The weird thing is that violence, including hyper, ultra macabre and sinister violence, is routinely expected and accepted in video games while the mere presence of sexuality causes the entire conglomerate of Wal-Mart to universally ban any game that includes the slightest whiff of penis and vagina.

Part of this could be because people still consider video games to be toys. However, the majority of video game players are adults between 18 and 49 years of age. What’s more, is there is a growing number of female gamers breaking through the normally male only ranks of gaming. These new gamers come seeking a story that they can lose themselves in and not points or new weapons for their characters. Sexuality in new games need not be the juvenile discovery of hidden breasts in some secluded area of a dungeon but rather can be as complex or at least as seemingly complex as real human sexuality.

Take for instance the character of Morrigan in Dragon Age. This is a character that uses her sexuality to manipulate your character in real terms during the game. While you develop real, legitimate feelings for her she begins to use this weakness to her advantage. Well, whether it is to her advantage or is legitimate love is up to you as the PC, however this type of role-playing with another character is almost unheard of in video games. This is a shame because the exact same questions of love, betrayal and lust are all over the pages of popular fiction, sci-fi, fantasy and great works of dramatic plays. Why is there a sudden drop off of human experience when it comes to video games?

One of the reasons is that many players seem to think that the inclusion of sexuality in games is lame. My question to them is why is violence OK when sexuality is not? Perhaps it is because of some residual puritanical upbringing that equates things related to the body with with sinful acts. Most gamers, who spend the big bucks, are all adults and these gamers appreciate some elements of romance in their quests. This is fully supported by the sheer number of romance and sexual mods for open ended games like Oblivion, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, Dragon Age and Fallout 3. Game makers can either address this at the conception of the game or risk a “Super Blow Job Mod” for Fallout 3.

And my question is “Why not?”. If these adult themes add to the storyline then they are by definition not gratuitous. An erotic plot-line can only be offensive if it is out of place and unexpected and that is entirely left to the writers of the game. I think, personally, it is high time that people stop being afraid of a little sex in a game that features realistic collision physics for splattered organs and chill out for two seconds. Think of each game as a virtual novel and perhaps we can advance video games beyond Grand Theft Auto and Madden 10. Of course, then again, I am just a perv.

-Andrew DeWitt

However, recently companies like Bioware have figured out that sexuality can actually be used to assist in story telling! How shocking?! Do you mean to say that the same techniques that authors, artists, and filmmakers have used for decades to centuries have some merit after all? Well consider the fact the all humans, regardless of gender or sexual preference think about sex all the god damn time then I would think that someone who is creating some form of narrative experience would consider sex as part of the many different potential plot lines to entice people into enjoying the experience.

Role playing games were some of the first video games to treat sexuality with a paintbrush other than that of a snickering adolescent obsessed with seeing boobies on his computer. The problem with this approach is that it takes time. You cannot simply shoehorn in sex into a video game or it becomes sophomoric and juvenile. This is immediately apparent in games like God of War where your character can run up to topless chicks and bone them for in-game bonuses.

…more continued in Part 3.

-Andrew DeWitt

Every technological leap seams to coincide with some attempt to create sexy images using the new technology. For instance, when cave people first began to create art they also carved an absolute shit ton of naked ladies with big breasts and butts. Then we humans, glorified with the invention of painting on canvas, created a literal tomb of naked ladies doing everything from from fighting of satyrs to picking stones out of their feet after taking a bath in the river. With the invention of film, humans instantly created pornography ranging from burlesque dances committed to sepia tone all the way to some hobo doing two hot call girls.

It seems that no matter what medium humans create, sex will creep into it and I happen to think that this is not a bad thing at all. With the invention of computer games the very first also contained at least a few bawdy titles. Crap like Custard’s Last Stand for the Atari and Leisure Suit Larry capitalized on the shocking idea that humans, who are produced via sexual intercourse and have entire societies created on the basis of how we handle sexual intercourse, would somehow be interested in sexual intercourse.

For a long time video games that featured sexuality as a main theme were specialized games aimed at, for lack of a better term, perverted losers with nothing better to do than whack off to pixalated images. The idea that sexuality could be a part of video games was patently dismissed and instead a sub-genre of entirely sexual games was created. This is evident in the early CD-ROM porn games of the 1990’s. For some reason people felt that while books, art, and movies could all contain sexual themes, these elements were kept separate in video games. Perhaps this was due to the fact the many people considered video games to be simply digital toys for children. This is similar to the idea that cartoons are for kids and that sexuality in cartoons or anime is strange and off putting for many consumers.

Continued in part 2…

-Andrew DeWitt