IMO, the biggest weakness is a lack of people willing to fund anything with decent production values. ;p

But the problem with press covering the event showed that fundamentally the people writing about these games don’t play them. I think ApogeeVR writer Noche is going to make an effort to try/play more than SL (he alredy tried RLC on the blog over there) and that is a good sign. But most sex in games articles are hopelessly (and obviously) written by people who don’t play sex games– solo or multiplayer.

>As with any art form, it's not just the artists, but the >commentators and analysts who take a work and give it >meaning, importance.

A lot of artists would vehemently disagree. I think it’s the consumers and the artists, and the relationship between the media and its audience that matters the most. Critics and commentators are, at best, go-betweens that bring more people to a particular experience so they can form their own opinions and have their own experiences. And I don’t have a problem with sex in games media coverage except that it’s typically done by tech/sex writers without gaming experience OR game writers without sex play experience online. I think you might be a lone type in this niche, Bonnie.

>To say that no one counts but the developers themselves is counter-productive.

It’s not that no one counts but you can’t really stock a conference full of press and expect devs to pay to see it. GDC has non-dev speakers but the majority are people who work in companies that make games. It’s just an issue of making a conference meaningful for the attendees. I think a sex in games con can and should host more attendees than just game devs but obviously you won’t have much to talk about without sex games to discuss… so it kinda does come back to the primacy of what is being produced.

>Where do new ideas come from? From the responses and the >thoughts of the world. And who's to say, just because >somewhere along the line coding needs to happen, that >creativity and thought provoking design can't come from >"laymen"?

Well, first up most news today is more editorial than I care for from my news sources. If a news person is at a games con and sees their presence as a potential source of game design ideas… that really explains a LOT about game press. ;p The creative industries have no shortage of good ideas. We do have a shortage of money though, and a shortage of promotional outlets (where do sex games get covered and reviewed? think on it and see what I mean about the sex in games press not really existing yet– it gets spotty editorialized coverage here and there). The notion that game designers need ideas is just not true. From press they need coverage and criticism (after actually playing the games, not just seeing a poster and deciding it has not merit because it’s not your style). From conferences, well they need the same business, networking, and practical dev resources and info that they’d get from GDC but with a focus on their unique challenges and markets. I was actually suprised that they had panels about what the players want. You don’t see that at GDC very often unless it’s by marketing professionals. ;p

>It seems to me like there's an undeserved (and unsuccessful) >eliticism going on.

I think you’re assuming the lack of quality or range in sex games is due to lack of good design ideas. The truth is there is a lack of commercial backing for this area of entertainment publishing. And there is no elitism. As I said, the whole ‘bringing in experts from other fields’ bit was very strong in the conference with multiple sexperts and press speakers totally outside of the narrow developer/business framework. Maybe sex game developers are undeserving of a conference built just for their needs? Given that there seem to be only a handful of us operating as a business, I might agree with that. :)

All in all, there was much more benefit at GDC than there was at this con for a game developer- adult or otherwise. But it was still a good conference. After getting flamed by Violet Blue afterwards (and having a ripple effect that broke off a small portion of my sex game network) I am personally unsure if I’d ever participate in presenting at an event like that again. The cons may have outweighed the pros.

Here at Evergreen Events we are currently building the SIVG 07 advisory board and extend our thanks again to this years speakers, advisors and chair. Anyone interested in being involved in the 07 event is free to contact me.
Cynthia Freese, CEO - Evergreen events

I don’t mean to jump down your throat, Kelly–I apologize if I sound hostile. But being myself a writer and not a developer, I’ve encountered my fair share of this ridiculousness.

Given the resources the event had, I thought it went really well.
Oh, I’m not saying it didn’t. I’m just looking forward to expansions/improvements in the future. It can never hurt to be constructively critical!

Wow, MD^2, math erotica. Who would have guessed.

(Also, as for ideas for the Wii controller, I didn’t mean that as a general guestion. I simply meant, did Patrick have a specific idea in mind?)

Anyway, couple of links I thought you might be interested in:

NSFW Algorithmic projections
via

Something that completely went under my radar.

What do you think of using the Wii-mote as an interface for a sex game?
It's a start ;). Had anything in particular in mind?

How, come on: think Domina pet simulator instead of Castlevania, with real whipping motion detection and tamagotchi like interface. Sexy enough to stimulate desire to try it on, not grossly visceral (in the literal sense, yes) enough that it might hamper sales.

I already heard that next year there are plans for multiple tracks and way more breadth, but for the first year I think the tight focus on business/developers was the right way to go. Right now we are the only people committed to the genre and working on things. Everyone else is theorizing, criticizing, or just a media hound or someone trying to sell their books, etc. in the space and so it wasn’t like Brenda has a rolodex of articulate pros like more general game conferences have- GDC probably has tens of thousands of international developers and professionals who could theoretically provide sessions of value.

Also, with GDC the speakers organize their own panels/submissions and then the organizers review and approve them. With SiVG, Brenda, Kyle and the other organizers basically had to plan almost every session and recruit people rather than having people clamoring to speak at this event. As the event grows (and gets good buzz *cough*) better speakers will be unlocked and the conference will level up accordingly. Given the resources the event had, I thought it went really well. Some speakers or moderators didn’t show (last minute) or showed then forgot to stay or come on for their gigs, but that’s the thing with inviting people rather than having them come to you to participate.

Funny thing about the Elks. Perhaps we owe them a bit of gratitude, since it seems they were the only ones in the city who would take us in and allow us to use their facility.
Don’t know much about that. Did Brenda have a hard time finding a home for the conference?

Back from the dead (i.e back on the net) now that my exams are over.
Welcome back, MD^2! Hope your finals went well.

Back from the dead (i.e back on the net) now that my exams are over.

Lots of catching up to do.

Before I forget, just stumbled upon this while searching something completely unrelated (google bugs are good sometimes), thought you might be interested, if it’s not old for you.

http://synworld.t0.or.at/level2/gaming_reader/virtuellestars/schleiner.htm

(About your last point:
My problem with sex (in) games is that it tends to be representative/derivative of the sexual act, and rarely something new and in itself signifying… or something like that. Sex is a game in itself. What can our new tools bring to it that’s worth the chat ? Novelty, ok. [i]Et quoi d’autre ?[/i]
In other words: we are expecting sex games to be part of sexual life, it is needed if they are to become anything more than a cosmetic prop or convenience tool, yet most sex-games are to sex what Track & Fields is to actual sport.

To be honest I’m not sure any of us have anything more than a hunch on the direction to take)

Back later when I’m done with the catching up.