Sex in Gaming and in Literature

I went through my gmail, and saw that there were several other unopened issues of The Escapist in my mag rack.

Issue 43 looked at sexual content in gaming, and "Youthful Indiscretions" is a short but potentially controversial peek into the issue of sex in gaming. One observation in "Youthful Indiscretions" about sex and sexuality in games applies just easily to sex and sexuality in the romance novel genre. According to author Charles Wheeler:

The game developers realized that for sexual content to be truly compelling, it would require emotional attachment.

Cultivating such an emotional attachment is a difficult task, but not an impossible one, as can be attested to by the legions of fans who have mourned the loss of their favorite characters over the years. If the ability to create both emotional attachments and sexually desirable characters exist, why are they rarely, if ever, combined into a single product? It may be because the power of emotional attachment ensnares not only the players of games, but the developers, as well.

There's a grain of truth somewhere in there. While red hot reads are attention-grabbers, they are easily forgotten if all they have to offer are tales of mere wham-bam-thank you-ma'am. But if they've got that something more (an excellent storyline, characters readers can identify with or get attached to, and not just lust over - because lust is a temporary attachment), the ensnarement is longer, more permanent, and no less binding than novels of other varieties.

And for those who severely oppose sex in gaming (remember that GTA: San Andreas furor?), here's another observation that's apt to get them all riled up, again from Youthful Indiscretions:

Gaming is going to want to get better at sex, and the only way to get better is to practice.

Me? I don't mind sex in my videogame. Or in my books, for that matter. But I would mind it very much if my many toddler nieces and nephews were to access such stuff. But if the viewer/reader/player is all legal, it's fair game.

That said, I'm going back to reading my Nachura. Issue 44 has something on IP in relation to the future of independent game studios, but that will have to wait until I start on Comm Law.