Rated M for Mature: Sex and Sexuality in Video Games

by Matthew Wysocki (Editor), Evan W. Lauteria (Editor)

Overview

The word sex has many implications when it is used in connection with video games. As game studies scholars have argued, games are player-driven experiences. Players must participate in processes of play to move the game forward. The addition of content that incorporates sex and/or sexuality adds complexity that other media do not share.

Rated M for Mature further develops our understanding of the practices and activities of video games, specifically focusing on the intersection of games with sexual content. From the supposed scandal of “Hot Coffee” to the emergence of same-sex romance options in RPGs, the collection explores the concepts of sex and sexuality in the area of video games.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628925777
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/22/2015
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Matthew Wysocki is an Associate Professor at Flagler College, USA, where he is the Coordinator of the Media Studies program. He is the editor of CTRL-ALT-PLAY: Essays on Control in Video Games and co-chair of the Game Studies Area of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association.

Evan W. Lauteria is a PhD student in Sociology at the University of California-Davis, USA. Lauteria has published in the UK Literary Magazine Berfrois on the topic of queer game mechanics, as well as in Reconstruction on the resistant politics of queer game mods.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Notes on the Contributors

Introduction
Evan W. Lauteria (University of California, Davis, USA) and Matthew Wysocki (Flagler College, USA)

The (R)Evolution of Video Games and Sex

Intergenerational Tensions: Of Sex and the Hardware Cycle.
Rob Gallagher (King's College London, UK)

Beyond Rapelay: Self-regulation in the Japanese Erotic Video Game Industry
Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon (University of Alberta, Canada), and Martin Picard (University of Montreal, Canada)

Assuring Quality: Early-1990s Nintendo Censorship and the Regulation of Queer Sexuality and Gender
Evan W. Lauteria (University of California, Davis, USA)

The Newest Significant Medium: Brown v. EMA and the 21st Century Status of Video Game Regulation
Zach Saltz (University of Kansas, USA)

Explicit Sexual Content in Early Console Video Games
Dan Mills (Georgia Highlands College, USA)

Video Games and Sexual (Dis)Embodiment

The Strange Case of the Misappearance of Sex in Videogames
Tanya Krzywinska (Falmouth University, UK).

Let's Play Master and Servant: BDSM and Directed Freedom in Game Design
Victor Navarro-Remesal (Centre d´Ensenyament Superior Alberta Giménez, Spain), and Shaila García-Catalán (Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, Spain)

Countergaming's Porn Parodies, Hard Core and Soft
Diana Pozo (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)

Casual Sex: Sex as Currency Within Video Games
Casey Hart (Stephen F. Austin State University, USA)

“Embraced Eternity" Lately? Mislabeling and Subversion of Sexuality Labels through the Asari in the Mass Effect Trilogy.
Summer Glassie (Old Dominion University, USA)


Systems/Spaces of Sexual (Im)Possibilities

Playing for Intimacy: Love, Lust, and Desire in the Pursuit of Embodied Design.
Aaron Trammell (Rutgers University, USA), and Emma Leigh Waldron (Rutgers University, USA)

It's Not Just the Coffee That's Hot: Modding Sexual Content in Video Games
Matthew Wysocki (Flagler College, USA)

“Death by Scissors”: Gay Fighter Supreme and the Sexuality That Isn't Sexual
Bridget Kies (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA)

Iterative Romance and Button-Mashing Sex: Gameplay Design and Video Games' Nice Guy Syndrome
Nicholas Ware (University of Central Florida, USA)

Climbing the Heterosexual Maze: Catherine and Queering Spatiality in Gaming
Jordan Youngblood (University of Florida, USA)

Assessing Player-Connected Versus Player-Disconnected Sex Acts in Video Games
Brent Kice (Frostburg State University, USA)

Editorial Reviews

This collection raises many important issues about sexuality in video games. … This volume analyzes specific games and issues, putting everything in context. Among the problem issues addressed are the frequent use of sex as a means to an end in games, the juxtaposition of sex and violence, and changing ideas about gender and sexuality. Also discussed is how the evolution from arcade play to home consoles has influenced the structure of games. Although the audience for video games is more diverse than convention would have it, the masculine perspective is still the norm. Likely readers of this book will be video game scholars, who will find the divergent views stimulating and enlightening. Summing Up: Recommended. Researchers, faculty, professionals.” - CHOICE

“Sexuality is part of the human experience anywhere, and despite images of earthly flesh, has always had a virtual dimension. The contributors to this volume brilliantly show how sex and sexuality are not marginal to video game design, representation, and play. Rated M for Mature demonstrates that sexuality is at the heart of video games, and in turban how video games offer powerful lessons with regard to sexuality itself.” —Tom Boellstorff, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, USA, and author of Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human

“This is an important, timely book and a much needed contribution to the ongoing discussion of sex and sexuality in games and game cultures. The emerging and established voices in this volume offer lessons for scholars studying sexuality, for players interested in how games shape our understandings of sexuality, and designers who want to represent sexuality more positively. Rated M for Mature asks how games represent sex and sexuality, why they do it so poorly, and what can be done to change that for the better.” —Gerald Voorhees, Assistant Professor of Drama and Speech Communication, University of Waterloo, Canada, and co-editor of the Approaches to Digital Game Studies series

From the Publisher

This is an important, timely book and a much needed contribution to the ongoing discussion of sex and sexuality in games and game cultures. The emerging and established voices in this volume offer lessons for scholars studying sexuality, for players interested in how games shape our understandings of sexuality, and designers who want to represent sexuality more positively. Rated M for Mature asks how games represent sex and sexuality, why they do it so poorly, and what can be done to change that for the better.

Gerald Voorhees

Sexuality is part of the human experience anywhere, and despite images of earthly flesh, has always had a virtual dimension. The contributors to this volume brilliantly show how sex and sexuality are not marginal to video game design, representation, and play. Rated M for Mature demonstrates that sexuality is at the heart of video games, and in turn how video games offer powerful lessons with regard to sexuality itself.

Tom Boellstorff