How SHOULD sex scenes in games work?

[conflictofinterests]

This has the hopeful added benefit of not give Fox News anything to complain about...

That's perhaps the most hopeful thought I've ever heard. I'm pretty sure Fox would find a way to complain about a Care Bears game.

WHAT IS THAT STUFF COMING OUT OF THEM?! IT IS SEXUAL INNUENDO!

No, sir, they are using hope and love and whatnot to defeat-

LOVE?! YOU MEAN SEMINAL FLUID!!!

 

[Eldarion]

Sex is a normal part of the human experience. I cannot believe the prudes in here.

 

[Hectix777]

Simple, first off there NEEDS to be intimacy. Sex without intimacy is porn. Next, it should be somewhat tasteful: it has to be between the ME1 sex scene (which is close to a goldilocks zone as games can get) and tv or movie sex scenes. Not sex scenes like in Drive Angry (WAY too graphic), just enough to show emotion and love.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Off screen GOW style or a cutseen like ME/DA. Of course with nudity would be nice.

I do not think sex based mini games would be.... worth while? THo the GOW one is tasteful and funny at teh same time unless your a prud

That or a groinal unit to ware out!!

Urgh, sex in GoW is so badly done.

It sort of remind me of that episode of How I Met Your Mother, where Barney Stinson attributed all his sexual success to that instance where he had sex with the "manmaker". In his memory he thought that he "rocked her world", because he wasn't really paying attention to her genuine reaction to the sex.

But what actually happened was that she had given him a pretty insincere "compliment", despite the fact that she thought the sex was pretty lousy.

The sex scenes in the GoW are pretty much the "Barney Stinson" view of how well he preformed. (I mean come on! They even had to include two lesbian onlookers who make envious remarks of the treatement that their mistress gets from KRatos in GoW III). It's so silly and implausible that it makes you cringe. And it only leaves you with the cynical feeling that as soon as Kratos left Aphrodite's bedchambers, she probably told her two lesbian gimps that she faked it all and that Kratos (being so full of himself that he is) didn't have the slightest idea of what he was doing besides getting himself of and way too prematurely for Aphrodites liking.

So, less "male ego flattering"-bullshit and more portrayed sense of insecurity and exploration and we might get something close to the real thing...

 

[Continuity]

If no one else has said it then this: Red Dwarf Gunmen of the Apocalypse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwuwT6IHfeE

 

[pulse2]

I don't mind, makes a nice change from the brainless toads killing and swearing in the likes of Killzone and Gears 'because it's cool' ¬_¬. No it isn't, swaering does not make the character cooler, just reinforces the notion that games are for the immature.

... Or it could make the setting in the game seem more realistic.

You do know that soldiers in a lot of armies across the world, where the training basically consist of breaking down the recruits into emotionally unstable people, and then filling all those broken cracks with cement of macho bravado, killer instinct and a hefty respect towards authority (basically the people who command the most guns and where the guns shoot at), added with some veteran status of frontline experience and lovely memories of your comrades in arms, innocent civilians and enemies being blown to gory, raw hamburger-like bits, tends to make you somewhat desensitized towards the "horrors" of an "unwholesome" use of language.

Or to put it simply; it's not surprising that veteran soldiers swear and cuss a FUCKING lot amongst eachother.

"I've been ordered to put bullets in living, breathing people, and you expect me to care about making an effort in not using the dreaded f-word because it might 'offend' someone?" <-- decent reaction from a veteran.

NO, swearing isn't "cool", but frequent swearing is a trait associated with aggressive people, and few things serve to make a person more aggressive than infantry work in a war...

While you may have a point, I still don't buy it. The swearing in these games went from pretty awesome as I put a chainsaw / bullet through another enemy's head, to 'yeah, okay, you F***ING saw another enemy', good for you.

It started to become a little annoying, to me those characters still just come across has brainless toads, I don't care a single bit for them, in fact I wish they'd just die and stay dead, I don't want to have to keep reviving them just for them to use up my dolby surround sound with just a series of brainless swearing for no apparent reason.

I'd like a bit more REAL war emotions, I don't mind the hard edged characters and I don't mind swearing, but when all the characters and the entire game consists of just these two things, it's boring. Even action heros like Syvester Stallone show more emotion then that, and they are as wooden as actors get.

This is just a personal vendetta, both games are awesome, they just fail to keep my brain stimulated.

 

[Uberpig]

Sex scenes tend to be pointless in any form of media. It doesn't work as titillation, because if that's what you're after there are far quicker ways to get it, and if you're trying to establish a relationship or sexual attraction there are better, subtler and more interesting ways to go about it.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Off screen GOW style or a cutseen like ME/DA. Of course with nudity would be nice.

I do not think sex based mini games would be.... worth while? THo the GOW one is tasteful and funny at teh same time unless your a prud

That or a groinal unit to ware out!!

Urgh, sex in GoW is so badly done.

It sort of remind me of that episode of How I Met Your Mother, where Barney Stinson attributed all his sexual success to that instance where he had sex with the "manmaker". In his memory he thought that he "rocked her world", because he wasn't really paying attention to her genuine reaction to the sex.

But what actually happened was that she had given him a pretty insincere "compliment", despite the fact that she thought the sex was pretty lousy.

The sex scenes in the GoW are pretty much the "Barney Stinson" view of how well he preformed. (I mean come on! They even had to include two lesbian onlookers who make envious remarks of the treatement that their mistress gets from KRatos in GoW III). It's so silly and implausible that it makes you cringe. And it only leaves you with the cynical feeling that as soon as Kratos left Aphrodite's bedchambers, she probably told her two lesbian gimps that she faked it all and that Kratos (being so full of himself that he is) didn't have the slightest idea of what he was doing besides getting himself of and way too prematurely for Aphrodites liking.

So, less "male ego flattering"-bullshit and more portrayed sense of insecurity and exploration and we might get something close to the real thing...

Make that pruds and people that think sex has to be "special".
LOL

GOW dose it as a silly aside, which is alot better than how a hentai game dose it. Least mechanically speaking...

 

[TheKruzdawg]

I'm of the opinion, like a lot of people in this thread, that implication is best. I know what sex looks like and unless I'm specifically looking for porn, I don't need to have it shoved in my face. Although it was always a little bit awkward, I like how Mass Effect handled the scenes when you finally got to them: some conversation, maybe a caress and a tiny bit of skin, and then it would pan away and come back when the deed was done.

All of the scenes that I saw ( Male Shep & Ashley; FemShep & Liara, FemShep & Garrus, and Male Shep & Tali) I thought were done fairly well and they gave you enough so that you knew what was going to happen and could extrapolate the general feelings of the people involved (how passionate, awkward, or w/e it was going to be) and they let your imagination do the rest.

 

[Reece Stevens]

Sex shouldn't be in games to begin with.

It's an embarrassment to society that needs to be corrected.

Sex itself or sex in video games/media?

Both I guess. :\

ok, so If you want mass human extinction thats fine by me, I don't mind celibates, but asking others to not mention or show sex is a bit too... forceful

like I have vegitarian friends who still let me eat meat around them, and gay friends that let me mention hetrosexual sex around them (hell, they seem to joke about it more)

Im not trying to denounce your veiw, you just come off as awfully forceful, thats all.

I hope there are no hard feelings and this is not taken out of context, I also apoligise if the origional scentence was taken out of context to begin with

 

[Zechnophobe]

Simple, first off there NEEDS to be intimacy. Sex without intimacy is porn.

Er... I don't think that's true. I mean, it may gravitate in that direction, but sex WITH intimacy can also be porn, and sex without sometimes isn't. I'm talking both real life, and in games.

 

[aPod]

Im perfectly happy with Fable style. Fade to black "Oh you are a hero!" its more than enough. Then again, it depends entirely on the game.

Games like Heavy Rain that wish to go for the hollywood style sex scene would seem perfectly reasonable to me though.

 

[Saviordd1]

In the witcher, we have little cards that depict.. something.

In Bioware games we have odd looking groping. In some games like Fahrenheit their might be odd zombie sex or steamy shower scenes.

But what actually should work?

Oh, and this is meant to be a question for 'games that have some sex' as opposed to 'games about sex'.

I've slowly started to 'yawn' at Bioware's style myself. The whole idea of flirting at random intervals, followed by a sudden 'quick lets hump!' scene just feels weird. They are meant to be romances but generally start with mad sexings, instead of ending there.

It also feels very modal. "This is the point where you may lay with this person in the game, so sayeth the Wise Allaundo." You never have something like "Man, that last fight with those darkspawn was terrible" or "My mom.. is dead. I need something to take my mind off it." That is, unless it is pre-programmed to work that way.

There also isn't much in the middle. If you really were having a romantic affair with a character you were adventuring with, wouldn't the occasional makeout session (even off camera) make sense? OMG, we killed a dragon... let's make-out!

All in all, I honestly don't want explicit. And I sure as heck don't want 'fake explicity' aka dry humping. But I would like to feel my character/avatar was in a PASSIONATE relationship.

You?

Honestly bioware is closeEST (Not 100% good) with it so far, Mass effect one was the best, it showed the characters trusted each other and we're doing it to confirm their love. But DAO, DA2, and ME2 we're just silly, the animations were horrible, the scenes came at predictable times and meh. So if bioware can take the ME1 idea and run with it better theyll be on to something

 

[DementedSheep]

IMO sex scenes should be added when appropriate. When its and emotional connection between to character and not just thrown in there to be ?naughty?. They should be short and tasteful. The fade to black or suggestive shots that don't actually show much thing works fine. You don?t really need to see anything and I don?t quite get why people want to watch a sex scene in a game.

That said if people want full blown interactive sex scenes just for the hell or for the lolz thats also fine. For me it cheapens the game and it?s not something I?m interested in personally but not everything needs to be to my taste. I saw a game in a store that unlocked porn (yes real porn) as rewards. I think that?s kind of disgusting and will never play it but its existence doesn?t offend me. Each to their own.

 

[white_salad]

Quick time events. lol!

"Hold both shoulder buttons and gently lick the Home/XBox button in a gentle circular manner"

"Press X not to be premature."

Hahahaha

Rotate and pinch the left and right analog sticks! Insert controller into anus.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

It also depends on the characters, and how comfortable they are with their own sexualities, and what they perceive sexuality to be in themselves and in their partner. If you're going to be mature and believable about these scenes, you're going to have to take into account people who are horrified by genitals, people who can't help but giggle when those parts are mentioned, people who get aroused at the slighted provocation, people who take some persuasion... These are dynamics that aren't even TOUCHED upon in games that aren't dedicated entirely to romance/erotica (and as I've never played any that ARE dedicated to that, I can't vouch as to whether or not these dynamics are touched on there or not). Different people react to different propositions differently.

You know, that could be turned into a pretty interesting game mechanic.

I mean, consider games like Morrowind and Fallout: New Vegas, where (during character creation) can take these kind of semi-psychological tests to determine what kinds of skills would best suit your character (like if you answer that you would steal something and sneak away from a situation, then the game would recommend that you start out with high stealing/sneaking skills).

Now what if a game had that kind of test at the beginning but more elaborate, and that the test governed not only YOUR digital avatars skills and proficiencies but also the way certain characters in the game world will look like as well as how they will act and react towards you?

For instance, the game might ask what sexual orientation you have, and you input that you're a male heterosexual. Then further down the game shows you two pictures of two different women and ask you which one of them you find more attractive (of course the game really wants to know a specific detail of the two pictures, like what hair colour in the opposite sex you prefer, or which one has the better looking nose, cleavage etc. but you aren't being told that specific detail during the test). And that information is then used by the game to shape and alter the physical exterior of certain in-game female characters that you (as a person in real life) would respond to in specific ways.

The same thing could be done could probably be used for mannerisms of in-game characters. For instance, if you know that you're a sucker for sexually aggressive and downright "slutty" women, then certain characters that the game expects you to respond to positively will act that way. But if you input that you feel more drawn towards shy/awkward behaviour in the opposite sex, then the in-game characters will act like that instead.

Of course, the stage where the game gathers all this information has to be cleverly constructed as to insure that the questions aren't too obvious (i.e if the game downright asks you if you prefer blondes or red-heads, then the sense of immersion or what the games expects you to do won't be as interesting when a sultry red-head or blond shows up making "just the right" propositions that you could see coming a mile away). So a more elaborate and subtle set of questions has to be posed and having a few psychology professors as consultants when trying to design that test would probably help a long way.

But if done properly, wouldn't the experience be kind of awesome and tremendously PERSONAl to each and every player? I mean, not only do you shape your own in-game character the way you want, but the in-game world itself actually changes according to who YOU (the player) are as a person and in ways that you yourself probably can't really guess.

 

[spacepoliceman]

I think sex scenes should not be in a game unless it adds something to the character or the story (don't ask me how that would work, I am not a writer)

I would be more than happy to see a game where building a relationship between characters was part of the game, but not for the express goal of getting a sub-par sex scene at the end.

titillation has it's place (I am looking at you Dead or Alive Extreme) but in a game that has a purpose other than cheap thrills than there should be more to it.

Mass Effect does not really cut it for me, the relationship building aspects are sort of there, but not really, at least not as in depth as I would like them.

Fable 2/3 is not a good example either as it is even farther from realism.

Short answer, if I want sex in a game I will find a sex game. I want a good story from my games, and tacked on sex scenes only take away from that.

 

[DaHero]

You ask me? Assassain's Creed 2 did it best.