With videogames having been culturally relevant for nearly forty years now, and gaming audiences becoming steadily more difficult to impress, studios have begun to run out of new elements to spice things up and new envelopes to push. Lately, this has led many a developer to address the formerly taboo subject of sexual relations, producing mixed results.
As more and more titles address and include sex, one may find themselves asking, "Why?" That's a pretty good question, as so far, the meeting of games and sex has been wholly underwhelming
One of the most popular trends right now, and possibly one of the biggest mistakes, is an attempt to shoehorn sex into game narrative, and in many cases, gameplay. While such attempts were made as far back as games like
Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em and
Custer's Revenge on the Atari 2600, most games have known better than to attempt in-game sex over the years. Why change now?
The shock factor of button-press intercourse seems to be the primary drive for its inclusion; "hiding" the Hot Coffee mission in
GTA: San Andreas, Kratos' liaisons in the
God Of War series, and your little trip to rapeville in
Edmund are all amazing examples of sex being thrown into the mix for no good reason beyond garnering press attention and attracting players who want to do something taboo. In a market where free-flying body parts and monsoons of blood have become the norm, ass and boobs have become the new way to taunt overprotective parents and the ESRB.
Some may argue that all of these cases lend themselves to their respective game's stories, and are perfectly justified, but I can't say I'm convinced. Kratos is out for vengeance against the gods themselves, with the remains of his family imbued in his very flesh, but he still has time to stop and deflower the roses? Really? Edmund could have been portrayed as being just as disturbed by his war experiences in many ways outside of sexual violence. And, while it's been harped on quite a bit already, the encounter in
Heavy Rain is completely out of character and completely unnecessary to the plot.
Destructoid - Something about sex: Sex sells, but who's buying?
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