I don't think its a good idea cause some people might buy the game just for the fact it has boobs in it and not cause its a good game and then complain. And do you really need to have sex in a video game for it to be fun?
oceanbacon
So?
Brokeback Mountain got a hell of a lot of critical appraise, but I'll bet that SOMEONE out there bought the movie just because he heard that Anne Hathaway whips her boobs out.
Who cares why people buy it? That's irrelevant. As a form of art, it's only inportant why you put that content in it.
And yeah, you don't need nudity or sex in a game in order for that game to be fun. You also don't need nudity or sex in a MOVIE in order for that MOVIE to be fun. That's not a valid argument against putting nudity and sex in movies, and it's not a valid argument against putting nudity and sex in games. Furthermore, you could make a similar argument concerning violence. You sure as hell don't need to have killing in a movie for that movie to be fun. Yet, take a look at games. Outside of sports games, I'd wager that about 90% of games consist of some form of killing or maiming.
I think this brings up the question...what exactly ARE games? Are games a legitimate and valid form of artistic express? Are they NOT a legitimate and valid form of artistic expression, but merely because people don't TREAT them as a legitimate form of artistic expression?
And as much as some people try to TREAT games as an art form, why is it that so many of them largely base their gameplay on the character/player running around and killing people/things?
One thing I can say for CERTAIN is that videogames will never be seen as a truly respectable and legitimate form of artistic expression unless people start TREATING games as if they have the POTENTIAL for such aspirations. I'd say that Final Fantasy VII was a step in the right direction, and I'm sure that other people could point to games that did this better. So there's certainly at least SOME potential there. And if games CAN be a valid and legitimate form of artistic expression, then they should be ALLOWED to have the freedom to pursue these goals.
So for starters, I advocate treating games like movies. The standards for sex and violence are ridiculously strange when it comes to whether or not the violence is in a game or a movie. But the age-guidelines are equivalent. Which makes it weird. I've seen some gory-ass sadistic games that would probably easily get an NC-17 if that content were in a movie, but yet the games only got an M rating. Meanwhile, the most timid depiction of sex will give you an AO rating in a game, whereas I've seen some SURPRISINGLY explicit sex in movies that only got an R.
Furthermore, the MPAA ratings don't take artistic merit very much into consideration. Just mostly content. Ang Lee and Stephen Spielberg faced problems over some of their movies, while Eli Roth is still putting out exploitative sick trash that gets passed off with an R.
So for starters, revise the rating systems. Treat violence and gore more harshly, and start allowing more depictions of sex and nudity. As games continually try to provide a more cinematic experience (goddamn you, MGS4), it only makes sense to adjust the ratings and guidelines so that they can be SOLD and CRITIQUED on similar grounds as movies.
Start TREATING games as a form of artistic expression at least on par with the freaking movies, and then trust that game developers will treat games as artistic forms of expression. If some game developers choose to put out what is in essence pornography, then we can criticize them on those grounds, same as we do with filmmakers who do the same thing.
But the bottom line is that KEEPING games from having hardly any significant sexual content on the grounds that sexual content isn't needed shouldn't fly. It's arguable that violent content isn't needed either, certainly not on the level of some of the bloody-ass games that have been released over the last few decades. Games might NOT be a medium that lends itself to artistic expression. But as long as you keep games held as a third-class form of entertainment based on the ASSUMPTION that games have no artistic merit, that's just not fair. That's like walking up to a marathon runner, preemptively deciding that he's going to finish last, and then LITERALLY shooting him in the goddamn foot before he ever starts the race. Of COURSE he's going to finish last now. You just shot him in the goddamn foot before the race even started.
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