Adult-oriented videogames prospering

Before the scandal involving sexually oriented scenes in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas broke in July, much of the criticism aimed at the video game industry focused on the rampant violence found in countless titles.

But when the hidden, X-rated 'Hot Coffee' scenes were discovered in GTA, touching off a storm of indignation that made headlines around the world and raged all the way to the US Congress, not everyone thought the brouhaha was a total disaster for the industry.

"I think 'Hot Coffee' had one good side effect..." said Brenda Brathwaite, chair of the International Game Developers Association's sex special interest group, or Sex SIG. "It woke up millions of people to the fact that there is sexual content in videogames and that they should pay attention to the ratings [given to games by the Electronic Software Ratings Board in the US and by the British Board of Film Classification in the UK]. People who knew nothing about games knew about Hot Coffee."

Indeed, the GTA scenes were just the highly publicised tip of the adult-oriented videogames iceberg. In fact, there are dozens of games that address sexual issues, sexuality and sex itself, ranging from Cyberlore's Playboy: The Mansion to Sierra Entertainment's Leisure Suit Larry. Downloadable nude 'skins' have even been created by third parties to (un)clothe characters in Electronic Arts' best-selling The Sims.

And while some people -- particularly politicians -- may find the existence of adult videogames a worthy target for criticism, others feel that when properly labelled as 'mature' or '18' by the ratings board, such games shouldn't be treated any different than other forms of media, such as movies, magazines and the like.

"I think there are different standards that are applied to our industry, particularly by nongamers," Patricia Vance, president of the ratings board, told CNET.co.uk's sister site News.com in August. "I think most of the time that's based on people just not being familiar with the facts and not being gamers themselves."

Partly because of that dynamic -- as well as to help developers of adult-oriented games coordinate efforts and find a community of like-minded people -- the IGDA's Brathwaite created the Sex SIG. And though it officially launched in August, it had been in the works for months.

"The plans were under way, but it was announced shortly after the Hot Coffee scandal broke," Brathwaite said, "so it was very timely. But we didn't plan that."

Brathwaite was a natural choice to run the Sex SIG. When not running the group, she's the lead designer on Playboy: The Mansion, which stars a sort of 'Sim Hugh Hefner' -- players take on the persona of the Playboy magazine founder and live out his everyday, sex-soaked life in and around his famous Los Angeles mansion.

Of course, Brathwaite's game and Leisure Suit Larry are far from the only adult titles available. There's also porn star Jenna Jameson's Virtually Jenna, numerous strip poker games and sex-charged versions of Tetris, Wheel of Fortune and many others.

Though no specific sales figures exist for mature and adult-oriented games, Brathwaite estimates that they account for 12 per cent of all game sales, with adults-only games making up only 0.1 per cent of that total. Some estimate the worldwide game market is about $20bn, which would mean that about $2.4m worth of adults-only games are sold each year.