Use of Erotica in adv games
 

There have been threads I've seen asking for more "adult" themes in adv games. How do you feel about this? Is it just pixellated drawings or does erotica actually provide some sexual pleasure for you? Do you want more of this? Where do you think this should go? Should it just be implied or actually seen on the screen? Can it be handled tastefully, or will it descend into porn?
Are there any games that handle this well? Badly?

Please express your thoughts on this.

FGM

I don't think it's meant to arrouse (maybe slightly) but more to...appeal to adult interests. I mean, if Kate Walker feels the need to bang Oscar, then more power to her, and demmit, we should get to see it! I think it just makes things more interesting, since it hasn't been done all that much (excluding Japanese erotic adventures involving school girls in sailor outfits. Yeck)

One thing I forgot to ask about was the rating system's effect upon developers and their possible restrictions for games with erotica. Is this a limiting factor?

FGM

Probably not. Adventure games don't really sell all that well to begin with, and considering the mostly adult audience, it'd probably only hurt sales with holy rollers.

I played and enjoyed Tender Loving Care. I know many people don't consider this to be an adventure, but I do, and I really liked it. I wouldn't say I got sexual gratification from it, but it definitely made me feel things (arousal? excitement? maybe, plus there was a definite creeped out feeling about snooping through someone's house and psychiatric records that way...) that games normally don't, and those feelings kept me coming back to the game.

I'd love to see a well made erotic game... not porn necessarily. I don't have problems with porn, but it's not known for well rounded stories, and I like my adventure games to have nice meaty stories. :D But some kind of erotic thriller? I think it could be done well, IF it had the right story to begin with.

I don't know about the ratings. Sure, that may deter some developers, but other issues can give a game an M rating too, and that doesn't seem to keep them from selling.

Or make people curious enough to buy it... "holy rollers" hate video games anyway. I can't see the so-called moral majority objecting to an erotic game any more than they already do to violent games, and no one's really succeeded in suppressing the development and/or sales of those (at least not in the States).

-emily

I didn't exactly mean an erotic game, but rather an adv game which used some erotica within it, though perhaps that's splitting hairs.

FGM

Then yes, absolutely, I'd love it if it worked with the story. I'm weak for relationship stories anyway, and if I'm already invested in the characters and their relationship I'd be interested in seeing / playing with (heh) that facet of it.

(Very mild GK3 spoiler follows)

Spoiler:

I was not really paying attention to industry stuff when GK3 came out... I know there was some controversy over the religious themes in that game... does anyone know / remember if the sex scene was a problem?

-emily

There's been some sex scenes in AG before, but I wouldn't call them erotic, exactly, it was more a way of making the game feel more mature. On the top of my head, I can think about Rise of the Dragon, Phantasmagoria, Dreamweb, Noctropolis, all but one exceptionnal games, in which the said scenes didn't feel misplaced to me at all. It kind of added to the atmosphere, making it more sensual and dark.

There was a scene in Post Mortem where flirting led to an implied tryst. While the idea of it didn't bother me, the way it was introduced seemed contrived. I guess it would have to be handled well.

FGM

Kama Sutra review at JA+

Thats why they have the +

Phantasmagoria 2.

<shudders>

Interesting review - Randy certainly seems nonplussed by the game, and makes it sound more like porn than erotica, but maybe that's just my take on his review. As he says, it was not released here in America, so I'll never probably get to play it myself.

FGM

Blue Heat was a pretty nifty erotic/detective/thrilller adventure game based on an erotic/detective/thriller movie. Too bad the distribution fouled up, thus reducing the printing run, thus making the game a rare collectible, thus removing it from most people's reach. The suspense section at the movie rental stores have hundreds of such movies. This one was actually made into a servicable adventure game. Some enterprising person should re-release it for XP. It would sell.

Don't forget Magna Cum Laude. :P

Seriously, though, one of the more memorable scenes in a game that I played was the love scene from Mafia. It was pretty generic as far as love scenes go, but the fact that there was a love scene really impressed me. Computer games generally don't get that mature.

Dah! Couldn't help myself. Just bought it for $10.00.

Enjoy it. :)

Yes, I'd definitely like to see more such themes in adventure games - and I don't simply mean erotica but also other adult themes. Are there any game equivalents for films or tv series such as, say, Se7en, Fight Club, Requiem for a Dream or Angels In America?

This probably boils down to the same design issue that has been discussed in several other threads recently: adventure houses don't have the guts to do anything that might make their product stand out of the crowd, which is why it's difficult to tell the difference between most adventures released these days. I don't want controversial issues added just for their own sake, though. It's just that most adventures seem to feature this healthy, lean, Caucasian 20-30 year-old average Jills and Joes. Where are the drug addicts, the pedophiles, the transsexuals, the wife-beaters, the neo-Nazis, the AIDS patients? (You will probably be quick to point out games that do include such characters but I'm talking about having one as our protagonist and/or make the overall theme of the game more mature, not just include a minor character).

Bleh. I just woke up with a sore throat and can't really think straight (pun not intended). Hope you understood.

Oh, and as a sideline, I really enjoyed Grim Fandango and Gabriel Knight 3 because their dialogue wasn't toned down like in so many adventures, but was rich. 'Adult', too, if you prefer. Just enough innuendo to keep you interested at parts, and nothing oversimplified. There's no reason to create dialogue for the smallest common factor.

When FGM used the word "adult" at the beginning I thought this was more the sort of thing she meant. You don't necessarily need sex for something to be suited more to an adult audience.

I regularly read comics from the Vertigo line that DC produces. All of these bear the line "Suggested for Mature Readers" on the front. Sex hardly ever features in any of these titles (though it has been known to appear from time to time in the context of the narrative) but the themes dealt with are both mature and often quite complex, thus suiting a more adult audience.

I agree with fov's assertion that porn tends to lack well-rounded stories though. One of my office colleagues lent me a porn movie called The Sex Chameleon (plot : woman keeps changing her appearance so she can have more sex) once and I was surprised at just how boring that sort of thing is. Oh, more shagging. I wonder if there's anything good on TV right now. :z

What separates erotica from porn? Is it a matter of personal viewpoint?

Well, that and many Vertigo comics tend to be incredibly violent...

The second Laura Bow game contained some sex scenes and innuendo, if I remember correctly, but then again, I only read the review, never played the game.

I recently read an Amazon.com review of TLJ, and one person had been incredibly offended of the swearing, and what s/he called "promoting the [...] [sic] agenda". Since the game was rated M, I don't know what s/he was expecting. Ragnar has been getting a lot of bad feedback regarding the gay characters in the game, and the profanity, so it seems like lots of people do mind, especially in the USA.

Well, maybe something comes out of this. 19-year old out. :rolleyes: