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What Place (If Any) Should Sex Have in MMORPGs? | One Good Roll | MMORPG.com
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What Place (If Any) Should Sex Have in MMORPGs? | One Good Roll | MMORPG.com
It's no secret that sex sells, and in the peculiar, over sensationalized depths of game development, where jiggle physics and unrealistic bodies are king, MMORPG's teeter into a realm unlike more explicit games like Grand Theft Auto and Cyberpunk 2077. As online games attempt to focus on novel experiences, what role, if any should sex have in MMORPGs?
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Seriously, the only thing that concerns me is the scanty glad preteens we get in far eastern games, apart from that I don't see an issue. Can I actually suggest doing something yourself instead of just reporting if you get harassed in a game? Turn the game off, by all means report it, but you don't have to have an experience you don't like.
None. Why? Kids and sexual predators. Put the two together in an online world with anonymity and you're asking for trouble. Add a game that allows actual depiction of sex, and the "grooming" gets that much easier for the predator.
While we're at it stop sexualizing children in MMOs. No one is fooled by saying they're some "ancient race that ages slowly". Bullshit. You're creating an online playground for pedophiles. Stop.
Multiplayer games have shown that anything that can be perverted or used to grief, harass or abuse others will be used that way by a sizeable enough portion of the player base to become a problem.
Even something as simple as the crouch animation in ESO when you go into stealth is routinely used by some PvPers there to "Teabag" players just killed by repeatedly crouching and standing over their corpse.
Adding romance and/or sexual acts to the mix is just adding more griefing, harassment and abuse possibilities to the asshat's arsenal.
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Take a look at the number 1 selling mobile game, Genshin Impact. $1 Billion revenue in 6 months, $3 billion in 2 years.
Take a look at Fortnite, the most sold and most used skin 'Chun-Li' for a reason.
Take a look at League of Legends lewd skins for every female champion.
Compare Final Fantasy 14 2.49 million active players, to World of Warcraft's 2.19 million. (and WoW is dropping fast).
Like it or not, sex sells.
Archeage EU - Nui
Just keep intimacy where it belongs - to bedroom. Intimacy, politics, religion - all of it should stay out of mmo. Because none of it typically brings any good.
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For me, it's silly. But not all games have to be tailored to me personally.
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No fate but what we make, so make me a ham sandwich please.
On the other hand, having Luna Star as a pet or companion sounds good.
If we want sexism in the game, best to ask to do it Blizzard or Riot as they have experience and practice all time in their offices.
Few games have a marriage option. You can make an update on that like cheating, or making a threesome. I can see dungeons in front of me called Sex Cave.
Cinematics or intros between quests. I was always curious to see a romance between Tyrael and Leah under BBC title or between The Lich King and Sylvanas.
Overall, my short answer if I want sex in a game: NO.
Compared to?
FFXIV has a serious ERP problem as well, the community within that game, is seemingly filled with a ton of undersexed 20-30 something's or older who don't ask many questions when it comes time to visit those ERP brothels, etc. I was privy to conversations while being at one of those clubs as a "bouncer" IE: I got to stand around for 2-3 hours a night, and I was paid nearly 450,000 gil. I'd often sit there and work in photoshop or write on my second monitor, while rarely sending a message asking someone to please put up their mini-pet as they came into the club. I think I was there for maybe two months time, and within that relatively short frame, there were numerous accusations levied at one of the users who worked there because he was actively grooming a 15-year-old when he was 29-30. He was eventually removed because posted evidence was brought forward in the form of discord messages, screenshots from another game, etc. However, there were STILL people who attempted to normalize his behavior and use his being removed as a moment to martyr themselves for their "friend" who had displayed disgusting behavior.
There's also ZERO way for any of these communities to check the ages of the people coming in there. So explicit sexual content can 100% occur where a minor is involved and no one would ever be the wiser. This included the discord itself, the venue, etc. FFXIV is a weird community, for as good a reputation as it gets, people really need to see the dark side of all of that. It's not nearly as pleasant or as happy as people seem to think it is. It's fairly dark and cringe-inducing. Predation and danger I think is very present within that community, especially because of the anime aspect. You can only watch girls who look like they're 10-13 be objectified and sexualized for so long before you start to think it's fine.
TLDR; No, MMOs don't need sexual space, experimentation or features. Players already do enough to ruin that, using these games as places to fetishize their characters and focus solely on sexual content, intended or not. Let them go onto Second Life or find an adult sex sim game to live out their fantasies. They should never be given the opportunity to pull others into that kind of space or even remotely close to players who might very well be minors.
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Once upon a time....
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I mean, c'mon, you really want sh!t like this in MMOs? Certainly not I.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Some games did it right like Leisure Suit Larry, it was comedic romance and fit the game. In that setting you have fun with it but in an mmorpg, nah.
So which one is the worst the west or the east?
I don't see a problem with that as long as people are adult.
Simply put adult games should be for adults.
One interesting aspect he mentioned is the fact that people have sometimes real relationships in this kind of games! Himself, he met some ladies IRL after dating them in the game. He also told me some cyberpunk-like stories like the one of that guy who fell in love with an African girl (real one not the avatar), but he is married in real life and can only meet the digital version of his new love. As you can bet, changing partner is frequent, but people get jealous! There is a lot of drama, catfish, etc.
He is currently writing a book about this experience.
The nature of sexual content should also be specified so prospective players will know what is included so they can avoid that they find distasteful.
If one actually stopped to think about all the peasants, and farmers, and merchants we have killed in cold blood in our gaming careers it makes you wonder. Some games will try to mask it by using other races. Oh, it's a kobold, or a goblin or elf, that doesn't count. It is a sentient, intelligent, social race with families and livelihoods. We as players walk into the territories of other cultures and engage in mass genocide and never blink. But what if we fight only the footman, the guards, that's war isn't that ok? In the end the player is still killing, joyfully, purposefully, killing and then stealing the spoils. Yet being intimate with another person is going to destroy society.
Asking people if sex should be anywhere is a very easy, trigger ready topic. I think a greater topic of discussion is why we as a whole are so ready to accept one act most often associated with hate, aggression, and violence yet will balk completely at another generally more associated with closeness, intimacy, and love. Yes, there are exceptions and some will use the intimacy to prey on others in game. But again why is it accepted to expose ourselves and our children to people blowing their heads off and typing obscenities and death threats but sexual talk and acts are the true issue.
I personally believe that both have concerns yet both belong in MMOs as a more complete representation of a fictional world. Unless every species in your game reproduces through mitosis. It is our responsibility as mature humans to be responsible for our own actions and what affect we allow the actions of others to impact us. For those too young to make that decision, it falls to the parents to decide when that time is right. I have just always wondered about the parent that has no issue with Bobby stabbing a famer to death and clearing out their house but he saw a breast!? Get me CNN!!
If you think that's amazing check out the vulgarity of the east. You'll find the west quite tame in comparison, especially when it comes to North America.
Unless you're talking about vulgar graphic violence, in which case we are top tier competitors.