Sex In Video Games (by GM Garamond)
Since I’m still sick, I’m finding it really hard to constantly update the website. It’s a good thing that I have a lot of blogger friends who were very interested to keep things rolling here at Waukster Online. Over the next week, I’ve scheduled some very familiar names to the Ragnarok Community to do guest posts. They’ll be talking primarily about topics still related to gaming or Ragnarok Online. To kick things off, we have GM Garamond, also known as GM Silvermane to the Ragnarok community.
SEX IN VIDEO GAMES
Written by: GM Garamond
Sex is everywhere. You see it on Billboards, you see it in movies, in novels and even on TV (albeit in very subdued forms.) We seem to be entering an age where sexuality is no longer repressed as it was in the time of our parents. And yet in video games, it is very tightly controlled and regulated.
Games like Grand Theft Auto, Postal, and God of War depict hyper graphic depictions of violence and anti-social activity. Among these games you can steal cars and murder innocent people, as well as decapitate opponents and mangle body parts in graphic detail, (with accompanying blood spatter). And yet, even for games rated “M” or Mature, when it comes to in-game depictions of sex, you get as much detail as something from a PG-13 flick. Note that in the US , when a game is rated “M” it is roughly equivalent to the “R” rating in the cinemas.
I think the reason for this stricter treatment is that many people still see video games as something for children. And in our culture especially, children are to be shielded from anything appearing even remotely sexual until they are 18.
I also think another factor why there is a double standard is that for the most part, children play video games mostly unattended by an adult or guardian, unlike TV or movies in which a parent or guardian can be around to put things into context (or cover their eyes as needed). So controls on video games need to be stricter so the parents can leave their child alone to play “safe” things.
Still the generation that started on video games has mostly grown up. There is potentially a huge market for games that incorporate more mature themes (and sex, hahaha), just like in the movies. It’s just that it will probably take a developer and publisher a lot of guts to create and publish a video game that treats sexuality with the same intensity as that of a movie.
In the Philippines’ Online Game space though, sexuality is often expressed in the character designs of the avatars, but actions are left out of the game as much as possible, not because of the double standard mentioned above, but because it’s prone to abuse. Still that won’t stop people from trying to bring their own form of sexuality into online games.
I remember during the beta test of ROSE Online, some players found out that it was possible to use the emoticons to deliberately simulate a sex scene. It involved a female avatar lying down using the prone position, and a male avatar spamming the first half second of the “frustration” emoticon… and it looked like… well, it took Gravity awhile to fix the problem after we reported it… as I’m sure the old ROSE players out there remember some people who had public… uh, shows.
Plus there are those annoying players who, in violation of our terms of service, use the game to come on to sexy female avatars. These usually suspended immediately when the report comes in. Me and my GMs have little tolerance for that sort of thing.
But then again, on the flipside, given how the women are dressed in the game, can you blame them? Even decked out in full battle armor, a Corite Templar, Ragnarok female Paladin, or Human Wuxia will most probably have a bare midriff and thighs. This is the “cheesecake armor” rule of female avatars: The less armor a female avatar wears, the more protection she actually has. As a result the game titillates, but offers no avenue to express sexuality.
It would be naive to assume that video games are free of sexual themes, or will ever be in the future. I think it’s therefore up to us to be responsible parents, adults, older siblings, “kuyas” and “ates” and properly guide the younger generation to put into context the sexual themes they may encounter in a video game, be it an online game or a single player one.
-END OF ARTICLE-
Marc Reyes currently serves as the Game Support Manager for Level Up Games. Yes, you read that right, he’s the big boss of all the GMs! Marc has been with LU for several years already and his countless and selfless contributions to the gaming community has made him one of the most well-known icons in the industry. He also maintains a blog so feel free to visit it since he usually talks about gaming in general.
In the next few days, expect to see more guest bloggers writing about very interesting topics related to Ragnarok and gaming. If you guys have anything to share about the topic, feel free to leave a comment. Lastly, wag po tayo OT.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT EVENT & PROMO UPDATES FOR PHILIPPINE RAGNAROK ONLINE
CLICK HERE TO GO TO GM GARAMOND’S BLOG
March 14th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
haha sex is everywhere… LOL
March 14th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
yeah its true …. haha sex is everywhere… LOL
March 14th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
the truth Internet is for Porn… ahaha diba mga guys >.< tagal na 2
March 14th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
-Sir Wauks reply ka naman po about sa prize ko. 3 months na di ko parin natatanggap Jacket ko.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
@wauks
kailangan ng liwanag
Flora Bonanza! 2x exp on Plant monsters!
From March 5 - April 2, 2008! and another 2X Mod Exp bukas for my server TYR
magiging X4 po ba?
tnx ^^
March 14th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Sarap ng topic. o.o
March 14th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
“The less armor a female avatar wears, the more protection she actually has.”
- yan ang fave line ko
March 14th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
not in japan they don’t. there are dating games where the goal is to get laid.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
sir bkit po sa server nmin nkakalusot yung mga name nang character like
“chup@” tska natatandaan ko dti sa flyff hhiga yung character sa groung supine position
tpos may command yung isang character na push up… la lang shara ko lang…
March 14th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Yeah it true…
This is the “cheesecake armor” rule of female avatars: The less armor a female avatar wears, the more protection she actually has….. LOL so ung Dancer ng Ragnarok Online ang pinaka makunat …I wanna some sprites fully nak..e…..protected
about sa picture ng thief..so we have 2 porings 1 marin 1 drops 1 poporing …and what do you call those two small drop looking monsters haven’t seen those in pRO….LOL
March 14th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
sana ako nlng ung poring dun haha XD
March 15th, 2008 at 12:37 am
[...] ivanjow wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIn the Philippines’ Online Game space though, sexuality is often expressed in the character designs of the avatars, but actions are left out of the game as much as possible, not because of the double standard mentioned above, … [...]
March 15th, 2008 at 2:59 am
good topic GM Garamond ..(akala q wla k n rin sa LU! kc wla n aq nakikita na name Silvermane…un pla nag palit na ng pangalan hahaha..namechanged after heaven or hell event? ^_^)
yeah..its fact: sex is now everywhere…but we must guide the younger generation to moderate the sex level…we are to suffer for its consequences rin in the end and GRABE…dami na aq nakikita X_X ..
i remember the days when players will get banned in RO because of a “sex scene” where in when a girl character (any class) dies, the guy character will go on top on the girl character and….uhm…”sit and stand” on her…tapos pag gurl p tlaga ang naglalaro ng gurl char nako…. major problem it was then for the gurls X_X
March 15th, 2008 at 10:15 am
shouldn’t we guide the matatanda not to develop too much sexuality in their games???
i know na matatanda ang gumawa ng ragnarok.. kasama na dun yung panty shot nung priestess before…
sa mga nakikita ko… game developers are not teenagers to late 20’s THEY ARE 30 above… and they are the one who usually put explicit content in the game…
shouldn’t we get to the root of this (the game itself) before it’s “up to us to be responsible parents, adults, older siblings, “kuyas” and “ates” and properly guide the younger generation to put into context the sexual themes they may encounter in a video game….”
March 15th, 2008 at 10:16 am
btw, is it me or may explicit content din dun sa ads ni sir wauks… i’m seing a girl’s booty there…
March 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
sensya po sa ot pero kelan po llabas yung observer na headgear???
sa wed pba yun??
March 15th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
di ba parang sa DBZ ung observer ahihi magiging saiyan na mga character sa RO aheheeh^^
March 15th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
taena poring yan nka score
March 15th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
i think at “next life” mmorg there are no inhibitions.
March 15th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
@the picture
mas marameng picture pa na mas malaswa dyan… ro theme aka entai :D
March 17th, 2008 at 9:08 am
wow… at last.. may sense yung post.. :)
March 17th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Yung TUMBLING ng SL . .
November 19th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
In response to roiji…
That way of thinking is exactly the problem the world has in repsect to video games… It’s always the game designer’s fault for people like you.. Frankly, I find it depressing.
We, as the older generation, have a responsibillity to look out for the younger’s well-being… Video Games are not made to raise kids… the parents need to sit them down and talk to them about all this.. The right and wrong, etc. We should not rely on games to teach kids all of the life-lessons… nor should we try to keep this content out of the games alltogether. The fact is, sex is real, and we need to teach kids about it ourselves - not just boycot games that involve it, and hope the kid never learns about the birds and the bees.
Moral: You can’t hide sex from your children forever… teach them, guide them, don’t blame games for your lack of decent parenting.