to backfire then have the intended results that Mr. Floyd supports. As I start to see a slow shift in the public consciousness about who plays games I believe we can achieve the idea that videogames are not just for children without also causing a moral outrage. Ironically, I think the Wii will do more to advance the notion of games for adults then more mature content. Those that are familiar with the Wii library will notice a distinct lack of games rated “Mature”. Regardless, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a console that was able to pull in such a broad demographic despite an almost obnoxious focus on “family friendly” fare.

Aside from the perception of videogames as a child’s past time, I also don’t look for sex in my interactive experiences. I have read stories and seen movies where sex is an integral part of the plot. Sometimes it is handled maturely and sometimes I’m reading a Heinlein novel. Cheap shots aside, the voyeuristic qualities of observing sex whether reading a book or watching a movie, do not bother me as much so long as there is a purpose and the subject matter is handled at a higher level then a high school boy’s locker room discussion. While sex in videogames can be anywhere from merely implied to full-on virtual participation the very thought that my actions in the game could trigger a sexual encounter really does change everything. I have a personal moral code that I live by and even before I was a Fundamentalist Christian I didn’t make it my mission to hump every decent looking girl in sight. I’m not so old that I don’t remember hormones but I also remember having female friends who I had no sexual intentions towards. I don’t think you have to be religious to experience fidelity or emotional intimacy. See, I’m not demanding that games remove any depiction of pre-marital sex, but I do see some real pitfalls with having sex at all. I don’t see the point of interactive sex because while I feel like I have some involvement shooting a gun, driving a car, or having a conversation (or whatever approximation you can get from a dialogue tree) I don’t play games because I need something that gives me anything like a sexual experience. I can have sex in the real world and much prefer it!

Furthermore, I don’t think we need sex to advance a story. Most classic stories are about conflict, and games just don’t have the story-telling chops to include sex in the same way that Shakespeare so often did. Most of our conflict revolves around violence or driving really fast. Even then, story in videogames is largely optional. You can have a game without a story and still enjoy yourself. I’m not saying that games shouldn’t have stories, but the overall lack of quality storytelling in games combined with the questionable necessity of story at all means that an increase of sexual content will merely be bungled and likely earn gamers increased ire from the public at large.

All that said, I would like to see sexual themes handled in a more mature matter. In the above video Mr. Floyd talks about intimacy. I like the thought of an actual relationship with another character. Something beyond mere physical attraction. In the Half-Life 2 and subsequent episodes there is a glimmer of this. Sadly, that is the most I’ve ever seen. Most relationships are horribly contrived and even attempts to develop true intimacy seem to head all too quickly to a bedroom encounter as some kind of culmination of a relationship. Intimacy is not sex, though sex can become a part of being intimate. I think the problem is that game developers are by and large a bunch of nerds. That may sound harsh but I feel like I’m in a good position to criticize. Having long been part of the software development industry and having known more than a few developers who decided for a career in games I think I can accurately state that they are not a group you’d quickly label “normal”. For the socially awkward who may get most of their notions of intimacy from what you see on primetime television they may only make the association that intimacy means you take off your clothes and lie down naked next to someone else. I would daresay that true intimacy involves more than mere physical contact.

My challenge to game studios (aside from doing something silly like hiring real writers) would be to make me care about my virtual romantic partner. One of my greatest annoyances with contemporary game story-telling is that the contrived relationships tend to be more of a burden than a benefit. I suppose this may again go hand-in-hand with how your average game developer may perceive an actual relationship. In truth, a real healthy relationship is one where everyone benefits in some way. I want to feel attached to my prospective mate, not wish to throw them in harm’s way.

I can remember many games where a partner, wingman, or squad mate was such an obvious help that I wanted to be at their side and would risk the success of the mission to help them. These were just comrades in arms, but it’s a good start on how you could take it a step further. The question I would ask the game industry is why can you make me feel genuine camaraderie with virtual buddies but somehow you cannot take that extra step and create convincing relationships? Does some kind of intimacy uncanny valley exist or does this just further expose how badly the videogame industry needs writers to tell compelling stories?

With the ham-fisted approach that most game studios take towards sex, would more really be better? Even if there is a consensus to handle sex in a more mature fashion I think history would show that most attempts would flop. Games would either not sell or generate too much controversy. Once any title gets the dreaded “Adults Only” rating that would be the end of the ball-game and Mr. Floyd’s gambit would fail. Instead, I would like to see story-tellers tackle this issue head-on and give us some real relationships for a change. Genuine friendships, true emotional attachment, and a motivation to do something for the other gender that goes deeper than seeing their naughty bits. Not only does this advance the hobby as something that goes beyond children but would appeal to both men and women. In the current world, we seem to target sex only to 13 year old boys. Surely we can do better.

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