Issue 41 - Hot and Bothered

[The Escapist Staff]

Bonnie Ruberg"No longer satisfied with knowing how we can interact with a game, we want to know how a game will interact with us. Newly empowered, we've turned the spotlight on a type of reverse interactivity. Our real-world reactions become linked with our actions in-game, and vice versa. A whole new dichotomy - or at least our awareness of one - has been born." Bonnie Ruberg talks about New Games Journalism.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Clint

At first glance I was repulsed by the idea that any game warranted a fundamental emotional response. It seemed wrong that any adult would cry over a game. But, being a gamer . . . who is a 42 year old professional . . . I was able to think back to times that I reacted violently or at least felt like I would cry while "enjoying" a mmorpg. But at times like those, I realize that it is just a game and not nearly as important as getting off of my derrier and paying my creditors off and buying food for the little tykes. I have been playing one game or another since Pong.

In short, there is not doubt in my mind that games elicit emotional responses. That is what they are for. But it is scary to think of anyone giving more emotional depth than is warranted to a game; or conversly a game that "plays" with people that deeply.

Life is much more important, and demanding enough on your emotions. Games are outlets of emotions for sure, but they are games. They do not knock on your door, they do not litigate against you in Court, they do not access your bank account -- unless you allow it. Those that do allow game(s) to become an obsession should get help. But that begs the question of "How much is too much?".

I guess this is a very gray area. Your article is well written and creates a lot of questions for me. I know that it will be a fruitful area of inquiry for years to come.

What is it called when your obsession with the gaming world is manifested in a desire to make real world money from virtual property . . . good business?

How much should a game effect you emotionally? Who decided your answer?

Is one's willingness to spend real life dollars to gain status and prestige in a game evidence of your inability to have an identity seperate from some game? I guess this question would apply to any activity you sink your money in.

oh well, my two cents and change.
Good work.

Clint AKA Caztra Tor
JAG Eldar Emperium
Eve Online
(Can you feel the irony)

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Rob

IAn interesting starting point but you barely explore it. Sure, games are physical experiences like no other... but to focus on the sexual aspects above all others seems a bit tawdry and I don't think you really get into the subject. Sexual arousal is one of the easiest achievable physical phenomena, and games have had a rather silly history of trying to elicit it (Leisure Suite Larry et al). Lara Croft is still an embarrassing hangover from the era of videogames where women were deliberately sidelined as a minority audience - some of us would like this to change, and game focussing on sexual titillation would probably not help this.

Secondly, yes, physical response is peripheral to the gaming experience (a mere signifier to the emotions underneath). You ask "what if a game gets you aroused?" but state that it's "not a sex game... just a game" The arousal in that case is exactly peripheral; it's a side effect that wasn't something the creators were trying to affect. Later you envisage that "Whole reviews could be written about the sexual effects of a totally "non-sexual" game" but these wouldn't be reviews, they would be psychological analyses. This would only be a subject broached amongst friends in the most irreverant of manners.

However, physical reactions to games are interesting, or the physicality of playing games like DDR, anyway. But isn't it the point of most games to allow the player to inhabit another role, thus really all the physicality that matters happens on screen, in the avatar itself.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Bonnie Ruberg
http://www.heroine-sheik.com
"Life is much more important, and demanding enough on your emotions."
In one sense, yes. But, in another sense, who's to say an art form isn't just as deserving of your emotional energy? Can a book make you cry? Can a film? Why not a game?

"An interesting starting point but you barely explore it."
That I do agree with you on. I think, to explore it in more depth, I would need to carefully review a game in the manner described above. Unfortunately, due to certain restraints at the moment, that wasn't possible. I hope to get there in the future.

"These wouldn't be reviews, they would be psychological analyses."
And what's to say that a review can't be both? Of course, it wouldn't fit with our current understanding of a review, but that's the point.

"Thus really all the physicality that matters happens on screen, in the avatar itself."
It depends on how you look on it. Wherever you personally place importance, the fact remains that your on-screen gameplay has an impact on your physical body.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Matt

According to my (female) friend, the knife fight between Kruser (sp?) and Leon in RE4 was one of the most erotic things she's ever seen on TV.

Personally, I was to busy trying to avoid getting stabbed to get into it in that way...

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Cody K.

Completely off topic? but did anyone else notice that all three pages of this article had pictures of seductive women on them? I guess it?ll be a while longer before videogaming breaks its young, male dominated demographic? not that I?m complaining or anything. ;-)

 

[Sprout2]

" did anyone else notice that all three pages of this article had pictures of seductive women on them?"

Actually I designed this layout. Bonnie tends to be the only writer who deals much with female gamers AND likes to include sexuality in her writing. So images of semi-seductive women in an article titled 'Hot and Bothered' made sense to me.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Bonnie Ruberg
http://www.heroine-sheik.com
"According to my (female) friend, the knife fight between Kruser (sp?) and Leon in RE4 was one of the most erotic things she's ever seen on TV."
Ah Leon, still breaking hearts. His semi-effeminacy does have a definite appeal.

"Bonnie tends to be the only writer who deals much with female gamers AND likes to include sexuality in her writing. So images of semi-seductive women in an article titled 'Hot and Bothered' made sense to me."
Not that I'm complaining about the layout, because I think you guys do an amazing job with an incredibly short amount of time, but since this piece is really focused on sex and not gender, it seemed to me too that an image of a similarly-sexified male gamer thrown in the mix would have would have made things a little more equal.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Player1
http://www.player1.com.au
I was also waiting for a male picture everytime I turned the virtual page. I understand why you went with seductive women, but I think some gender balance would have suited this gender neutral article (if not mirroring our industry particularly accurately)

Thank you so much for the link to Quarter to Three's Shoot Club. That's some quality writing that deserves as wide an audience as possible.

As to the article's content - does the 'in the zone' feeling experienced in some shmups and games like Amplitude count as a physical reaction? I love getting my body/mind into that state, where I'm not actively telling my fingers to hit buttons, rather, the reactions are more like reflexes. The interface is forgotten, and I assume the role of the object I am manipulating directly.

Sexual responses are most likely to happen in a human/human relationship don't you think? So MMORPGs and other games in which the game is a tool through which humans can interact have a strong chance of illiciting sexual reactions. Following this argument through, games where the AI most closely mimics humans stand the best chance of getting sexual responses. If I'm aware that I'm just manipulating a ruleset, then chances of a human emotional response - including a sexual one - are low.

Thanks for the thought provoking article, and the offshoot links (including the excellent Heroine Shiek). The more writing that successfully blends videogames with the rest of the world, the better.