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SXSW - Sex and Videogames |
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Here on a beautiful day in Austin, TX, what better topic to discuss than sex. Between South by Southwest’s (SXSW) Interactive Festival and the first annual Screenburn Beta Festival, the topic popped up more than a few times. After such incidents as Rockstar's San Andreas "hot coffee" fiasco, one would think that game companies would be trying to lay low when it comes to sexual content. However, with examples like Republik Game's mainstream MMO Spend the Night where players are fully capable of conducting sexually explicit acts as part of regular gameplay, it is obvious that the idea of laying low is definitely not part of the agenda. Thanks to exterior devices for personal computers, the lines of the online world and the real world may blur even further.
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“We are an adult oriented dating MMO,” commented Glennis McClellen, Head Producer with Republik Games, in her address during Screenburn. Furthermore, she replied, “Our research showed that women as well as men were open to a dating environment where you were capable of taking it all the way.” As dangerous an undertaking as Spend the Night may sound, they claim to be taking great steps to make sure that all members of the community are who they say they are through credit checks and other measures to try to limit underage users, as well as sexual predators. “Providing a safe environment for adults to speak and possibly carry things out a little further, even into the real world, was just the next logical step. This is a totally consensual environment. Nothing can be done that isn’t permitted between both parties,” she continued. Glennis, along with several other members of the gaming community, later chimed in on a panel at the SXSW Interactive Festival titled The Secret Sex Lives of Video Games. At one point, Kyle Machulis of the International Game Developer's Association sex SIG commented that, “No matter what the game is people are already exploiting it for sexual fulfillment. There are sites devoted to all of the fetish communities in games. Sites that list where to find any subject matter of your choice.” There are many active 3D communities that are there for the sole purpose of providing an outlet for these adult fantasies.
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The panel went to great lengths to demonstrate that there are already many 3D environments where people are acting out what some may consider extreme sexual fantasies. With this in mind, the idea of Spend the Night is to appeal to a much broader, less extreme genre of people who are seeking a more casual online sexual experience. At one point, the panel was asked what the repercussions would be of bringing these ideas to the mainstream and exposing them to an already jaded media. Their reply was basically that people are doing it anyway, so why not make it safer and more accessible to a larger audience.
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And the new word of the day for some is Teledildonics. Teledildonics are devices that connect to and are controlled by your PC and/or game platform. “Whether people want to admit it or not, they have thought about a 'complete' physical experience from a 3D environment,” said Kyle. “It didn’t take long for people to put two and two together in incorporating the force feedback from their controllers.” Imagine a gaming environment where not only other physical human players have access and control to the device, but non-player characters as well. “I think the reason why these things are remaining 'underground' so to speak is that you have to be pretty comfortable with the idea...” Kyle also finished with “It's pretty universal. Everyone likes sex, and everyone is interested in games.” So, as the concept that sex online and in gaming can quickly become a physical reality, several moral questions are rising to a head and will have great repercussions for the social masses.
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-WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications AKA Bryon Lloyd |
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