Lack of Nudity in Video Games

From Loot Ninja:

"I have to tell you that there is an utter and constant lack of nudity in video games. Why can't I play a mature rated game and see some gratuitous breasts walk by? The first major game to incorporate any kind of mature content was God of War with the mini game where you had sex and got extra Red orbs. GTA tried to have it incorporated into their games, but was reduced to calling a hooker over to your car and driving to a shaded area where the car just jumped up and down."

[taz8080]

Great picture, what ever happened to the showgirls star hehehe

[drunkpandas]

She fell apart long before Showgirls... Jesse Spanno lost it when she sang "I'm So Excited" while on drugs on Saved by the Bell :)

[drunkpandas]

I think the major reason we won't see any AO games likes is that retailers won't want to carry them. Games like this wouldn't sit on a normal shelf with other games, and many retailers would be reluctant to even keep them behind the counter.

[taz8080]

I think this would add to the mystic of the game, typically people want what they cant have. The draw to a lot of people/kids to get GTA was that they werent supposed to have it. It like smoking and drugs, people/kids tend to gravitate to things they arent supposed to get. An AO game would be the same.

[drunkpandas]

Yeah but in a case like that, we're going to see activist groups and certain attorneys who shall not be named go insane and start suing everyone

[Jon Cage]

Almost all the major retailers have a policy against putting AO games on their shelves. There is a market for mature gamers as the average gamer age is 33 years old (least that's what I read 2 years ago when I was 33). The problem is that game publishers will censor their own games if they get the AO rating. They see it as lost revenue so they will tone games down to get a M rating.

This is because we live in a victorian society that would much rather see their children bombarded with images of violence than to have them see one boob.

What is more damaging? A graphic depiction of murder, or the female form as God and nature created it?

[thisguywithhair]

Kind of off topic, but go rent "This Film Is Not Yet Rated." It is about a guy trying to make a documentary about how movies are rated. But he can't because the Film Board wont tell him anything about the criteria that films are judged. Alot of what he finds out can be used in rating video games. Like how people seem to have no problem watching someone get shot in the head point blank range, but cant stand even seeing a woman taking a shower (a non-sexy shower).

[pwnmaster3000]

cmon developers xbots need those nudity in games. imean how r they gonna see girls naked.

[fiercescuba]

@ pwn:

I'm sure all the Sony guys wouldn't pop wood if there was breasteseses in MGS4.

[Exhaust]

There is money to be made it will just take a company like Rockstar to keep using the boundaries.

Digital Distribution and mail order will help. By being able to bypass brick and mortar stores using services like Steam companies can dip their toe into the water without as much overhead.

I believe at some point through DD and mail order mature games will pick up. Its just going to take a progressive company to take the risk and have it pay off with a huge hit then more will follow.

[fiercescuba]

@ Exhaust:

Agreed. Bubbles for you. I think the trend of games being geared to a more mature audience will continue, just like "foul" language has. A few years ago, a curse word was taboo now almost all M games have such dialogue. I think a major point here is not for porn in games, but to make them as real as possible and that will include both explicit languages and images.

[ianp622]

There's a difference between mature games and games that are rated "Mature" by the ESRB. You can't make a game (or any other medium) mature by adding nudity, foul language, and gratuitous violence. In fact, doing so makes it more childish, and therefore more appealing to teenagers.

If we really want people to take games seriously, we need games that have deep characters in situations that we can relate to. Language and nudity has a place in creating an atmosphere (although pretty much the only atmosphere they create is for a gang environment), but to use them where they don't apply should be criticized by gamers and non-gamers alike.

This author just wants nudity for the sake of it, and he tries to hide it by saying that games would benefit from it even if they are devoid of real mature content.

[TitanUp]

once everyone sees video games just aren't for kids anymore thats when we will get ao games.

[taz8080]

yeah i agree. video games are no longer geered to kids. except maybe Nintendo. everything else is geared to adults and gamers that grew up on the original NES/Sega. Games have gotten too expensive for regular kids now a days, what kid can buy a console on his own anymore? Video games are for adults, aim the themes for adults as well.

[kurochi]

Totally agree.... not enough nudity in games!!!

[SL1M DADDY]

There are some adults that would rather not see nudity in games and developers are still more apt to hit up the larger audience even int he mature genres. Personaly I think it's cheesey if they slap some silly half-arsed effort into adding a silly sex scene or nudity to a game that needs none of it. If the story was along those lines then fine but if it's not required of the story then leave it out.

[3rik]

I agree. I dont want a game developer to put in a sex scene or nudity in at a random place just to get some hype and to make more people buy the game. I think more things should be done in the fasion of Mass Effect. The main sex scene (not the fancy hooker one) was tasteful and fit into the plot, well the subplot anyways. It showed some nudity (like a blue girls booty) but nothing to major (like a blue girls titty). I think things that that should definatly be done, but go farther. Do what they would do in an R rated movie. Why not? Kids arnt allowed to see an R rated movie without an adult and kids arnt allowed to buy an M rated game without an adult. They should have the same content. End of story.

Oh, and sorry for any misspelled words

[hay]

Every second movie has boobs in it. Why not every tenth game?

[CadDad]

..or it would just be another thing that takes away from the depth.

Let me explain that a little better:

Developers are already spending less time on quality story, depth, style, and more on graphical tweaks, making better looking games but not necessarily better playing ones. Nudity is a different sort of egg. Naked images/movies/etc are readily available to those that are looking, but a well designed partially clothed person has a certain mystique to them that piques interest in a way that full nudity doesn't.

An attractive woman wearing nothing but a man's long sleeve shirt that just barely covers the crotch is more intriguing to me than an attractive naked woman. It's the imagination of filling in the blank that makes it exciting. When everything is filled in for you, you certainly enjoy it, but it has no lasting impact.

Just my perspective. I think nudity has a place in some(few) games, but I think if over-done it will take more away than it adds.

-CadDad

[3rik]

I agree. I think it should only be where it fits and not in place of the other aspects of the game. Once agian Mass Effect comes to mind. Another one that comes to mind is God of War. You see a lot of half or fully naked women. But, that was much more common back then. Hell, the marathon was ran naked back then. It fits the setting. But I agree that nudity should not take the place of quality story or game play.

I also agree on the images you were talking about. A woman wearing a oversized shirt is one of the sexiest things I can think off. And other images too, not just the OMFGZ SUPER MODEL/ pr0n Star hot. Different people like different things. We must have diversity and taste

[fiercescuba]

I'm sure a couple of cleveland steamers here and there would add to any game. or a pittsburgh platter.

[bourner]

i look at a magazine or internet too see porno stuff i not sure i want it in my game . what will it add to the game accept a little laf

[taz8080]

Agreed, the nudity cant just be thrown in for the sake of being there, although I wouldnt complain about it. BUt it could add to the experience of a game to have it in there, if written in well. THe fact is games are just afriad to push too far, the closest we have had are pretty tame by todays standards. If you compare games to movies, movies are far more explicit with what they show.

[taz8080]

I think NIntendo would be the last company to even think of going to an AO game, then SONY, then MS. MS i think got the biggest balls of the three to try somehting like an AO game.

[kira989]

You guys are makin it sound like its a necessity to have nudity in games...

Im all for "mature" stories and action in games but the necessity of nudity is not what i have in mind...

Besides like someone said earlier, if you do make a game have an extreme amount of sex and violence warranting it an AO rating, no retailer is going to touch it and its going to end up like Manhunt, by which i mean the developers having to dum it down to a mature rating...

The fact of the matter is society isnt ready to accept Video Games as an art form quite yet because all they see is games where people shoot the crap out of things for no particular reason...

[DeadlyFire]

I believe it is only a matter of time before at least one AO rated title appears that kicks off a new market for both console and PC games. GTA might be one that could do it. Retailers wouldn't have to pick them up, but they would only be losing out. AO games could be sold through Marketplace, PSN, and Steam.

[yesah]

ahaha its called porn buddy.

[RecSpec]

To all of you wishing for some more nudity in games, careful. You might get your wish, in the form of some nude Master Chief.

[killtheaquitted]

I think we will eventually get to the point where nudity is acceptable in video games. Games are in a constant fight to be viewed as valid forms of art and right now the public really still sees them as only for kids. What is mind boggling is that the average age of gamers is 33 years old via ESA research. This article posted a bunch of facts about real gamers a few days ago on here.
http://theexplodingbarrel.c...

[Percy]

Not just because of nudity though games and movies should not have to have a seperate set of rules. if its good enough for movies it should be good for games. The only reason its not is because majority of the population still thinks gaming is for kids. Gamers are being treated like kids. I don't know many kids who can afford a gaming habit and if you can your probly mature enough to play an adult game. Hell you can almost see more on tv now days than you can in games i know for a fact that you can on hbo or cinemax.

[Big Jim]

Final Fantasy X-2 should have featured a lesbian three-way between Rikku, Payne and Yuna.

[Bloodwar]

...into a very brief minisex game and it fit into the game. I could have done with the nudity alone and not have the minisex game. I think GoW did well in that it didn't try to overwhelm the game with nudity and sex. Conan supposedly may have more nudity in it and according to the developers if I recall correctly, they say that the nudity is in game to keep the game in line with the vision of the original writer of the Conan series from the 1930's I believe. But even then, the violence is what is going to sell the game. The nudity is icing on the cake.

[JeepGamer]

If you're interested in T&A I direct you to your nearest web browser that can connect you to all the porn you could possibly want. Nudity in games is largely not needed to begin with and gratuitous nudity is REALLY not needed.

[level 360]

Sure it's the 21st century, but I think it's about the *all-important image factor that no one wants to touch this issue about full-on nudity in games.

Also there are a lot of issue that still need to be dealt with. Like extremes ( violence, degrading acts, pedophelia... ) in games that may cause others to fully realize. It's not about only showing nudity that these companies are worried about. Because once you go in this direction there are basically no bounderies in sexual fantasies that can be implemented in the virtual world.

Unless any of those involved would make a viable alterative like for example - Sony or Microsoft, setting-up another subsidiary of a different name ( so as not to offend the majority... ) to finance more mature contents but with still regulations involved and sell these products specifically on the 'net only.