Last week at GDC I attended the "Game Design Challenge" session hosted by Eric Zimmerman. The title of the challenge was "My First Time...", and the designers were charged with creating a game about sex and auto biography. Sulka Harro, Steve Meretzky, and the team of Heather Kelley and Erin Robinson competed, each sharing a snapshot of their first sexual experience.
The common thread across all three projects was the horrible, embarrassing, awkwardness of it all. Meretzky's game put the player through a geeky boy's several failed attempts, until one day, older and wiser he finally scores. Harro told a similar story, but then seemed to buckle under pressure and changed his game to "Your First Time..." shifting focus off his own experience on to the players' (I actually thought his idea would be a great communication tool, and could be really fun).
The women, Kelley and Robinson presented a uniquely female perspective - in their game the player had to shave her legs, pick the right outfit, and pick all the garlic out of her dinner knowing her date wouldn't do the same. When talking about design process, Robinson said that they had thought about just doing a game about counting ceiling tiles -- the remark was met with a roar of laughter and applause. With one smart remark, she reminded us all of how ingrained the male perspective is in games and in the industry, & the only way to change that is for more women to be present and contribute.
Robinson and Kelly won the challenge, for more details check this article on game spot .
After the session was done, I approached Erin Robinson to congratulate her and Kelley on their win and commend them on their bravery for sharing their intimate stories in front of such a large (& predominantly male) audience. Robinson was still nervous and in shock that she had actually done it - talked about sex, in public, with a room full of game designers.
I recognized her jittery-ness, having myself recently presented a project with some racy and sexual content in front of my peers. I was very pleased that this audience was more open minded, and prepared to explore this topic than the audience that reviewed my project.
So what exactly makes talking about sex in games (in an honest, artistic, expressive way, not a GTA sort-of-way) such a challenge? Judging by, the results of this Game Design Challenge, it's only as difficult and awkward as it is for the designer. If Jenna Jameson or Hugh Heffner were on the panel, the results would be totally different. So, is it purely about what the designers, as authors, can bring to the game? Or might it have something to do with perceived audience? If Harro, Meretzky, Kelley and Robinson were presenting on a panel about sex games for the adult entertainment industry, might their designs have been totally different? Going back to my own experience in this arena -- there is no shortage of racy, sexually suggestive material geared towards both men and women on the iPhone App store (An alternate title for this post - Fratboys, Feminists, and iPhone). Could that be because that market is demographically a bit wider than the typical "gamer" market?