Game Orgasm

World of Warcraft: Noblegarden, Sexy or Sexist?

Chris — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:09:58 +0000

We are nearing the end of Noblegarden, but haven’t discussed here at WoW Insider the most controversial part of the event: Shake your Bunny-Maker. For this achievement, you have to put bunny ears on one female of each race that is over Level 18.

The name and picture of that fictional album is undeniably sexist and degrading to women. But does that apply to the in-game actions of forcing bunny ears on appropriately "aged" females? Sutro at Feministing.com seems to think so (as do a few of our readers who wrote in about this topic). He calls this achievement "unconscionable", which is a pretty strong word.

Without a doubt, putting the ears only on female characters and having them be the equivalent of legal age to pose nude is a reference to Playboy. And Playboy, as most adults know, is a men’s magazine with naked women inside AKA smut or porn. Many people believe that all porn objectifies and is otherwise demeaning to women, even if considered tasteful as many consider Playboy to be.

Texas Bill Might Require Sex Offenders To Register Gaming Identities

Chris — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:07:32 +0000

From G4TV:

A bill that passed the Texas Senate today would change sex offender registration regulations in the state so convicted sex offenders would have to provide law enforcement with each “alias, assumed name, nickname, or pseudonym, including a screen name, used by the person.” Presumably, the law includes gamertags, twitter user names, facebook names, and other public online identifiers.

The additional information would not be made public but would be available to law enforcement and social-networking sites, and presumably, video game companies. This gives companies the ability reject people from joining based on their inclusion on the list. The bill, introduced by Sen. Florence Shapiro, is headed to a vote by the Texas House, and should it pass, the governor’s desk.

Do Gays Not Exist in Bioware’s Star Wars?

Chris — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:27:13 +0000

From The Escapist:

Controversy flared on Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic forums after the words "homosexual," "gay," and "lesbian" were auto-censored, and a moderator insisted that those terms did "not exist in Star Wars."

The story as we understand it, thus far: Players on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic community forums began to discuss how Bioware’s upcoming Star Wars MMO – and its playerbase – would handle same-sex relationships. As more and more threads started popping up about the issue, the discussion grew more heated. Eventually, forum moderators began locking the discussions.

Here’s Penny-Arcade funny take on the subject:

The Role of Female Characters in Video Games

Chris — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:20:28 +0000

From Kombo:

I would like to slide this disclaimer out in front of you readers just so that I can quell any early senses of anger before we proceed. I may say some things here and there that place the female sex and gender into a position that’s well below the politically correct norm. I want you to know that while I may be using these viewpoints and positions in order to further prove my argument, I know as a human being and a member of society that women are equal to men. My goal with this article is to dismantle the accepted image of females in video games and educate those that may look at their typical portrayal as normal and commonplace.

Saints Row 2 The Women of DLC Trailer

Chris — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:18:25 +0000

From GameTrailers:

Uncle Gary is back with a street lesson about the ladies of Stillwater.

Game Designers and Sex

Chris — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:52:35 +0000

From escapistmagazine.com:

The theme for this year’s Game Design Challenge was enough to make a game designer blush: the first time they had sex.

Every year at GDC, the Game Design Challenge tasks a handful of designers with creating a game around a specific concept or object. Past years’ challenges include making a licensed game for the poetry of Emily Dickenson, creating a game that used fabric as a controller, or designing a game to be played with an animal. This year, a trio of developers were asked to design a game around their first time in the sack. There were a few rules, of course. There was really only one restriction – the game their game concept had to be playable on existing technology. Keeping their games Wal-Mart friendly wasn’t technically part of the rules, but the participants decided to err on the side of good taste, anyway. For the most part, that is.

Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust Review

Chris — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:49:17 +0000

From GameTrailers:

Ouch, it looks like this sexy game got a bad review. Stay away from this game!

In this incendiary review, GT righteously smites a man-baby named Larry.

New Innovation for Perverted PC Game with Webcam

Chris — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:23:55 +0000

From gossipgamers.com (via Digg):

Erotic game developers Tech48 based in Japan is using face tracking technology to let players interact with the game. The game will shift angle depending on which way the player is looking at the screen which means looking up at girl’s skirts in this game.

A Geek Love Story (in Second Life)

Chris — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:59:14 +0000

From newsweek.com:

Lillie and Hawkins met four years ago atop a waterfall overlooking a lush green valley—the kind of magical tableau you find only in romance novels, or in sophisticated virtual universes. The two had stumbled upon each other in Second Life, the 3-D computer world where nearly a million people log in regularly, communicating via digital representations of themselves, or avatars. Hawkins’s avatar was tall (very tall: 7 feet 8), with darkened eyes and a towering white Mohawk. But it was his boots that caught Lillie’s eye: black, ornamented, dazzling. "The most intricate boots I’d ever seen," she says. Lillie, whose own avatar is porcelain-skinned, with white or black hair depending on her mood, was thunderstruck. "Heart Wishbringer" (that’s her avatar’s name) and "Joe Stravinsky" (that’s his) spent the next three weeks online together, chatting for hours via IM. Then, before they’d ever seen or heard each other’s real voices, they got "married" in Second Life, like 43,000 other couples, typing their vows while their avatars stood atop the waterfall where they first met. Then Heart and Joe stripped down to their naked digital bodies and swam in the crisp pool of water below.

Microsoft settles homophobia case

Chris — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:57:13 +0000

From gamesindustry.biz:

Microsoft has paid an out of court settlement to videogames developer Jamie Durrant, who sued the company over claims of unaddressed homophobia within the company’s Lionhead Studios.

The unspecified payout has settled the case, in which Durrant was asking for GBP 45,000 over "hurt feelings", after his complaints of homophobic abuse were "blatantly disregarded" by Microsoft’s human resources department.

"We are pleased to have reached an amicable resolution to this matter with Mr. Durrant," said a Microsoft spokesman, according to PinkNews. "The terms of the settlement are confidential, but we can confirm that Mr. Durrant will not continue his employment at Lionhead as part of the agreement."

Sexuality And Homophobia In Persona 4