Erotic game booted off Greenlight
Seduce Me will feature light strategy gameplay centred around decadent American socialites.
The game was submitted to Valve's crowd sourced Steam approval platform when the service first launched last Thursday. According to the developers it was taken down 'almost straight away'.
Seduce Me is based on the lives of American socialites and celebrities with a focus on decadence and glamour. It describes itself as an erotic title with light strategy gameplay. Its Greenlight page has now been replaced with a message stating that it has violated the terms of service for the platform.
'The gaming establishement is fine with violence and gore, but is uncomfortable with sexual themes,' added No Reply Games co-founder Andrejs Skuja.
In its 'about' section, Greenlight states that it will restrict titles that contain offensive material but does not define what it means by offensive, nor does it explicitly prevent any titles of an adult nature being submitted.
'Many people still view games as for children, ins spite of the fact that the average gamer is 30 years old,' said No Reply Games co-founder Miriam Bellard.
Steam Greenlight launched last week and currently has more than 750 titles awaiting approval. Shortly after its launch, Valve started banning Steam users who were flooding the platform with fake projects.
Speaking to Kotaku, Valve spokesperson Doug Lombardi stated that 'Steam has never been a leading destination for erotic material' and that Greenlight does not intend to change that.
No Reply Games founders Skuja and Bellard previously worked for Killzone developer Guerrilla Games. The developers are intending to release Seduce Me in November this year.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyKinda.
Typo?
Society is truly in a bitter and mentally depleted state if this is the case.
That said,however, there is still a lot that such a game can do wrong such as promoting degradation / humiliation or worse. I sencerely hope, however, that this particular product is aiming for a higher standard, more classy so to speak and therefore deserves a fair chance.
If it is shallow or badly made the market will rule judgement anyway...
+1
We have 18 rated games but they still are uncomfortable with depicting adult subjects like sex or rape that you might see in an 18 film.
No, not uncomfortable at all. Most people are fine with sexual themes - but it seems this game is purely about bonking rich young socialite sloots. Thus I imagine the target audience is the slimy sex-game player and not the typical gaming market per se. Besides, blowing peoples heads off or stealing cars is something I'd rather not enjoy in real life so I'll save that for gameplay. And if I want to play seduce the upper class sloot, well.. that's just another night out in Newcastle.
In any case, sex in games is rarely done well* without feeling cheap or patronising (though the Mass Effect "love scenes" tied in nicely to the stories).
*I'm thinking immediately of GTA:SA Hot Coffee, Leisure Suit Larry, and a handful of awkward moments playing Fear Effect 2 on the family TV.
Fixed, thank you!
@r3loaded
I know, lived there for a year and have family there as well. I have been able to enjoy the Irish/British humor for the past year now and find it increasingly hard to go back to american sitcoms... It is just so blunt most of the times...
You know what? I kind of agree with you... but not as much as I disagree with you.
Children's play often has a large element of 'violence' to it. Bang bang your dead. Groooaaaann I'm a zombie. Tickle mummy she's dead, bring her back to life with a magic kiss. Look mum, I have a gun which shoots bombs!
Pew pew!
It is impossible to prevent children from having an exposure to this. It's normal and it's healthy.
But 'sexy stuff'? 'Games' where you have to seduce a group of pool lounging sugar-daddy hunting air-heads? CGI rendered intercourse? Pornographic literature? (Seduce me has all of these!).
We're talking about tales of sensual-physical love we're talking about content specifically designed for young men to masterbate to. Adding relationships / dating / seduction into games is fine if the story deserves it but this is just cheap porn.
I cannot support the argument that titles such as 'Seduce me' should be as widely available to the young as games based around violent content such as the average FPS.
It's the same reason I have no problems with my 5yo kids seeing naked bodies (museums, changing rooms etc) but I wouldn't want them to watch a porn movie.
I would not attempt to ban seduce me from sale but I would not carry it in any store I owned or had control over, and clearly Valve feel the same way.
It's cheap, tacky and dirty.
I don't see a significant difference between the two. If children are not ready to deal with adult sexual content then they are also not ready to deal with adult violence. Yet I've seen ten-year olds playing Saints Row (with realistically screaming and bleeding people as you shoot them and drive over their burning bodies) in a household where parents would not allow them to see a pair of breasts. I know which I would worry about psychologically affecting them more.
We have a different attitude to violence and sex. Films like "The Expendables" depicting violence in a somewhat puerile manner are seen as harmless fun. Films depicting sexual activity with a similar level of cheesy immaturity is seen as filthy and degrading. Perhaps it is because sex is essentially an intimate act; something we know should be special and precious and valued, not degraded or cheapened or trivialised. But similarly, real violence is nasty and abhorrent, not something to be trivialised and made to look easy and fun. We should treat it as we treat sex, if for opposite but equal reasons.
I'm not going to play games like this one... and I think you are right that Valve should be able to say "no, I don't want this in my store."
But I would continue to say that there is a place for it if Valve wanted to. Games are already bound by age restrictions and I think, if Vlave are sensible enough to prevent underage sales, they would have every right do do the opposite of what they have done now.
And yes, I doubt this is going to be a decent game... maybe if it wasn't just about seducing someone, it would be better. I do wonder if there will be any decent cinematic games that take on just relationships though. Perhaps in a similar vain to Quantic Dream games - in which case, if your character was able to make the decision to be nice or nasty, I don't think a bit of "the good stuff" should be out of the question - where the only objective is to make a character happy without harming those around them.
The thing with Mass Effect, you still had to actively pursue those relationships so, by your rationale, doing so makes us all slimy gamer types. :p
Kidding aside, Mass Effect walked the line quite well, and managed to make it largely socially acceptable.
Mass Effect was definitely a good example of a game that tackled all of these issues well.
I think we're a long way off having AI good enough for building believable relationships within the framework of a game, but we're already at the point where as players we can have an emotional attachment 'to' a character even if it's not an emotional attachment 'with' a character.
As to games handling 'just' relationships. I don't think that's possible as you can't have a relationship without there being a wider context... well not unless you create some sealed room 'Chat-line 2000 Pro' chat up simulator... but then you're not talking about relationships either.
Personally, I think exploring the intricacies of human relationships should be something we work on when we're not playing computer games.
Let's have games that get us attached to our characters / avatars but keep a step back from attempting to simulate relationships with them.
Personally I would never buy this nonsense, but I dont think adults should be stopped from buying this nonsense if they want.
The purpose of most games falls into the category of "play", which is also the primary domain of children. It's hard to differentiate the two - the actual gameplay of CoD falls neatly into the mock-childish violence all kids partake in (the "pew pew" activities that Guinevere so eloquently put it). It's just to content of the gameplay that makes it "adult".
True adult games are the ones that no child would enjoy, something like EVE Online. In the context of something like that (which is still arguably a game), I reckon the introduction of sex (ignoring the fact it wouldn't be relevant to the game) wouldn't bother anyone, because it's an adult environment.
I think as long as we keep producing games that have childish gameplay, sexual and other truly adult themes will remain taboo.
People are far too quick to point the finger at society or the industry but never seem to mention a parents willingness to bow to [their child's] peer pressure. All it takes is a bit of backbone and common sense.
It does seem a tad ridiculous in this day and age that erotic games aren't accepted. But you can look at it from many angles.
For instance, you do see violent films on Sky Movies. Nothing really out of the ordinary. Wouldn't you be a bit shocked if all of a sudden, the announcer said "Next on Sky Movies, Big Black **** in Dad's daughter".
...I think so, yes.
They'll just have to take their business elsewhere and stop complaining.
If they let one through, it would set precedence for others. Others could be blatant porn. Then they would have to draw a line about what is and is not acceptable and justify it. Blanket ban is easier and for the most part makes sense, at least until the is age verification built into Steam.
Fair enough Valve may not have the infrastructure or the demand to set up an Adult XXX section on steam but they could if they wanted to, which is fine thats the way it should be - anyone who wanted "Big Black **** in Dad's daughter" (brilliant by the way) could have it. In fact I'm fairly sure there are sites in Japan which will provide just that kind of content in game form (but Japanese sexuality is another ball game).
True, but the point is the conventional Sky Movie channels aren't going to show pornographic films. There are P4V channels which are dedicated to just that to avoid any 'misunderstandings'.
I think it's safe to say this is no different. There isn't any pornographic material on there yet, so why should there be now. Valve aren't canning the distribution of the game, they're just waving their right to not want this on their store. Which I can fully understand.
Too late. People are already having relationships through their avatars in MMORPG's. Some of them get pretty intense. In some cases there have been in-game weddings and affairs. Occasionally they have resulted in real life marriages --or divorces.
Relatively guilt & consequence free though, no?
Agreed. It would have to be ancilliary to a story, yet the prominant part of the gameplay... which is why it would have to be a Quantic Dreams type of game.
And without reward! Unless we could fit a flesh light into a 5.25 drive bay and then......no i'll stop there.
What was that free game that came out a few years ago about a couple having an argument and you had to try and sort it out? It was pretty impressive and disappointing at the same time I want to say charade? masquerade?
(i just made myself feel ever so slightly sick...)
P.s. Can't wait. I think it is a win win situation. I'd call it an 8 inch bay though - it's a marketing thing.
I thought The Witcher 2 got a bit boring with regards to the sex scenes. I preferred the original Witcher - you basically didn't see anything, just hear a few comic moans and got a a card basically showing who you'd tagged.
Far less intrusive into the game.
Same goes for Dragon Age Origins, it gets boring seeing pixels try to copulate.
But real life relationships through an avatar is a different thing to someone having a relationshop with an AI controlled character / NPC.
http://www.imdb.com/news/ni35536248/
Made me chuckle "OMG, Steam don't want sex games?!"
Sure some gamers want to play sex games, but.. How many want to announce to their friends list that they're trying to score with some code and pictures?
Not as much as you think. In both cases you are having a relationship with the fantasy of a person.
FYI - That sort of thing does exist. It cropped up on dA a while back..
If it is more down to content itself, there's a whiff of moral outrage of the Daily Mail variety about it.
In any case I'd put money on the game being crap.
agreed
Even for adult games you're just including some more graphic scenes in much the same setting. Sex scenes are (or should be) the culmination of plenty of gameplay choices and effort as the natural progression of your in-game relationship rather than a couple clicks and the panties drop. Get the balance wrong and it's less game and more "spank bank" material.
yawns, this is old news http://uk.ign.com/articles/2004/10/23/leisure-suit-larry-magna-cum-laude-uncut-and-uncensored-to-be-released :D ;)
Games with sex in them are fine, but games ABOUT sex are a deffinate no no?
Weird that.
Nope, Valve are pretty cool. But the world and industry they exist in, is not.
Best go back to stabbing someone in the forehead on AvP..
In other words, I get their point