You know how I’m always saying games should make more creative use of sex mechanics? Well, I am. Anyways, we have here an interesting adaptation of sex to mechanic from the 2008 Nordic Game Jam. It’s a sex game that uses entirely no graphics, just rhythm and sound. Check it out.
While the actual videos of the Dark Room Sex Game in action aren’t particularly impressive — lots of Wii-mote wiggling and some repeated moaning that reminds me of the less inspired moments in Virtually Jenna — it is fun to think about sex in terms of timing. According to the game’s FAQ, it’s also possible to swap out the sexy voices, which currently express pleasure in some disproportionately entertaining Nordic language, to your own, if that’s what floats your boat.
So go download the game. Then think about other ways to interpret sex as a game mechanic. Because that’s just cool.
Bonnie Ruberg is a sex, technology, and video games journalist who contributes regularly to publications like The Economist, Forbes, and The Village Voice. By day she's also a comparative literature PhD student at UC Berkeley, where she studies French, English, gender, sexuality, surrealism and perversion. You can reach her at [her first name and last name, all one big word] AT gmail DOT com.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I’ve always felt there’s a lot of interesting stuff that could be done in the area of “video games” without video. It’d be nice to have games that the blind could easily play, but I also find it interesting from a design standpoint to imagine what would happen when you shatter conventional concepts of play that way.
It would also save me the trouble of trying to get things to work properly with my video card.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:27 am
What other sort of play experiences/games could you envision designing without video?
July 31st, 2008 at 7:54 am
i love sssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxxxxxxxxx
January 14th, 2009 at 8:59 am
it is very good sex games