Sex in Games SIG

International Game Developers Association

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FAQs What is a Special Interest Group (SIG)? How do I join a SIG? How do I establish a SIG?

The Sex in Games SIG (or Sex SIG) was formed in April 2005 as the result of two successful roundtables at the Game Developers Conference. It exists to address the challenges and possibilities for adult content within games. The Sex SIG provides an outlet where information can be shared among developers and those who wish to enter the field.

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Principles 1.2 Membership 1.3 History 2 Initiatives 2.1 Age Verification 2.2 Safe Advertising 2.3 Rating Awareness 2.4 Game Distribution 2.5 Quarterly Newsletter 3 Knowledge Base 3.1 Design Issues 3.1.1 Hetero-centric Design 3.1.2 GLBT-centric Design 3.1.3 Female-centric Design 3.1.4 Fetish-centric Design 3.1.5 Accessible Design 3.2 Rating Boards 3.2.1 North America 3.2.2 European Union 3.2.3 Japan 3.2.4 Germany 3.2.5 Australia 3.3 Existing Games with Mature Content Games 3.3.1 Games with Sexy Leads 3.3.2 Games with Romance/Love Stories 3.3.3 Games with Sex Scenes 3.3.4 Hentai Games 3.3.5 MMOEGs 3.3.6 Cell Phone Games 3.3.7 Educational Games 3.3.8 Therapy Games 4 Hardware 5 Emergent Sex 5.1 Emergent Sex in MMOs 5.2 Commerical Sex Trade 5.3 Reproduction 5.4 Sites Covering Emergent Sex 6 Censorship 7 Research 8 FAQ 9 Resources 9.1 Member Sites 9.2 Middleware 9.3 Publishers 9.4 Distributors 9.5 Existing Interviews/Articles 9.6 Relevant Academic Publications 10 External links

Overview

The Sex in Games SIG will serve as an arena for developers to address the issues and challenges facing the use of mature content in video games.

Sexual content is, of course, found in all forms of media, from Homer's Odyssey and The Iliad to movies like The Graduate, Sideways and even Shakespeare in Love. It is a valid storytelling mechanic and central to the human experience. As such, the Sex SIG embraces sex and sexuality as a natural, healthy and positive force in our lives.

The Sex SIG serves as a source for related industry news and the collected knowledge of its members. The Sex SIG also provides an online discussion forum and mailing list to promote developer interaction.

Principles

The Sex in Games SIG recognizes:

• The right of developers to work together to create games that include the full range of the human experience, including representations of relationships, love, intimacy, and sexual themes.
• A parent's need to be informed and oversee/control their children's access to content.
• The responsibility we as developers have to make sure that the content that's in the game is reflected in its rating and its rating descriptors.

Membership

The Sex in Games SIG welcomes everyone interested in the topic of sexual content in video games, from developers actively creating such content to parents to those working in or with organizations that seek to restrict such content.

History

THIS PAGE IS CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS. STAY TUNED FOR REGULAR UPDATES - MARCH 15, 2007

Initiatives

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Age Verification

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Safe Advertising

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Rating Awareness

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Game Distribution

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Quarterly Newsletter

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Knowledge Base

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Design Issues

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Hetero-centric Design

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GLBT-centric Design

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Female-centric Design

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Fetish-centric Design

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Accessible Design

The IGDA's Accessibility SIG is an excellent resource for those looking for information on accessible design.

The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability: For All of Us Who Live with Disabilities, Chronic Pain and Illness [1] is also another excellent resource.

Rating Boards

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North America

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European Union

• British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)[2]
• Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) [3]

Japan

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Germany

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Australia

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Existing Games with Mature Content Games

• Sexy Dreams 3D
• DreamStripper

Games with Sexy Leads

• Phantasmagoria 2 was the first computer game to establish the playable character as being bisexual.

Games with Romance/Love Stories

• Harvest Moon series (Natsume, Inc., 1996-present)

• Baldur's Gate II: Shadow's of Amn (Bioware, 2000)

Games with Sex Scenes

• God of War (SCEA, 2005)
• God of War II (SCEA, 2007)
• Indigo Prophecy (Atari Europe S.A.S.U., 2005)
• Fahrenheit (SEGA, 1995)
• Phantasmagoria (Sierra On-Line, Inc., 1995)
• Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh (Sierra On-Line, Inc., 1996)
• Fable (Lionhead, 2004)

Hentai Games

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MMOEGs

• Red Light Center

Cell Phone Games

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Educational Games

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Therapy Games

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Hardware

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Emergent Sex

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Emergent Sex in MMOs

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Commerical Sex Trade

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Reproduction

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Sites Covering Emergent Sex

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Censorship

• In the PAL conversion of Bare Knuckle 3 (Sega, 1994) to Streets of Rage 3, the first stage boss 'Ash' was removed and substituted with a series of enemy groups. Ash's clichéd design clearly distinguished him as homosexual, and the character was secretly playable in the Japanese version. Conversion censorship of this kind is also noted in Capcom's scrolling beat-em-up Final Fight (Capcom, 1990), though here it related to sexually provocative content in the background level design.

Research

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FAQ

Q: Did the IGDA's Sex SIG start in response to Hot Coffee?

A: No. The Sex SIG was well in the works by the time the Hot Coffee scandal broke in June of 2005. The SIG was actually started because a handful of developers had created mature, sexually themed content for the consoles, but had not networked and faced a lot of hurdles that were unique to this form of content. Playboy: The Mansion, The Singles and Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude all released that year, the latter two featuring add-on AO versions for PCs. These developers and the publishers of the games faced unique marketing, rating, distribution and retail hurdles that other developers hadn't faced. At the 2005 Game Developer's Conference, a series of roundtables were held to discuss mature content development: "Sexuality In Games: What's Appropriate?" The roundtables were packed, and developers wanted to stay in touch to discuss these and other issues unique to adult content development. In March 2005, a mailing list was formed. By April, a full SIG had been created. We continue to host a well-attended roundtable at GDC every year.

Q: Does the SIG focus only on hard-core content?

A: No. We are interested in preserving the rights of developers to explore the full range of human emotion in games... which is not the easiest thing to do in today's political climate. Some games have come to North America self-censored in order to avoid potential or perceived issues at retail or in the ratings process. Today's M-rated games still don't hold a candle to R-rated films.

Resources

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Member Sites

IGDA Sex SIG Sex & Games blog http://www.igda.org/sex

Listed in alphabetical order:

DreamStripper (Virtual 3D Stripper Game) http://www.dreamstripper.com

GayGamer (Blog and Forum) http://www.gaygamer.net

MMOrgy (Emergent sex in virtual worlds) http://www.mmorgy.com

Sexy Dreams 3D (Adult Game for Couples) http://www.sexydreams3d.com

Slashdong (Teledildonics and sex tech) http://www.slashdong.org

Virtually Jenna (Jenna Jameson's game) http://www.virtuallyjenna.com

Middleware

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Publishers

Peach Princess - Translations of Japanese erotic games ("hentai"). http://www.peachprincess.com

Newgrounds Mature area - Anyone with Flash can submit games to Newgrounds for others to play, so it's a kind of grassroots web publishing effort. http://www.newgrounds.com/mature

Distributors

Manifesto Games http://www.manifestogames.com

J-List - Imports of Japanese stuff, as well as translated hentai games. http://www.j-list.com

Existing Interviews/Articles

• BBFC report (2007): 'Video Games: research to improve understanding of what players enjoy about videogames, and explain their preferences for particular games' [4]

Relevant Academic Publications

• Consalvo, M. (2003) 'Hot Dates and Fairy-Tale Romances: Studying Sexuality in Videogames' in Wolf, M. J. P. Perron, B. The Video Game Theory Reader. London: Routledge. pp. 171-194.

• Skirrow, G. (1986) 'Hellivision: an analysis of video games', in MacCabe, C. (ed) High Theory/Low Culture - analysing popular television and film. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp.115-142.

• Surman, D. (2006) 'Style, Consistency and Plausibility in the Fable Gameworld' in Buchan, S. (ed) Animated Worlds. London: John Libbey. pp. 151-170.

External links

• International Game Developers Association: Sex in Games