Virtual Sex: How Online Games Changed Our Culture

By Damon Brown, Feral House. Posted November 27, 2008.

The Bully protest and the Hot Coffee fallout did not stop new, potentially controversial titles from appearing. "No fewer than six announced [online sex titles] were in development -- Spend the Night, Naughty America: The Game, Rapture Online, Heavenly Bodies, Red Light Center and 3 Feel," Brenda Brathwaite's Sex in Video Games said at the time. "Although each game had a slightly different feature set, all focused on sexual interactions between characters in the game to some degree or another." One of the most notable titles was actually in some form of public beta-testing for several years. Sociolotron is a massive, X-rated virtual world created by veteran game developer Patric Lagny. There are monsters to slay and treasure to find like Ultima Online and other adventures, but Sociolotron was made specifically for you to live your fantasy as a pimp, prostitute or pirate, knight, dominatrix or spy, or any other self-created design you see fit. You can then have sex with any of the hundreds of other role players on the virtual plain. If you have a desire that isn't included in the game -- and there are many included in the game -- you can ask the creator himself to code it in. It is all run by Lagny, like a mom-and-pop sex shop. He told the tech magazine Sync, "My intent was to fashion something the big companies, like Sony, wouldn't ever touch." Still, according to Lagny's data, female Sociolotron players outnumber the men almost two to one.

In 2006, authors Jon M. Gibson and Chris Carle collaborated on a line of calendars called Nerdcore. Shot by photographer Cherie Roberts, the first calendar features porn stars with video games. Miss December leans against the arcade machine of Williams' classic Defender, her long blonde tresses stopping just short of her ample breasts and her long legs -- actually, her whole body -- only covered from the calf down. She wears gym socks with gold and purple stripes. Miss November lays on her stomach across a queen-sized bed playing an old Nintendo GameBoy handheld (originally released in 1989). She twists her nude body just right so her untanned behind is in full camera view. The first edition was successful enough for Nerdcore to release a second calendar focused on superheroes. It had a launch party in a large Los Angeles comic book shop with an open bar, porn performers and blowup posters of the calendar. The tech channel G4TV and other international outlets covered the event. Masi Oka, a lead actor on the popular NBC fantasy show Heroes, came to the party.

The same year Evergreen Events held the first annual Sex in Video Games conference in San Francisco. "This unique conference will focus on the design, development, and technology of sex in video games from a national as well as international perspective," read the website. "In addition, this conference will also have a strong focus on business matchmaking and networking. During the conference's two day run, it will feature numerous lectures and keynotes, a machinima art show (erotic art and movies derived from video games) as well as panel discussions with leaders in video game and adult video game development." Panels included "Sex in Games: Where are We Now?," "Creating a Massively Multiplayer Online Erotic Game" and "Integrating International AO Success into the US Market". (AO stood for Adults Only.) According to the SiVG organizers, the original meeting place, the Nob Hill Masonic Center, suddenly refused to hold the conference. The venue was planned well in advance. At the last minute, the conference was moved to the Kensington Hotel. Attendees would get lost in the large building as the hoteliers did not allow the organizers to put up a sign for the conference in the lobby. MTV, Wired, and The Washington Post were able to find the event. There would be no conference in 2007.

A few months before the conference, co-organizer and Savannah College of Art & Design game design professor Brenda Brathwaite released Sex in Video Games. Part history lesson and part action plan, the textbook gave game designers perspective on how adult situations could improve their games. It was the first book on the topic released and is the most comprehensive listing of sex-related games available. For new developments, Brathwaite kept an online blog at www.igda.org/sex. In the book, Brathwaite seemed optimistic about the future of adult gaming. "While a majority of today's games seem to sport one extreme or the other -- hyper-sexualized environments, avatars or actions, or nothing at all -- games in the future will likely not be designed in such a way. Just as love scenes in movies are the norm and, with few exceptions, don't make headlines, so too will games find a comfortable medium."

One of the most critically acclaimed games at the time was God of War, a bloody, fast-paced action title based on Roman mythology. Early in the game the malevolent hero arises out of bed, leaving behind two topless women with which he presumably spent the night. While most players may have walked out of the bedroom and started the next game level, you actually have the option to come back to the bed. The women will let out an innocent giggle as the bald-headed warrior climbs in between the sheets. The camera slowly pans to a Roman vase sitting precariously on the edge of a nearby nightstand. The game shows you a series of buttons to press. Each successful hit will let out a breathless female gasp followed by a gruff hero grunt. The mini-game ends when the vase, shaken by the bed knocking, breaks on the floor. A 2007 sequel had a similar sequence in a medieval bathhouse. Both received a Mature rating, the equivalent of a movie R. The PlayStation 2 games were released by Sony, a company that, about 35 years earlier, lost the VCR war to VHS because Beta lacked porn.

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Damon Brown writes about sex, technology, music and video games for Playboy, New York Post and Family Circle, and is the tech columnist for AARP Online and PlanetOut.

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