I don’t think anything official has gone out yet, but it seems there is a site for the 2007 Sex in Video Games Conference, the follow-up to last year’s two-day in San Fran. I can’t find any dates listed, or a location, but there’s a list of pricing for everyone eager to get a head start on registration in June. More useful is an email address for potential speakers. What do you have to say about sex in games? Tell the world. Or at least the Sex in Video Games Conference.

Last year’s conference was an earnest effort by both Evergreen Events and organizer Brenda Brathwaite, but it certainly had it’s ups and downs, so I’m hoping things will improve. For me personally, it was a nice intro into the conference world. Since then I’ve been to the Montreal International Games Summit and the Game Developers Conference, so I’m thinking going back might feel a little like trying to swim laps in a kiddy pool. And trust me, that is hard.

After my piece on Whorecraft, World of Warcraft-themed porn, I never did get around to talking more about video game slash. Doing research for the column, I read a lot of Legend of Zelda fan fiction (I always figured Link and Zelda were like brother and sister, but if you want to make them go at it, I guess that’s fine with me). Along the way, I came across this little tidbit called “Twilight Love.” It’s a slash story about Link and Midna, who have sex after admitting their mutual, undying love over a romantic dinner.

Now, on one level, this is ridiculous. I always figured fan fiction was about expanding the experience outside the canon but still within the realm of believability. But here we have Link “running errands” for groceries. Where does this fit in with the Zelda universe? Then there’s the fact that Midna, in Twilight Princess at least, is the size of a lawn gnome. How is she supposed to…. Well, maybe you don’t even want to know.

But after laughing this story off and watching another episode of Whorecraft, I started thinking about the uses for slash. “Twilight Love” is a pretty tame piece of pornography. If it weren’t for a few references to the woods and some howling, it could take place anywhere, with anyone. Now, I don’t know the age or sexual experience of the author, but maybe what the Zelda characters are doing here is offering him (or her) an entrance into the world of sex. He starts with what he knows. So it’s not so much about the Zelda universe as its place within the universe of the fan.

Thanks to a suggestion from Brenda Brathwaite and a lot of patience from Ellie Gibson, I’ve been working on a piece for GamesIndustry.biz about the unique challenges of selling sex games. Along the way, I wrote to Naughty America, whose head Noah Dudley I’d seen now at both the Sex and Games Conference and GDC07, to talk about how they market the game, the advantages of online distribution, etc. Straightforward stuff.

However, in response to my inquiry, I received an email that reads: “We are not producing a sex game and would prefer not to be compared to others as such.” The email then goes on to say that Naughty America will have to decide whether my article is acceptable–not just for them to comment on, it seems, but in general. Did I ask?

The silliness of that aside, the thing that really has me raising one eyebrow is this line, “We are not producing a sex game.” If you’ve haven’t played the game, check out the Naughty America site for yourself. Isn’t their slogan, “Sex in an online game? It’s about time”? (Yes, that is ridiculous.) Isn’t this their umbrella company, which sells straight-up porn? Then, of course, there’s the fact that Mr. Dudley keeps showing up at sex-game talks…

My point isn’t to quibble over what is or isn’t a “sex game”; yes, Naughty America has content beyond sex. My point is that a game that prides itself on letting you cut loose shouldn’t be hiding in the sex-game closet. Plus, saying you don’t want to be compared to other sex games (besides being an ego trip) is also a big vote of no confidence to the companies who are hard at work developing outright sexy games. So, come on, step up, own your sexiness. And when your name is Naughty America, don’t get squirmy if people ask you about sex.