Game makers need to grow up

[makhno]

An interesting article published in today's Australian newpaper "The Age", in its 'Livewire' section.

 

Flesh for fantasy

August 10, 2006

LiveWire

 

It's the fastest-growing entertainment form, but gaming is still immature when it comes to sex. Why the titillation, asks Jason Hill?

 

BY MOST criteria, the interactive games industry has grown up. As the fastest-growing segment of the entertainment business, games now rake in more than $40 billion a year globally.

 

In Australia, more than 70 per cent of gamers are adult and more than a third are female. But despite its large and diverse audience, the games industry still suffers from an immature attitude to sex.

 

Countless controversial games have stretched the boundaries of realistic depictions of violence, yet sex still remains taboo for most publishers.

 

But it's a paradox that might be about to change.

 

The first Sex in Video Games Conference was recently held in San Francisco to explore how traditional game publishers and the adult entertainment industry can incorporate sex.

 

Organiser Brenda Brathwaite said opposition to sexual content in games was inevitable, with critics typically using the argument of protecting children "as if all gamers are kids and all media should be reduced to a form that kids can consume".

 

She challenged the audience to imagine a world of books, art, music and film with no sexual references, adding: "If Brokeback (Mountain) was a game that just had two guys on a bench talking" someone would still try to ban it.

 

No game publisher is beyond using sex appeal to sell its products, and buxom heroines have been common since Lara Croft first squeezed into a cleavage-enhancing tank top in 1996.

 

But shameless flesh-flashing, as in the abominable BMX XXX, which featured topless bicycle riders and strippers, is not going to earn the industry respect. Nor is the tacky voyeurism of games such as Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball, Rumble Roses or Playboy: The Mansion - titles all designed to titillate, with game and story elements almost secondary to the objectification of female characters.

 

"The primary target market for many games is teenage and young adult males," says Brett Hutchins, lecturer in new media at Monash University. "Their experience of sex and relationships is often limited, therefore the depiction of sex is often juvenile and puerile."

 

But Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, says games are not unique in their adolescent treatment of sex.

 

"Pretty much every form of human expression handles sex in an immature and exploitative manner," he says. "Games are not the only art entertainment form that needs to grow up."

 

Some observers believe the game industry has displayed an immature attitude to sex simply because most developers are young men.

 

"The game development industry has been dominated by young boys making games for young boys," says David Giles, who teaches aspiring developers at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment. "This is gradually beginning to change as studios mature and realise there is potentially a far wider market than just adolescent boys."

 

But local games designer Mark Angeli rejects this notion, arguing that young men are not in charge of green-lighting multi-million-dollar projects.

 

"The industry is so young, uncertain and formless that it generally makes the easy call," Mr Angeli says. "The choice between the next Halo or the next Sims is no choice at all. A Halo rip-off is understandable, marketable and easy to make exciting trailers for.

 

"Truly mature, thoughtprovoking content always comes from experimental creatives, but the game industry is currently run by committees of publishing VPs and Walmart purchasing managers."

 

Mr Angeli believes it is crucial that the game industry tackles more mature content.

 

"It's like TV only showing Macgyver, Vegas and The A-Team. No Six Feet Under, no Sopranos, no Deadwood," he says.

 

Mr Giles believes "every form of media should be allowed to explore every aspect of life".

 

"This is what allows theatre, film and TV to produce the occasional masterpiece," he says. "Games should have the same opportunity."

 

The game industry's output has certainly failed to keep up with the growing maturity of its audience. In Australia the average game player is 24; in the US the age is now 29.

 

Just as significant, 38 per cent of Australians who have played a computer or video game in the past year are female.

 

But these demographics are not evident when you walk into an average games store, with only 30 per cent of games classified by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) as M or MA15+.

 

But Mr Giles is confident more intelligent and mature content will be produced.

 

"The demands from the audience will ensure developers and publishers begin to treat game content in a more mature fashion," he says. "More writers and designers have an appreciation of both good gameplay and a good story."

 

Monash University's Mr Hutchins agrees. "If a move towards targeting a wider range of adult male and female gamers was approached systematically and incrementally, depiction of sex and, more importantly, relationships would also evolve," he says.

 

The key to tackling sexual content in a more mature fashion is to present it in context rather than as mere titillation, according to Dr Mark Finn, lecturer in media at Swinburne University of Technology.

 

"A lot of game genres are becoming more narrative-based," he says. "As the stories become more intricate, sexual content will naturally become part of it, in the same way that the treatment of sexual content developed in film and television."

 

Game designer Sheri Graner Ray, author of Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market, believes offering characters with emotional depth will help the game industry widen its audience and appeal to more women.

 

Until now, sexual content in games has usually been included for shock value, according to Amy Powell, a games researcher and lecturer at Swinburne.

 

She believes more women in development will help to turn the tide.

 

"By including appropriate sexual content within the broader context of the game's story and gameplay experience, it is likely this material will be included in games only where relevant," she says.

 

At the Sex in Video Games Conference, veteran developer Ms Brathwaite offered a history of games with sexual content, listing such examples as:

 

·"Poke-the-Doll" games such as 1987's MacPlaymate and the new Virtually Jenna.

 

· Dating or "Hentai" games, extremely popular in Japan, where the objective is to win the affection of, and in some cases have virtual sex with, a series of female or male characters.

 

· Mainstream games with mature themes and partial nudity such as The Sims, Singles, Leisure Suit Larry and God of War.

 

· Indie adult games created by small developers, often distributed online.

 

· User-created content with fans creating game modifications to add sexual elements, such as nude characters for The Sims 2 and Oblivion.

 

At any rate the evidence suggests that if traditional game developers do not embrace adult themes, gamers will turn to online worlds to create it themselves.

 

In virtual worlds such as Everquest, World of Warcraft and Second Life, players make friends, flirt, date, and even prostitute their characters - all without any help from game developers.

 

Despite critics who believe sex has no place in gaming, the emergence of sexuality in almost all online worlds, as well as the modification of popular games, shows there is strong demand for adult content.

 

And to cater to this, online games with specifically erotic themes are on their way, such as RedLight Center and Naughty America, a dating game complete with virtual sex.

 

Game designer Mr Angeli believes massive online games will be the most fertile ground for "the first truly mature content" because they don't require traditional publishers.

 

"It will be revelatory," he says. "First-person shooters that deal with the real consequences of violence, real-time strategy that has real-world political issues, Sims-style games that explore the intricacies of all possible sexual relationships. Sign me up."

 

Censors have played a big role in the game industry's sexual conservatism with guidelines stricter than those placed on film.

 

When the current Australian classification system was devised in 1994, there was little research into the effect of games on players, so censorship ministers directed the OFLC to uphold higher standards for games than for films.

 

There is still no R18+ rating for games in Australia and the OFLC is less tolerant of sexual content than violence.

 

The OFLC refused classification for Singles: Flirt Up Your Life, which displayed sexual activity "related to an incentive or reward". The Carry On sexual humour of Leisure Suit Larry: Magna soda pop Laude was also banned.

 

In contrast, most games with realistic violence routinely receive MA15+ ratings. Last year a popular game that lets players whack innocent characters with a baseball bat and perform drive-by shootings - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - was only removed from shop shelves because it had a sex scene.

 

San Andreas was temporarily banned because contentious hidden material had not been brought to the censor's attention when the game received its MA15+ rating. The controversial "Hot Coffee" scenes featured the player's (clothed) character having sex with his naked girlfriend and were not meant to be viewed by players, but canny hackers found the content inadvertently left on retail discs and provided eager gamers with the tools to unlock it.

 

San Andreas was subsequently pulled from the shelves and the content removed.

 

It was not the first time the Grand Theft Auto games had been censored for Australian audiences. Grand Theft Auto III was initially refused classification because players could have (unseen) sex with a prostitute, then mug them to steal their money back.

 

Most critics believe Hot Coffee would have no chance of receiving the all-clear from the OFLC, despite being tamer than some content on late-night TV.

 

Monash University's Mr Hutchins believes this attitude is tied to Australia's wider political culture.

 

In this environment, there's much more likelihood of a moral panic over out-of-wedlock sex, abortion and homosexual marriage than over violence, he says.

 

Censors are in the difficult position of balancing protection of minors and freedom for adults, particularly with Australia's lack of an R classification, according to Swinburne University's Dr Finn.

 

"The banning of Grand Theft Auto III seems to indicate that sexual content is more likely to get a game banned than violence," he says.

 

Dr Finn believes user-created content also creates a unique problem for censors.

 

"The OFLC and other bodies have to classify content on the basis of what has been produced, rather than what might be produced once the public gets a hold of it," he says.

 

"It is possible that classification bodies will find themselves constantly on the back foot as users continue to push the boundaries of acceptable content."

 

The creators of online worlds are also wrestling with issues of sexual harassment and whether it is necessary or possible to police these huge virtual societies.

 

Dr Finn believes it is only a matter of time before a game's host faces a sexual harassment lawsuit, but others say giving players the power to protect themselves is a more realistic alternative to policing.

 

But censors are not the only roadblock to getting mature content into the hands of adult players: publishers and retailers have to be convinced there is money to be made.

 

Unlike Australia, games in the US can receive an Adults-Only rating, but publishers are still wary of sexual content because big retailers such as Walmart in the US refuse to stock games rated as Adult Only.

 

Only 20 games in the past decade have received an AO rating in the US.

 

"I can walk into a developer tomorrow with a game that's enthralling to play, non-exploitative and makes people really think about personal relationships but every developer would have to say no, even if they loved it, because their publishers are convinced there is no market for it," local game designer Mr Angeli says.

 

"And they're right, until that market is created by a content provider willing to dip their toe."

 

***********************

 

ScreenPlay Blog: Game makers need to grow up

Photos: Game Girls

 

The juvenile games industry desperately wants to grow up, but it needs to start tackling mature subjects if it wants interactive entertainment to be taken seriously as an important cultural and artistic medium.

 

 

As today's Livewire cover story examines, few games have tackled sex in a mature fashion. No publisher is beyond using sex to sell their products, but shameless flesh-flashing is not going to earn the industry more respect or widen its audience.

 

 

The aversion to sex seems strange considering countless controversial titles have stretched boundaries in terms of realistic depictions of violence, and the fact that most game players are now adults.

 

 

It's not just the fault of a predominately young male development community who has tended to only produce games for themselves. Increasingly conservative publishing bosses, censors and retailers have also played a major role in ensuring sex has remained taboo.

 

Gaming also desperately needs greater cultural acceptance in order to tackle more mature subject matter. Games are often dismissed as vacuous toys for adolescents with no artistic merit, which causes problems when developers try to tackle serious topics.

 

Screen Play hopes some brave developers can start exploring the possibilities of this most exciting and unique new medium.

 

Considering the millions of adults currently flocking to online worlds and creating mature content of their own, any pioneering developers of adult games are likely to attract many eager new players.

[m3lisk]

WHO GIVES A $H1T? if you don't like the game, or it doesn't appeal to you, don't buy it. Don't try to push your oppinion upon others. Stupid people... Oh, and i wasn't talking about you Mahko, the article writer.

[WarKirby3333]

What!?! Did you even read any of that.

 

WHO GIVES A $H1T?

 

I do, for one. And if you don't care, you shouldn't be posting here. Also, that sort of language is uncalled for.

 

if you don't like the game, or it doesn't appeal to you, don't buy it

 

The whole point is that we can't buy these sorts of games. Conservative publishers and censors ensure few, if any get made

 

Don't try to push your oppinion upon others.

 

Nobody's pushing anything. This is a debate forum and makhno has simply quoted an article to illustrate a point. One which I agree with entirely.

 

WarKirby

[makhno]

Thanks WarKirby, I also thought it was a very relevant article making some very good points.

And I'm sure m3lisk didn't actually read it.

 

Cheers!

[VaanicOne]

Okay, the one thing in that article that annoyed me was the "since games are made for boys, then sex is not wanted in them" comments.

 

HELLO? Ever heard of PUBERTY? Idiots.

 

Besides that, I honestly wonder if there will be a future filled with dark, red-lit corners in gamestores that have creepy looking men in long coats in them, looking at the shelves that are filled with porno games.

[m3lisk]

Rofl, sorry, now i read it. I just skimmed over it before and saw game, sex, shouldn't buy. I should read entire posts before posting my self. All previous statements withdrawn. Sorry for the language.

[Tiberiu911]

I totally 100% agree with you. Why is nudity and sex in games virtually to avoid? Oh right because it doesnt sells all too good and publishers are narrow minded about it. Hell, as a young man, If I see a game with hot girls on the cover, and another one (lets say Rumble Rosses and umm Soul Calibur?) I would definetly buy the most sexually appealing one. Game publishers need to open theyr eyes up, and lisen to the actual people that play their games (teens, adults) and care a little less about parents comments, who mostly have no idea of their teen child sex life.

[SilverShadowX]

I don't know too much about Australia's gaming regulations and/or sales (except from what I inferred from the article), but games that take sex seriously aren't doomed to fail. Take a look at Fable, it's a great game and many people apraise it and one of it's quirks is having sex with your wife. Sure, it may not be "mature" enough, but quite frankly it's a start. God of War is also a great example, it's all about Greek mythology, bare breasts and all. With that being said, I shall note that A LOT of copies of God of War have been sold in the US. Of course, the sales are not specifically related to the sexual content seeing as it's focus point is on action/platforming, but it shows that sexual content does not hinder sales.

 

I believe that even if most game developers want nothing to do with the stuff, some will take baby steps towards the topic until one game game is released that revolutionizes things (like Mortal Kombat is to violence).

[Switch]

makhno's post deleted. Spam. Please remember the rules on one liners. Thanks.

[makhno]

makhno's post deleted. Spam. Please remember the rules on one liners. Thanks.

 

Thanks for taking care of it. This post was an accident and since we can't delete our posts, there wasn't much I could do about it. I am well aware of posting etiquette.

Cheers.