Over on Edge, Chris Dahlen wrote an article proclaiming a sequence in Overlord II to be the “Best Sex Scene Of The Year” in a video game. Here is the awarded scene:
I have no complaints about this scene (other than the complete lack of on-screen sex!). What I do have issue with, however, is Mr. Dahlen’s attitudes toward sex in games. With the very first line of his article he freely states “I’m torn as to whether sex belongs in games.” If you’re reading this site then you already know my feelings on the subject. But I’ll state them here for the uninitiated: I feel sex does have a place in mature games, just as it does in film, television, music and literature, as long as its content is targeted at the appropriate age groups. I don’t see why video games should be treated differently than any other form of media. Mr. Dahlen, a pop-culture and tech journalist, obviously sees video games as separate from other forms of entertainment.
In his article, Mr. Dahlen explains that Overlord II’s sex scene is “the best” because it doesn’t actually show the sex. He states:
And that’s the best part. Because even though games need sexuality, I don’t want to watch sex in a game. That man (or woman) on-screen – that’s me. I don’t want to just sit there watching myself have intercourse if I can’t control it. And I definitely don’t want to control it, because trying to steer a sex act using a game controller is as ludicrous as ludicrous gets. Human intercourse already breaks down if you focus too much on the plumbing – and in a gameplay context, that’s all there is. I don’t want to sit there pumping the Wii MotionPlus or banging away on the D-pad. Gamewide, Overlord II goes off the tracks many times, but they got that one thing right: sex in an interactive context is better left to the imagination. We don’t need to see the details.
First of all, I don’t see how Mr. Dahlen can state that “games need sexuality” when he’s already said he doesn’t know whether sex belongs in games or not. Clearly, he has yet to make up his mind regarding the issue. Secondly, even I don’t think games “need” sexuality, just as I don’t think movies “need” sexuality. There are countless games and films and books that are completely devoid of sexuality, yet are still great works of art and entertainment. However, I believe that if we are in a society that allows sexuality to be expressed in its art and media, then games should be afforded the same freedom as all other forms of media.
Next, I don’t agree that the man or woman on-screen is “me” or you. Just as in film, the person on-screen is a character. Games can be, and many are, a tool for telling stories and stories are about characters. When you see Rhett Butler kissing Scarlett O’Hara, you may become emotional, but it’s not you being kissed. And when Master Chief’s Warthog gets blown up, you may get angry, but again, it’s not you being fired upon. There’s a difference between controlling an on-screen character and actually being that character. Mr. Dahlen seems to not know that difference.
Now let’s get to the idea of “human intercourse break[ing] down if you focus too much on the plumbing.” Maybe Mr. Dahlen should ask his past sexual partners if they agree with him. I have a feeling he might find them a bit unsatisfied. And the idea that sex in games needs to literally be controlled by the player is both ludicrous and unimaginative. As games like Mass Effect have shown, the sex in a game can be part of a non-interactive cut-scene used to advance the story. Or even if the sex is part of the gameplay, it’s not necessary to “control” each and every action the character makes. A great example of this is the sex in the God of War games. In those games the sex is handled as a cross between a quick-time event and a rhythm game, which is a perfect (and funny) analog for the act of intercourse.
I’d be very interested to know Mr. Dahlen’s feelings on sex in mainstream film and pornographic films. He may not need to “see the details,” but the popularity of porn and erotic films certainly proves that a great many other people feel differently. Why is sex in an interactive context “better left to the imagination?” This brings me back to my belief that Mr. Dahlen sees video games as fundamentally separate from all other forms of media. If books, film, music, painting et al can be explicit with their sexual content, why not games?
Early in his article he wrote that some people believe “that if games can show relations between consenting adults, we can finally call them ‘art.’” I don’t have any say one way or another whether gaming as a form of media should be called “art.” And I certainly don’t think that putting sex in games will automatically make them into art, either. But I do think having sex in games will go a long way towards making mainstream audiences accept that games can be a legitimate form of entertainment and story-telling for mature audiences. I think that’s something that Mr. Dahlen simply doesn’t understand.
