Rated M for Mature Sex and Sexuality in Video Games

by Wysocki, Matthew; Lauteria, Evan W.

• ISBN13: 9781628925777
• ISBN10: 1628925779
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-10-22
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Matthew Wysocki is an Assistant 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.

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

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

The (R)Evolution of Video Games and Sex

1. Intergenerational Tensions: Of Sex and the Hardware Cycle - Rob Gallagher (Concordia University, Canada)

2. From Poruno to Moe: Otaku Affectivity and the Evolution of Erotic Games in Japan - Martin Picard (University of Montreal, Canada), and Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon (University of Alberta, Canada)

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

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

5. Explicit Sexual Content in Early Console Video Games - Dan Mills (Clayton State University, USA)

Video Games and Sexual (Dis)Embodiment

6. The Rise of "Nerdcore" Porn: Digital Gaming as a Technology of the Body - Tom Apperley (University of New South Wales, Australia)

7. 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)

8. Performing Sexuality in Tomb Raider: Spaces of Concealment, Confinement, and Concupiscence - Eduardo Barros-Grela (University of A Coruña, Spain)

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

10. "'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

11. 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)

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

13. Love is in the Air: Queer (Im)Possibility in Frontierville and World of Warcraft - Edmond Chang (Drew University, USA)

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

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

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