Rule 5 Thursday
Because I figure it’s high time I at least pretend to be making an effort to drive a bit more traffic to the ol’ blog here.
Item 1: I see that the sex in video games controversy has reared its ugly head again.
The controversy surrounding sex in video games isn’t exactly a new one, but it certainly has hit the public eye recently. One of the earliest examples of sex causing a stir in the video game industry came about with Custer’s Revenge, a game in 1982 that had such objectionable content that Atari ultimately sued the game’s developer, Mystique, in an effort to publicly distance the Atari console from the game’s negative media attention. More recently, the sex/nudity in games like BMX XXX, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Mass Effect have garnered a fair degree of coverage and outrage, even when it isn’t deserved.
…
Something that many critics don’t realize is that there is a market for sexualized video games. Granted, it’s certainly miniscule compared to the mainstream market, but it’s there. Aside from the fact that some developers of these games are able to sell uncensored and/or more explicit versions of their titles via direct download — thereby avoiding retailers and the censorship issues that occur to get a game there — many users will sexualize their interactions with each other or create risqué content. “Sex is already incredibly common in games already, we just call it ‘emergent behavior between two players,’” Brathwaite said. This emergent player behavior can range from teabagging your opponents after you frag them in Halo to creating a strip club in Star Wars: Galaxies to engaging in full-on sex in MMOs like Second Life or Sociolotron.
My thoughts? Mreh. Meh, even. It may be that there’s a market for this sort of thing, but is that a market segment that any respectable developer really wants to exploit? The market segment that finds mechanistic, polygonal avatars gyrating atop each other in a simulacrum of sex that has all the appeal of watching two Jenga towers collapse into each other somehow appealing? Is watching somewhat more complex polyhedrons than this collide really that titillating?
Okay, granted, it’s not always that bad. Mass Effect offered players a short cutscene of two characters making out (fully clothed, and then in spacesuits) as the culmination of a romantic subplot that players were required to nurture over the course of most of the game. Dragon Age: Origins apparently goes one step further, by showing the characters simulating sex — kinda — whilst still wearing their undergarments….but again, only after hours of following a romantic subplot. Farenheit (released in North America as Indigo Prophecy) was also pretty tame, or so I have been led to understand.
Conversely, there’s titles like the aforementioned Sociolotron, or titles like Singles: Flirt Up Your Life and Singles 2: Triple Trouble. And who can forget Hot Coffee?
I suppose this sort of thing is a natural consequence of several factors affecting the gaming world all at once: the increased understanding that adults (not just kids) can and do enjoy games being one, and the increasing trend in games to tell a compelling and dramatic story being another. Still…there are people out there who actually buy games looking specifically for this sort of content therein?
Item 2: Apparently, gents, it’s not the batted eyelids or the timely blushes that best signal a woman’s attraction to a man; it’s her feet.
…experts now believe that foot movements reveal most about an admirer’s true feelings.
It is claimed that gestures with our feet are the most powerful form of body language because we are less conscious of what we are doing with them.
If a woman moves her feet away from her body while giggling, to adopt a more open-legged stance, then she is attracted to you.
But if her legs are crossed or tucked under her body, then the suitor’s advances are likely to end in disaster.
Women will be disappointed to learn that the rules do not apply to men, who reveal nothing about sexual attraction through their feet, the research discovered.
Also interesting:
“If a woman’s feet move when she laughs, it is one of the most powerful signals that she likes you.
“If they are crossing the feet, or crossing the legs – not good.”
If a man is nervous, he will show his feelings by increasing his foot movement. Women however, do the opposite, and keep their feet still.
Now you know.
Item 3: Still more wonders of research that somebody actually paid for: apparently, 60/40 is the ideal covered/uncovered ratio for women looking to attract men. Women who showed less or more skin than this (I guess in social situations?) tended to attract the attention of fewer men. The tightness of the clothing also apparently worked toward the success in attracting men.
This one is presented without further comment. I prefer more difficult targets.
Item 4: Kind of an old one, but still disturbing: “Brit kids, as young as seven, are increasingly shopping for “shag bands”— cheap plastic bracelets with different colours, referring to various sex acts.”
Disturbing:
Available for just £1 on any High Street, the shag bands have become the latest craze among students, and horrified parents across the country. The different colours — black, blue, red, pink, purple, orange, yellow, green and gold — show how far the little pupils will “go” if propositioned, from a kiss to full sex.
Kids chase each other around schools, and, if they break the band off the wearer’s wrist, the wearer has to offer the physical act that corresponds to the colour of the band.
“A yellow band is the best because all it means is you have to hug a boy. An orange means a love bite and purple is a full-on snog,” the Sun quoted a 12-year-old girl as saying. “If a boy breaks a pink band, a girl has to flash her boobs, a red band means you have to give him a lap dance and a blue is some sort of oral sex. The black means you have to go all the way with a boy,” she said.
Whatever happened to tag? Kick the Can, maybe? By Thor’s hammer Mjolnir!
Someone go on and tell me how post-Christian sexual liberation is so much better than Catholic sexual morals. I frakin’ dare you. And while we’re on the subject, does it seem like this freakish “game” is entirely about getting girls to sexually service boys? Where is your women’s lib now?
Item 5: I’m just going out on a limb here, but I would bet that most of my female readers would sympathize with Little Miss Attila’s plight in this blog post.
I don’t thank my wife enough for enduring such things.
I actually want to test that feet thing. I never heard that before. Since women are such a mystery anyway to learn about them I’ll take it. That band idea is beyond disturbing I’m guessing most those boys will be wearing the black ones. Being little pervs and all.
Test away!
But don’t go expecting women to be any less of a mystery anytime soon. ;) Then again, as that’s half the fun, why would you want them to be?