Sexuality in Video Gaming

[NovaXpress]

I remember an old issue of Video Games (an Electronic Games competitor aimed at adults and run by Punk! and High Times publisher John Holmstrom) in which ith following was argued:

 

Pac Man was the first game to appeal to women because of the play mechanic. "Boy games" such as Space Invaders and Defender centered around a player represented as a phallus, destroying creatures by penetrating them with their phallic emissions. However Pac man engulfed his opponents, echoing female sexuality.

 

Interesting theory. Many boys such as myself liked Pac Man also, I guess that a good game is a good game. I do see some plausibility in this theory. Discussion?

[NE146]

Man if that's true that the objects in those games represented a phallus and it's phallic emissions, I am truly and absolutely disgusted. Who'd have thought that they would put such disgusting concepts and imagery (and so thinly veiled at that) into 2600 VIDEOGAMES

 

 

 

 

[Vic George 2K3]

I think we're venturing into the totally ridiculous here when we start seeing phallic symbols in our videogames. I just would rather not see sexuality depicted in such graphic medical detail in a videogame.

[NovaXpress]

Peope do have automatic psychological reponses to symbolism. It is not a stretch to see such elements in games as well as our daily lives. Look at advertising campaigns and marketing gimmicks. Read some Psych 101.

 

For those of us who like to ponder the twisted history of video games I propose this:

 

Pong was innocuous and therefore popular but not as big as Space Invaders, which brought in elements of male sexuality. Pac Man became even more popular by playing on female sexuality (as well as eating).

 

Games of this era were simple enough to be easily analyzed. Once can say that GTA has the same male appeal as Space Invaders, just hidden under layers of complexity.

 

And I think that Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em is nowhere near as disgusting as DIG DUG! That weird blue moleman with the 5-foot long schlong, pumping subterranean creatures full of spunk until they explode. That is truly sick.

[Ze_ro]

Personally, this seems rather Fruedian to me, and I never bought into his garbage.

 

--Zero

[liquid_sky]

put down the pipe and think like a sane man

 

p.s. I would beleive a drunk crackhead before that old perverted man.. almost all of his therories have been disproven anyway.

[Callipygous]

"Sometimes a video game is just a video game" --Sigmund Callipygous (my great uncle)

[NovaXpress]

These are the sort of questions one ponders after a long winter in Nebraska.

 

I'm more Jungian myself

[liquid_sky]

im scared of dig dug now thanks to you

[moycon]

Lets not forget Choaniki

[Ze_ro]

I'm not exactly sure what "Cho Aniki" means, but there's also a fighting game by that name... and it's also chock full of homosexuality! Now, I'm not homophobic or anything... but this kind of stuff is too much...

 

As for Pac-Man... anyone ever thought that it might have appealed to women more because it was one of the few games that didn't involve shooting the crap out of everything? I'm told that girls aren't as fond of violence as us guys are. Seems like a simpler explanation to me, Occam's Razor and all...

 

--Zero

[Witchfynde]

Lets see, how old WAS I when Space Invaders came out? About 10, and I was hooked, since it was an excellent game that led the arcade explosion in the last 70s. I doubt that I had even heard the term "phallic" then--much less knew what it meant--plus I hadn't hit puberty yet, so it's sexual connotations (sp?) were beyond me...

 

...but then years later Dig Dug came out, and I never thought of it in a sexual way either: I thought it was disgusting blowing up creatures--and not in a sexual way either, that's ridiculous, it seems like you have some sort of an AIR PUMP--but it was still fun anyhow!

[Miqorz]

Hmm how about getting sexual pleasure while playing a game...now that would be a million game seller....like the rez thing for MEN.

[desiv]

Well, I'm not convinced that "most of Freud's theories have been disproven".. That's one of those quotes people come up with, but never have any actual articles or research to back it up.. I think it's one of those statistics.. You know 78% or statistics are made up on the spot..

 

However, if women like PacMan and MsPacman because of the symbolism and lack of "shooting", then what about the other game that's famous for appealing to women... Centipede...

 

This game was designed by a woman, and had lots of shooting!!!

 

desiv

 

Of course, you could argue that the mushrooms are themselves phallic and the shooting of them, along with the shrinking of the centipede as SHE shoots it, each shot rendering it shorter and less powerfull...

er..

umm...

 

All of a sudden, I think I want to watch a Baywatch episode..

[Ze_ro]

Hmm how about getting sexual pleasure while playing a game...now that would be a million game seller....like the rez thing for MEN.  

 

Well, there's games like Tomb Raider and all of the Dead Or Alive games... of course, they don't come with a mechanical vagina or anything, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone had "used" these games at one point or another....

 

--Zero

[NovaXpress]

Hasn't anyone seen a girl hold that vibrating controller a little TOO close to her lap?

[Witchfynde]

You know 78% or statistics are made up on the spot..

 

 

Including that one?

[Vic George 2K3]

Actually, Centipede was co-designed by a woman, since Ed Logg's name continually pops up as far as the main designer.