Of all the ideas and varied topics being discussed at this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), none have been has titillating (sorry couldn’t help myself) as the “Hentai, Hardcore, and Hotties” discussion hosted by Brenda Brathwaite.
Find out all the sexy details after the jump!
Before I get ahead of myself, it’s important for you all to know just who Brenda Brathwaite is. Brenda is one of THE most influential women in gaming, and has been for twenty five years now. She is a contract game designer who has worked on 22 international titles like Def Jam: Icon, Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes, the Wizardry series, the Jagged Alliance series and Playboy: The Mansion. She is also a professor of game development and interactive design at the Savannah College of Art and Design, in Savannah, Georgia.
Brathwaite is a major proponent of parental rating awareness and a dedicated anti-censorship advocate. She is also the founder of the International Game Developers Association’s Sex Special Interest Group. So, keep any lady gamer jokes to yourself, this woman deserves nothing but respect.
During her “Hentai, Hardcore, and Hotties” talk at this years GDC, she told attendees:
“Developers are terrified of putting sex in games in case they get an AO rating, which is the kiss of death.”
Brathwaite admits that fear is not irrational as even some M rated titles don’t get stocked by the big chain stores.
“Western sex games like Leisure Suit Larry and 7 Sins didn’t sell,” she said. “And they didn’t sell because they couldn’t get into Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or Target. If you can’t get into those three stores, you’re done.”
Brenda went on to criticize how the ratings system is blocking the potential for educational sex games.
“For example, you can make a game about safe sex for teenagers, and it would automatically get an AO rating,” she told attendees. “There’s absolutely no provision in the ratings system that says anything like, ‘unless it’s an educational title.’”
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15 responses so far ↓
1 Greeneyedpsyko // Feb 21, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I agree with 100% of everything you just said.
Kudos.
2 SarcasticSparki // Feb 21, 2008 at 2:37 pm
The best way for the industry to break out of this phobia.. is by games like Mass Effect. You need a big name game, one that BB and Target would be daft to not sell (Wallyworld is it’s own special group). A game that while it may be M is not just about T&A.. but does contain some (even if a tiny amount).
Mass Effect kinda got lucky there being a new title.. but with the MS Hype engine pushing it that much the stores had to stock it… other games that could do it, are sequels to big names. BioShock 2, Gears 2, Heavenly Sword (will it have a sequel), Smash Bros (trying to get all platforms here to avoid the “fanboy” backlash, though I guess something w/ the balance board would be more entertaining, at least to laugh at the commercials for)…
3 Animathias // Feb 21, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Huzzah!
4 balaamsafe // Feb 21, 2008 at 3:37 pm
seconded
if games are to be seen by the public and all media outlets as a for of entertainment to equal (or better) movise, than developers need to be able to explore every…avenue
5 FaMiCuS // Feb 21, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Brenda Brathwaite should debate with the entire crew of Fox News.
6 mpgd1kon // Feb 21, 2008 at 4:17 pm
yea she is definitely right….. i wonder hat jack thompson would do if he heard that
7 Kage // Feb 21, 2008 at 5:17 pm
The American system annoys me…they can show full decapitations, brutal executions and and gore with no problem, but as soon as a nipple is shown, it’s suddendly unacceptable!? The German system is also silly, because it’s the exact opposite. They can show full graphic sex with no qualms, but any sign of gore is usually censored. Here in the UK it’s pretty much a balance between the two, and it makes much more sense.
8 insert username here // Feb 21, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Sometimes people get pissed off because of a sex scene in a game which you would see in a PG-13 movie
9 Chayce // Feb 21, 2008 at 5:55 pm
There should be an organized strike among the game delevopers and during that period they would produce nothing but games with sex in them. besy buy and walmart have to sell those games or they will lose money. but too bad this wont happen in the near future.
10 Jeff // Feb 21, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Sex in video games, tv, movies, etc. is pointless. Disagree with me or not it’s the truth. You can argue that sex is a part of life and you’re right because it its, but so is pooping, urinating, vomiting, and getting prostate exams but you don’t want to see those don’tcha? some of the wonderous things of life are meant to be done behind closed doors and not infront of cameras.
Oh, and to have “safe sex” you need to be married….otherwise your parents will kill you!
11 Charles // Feb 22, 2008 at 6:32 am
I agree with Jeff. It is unnecessary in video games
12 aras120 // Feb 22, 2008 at 7:04 am
I think it’s unecessary to have that in a computer game. its downgrading to think that characters have to have huge breast sizes to make their game sell. Whats the point? imm here to pwnn aliens or terrorists not to get up close and personal with some other guy.
I personly think that games should take a step back from all that as it won’t lead to anything good.
13 Vote4Drizzt // Feb 22, 2008 at 10:01 am
i am with the guys immediately above me, I don’t WANT sex in my games, I didn’t buy Mass Effect becuase I am not going to bring that into my Home, and I will continue to miss out on great games, because they MUST have this unnecessary crap in them.
If you want games like that go ahead, but I for one, hope they never make that the standard.
14 A Rabid Moose // Feb 22, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I dunno, I’m under 15 and my parents control a lot of what I see on TV and play in video games. They have this website they go to and… …well, let’s just say “mild language” in starwars battlefront II is satan incarnate. What I’m trying to say here is that if more and more games get to be like that, I’ll be playing less and less. Game companies appealing to the older age group might win some money, but they might lose some from us younger gamers. I’ll probobly never play Mass Effect because of the “partial nudity” on the box
15 Sights-set117 // Feb 24, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I think Jack Thompson would roll over in his grave if he heard this….if only he were dead….
For a nation known for sex, violence, drugs and ….violence, America is so afraid of sexuality in games that it actually worries me. Seeing a naked butt should not constitute partial nudity! Seeing a full breast, or semi-out-of-focus, full-frontal nudity should be considered partial nudity. This is not the fault of game stores and game-makers really, the ESRB is to blame.
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