Sex is a full time obsession for many people. It is used to sell everything from cars to chocolate bars. It is an instinctual urge which drives us and it permeates almost every facet of human existence. There are more searches on the web related to pornography than anything else. Chatrooms and webcams have enabled cyber sex to develop into a multi-million dollar business. Entertainment is awash with sexual images and the world of MMO gaming is no exception. This article delves into the seedy underbelly of virtual sex in MMOs.
Video games in general have always pandered to male fantasies largely because development teams are overwhelmingly male and audiences have traditionally been mostly male too. Female characters clad in metallic armoured bras and panties with bare midriffs are the product of male artists. They are completely daft in practical terms but the design is all about the visual. The prevalence of big breasted, scantily clad doe-eyed girls on the covers of video games is definitely in decline thanks to a widening of the market. However the link between sex and games is stronger than ever and as graphics improve the idea of introducing some eroticism or catering for fetishes in game is becoming a reality. More and more sex games are popping up all over the internet.
It is interesting to note the disdain that sex games are subjected to. There is an obvious demand for adult content in terms of violence, drugs and sex. All three are frequently found even in mainstream movies but when it comes to games there is a double standard at work. A series like Grand Theft Auto can include explicit drug use and gory violence but remember the fuss over the “Hot Coffee” patch. A crude mini game featuring clothed characters in which you could control some basic sexual animations. If the people who got hot and bothered about that were to see some of the sex MMOs out there they would be scandalised.
Now it may be possible in rare instances to find relationships or love in an MMO but a glance at the evidence suggests it is a lot easier to find some quick relief. Anonymous sexual encounters with strange looking avatars that are badly modelled and animated is not really my idea of erotic but it is surprisingly popular. The first place I encountered MMO sex was Second Life. Over the last few years the once vaunted social MMO has degenerated into a hardcore cyber sex park where people don’t really seem to be doing anything else. The early clamour for companies to buy up real estate in the game and have live performances of music or comedy have all fallen by the way side. The potential has not been realised and apparently there are plans afoot to clean the game up and regulate the smutty activities. How developers Linden will achieve this is beyond me and they might find themselves with a major dip in player numbers if they do.