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Adult Themes: Digital sex just isn't 'sexy'
The attic room is sparsely furnished, with just a bed, a side table and a bookcase made from cheap plywood, shelves sagging from overuse. It's sufficiently cold in here that clouds of vapor peel from my lips, but the location, at least, offers the privacy I need. After balancing my laptop on some books, with the webcam strategically pointed above waist-height, I slide my trousers down and pull out the ominous, black cylinder from a bag. It's a Kiiroo Onyx, a $249 teledildonic device that, the company promises, will enable me to have sex with my significant other (or anyone else) through the internet.
Drama Mamas: Falsely accused of public cybersex
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. This week's letter comes from France, which shows just how universal WoW drama is. Dear Drama Mamas, I recently transferred from a bottom-of-the-charts server to a high-rated one, and after a few raid as un PUG on my new server I found a guild that fitted me perfectly. I was recruited as a main tank, for Firelands and oncoming 4.3. The first weeks were idyllic: tons of raid, even with HM (I was 3/7 normal mode before my transfer). I learned a lot and worked hard to progress. I was the only woman in the guild but there wasn't a problem for me, as I consider me IG as a player and a tank above all.
MMOGology: Sex games
Can you feel it coming? With less than a month until Conan's release, the pressure cooker of excitement building for the new MMOG by Funcom is about to blow its load. At least part of this excitement stems from the fact that Age of Conan deals with mature themes. Unlike the cartoony World of Warcraft and cutesy Hello Kitty Online, Age of Conan is embracing what they call a "dark, decadent, twisted and corrupt version of Euro-Asian history." Aside from the prominent head lopping and blood letting we're also getting a side dish of sex; something we haven't really seen before in a prominent, commercial MMOG.The idea of sex in video games is not new. You can go as far back as text based adventures like Farmer's Daughter on the Commodore 64, crude, arcade-style games like Custer's Revenge for the Atari 2600, or the multi-platform adventure game series Leisure Suit Larry that first kicked off back in 1987. Many early titles were so graphically crude that they left absolutely everything to the imagination. But as technology has evolved, so have the dirty minds of developers. And where dirty minded developers have come up short, many gamers have created modifications to fulfill their fantasies. Would you like some hot coffee while you wait to download the Lara Croft nude patch?Given the heavy censorship present in the games industry it's actually surprising that Age of Conan will ship with a few lewd features in tact. With an M rating, Conan is one of the first MMOGs that's pre-screening its playerbase and tossing out the kiddies (along with the associated revenue stream from their parents). So what are the risqué features in Age of Conan and what will their implementation mean for future MMOGs? If Age of Conan is successful can we expect other developers to push the envelope further, or has someone already beaten them to the punch? If you're easily offended you may wish to skip what follows after the break.
PTR Notes: No cyborz in the Deeprun Tram
What did Skazarund do to get banned from the PTR? All he did wrong was cyborz, man. Cyborz, if you didn't know, is a little bit of the digital hanky-panky. The Internet in-and-out, if you will. The networked nookie, know what I mean?All joking aside, apparently that's true-- Timbal says the test realms are for "testing new game content and functionality, not your abilities to write romance novels." Now, I'm not a huge fan of cybersex or anything (the real thing seems much more fun), but there are people out there that do it, and as long as they don't hurt anyone, I'm fine with leaving them alone. Does Blizzard really feel the need to ban anyone who gets it on on the PTR? Is it somehow more wrong there than on the live servers?Skaz may have been obscene in some way, and if so, then yeah-- he broke the terms of service, and a ban is in order. But if he's just gettin' it on, RP-style, baby, is that really being "disruptive or counterproductive to testing"?
Cybering night elves is cheating, but will you stop?
Any gamer who's been playing massively multiplayer online games for a while has come across (?!) a couple of wood elves entwined in passionate embrace in an abandoned treehouse in Kelethin or has stumbled upon a pair of night elves deep in some abandoned mine grinding out more than just a few quests. For some, cybersex and MMOGs just go together -- virtual trysts seem a natural extension of living in a fantasy world. But be warned: you're flirting with danger. if you've got a real-world partner it's cheating, according to psychologist Dr. Janet Hall, who specializes in relationship counseling. "As soon as secret, intimate, emotional or physical information is shared, it's cheating," she told The Age.
Sex talk: conference agenda released
The agenda for the Sex in Videogames conference has been published, and there are some interesting topics up for debate in San Fran this June. From the cultural to the technological, the conference will cover such diverse topics as cybersex, emergent behaviour, technology for realistic simulation and MMOEGs.This will definitely be one to watch; sex is becoming part of gaming as a specialist genre, as well as becoming integrated into our everyday gaming lives with emergent behaviour. As with other media before it, the human interest in sex is likely to fuel some interesting developments in games -- and not just in the field of "jiggle physics".[Via Sex & Games]
Cybersex is child's play: virtual world morals
We've already heard recently about the sexy side of Second Life, a virtual world in which the players' imaginations are more or less the limits. This article, however, shows just what can -- and does -- happen in an 18 environment where players are given free rein. Although Second Life is no stranger to kinks and perversions, some fetishes provoke far stronger opposition than others.The case in point here is age play, a pastime in which adults put on kiddy avatars and act out scenes which would, in the real world, be considered paedophilic. Thanks to Second Life's strict separation of minors and adults, everyone taking part is of age, which makes for an interesting moral debate. Is this activity virtual paedophilia, an offensive type of sexual play that should be banned lest it lead to real crime? Or is it simply an extension of the fantasy world, a harmless activity carried out in private?Sex-based virtual world Rapture Online, mentioned in the article, is playing it safe from the outset by not letting adults look like children. In SL, however, some official decisions may eventually have to be made on this front -- the simple existence of this sort of activity is enough to get some people riled up, but by infringing on users' freedoms to fantasise about whatever they want in private, the world loses some of its strength.[Thanks, Ken. Image shows items available from some of SL's kid-themed shops.]
Virtual prostitutes make real cash
Sex sells in Second Life, as it does in real life, and this article by Computer Gaming World delves into the story of prostitution within Linden Labs' virtual world. While Second Life prides itself on being driven by user-created content, including user-driven entertainments at nightclubs and gaming plazas, it's no secret that cybersex is amongst the entertainments on offer for the discerning punter.According to the article, escorts can earn up to L$10,000 a week from a few hours' work -- approximately $30, although the exchange rate fluctuates. It's not something that a brand-new character would be able to pull off, though; an expensive wardrobe of realistic avatar clothing, skins and animations is an asset, as are gender verification and a location in which to practice. The industry supporting the sale of these items, and arrranging escort encounters, seems more profitable than actual on-the-street work.Does this render sex-based MMOs redundant? No; there's room in the market for more than the offerings from Second Life residents. But as the recent suspension of Spend the Night shows, creating an erotic MMOs isn't plain sailing; Second Life's exploration of the genre, with or without endorsement from its creators, is a useful first for any developers that wish to follow.[via /.]
