Help Bring Queer Voices To The IGDA Sex SIG!
We received an email from game designer and Sex in Video Games author Brenda Brathwaite this weekend asking for our help - your help, actually. As the headmistress of the International Game Developers Association's Sex Special Interest Group (check out the Sex SIG's blog for an idea of how broad and varied this topic can be), Brenda has taken on the impressive task of building a Sex in Games Wiki for the Special Interest Group.
As you can see, the wiki is still in formation, and Brenda's requested your help in helping to flesh out (pun, perhaps, intended) some of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered areas of the wiki - so with your indulgence, we'd like to open the floor! Here's Brenda's question:
Adult content developers are starting to explore the market beyond the traditional straight guy market that's served them pretty well over the years. As we heard at the last GDC IGDA roundtable, there's a demand for games that incorporate diversity or appeal directly to a G, L, B or T market. In an effort to find out what players want, I figured I'd go to the source.
This is your chance to make your voice heard. Take a brief look at the Sex in Games blog site if the broadness of the question daunts you - just a cursory look at the front page shows subjects as wide-ranging as the God of War 2 sex minigame, the Wii as a porn portal, erotic/romantic narrative in games, Japanese dating games, why geeks are better lovers, and Sex Station 7 - an adult online FPS!
I know we don't often get down and dirty with the down and dirty here on GayGamer, but this is a fantastic opportunity to make our voices heard in an academic and potentially powerful manner - so I'll open the floor to comments here and on a special forum thread as well. Let's have it, boys and girls: what would you like to see in an erotic game? Or: how would you like to see sexual content incorporated into games? What kind of sexual content would make you more likely to participate in a game? Conversely, what would turn you off? Be as specific or as general as you'd like: spill your beans and help contribute to a more inclusive, progressive dialogue about sex and sexual orientation in games!
Make comments here or on the forum thread, and sign up for the IDGA's Sex SIG mailing list here!
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 23 April 2007
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: brenda brathwaite, igda, sex in games, sex sig, wiki
I know it comes up over and over again when talking about gay content in games, but I'm going to return to Bully as an example of how I'd like to see gay content integrated into games--you can choose to kiss boys or kiss girls, and there's always only going to be a few of each who are interested in kissing you back. Game publishers allowing users to have the same options that they do in their own lives definitely demonstrates a certain level of respect for the diversity of gamers.
I can't really speak to how sexual content would fit best into dating/life sims--I tooled around in the original Sims a few years ago, but found it a little tedious. I can't imagine that these games would be made any more appealing to me via the incorporation of sexual content that isn't there now, other than maybe a brief novelty factor.
I ultimately can't imagine that flashes of porn within a game, or even an immersive sexually-oriented game, would be that appealing to me. My motivations for gaming are very different than my motivations for viewing sexual content, and incorporating those two worlds isn't something I'm really that interested in doing.
When I was in college, I was fortunate to take a course on "Gender and Video Game Design". It was a course that focused not on building games, but on the anthropological analysis of modern games with a focus on gender. It was very cool, and we used Brenda's book as a guide. She's a great writer on the subject.
I'll definitely be checking this out. This is a pet interest of mine, so thanks for the heads-up!
Where do I sign up?
I have been waiting for Brenda to expand the group in this way :D
david s.
Sign up by speaking up! Either through comments here or on the related thread in our lovely forums.
We demand greasy thonged muscle men forever. If only I could attend I would, but, put in the good thong word for me, k?