How has the rate of pornographic material in computer games grown over
the past few years, especially on console games? Siting of specific
games a bonus

Wow - a question about video games!  I think I may have soiled
myself...

Pornography, and also, more generally, censorship, has become a common
issue in video games as their popularity has increased over the past
decades.  This has been executed, in my opinion, in two very different
social cliques - the Japanese + Japanese related markets, and the
American and American related markets - possibly the leading countries
in video game production (PC and Console).

'Duke Nukem 3D' - a PC game - really broke the sexual taboo for the
American, and American related markets (Australia, UK, etc.).  The
title character was a womaniser/sex symbol/"macho man".  Although not
exactly pornography, the game did score a low level nudity rating -
including paying prostitutes to dance, with very VERY revealing
clothing (but not naked), the emphasis of the "woman as a sexual
object", etc. -

"A word of caution about Duke Nukem 3D is that unlike the DOOM type
games Duke Nukem does have a low Nudity/Sex rating. So, some of their
map themes will not be suitable for children. They don't really show a
lot, but it is implied."
The World of Duke Nukem
http://www.babtech.com/duke3d.html

Tomb Raider also utilised the new found sexual innuendo with the
character Lara Croft, made by Eidos Interactive (I believe Sony and
the late Sega also released it for the console market).  Here is a
link to the official Tomb Raider III website, with plenty of relevant
links:
http://www.eidosinteractive.com/games/info.html?gmid=4

Also, Angelie Jolie played Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider movie (to
emphasise the "sex symbol" in Lara Croft!):
http://www.tombraidermovie.com/splash_frames.html

"Agent Under Fire" - the latest Bond game for the Nintendo Game Cube -
includes the adequate sexual innnuendo, or, as EA Games officially
puts it, "suggestive themes" to correlate to the Bond Movies - no
pornography, or nudity, but a lot in implide.  Check it out:
http://www.ea.com/eagames/official/007_nightfire/home.jsp

However, this is primarily mainstream "American market related"
products.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?), this is all that seems to
be released for the mainstream consoles (at least here in Australia). 
We see almost nothing that has not been passed by an American (or
Australian) Video Game Censorship board.  Keeping in mind that the
target audience for consoles in general a younger one, we would see
almost no "pornography" on consoles at all (I know I have seen none.)

But on the computer, games are much easier to distribute and much more
readily available - a lot less mainstream.  I remember playing a
"dating game" that showed more and more revealing (yes, nude,
*squeal*), as you successfully won over your "target".  These games
are not mainstream, as I think those games must pass censorship
similar to the console games.  Here are some links to games, with
their date of production to relate to the "grown of the last few
years" section of your question, and also links to sites that may be
of use:

(www.the-underdogs.org is an excellent source for old video games that
are no longer for sale, all legal.  Take a look.)

Spell Casting 101
"Steve Meretzsky's first game for Legend is a raunchy adventure of the
best caliber that is best described as his earlier classic Leather
Goddesses of Phobos meets Zork"
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?name=Spellcasting+101

An interesting message post (regarding nudity in games):
"I can understand the way you feel about nudity in video games,But
this practice is hardly new its just that people talk about it more
now that society in general is more comfortable talking about such
subjects i mean i am a forty year old male who agrees it doesnt belong
in games but i can remember a game called stripper when i was 10 or so
it was in arcades at the beach you put in your dime(ahh the good old
days)and a fully dressed woman would apear on the screen along with a
bullseye your mission was to shoot the bullseye as many times as you
could to get her to strip down to nothing it was a stupid game and a
cheap thrill for me at 10 this is just an example and by the way alot
of men would love to see you do the show naked but keep your clothes
on you got too much class for that"
http://forums.g4tv.com/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=7580

So there was a pornographic video game 30 years ago....

An editorial on nudity in games by "El_Ninja":
http://www.ryu-ken.net/game/editorial1.shtml

How could I forget!  The Leisure Suit Larry series!  The game,
originally made in 1988, has been remastered - this site compares and
reviews the game, with some scren shots:
"In Leisure Suit Larry your quest is to have sex with a woman."
REVIEWGAMES.com - Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
http://www.reviewgames.com/pageIndex.htm?Reviews/Leisure_Suit_Larry_1/index.htm&0

And here are some refernces to the Japanese related games.

Another nice thread about nudity in video games:
"Argh, isn't hentai [a form of Japanese cartoon pornography] bad
enough in anime, now it has to invade video games... well it already
did in Japan... *sigh* I guess I'm the only male who tries to go
against his nature.. "
http://pub141.ezboard.com/fthenextdimension26818frm11.showMessage?topicID=18.topic

This discussion page lists many games that contain nudity - DEFINITELY
WORTH A LOOK:
http://pub103.ezboard.com/fretrogamingfrm31.showMessage?topicID=822.topic

A site listing the evolution in censorship for video gaming (console
specific):
http://website.lineone.net/~foxy282/censorship_of_videogames.htm


I believe that when video games were first established, their
pornographic possiblity has been realised and utilised - many games
developed in the 80's, and even 70's have pornographic reference,
nudity, or sexual refernce.  It was in the early 90's that Boards were
established to censor this - for example the European Leisure Software
Publishers Association (http://www.elspa.com/).  The level of nudity
greatly decreased in the mainstream and regulated games, however, the
Japanese market seems to remain somewhat more relaxed.  I first talked
about the modern mainstream games - limited only to sexual innuendo
and sexual symbols.  It is my belief that the level of "pornography"
decreased greatly into this 90's, but secual reference has slowly been
recovered since then, what with the future release of some games
mentioned in the message threads.

I hope this has answered your question - I enjoyed answering it - and
if you have any queries at all, I'd be more than happy to address
clarification.

Cheers,
bobby_D-ga

Thanks for such

---

Clarification of Answer by bobby_d-ga on 15 Oct 2002 04:17 PDT

ummm...  please ignore the last three words - I don't know how they got in there!

thanks again,
bobby_D-ga

Hey this was a fine answer.  Thanks a bunch man.

there is a distinct class of computer game that is actually porn -
usually it's something like strip poker, or a role playing game where
you talk to women, etc, but the purpose is serves is less to provide a
game to play, and more to provide porn in some "interactive" way

then there are mainstream games that include scantily clad women, like
duke nukem and many RPG's that include female's in "battle dress"
which usually includes the de rigeur metal bikini

however there is very little pornographic material in mainstream
games, actually none that i know of, because that would make it
illegal to sell it to the minors who make up much of the gaming world.

there are some games that allow user-modifications, the most popular
being counter-strike. in counter-strike you can take any image and
turn it into a "graffiti spray" that you can spray on walls and
surfaces while you are playing, and using porn images is fairly
common.

if you want to know specifically about porn computer games, that's a
very specific niche market, and very small compared to the general
gaming industry.

hope that helps

In the new German game "Archangel", there's a full-frontal nude female
angel figure. Nudity in games is quite current -- cos of the cost
needed (curves are "expensive") but sex in games .. has been around
for a while. Check out "Leather Goddesses of Phobos" (1980-ish) --
this had very graphic text descriptions.

Also, in the 80s there was a scrolling "space shooter" which rewarded
a high score with a very suggestive "Oh boy !" which still sends
shivers down my spine when I think of it (yeah I know, I don't get out
much.) :)

Wish I could remember the name, though.

back in the 80's when video games on a home computer were new there
were games with some nudity (leisure suit larry, etc) but they have
always been marketed as "adult games" aka pornography. mainstream
games never had nudity.

the only "normal" game that i know of with any nudity can't even get
sold - BMX XXX has some nudity and retailers are refusing to carry it

first look:
http://www.gamepro.com/index.html?/sony/ps2/games/previews/25781.shtml

news story:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=581&ncid=581&e=1&u=/nm/20021014/tc_nm/tech_acclaim_xxx_dc

It's a ratings thing I guess. If there's even a hint of impropriety in
the game, it doesn't get a general rating, and then it doesn't sell.
So it's either tame or porn. But games from other countries have less
"all or nothing" requirements, so I guess they're more at liberty to
mix and match. There was a (fully clothed) sex scene in a game
starring David Bowie (??!!) if I recall correctly :)

Not that I'm an expert on this (hah!) there are loads of Japanese
"games" that are little more than storylines stringing together nudity
and sex. There's a new "game" called Private Nurse, for example
reviewed on the site Gamecopyworld.com with screenshots and
appropriately scathing reviews

I have been looking for pc porn themed games to compare to an idea of
my own.  The only ones I have been able to find are sex simulators,
interactive DVD or CDROM games, and porn take offs of old game
favorites.  The market is small not because most gammers are too young
to play X-rated material, but because most game retailers are not
going to carry porn.  This combined with the inability to promote the
game anywhere but the internet where one porn idea is a like a
teaspoon to the ocean, leaves those might be interested unable to hear
about it.  The recent release of games with a more sexual tone is
encouraging but I don't expect porn games to be big soon.  The costs
of production is far greater than paying a couple of 20 year olds and
getting a camcorder.  Thrixxx seems to leading this field right now. 
It woud nice to find some true xxx games.

I get really sick of nudity in games as a way of moving product in
lieu of good game play.  How much say do testers have in situations
like that?  I would really like to be in a position where I could tell
a developer how and why their game sucks.  Does anybody know anything
about this company - http://www.gameinstinct.com?  They're in my area,
but I don't know what their deal is.