By Quintin Smith on October 1st, 2009 at 1:01 pm.
I’m scared. Here’s what I fear: I fear The Void is going to be the subject of unjust moral outrage because it features female nudity.
…maybe that’s making light of the problem. It’s not just female nudity that features in The Void. Talking to any female character results in the game cutting away to a vision of that woman suspended in a strange, shadowy limbo, naked except for particle effects and sometimes props. Gifting that woman with colour, as you must do to progress, causes a cutscene of them writhing in ecstasy that could probably suffice as a masturbatory aid. Doubly so if you’re a techy fellow like Alec and really enjoy particle effects.
At first I thought this was unbearably trashy, sexist and inane. You might too. Then I realised I was wrong. It’s possible you might not have the same revalation, especially if you’re the kind of easily outraged person I can see so clearly in my head writing furious blog posts and starting disgusted forum threads, so please, let me walk you through what went on in my head.
It took several hours of play, but eventually I realised the beauty and nakedness of the Sisters wasn’t harming my immersion in the game. There was no sense of ‘Here comes the fan service!!’, or that the sultry writhing I was watching was any kind of reward. Rather, it fitted with the Sisters’ role in the Void.
As I said before, the Sisters rarely move or back up what the say, and the Brothers’ savage protection of them adds to their objectification. It’s also not long before you find out the Sisters cannot turn down your gifts of colour no matter how scared they are of attracting the ire of their Brother. It’s not that they can’t resist the colour you offer- it’s that your Glyph does not give them any choice, making it a gift in name only. In reality, you’re infusing the girls with colour against their will to get what you need. You’re abusing them.
There’s more to this than soft porn, basically. I believe the nakedness of the Sisters in The Void is Ice-Pick’s way of emphasising their vulnerability and inescapable situation, and I believe the massively sexual closed-eyed curling and stretching they do with each gift of colour represents you taking advantage of them. I could also believe that Ice-Pick knew that adding some sex to their game would help it sell, and I’m not convinced they should be persecuted for that when they can pull it off without disturbing their original vision of the game in the slightest.
I guess you could still pressure The Void as a sexist piece of work on account of it depicting a world where women are kept locked down by men and rendered as pathetic and naked. My defense of the game against this would be to point out that the Brothers, the only men in the game, are the bad guys, and often come across as an exaggeration of the worst characteristics of males. They’re all enormous, stubborn, blind, hideous, controlling murderers who would probably do a better job of ruling all that they surveyed if they could agree on anything.
I’m more curious about my own reaction to seeing the nudity in the game for the first time. My instinctive response was “Oh, God”, because why else would a girl have no clothes on in a videogame but as a cheap way to keep the player interested? It took far, far too long for the other possibility to enter my mind- that this was a commercial game that was trying to use female nudity for artistic purposes.
Think I’m reaching? Maybe you think I’m reaching. I now present Exhibit A, a still taken from a video of Ice-Pick’s booth at Russian games development conference KRI back in 2007.
A woman! And she’s almost NAKED (naked!)!
Now, that guy in the foreground is Nikolay Dybowskiy, CEO of Ice-Pick Lodge. Pathologic fans out there will recognise him as the Haruspicus. What follows is me creating an argument based on his clothing and beard. I really hope this is going to work.
See, if Nikolay was wearing a t-shirt, didn’t have the facial hair he does, or generally didn’t look like the biggest Artist imaginable (which to say he looks exactly like you’d expect after reading my interview with him I’d be tempted to pass that naked woman off as nothing but a booth babe hired to dredge up interest in Ice-Pick’s booth. Doubtless she did mean Ice-Pick’s display got a few more visitors that day than it otherwise might have, but they still had her on display side by side with stuff like this painting:
It all implies these developers are comfortable with nakedness, and developed their game without the cynicism, fear of political correctness and Englishness that I know I have, and I’m sure lots of you reading this will too. Did I mention you can see the outline of genitals on your own (male) character’s ghostly avatar? You can.
Anyway, that’s my defense of The Void’s T&A. You’re welcome to disagree, but only once you’ve actually played the game and know what you’re up against.
Until then, here’s something for you to chew over: Before I decided that The Void’s use of nudity was tasteful, it caused a question to form in my head. Namely, in the case of games very consciously trying to be ‘art’, is it the job of the games critic to judge the ‘art’ inherent within them? Can a reviewer slate a game and give it a bad review for being ‘”Bad” “art”‘?
I mean, the games press is always cheetah-quick to praise games which attempt to give themselves some deeper meaning and transgress just being something you play, no matter what that meaning is or how the message is delivered. In reality, should we be taking marks off games when that message is clumsily conceived or delivered? As it stands now, we do not. If a game fails at its grander purpose the reviewer instead drops back down a level and scores the game on whether it’s fun to play.
That doesn’t quite sit right with me, and it shouldn’t with any developers like Ice-Pick Lodge who have genuine faith in the potential of this medium. At some point some of us critics are going to have to start criticising games when their artistic intention is banal, or insipid. What do you think, Nikolay?
Mm.
01/10/2009 at 13:05 fuggles says:
It’s only a modern thing to be so critical of nudity I’m sure. In ye olde books of mythology and ancient greece I rather got the feeling that it was to infuse the imagination and create a response, probably not morally indignant outrage, but a response none-the-less.
Have to say that I had never heard of this game until you guys flagged it up and now it’s really on my radar.
01/10/2009 at 16:59 The Pink Ninja says:
No, the Roman’s didn’t even have sex naked. That was the definition of libertine.
The Greeks were modest too, though of course it was only applied to female nudity (Bar Sparta, sorta).
01/10/2009 at 22:50 Quirk says:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=libertine
Wikipedia claims the word libertine originated with John Calvin vs Ami Perrin, and Britannica backs up that Perrin’s group were known as Libertines. I’ve found no references to your claim about Roman sexual habits. In short, I would like to see some sources for your assertions.
01/10/2009 at 13:08 Garg says:
Splendid beard.
01/10/2009 at 13:13 drewski says:
Particle effects? *drops trousers*
01/10/2009 at 13:14 sana says:
The Staring Eyes Of Nikolay Dybowskiy
01/10/2009 at 13:17 qrter says:
Great. Now we’re getting defenses of possible kneejerk reactions, which makes those defenses kneejerk in an of themselves.. ;)
01/10/2009 at 13:20 Rich says:
Gotta agree with fuggles there. I think the obsession with sex and nudity in film and TV depends on the way they are used. Arty films and shows don’t tend to be targeted in the same way that more mainstream entertainment that just happens to include boobies does. Neither of these however, incur the same media fuelled outrage that surrounds a game with sex in. This is probably due to the naive assumption by many that if it is a game, it must be aimed at kids. No matter what the subject material or rating it is given. This is a good example of a grown up game for grown up people.
01/10/2009 at 13:22 Kell says:
“In reality, should we be taking marks off games when that message is clumsily conceived or delivered?”
At the risk of sounding belligerent: well duh!
The recent “games are art!” cries from much of gaming culture seems to me to be less to do with the maturation of a medium, and more to do with garnering the validation of mainstream culture that geeks seem to so pathetically crave. Consequently, commentators are only concerned with establishing *that* a game is art, not that it succeeds as such.
01/10/2009 at 13:22 Dracko says:
So really, all you’re saying is you’re still stuck in a Victorian mindset and are ashamed by tits.
01/10/2009 at 13:26 Gundrea says:
There’s a near naked woman in that image? I couldn’t see her for I was too lost in those dreamy eyes and that enthralling facial hair…
01/10/2009 at 13:39 Clovis says:
From your review the Void sounds like a pretty good game, but I seriously doubt it will reach a truely wide audience. Are they even releasing it (tits and all) on the XBOX 360? If not, nobody cares. Where was the moral outrage at the boobies and green pubic hair in The Witcher? There wasn’t any, because the game wasn’t popular enough. Now, Mass Effect shows a little side boob and we have a big deal. But a small Russian studio has nudity in it’s arty game? Not news, so not a controversy.
I wish there would be controversy though. Most of the shows I watch (HBO and Showtime) have more nudity in them than I even want, and there is, of course, no controversy. So why should there be a problem with nudity in games that are rated for adults? Great, now I’m getting annoyed thinking about how the game ratings systems cause censorship…
01/10/2009 at 18:56 Geoff says:
Actually, there was a decent controversy over the Witcher sex cards, and the American version was released with the nudity censored out of it. It may not have gotten CNN coverage or comments from presidential candidates, but a lot of reviewers clucked their tongues at it – although more at the tone than the nudity itself.
This does however answer my question about whether the Void will be available on Steam/Impluse/Amazon/etc for purchase in the US. Probably not. Hopefully direct download from Mambo will be viable.
01/10/2009 at 13:40 Guernican says:
Full frontal nudity?
I’d do it, if it was valid.
01/10/2009 at 13:42 Nenad says:
While i am not Russian, I am currently in Eastern Europe, and something which may not be obvious is that around here, nudity (especially female nudity) just is not such a big deal…
01/10/2009 at 13:47 Andy M says:
This doesn’t really have any bearing on anything, but the first picture of Nikolay looks a lot like to me >.>
I think I agree with you though. It does bother me that people might feel so pressured to avoid being accused of cliche or fan-service that it might dissuade them from doing something for genuinely artistic reasons.
01/10/2009 at 13:49 Andy M says:
Oops, i must have screwed up the XHTML tag. It was supposed to say Cillian Murphy, and link to this image:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01174/arts-graphics-2006_1174662a.jpg
01/10/2009 at 13:48 toni says:
nothin’ controversial about that it seems. You always have to judge something like this in context. Now, nudity in theWitcher (a game I LOVE) is handled less then decent, not that I can’t accept Geralt is an old skirt-chaser but rather bad. the “nudy card collection” and little sex-cutscenes did nothing to define Geralt as a character or be necessary for the story. It was just degrading and stupid. I would have liked to see more flirting and witty dialogues between characters than : ok, let’s have some sex and geralt is sooooo masculine I can’t control myself, I stupid, weak slutty woman.
01/10/2009 at 13:52 Heroh says:
When we’re exposed to undeniably blatant MALE nudity I’ll crank the ‘shocked’ meter up a notch. Until then, female nudity is a non-issue. I agree with Drako. The writer comes across as fumblingly awkward, bordering on puritanical. I’d rather think that the game was slightly risqué than having to think of it as ‘arty and trying too hard’. BLEH.
01/10/2009 at 15:12 drewski says:
Didn’t catch the first GTA4 expansion DLC, then?
01/10/2009 at 13:54 Throdax says:
I personally find the sisters in The Void erotic in a way that fit the game, erotic in a way that fit the game and erotic in a way of art.
Of course art if a very broad term, but I think the problem comes for the way society sees “gratuitous” partial or full nudity. I think all ends up in the old clash of values, Nudity versus Violence.
01/10/2009 at 13:56 Mort says:
Why aren’t there more adult themed games? Or with adult content? And I just don’t mean the usual 18+ cert blood guts and loldismemberment.
Average gamer is what 36 now? From a casual observer you wouldn’t think it, more like as my wife would say manchildren shooting each other, no different to when we did it on the streets with plastic guns. We do nothing to counter this by naval gazing over boobs in a game.
I do have a theory that as the vangard of gaming generations gets older we’ll see adult themes more accepted in videogaming. Or maybe not, maybe we’re just happy blowing shit up.
Really looking forward to Void.
01/10/2009 at 13:57 Zaphid says:
Hypercorrectness (is that a word?) is stupid. I won’t say who, what or where it started, but at some point, you have to ask yourself why is calling someone black almost bordering on offensive and why is even the smallest nipple big no-no. If something has nudity, it’s a feature right next to advanced particle effects and sixaxis controlled boobs. There is no problem with nudity unless the game is big enough to run a story about it, making it a problem, the fact that you don’t perceive it that way IS a problem.
Our ancestors would probably /facepalm if they saw issues of our day and age.
01/10/2009 at 14:00 AndrewC says:
Our ancestors weren’t very nice people.
01/10/2009 at 13:58 phil says:
Can a reviewer slate a game and give it a bad review for being ‘”Bad” “art”‘?
Yes, providing the game is attempting to convey an artistic statement, and failing badly, it is perfectly valid. A element of this is, I suppose, the game mechcanics used to convey that statement. If it doesn’t engage you, then the creator as failed, no matter how innovative, profound or transgressive it is.
To borrow an example from an medium; the early, very hostile, reviews of Fennegans Wake were in many respects perfectly valid. HG Wells told Joyce – “you have turned your back on common men, on their elementary needs and their restricted time and intelligence.” I suspect HG Wells would have liked the Wii.
01/10/2009 at 15:27 Clovis says:
Joyce anticipated these types of reviews and provided a counter-point in the book itself:
Or at least I would think he had, if I had any idea what a single line in the book meant. Fun stuff though.
Edit: Oh, and on topic, I think The Void can use the Ulysses argument. Sure, it may be titillating, but are the kids going to buy the game and wade through the weird arty stuff just to see the nudity?
I’m outraged!
01/10/2009 at 13:59 Markoff Chaney says:
Nudity is not and should not be a big deal, as it is the most natural state we, as humans, can be in. Anything else is pretense and bowing to social norms based in shame, puritanism and the inability to recognize the perfection of form as it is currently manifested via the guiding hand of DNA. While clothing can provide titillation sometimes better than nudity can, I can find little in this world as beautiful as the naked female form and nothing more aesthetically pleasing. I’ll never understand how some of the most basic requisites of existence (Death and naked flesh especially) seem to be so constantly vilified and despised by the self same people who exist with both every day.
Consequently, I think it’s vital that if we do measure works of art in some gradient scale, that we must, by nature, assign some as better (or having more value) than others. I think that’s inherently silly, so I love our Wot I thinks where you actually have to read what someone thinks instead of fixating on some number that can’t possibly convey all the information needed in evaluating a product. I think a better measure of artistic worth is the impact on the individual, and that can’t well be determined by another, or at least it shouldn’t be.
01/10/2009 at 14:00 dingo says:
Hm while playing the demo I never saw the sister’s nudity in a sexual way.
To me the game is in line of artsy games like “The Path” and therefore nudity is a way to describe or illustrate something (namely the vunerbility of the sisters).
01/10/2009 at 14:06 Turin Turambar says:
“At first I thought this was unbearably trashy, sexist and inane. You might too.”
No, i didn’t. The firs thing i thought when i saw trailers and images from the game, was in this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venus_dormida.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RokebyVenus.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Goya_Maja_naga2.jpg
01/10/2009 at 15:38 Sagan says:
Considering the box art and that you get confronted with a naked woman almost immediately, with very little context, there is good reason to consider it “trashy, sexist and inane.” And just from playing the demo, I did not get any indication that it isn’t, and that their nakedness has any reason.
And those images are something entirely different. Because if you want to draw a tasteful picture of a naked woman, it is OK, in our culture, to draw a picture of a naked woman. But if you put naked women on top of something unrelated, just to sell that something better, then that is trashy and sexist. With good reason.
And at first impression, The Void certainly seems like the women in that game are just naked to increase sales. And even though Quinns gives a convincing reason why the ladies are naked, I still think that they could have conveyed that in a million different ways, and chose to make them nude just to increase sales. They put a nearly naked girl on the cover, after all. Which is why I consider the game a little bit trashy. Just a little bit.
01/10/2009 at 17:31 TeeJay says:
You should add “Olympia” by Manet (1863). Bceause it was a ‘modern day’ Venus, with a direct gaze and other features it was considered shocking: http://jssgallery.org/other_artists/Manet/Olympia_in_Juxtaposition.htm
01/10/2009 at 14:07 Kirian says:
I’m pretty sure some of the criticism aimed at Far Cry was about it being difficult to care about things the designers wanted you to. One publication, whose name is mud ’round ‘ere claimed it was reaching too far and basically saying “Look at me, I did GCSE English”.
Which is more or less how it should be. If a game tries for meaning and falls terrifyingly flat, then it deserves to be kicked for it. That, I think, drives at a big problem with ‘art gamers’ and many artists in general. Calling it art doesn’t make it any better*. Most cases it only makes it worse
*Didn’t Marilyn Manson call himself an artist?
01/10/2009 at 14:11 Turin Turambar says:
“Can a reviewer slate a game and give it a bad review for being ‘”Bad” “art”‘?”
Yes, i would hope!
I mean, just look at the mediocre The Path. :P
02/10/2009 at 01:22 madhaha says:
A prediction: you will won’t get Kieron to outright admit The Path is a steaming pile of pretension from some over funded, Emily the Strange style, monetizing sellouts. He (and to an extent Quintin Smith) is too wrapped up in the importance of the very existence of such games to give them a hard review.
01/10/2009 at 14:12 del says:
The question that any form of nudity brings to mind, every time, for me is: did they NEED to make the character nude. It’s much like love-making scenes in movies or books; if it’s appropriate for the plot and subject matter then why the hell not?
You sir, having played the game, must answer this: If the Sisters were lightly clothed, would it have spoiled the gameplay, storyline or atmosphere for you? If so, how big an impact do you think it made and, if it was only a tiny impact, was there really any point?
I’m not pro or anti nudity in games and, by the sound of things, the graphic nature of the game suits the nudity down to the ground. As was pointed out above, unless they’re looking to move into the mainstream with it, women or even men lacking clothes really isn’t a big deal.
01/10/2009 at 14:39 Quirk says:
I’m not sure if it’s a “need” to make the character nude or not, but rather whether it adds anything.
If there were a scene in a book in which the protagonist stepped stark naked out of his or her front door and meandered down the street, there wouldn’t necessarily be any “need” for him or her to be naked – the general effect could be achieved by simply going outside in underwear. The impact of complete nakedness is much greater though, not least because “naked” has a rich symbolic history; it speaks of vulnerability and weakness, or honesty and openness, or possibly a primitive animalistic state of being. In the film of that book, many directors would be tempted to change nakedness to underwear for fear of causing offence or for fear that its impact would be altered by the current prevalence of sexualised nudity in our culture. I’m not entirely certain that capitulating to the puritans and pornographers is the way to go. I feel that the core symbol is perhaps worth preserving for its artistic purpose.
01/10/2009 at 14:24 Hoernchen says:
A lot of people, inlcuding me, want to see a score at the the end of a review, because we want to know if it is fun, not if it is art – especially when reviewing “art” ! Fun is definitely not the first thing i think of when hearing “art”…..
And I did not like xeno clash….
05/10/2009 at 00:07 The LxR says:
Don’t you think that the text of the review itself is supposed to deliver to you what this game is about, and should you play it or not? When the review is followed by a score, there’s always the temptation to just glance at the score and don’t even bother reading the review, which can be misleading. There are a lot of really good games, that have an average score around 50-60 %, that a lot of people missed out on.
01/10/2009 at 14:31 Vandelay says:
I find it interesting that Quintin hopes to dissuade knee jerk reactions by saying that the nudity and filling the woman with colour is used to symbolise rape and isn’t just titillation. Anyone likely to have a knee jerk reaction is probably going to be even more irate by that suggestion. Although I do get the point.
The image Quintin gives of the game here seems to be far more leaning towards it being sexual rather than simple nudity. Those saying that they don’t think this would be seen as a big deal by many people are thinking about nudity rather than sex and I think sex in games is still a touchy subject. Think about the reactions to Hot Coffee and Mass Effect, which featured hardly any nudity whatsoever but caused absolutely shit storms when the media got hold of them. Taken out of context and not given the thought that Quintin does here, I could imagine many people finding something to complain about.
Having said that, I can’t imagine that this is the sort of game that many parents are going to wander into a room and see their kids playing. This is really only going to have limited appeal and the audience that will be attracted to it won’t be lured in by a sight of some boobs, unless it is something they can nod and stroke their goatee beard in agreement with.
Marking down something for being “bad” art? I think that is question that opens up a whole other can of worms, as you have to decide how to qualify what bad art is. I would say that artistic merit is probably the most subjective element of any medium and I don’t think you can say objectively that something won’t connect to everyone, unlike, say, level design which can be objectively badly done. If a review struggles to find meaning in a game that attempts to be artistic he is going to have to say so, but I don’t think that means the game is “bad” art. Instead, it means that the review just didn’t find anything that he was able to connect to, whereas other may well do.
01/10/2009 at 14:39 Marar says:
Anothe East European reporting here, and nudity is not a big deal around here, I don’ think ANYBODY get’s outrage when they see nudity, on tv, or whatever (for crying out load the major tabloids, and they sell more then the mainstream newspapers, witch is kind of sad, have a naked girl on the cover, every bloody issue, and half the poeple on the subway reads them, and no one gets outraged), let alone a medium that has absolutely 0% media coverage (well except for the odd article that says that Counterstrike makes kids dumb/violent)
Never did understand the Western revolt when it comes to such matters, I mean, we’re all humans right? We all have bodies, we all know what things look like and what-not, so, why is this a big deal?
01/10/2009 at 14:49 Lilliput King says:
“This is really only going to have limited appeal and the audience that will be attracted to it won’t be lured in by a sight of some boobs, unless it is something they can nod and stroke their goatee beard in agreement with.”
*Nods, strokes beard in agreement.”
In all honesty, people in this thread have pretty much hit the nail on the head. No-one is going to complain, because no-one knows about the game. Or will ever know about it, probably.
So it’s up to us to decide whether rendered boobs and orgasms add to the game or take away from it. Pure utility, none of this Victorian sense of decency.
01/10/2009 at 14:52 Arathain says:
I don’t think the main issue here is the nudity itself- naked people are pretty and awesome, which I think any healthy person would be happy to admit. The main issue is the one the article touches on more heavily: is the nudity exploitative? Is it objectifying and sexist? Quentin describes a game in which women are purely passive and ruled by men, to whom they are naked and utterly receptive. They respond to anything you give them sexually, as if they can’t help but be pleasured by your (expicit) maleness. In other words, it’s a dominant patriarchal fantasy of the highest order. It sounds exceedingly unpleasant.
On the other hand, we have the depiction of the men. They are “enormous, stubborn, blind, hideous, controlling murderers”, unable to progress for their own pointless conflicts. Abusers, with little personal responsibility and less impulse control. They are also part of a patriarchal fantasy, but the aspect of the patriarchy shows men in their worst light.
The question to be answered by those who have actually played the game: does this balance out as a worthy expressive piece? Is the ghastly objectication of women aspect used powerfully to create a hellish world that is atmosphericly distrurbing to explore because it is uncomfortably reflective of society’s worst ills? Or does it simply walk far over the line into exploitation without enough to pull it back into art?
Really, does it earn the boobs?
02/10/2009 at 01:30 RagingLion says:
A good and succinct way of phrasing the issues, I feel.
01/10/2009 at 14:53 damien says:
i’m somewhat puzzled. videogames and (the majority of commercially viable) hollywood movies seem to have the same target audience – males between the ages of 18 – 34. so why do we expect movies to highlight violence and nudity, but expect games to stick to violence only? why is it more shocking when games highlight nudity and sexuality?
unlike the graphic violence featured in most videogames, sex is a part of everyone’s life. i don’t (and never really have) get why one is considered taboo while the other is commonplace.
i look forward to a time when game designers the tools needed to paint with all aspects of the human experience in their games, love, anger, loss, sexuality, revenge, sadness, etc. i think the experiences will be fascinating to play.
01/10/2009 at 14:53 Okami says:
Because every time you have sex, baby jesus kills an elephant!
01/10/2009 at 14:54 Okami says:
Meh, forgot to close that quote. Where’s the edit function?
01/10/2009 at 14:57 Kieron Gillen says:
Okami: I AM YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD EDIT FUNCTION.
(You know, you can do it on the forum if you’ve actually logged in as an account)
KG
01/10/2009 at 20:50 Bhazor says:
And you do know that work around doesn’t make a lick of sense when you allow non subscribers like myself to post?
01/10/2009 at 14:57 Ian says:
I’ve not played it, but based on Quinns’ description to call the game sexist would be getting mistaken purely because it (possibly?) is representing sexism. If somebody writes a book about a white guy who kills black people because he’s racist it doesn’t mean the book itself is racist.
Unless I’ve got the wrong end of the stick here and am missing the point entirely.
Regardless, while I’ve not played it based on what’s in the article I think I see what Quinns is driving at.
01/10/2009 at 15:03 Cooper says:
I would like to think that, from your description of the Brothers and Sisters, that Ice Pick are deliberately toying with, and parodying the normative aspects we take to be masculine and feminine. Grotesques, as they both seem to be (in the sense of extreme ends of spectrums) are useful destabilizing tools for these normatives (consider the more bawdy drag queens who do so as a jab at nonsense gender norms).
However, having spent a while in East Europe and Russia, I doubt that this kind of thinking is common. I’d like to be proved wrong, but I fear it’s simply that it’s shock for the sake of shock, extremes for the sake of extremes and a culture that doesn’t have any problem with nudity.
01/10/2009 at 15:11 Seb says:
I’d love to see a review of a game with mature content in it that simply accepted the content as being a normal part of like – like in all other artistic media – without all the ridiculous embarrassed, semi-apologetic self-justification that the games journalism industry currently has to indulge in. I think Quentin’s article is a great look at what is currently a highly-relevant issue. I just wish it didn’t feel like the equivalent of Wossy spending half of his film reviews pondering the question of sex scenes being acceptable in cinema.
01/10/2009 at 15:13 Chris says:
I like nudity just fine, but it will be a bit uncomfortable painting a naked writhing woman while my wife is just a few feet behind me watching TV. I can claim artistry, gameplay, whatever, she’s just going to roll her eyes and think I’m a lame nerd using my mouse to make naked women writhe on screen.
01/10/2009 at 15:56 damien says:
this is a perfect example. it’s depressing that we live in societies where seeing you shooting, maiming, decapitating hundreds of humans is much less uncomfortable to explain to someone looking over your shoulder than a nude woman writhing around at your mouse’s touch would be.
01/10/2009 at 15:16 JKjoker says:
after the Mass Effect 2 trailer i can accept any nudity… bitch!
(also ive been forcefed so many sex scenes in movies and games though my life that im pretty much desensitized)
01/10/2009 at 15:43 hydra9 says:
The nudity is certainly erotic, but tastefully done. And there are no sex scenes. It’s much more artful nudity than cheap thrills.
Anyway, there is a definite, story-based reason for this portrayal of the women in The Void. Don’t want to spoilerize it, obviously, but it should become clear as players get further into the game.
01/10/2009 at 17:28 Dominic White says:
Even at first glance, it seems to be that the Sisters play a very siren-like role. They’re there as manipulators. They set goals, they open doors. They’re not your friends, but they definitely seem happy to be desirable.
They’re meant to be alluring, in part because it inspires the player to help them (At least at first). Unlike the Brothers, who inspire immediate fear and repulsion, and a fight-or-flight instinct.
01/10/2009 at 16:11 Heliocentric says:
I got my 5 year old a boot on biology, we went through a page a day at bed time reading it aloud and discussing any questions he had. I guess it was then when his questions on the reproduction page were just as valid as his questions on bones blood or the heart that i realised i don’t have a problem with my children finding out about sex, but how it is often handled.
See, there is sex as a biological function, and sex as a matter of passion and emotion, sure those paths can cross but mostly in games sex is about titilation, crude objectification except when its not, then it oddly seems to sit higher than most movies approach to sex.
When I’m faced with sex in a movie I ask myself was the movie and my understanding of it improved by that scene? Mostly no, they just wanted a 5 out of 5 in nuts magazine.
01/10/2009 at 16:38 Anthony Damiani says:
It’s true, particles ARE sexy…
01/10/2009 at 16:56 Sonic Goo says:
So… this post is subtly suggesting us to go to our blogs and start some viral outrage about this game so it will get the media attention it deserves because any publicity is good publicity. Right?
01/10/2009 at 17:40 Morningoil says:
I’m writing this comment having reached the end of only the 2nd paragraph.
But ‘Doubly so if you’re a techy fellow like Alec and really enjoy particle effects.’ is a fine, fine joke. Nice one Quinns.
01/10/2009 at 17:49 Gap Gen says:
I gather that nudity is more of a problem in America than it is in Britainland. After all, the bestselling newspaper in Britain regularly has naked boobies on the third page (those being possibly causally-connected facts). It’s an odd thing, though – only ultra-violence gets a look-in in media coverage, but any hint of nudity is jumped on as borderline satanic. I’d argue that nudity on its own is utterly harmless – making nudity itself taboo only serves to fetishise it.
01/10/2009 at 18:01 TeeJay says:
“…in the case of games very consciously trying to be ‘art’, is it the job of the games critic to judge the ‘art’ inherent within them? Can a reviewer slate a game and give it a bad review for being ‘”Bad” “art”‘? …As it stands now, we do not. If a game fails at its grander purpose the reviewer instead drops back down a level and scores the game on whether it’s fun to play.”
First write a review that covers all aspects of a game. Second make up score at the end that reflects overall how much you like the game (for whatever reasons). You already weigh up graphical eye candy versus gameplay versus voice acting versus originality etc. and score wildly different genres against each other – is it so hard to add “artistic merit” into the mix? Scores don’t exist in the abstract but have to be understood within a ‘marking scheme’. Each magasine/website/reviewer can decide upon and set out their marking scheme for themselves, and readers will find the ones they appreciate best – there is no single ‘correct’ method.
Moreover, very similar software can be intended as pure education (eg training simulations), ‘pure art’ or ‘pure game’ – or a mixture of all three. Software intended as one might be subjectively consumed as another. As long as you define the terms in which you are assessing it, it doesn’t matter how you review it or talk about it, or what numbers you decide to invent to stick on the end of a discussion as a summary or ‘indicator’ of some idea you are expressing.
01/10/2009 at 21:53 Psychopomp says:
Or we can do away with review scores all together.
01/10/2009 at 18:19 RagingLion says:
“See, if Nikolay was wearing a t-shirt, didn’t have the facial hair he does, or generally didn’t look like the biggest Artist imaginable…” That caused the most massive lol from me as I realised, omg, you’re actually going to argue on that basis – both hugely ridiculous you should have to sink to that level and yet perhaps justified.
So seriously now, yes, it will be very interesting to see what the reception to this game will be. I also have no idea how visible or on the radar of mainstream gamers this will be. I hope it doesn’t become: “Oh yeah, that weird Russian game with all those naked women in them”.
I’m also interested in how I will react to the nakedness when playing the game for myself because I really don’t know right now. I mean, I might go out of my way to make sure noone sees me playing this because maybe they just wouldn’t understand.
You’re last point is also very valid and timely. At this point in the industry so few people are trying to be artistic in their intentions with games that they often get universally praised (or despised for pretentiousness by some) for doing so without the art being judged on its own merits. Where the artistic ideas behind the games become one of the main components of them then it probably does become necessary to judge them on this basis.
We might need some new journalists/reviewers to cope with these new kinds of games since the current crop are used to primarily just appreciating gameplay. RPS might be able to cope with it though :)
01/10/2009 at 18:34 Funky Badger says:
I’m sure there’s a Cliffy B joke here somewhere…
01/10/2009 at 18:40 BoredWidDaUSA says:
Yeah, puritania America is paradoxical like that. It’s ok to show people’s heads getting blown off and rapes and stabbings on TV but show one half of a butt cheek (which almost everyone at least has) or a penis (which about half the population has and interacts with on a daily basis) and “Oh no!!! How dare you!!! Think of the children (the males of which also have penises, btw)!!! You pervert!!!”
01/10/2009 at 18:43 Jambe says:
Can anybody make any product which touches on sexuality without enabling rape, objectification, self-image distortion, shame, etc? Apparently Mr Smith believes so… and so do I.
As others have said, nudity and sex should not be a big deal. If they are a big deal to you, you have some issues you need to work out.
01/10/2009 at 18:47 l1ddl3monkey says:
There’s a parenthesis missing from your very interesting article, Mr Smith. 48th line.
Stop.
Grammar time.
I did like the article and I’m really fascinated by the game and will give it a try. I guess I will probably get over the tits. If I try really hard.
02/10/2009 at 10:43 Ian says:
And now it’s my goal for the day to say “Stop… Grammar Time!” to somebody.
01/10/2009 at 18:47 Lambchops says:
“Until then, here’s something for you to chew over: Before I decided that The Void’s use of nudity was tasteful, it caused a question to form in my head. Namely, in the case of games very consciously trying to be ‘art’, is it the job of the games critic to judge the ‘art’ inherent within them? Can a reviewer slate a game and give it a bad review for being ‘”Bad” “art”‘?”
Of course they can.
However this is the kind of thing that could lead to arseyness between reviewers and somewhat tedious comments threads.
I think that it’s fairly likely that someone who sees a game as “good art” will have a knee jerk reaction of “that’s just because you don’t understand it” to anyone who criticises the game as “bad art.” While this may sometimes be the case it may well be that the criticism is valid. This should lead to interesting discussion but realistically is more likely to end up in petty digs and name calling.
However as long as people are mature enough to discuss things like inteliigent folk then an art focused discussion of a game is valid but otherwise it’s just going to be a waste of time. I think it’s definitely something that reviewers should try and do if there’s merit in it though; despite the risks.
01/10/2009 at 18:50 NotGonnaLie says:
I like boobies. I like interacting with said boobies. That is all.
02/10/2009 at 00:43 Severian says:
Hear, hear.
01/10/2009 at 19:02 Hmm-Hmm. says:
I don’t mind nudity. I might not mind sexual acts, either. But what does matter is how it is presented.
Which doesn’t mean that it’s ‘bad’ or the like, but from Quintin’s description of having to abuse women (although it could have been men, for that matter) is simply not entertaining or palatable to me (with the note that I haven’t actually tried it out. I never intended to and this news doesn’t change that, although the above does make it even less likely for me to try it out).
Of course that’s where you could have the whole ‘art’ schpiel which is fine, but art is different from entertainment. Art could provide entertainment just as a game could be a form of art, but the aim of art is wholly different than that of most games and forms of entertainment. Which also means a project could very well be a horrible game but succesful as a piece of art.
And as others have said, yes, you have art critics, just like games have critics. In this case you could look at it in terms of games, art or both. It depends on the intentions of the creator and/or how it’s percieved by the critic (or, possibly, the general public).
01/10/2009 at 19:18 MrSnoobs says:
I found it ironic that to the side of an insightful article about the advent of artistic nudity in the medium, to the right was (for me) an ad banner for an online dating service featuring a lady with her boobs half hanging out.
I don’t think the game will be nearly as successful or well known to court controversy. That only arises when Mr Farksworth of A.N.Other news corporation sees their child playing it. Which they won’t.
01/10/2009 at 20:09 Dagda says:
Violence, foul language and sex are far from inherent evils in my eyes, but I really wish more developers would include the option to tone it down in cases where it’s not a key part of game experience, since it means fans can share their games with a wider audience. Kudos to Double Fine for doing this with Brutal Legend, incidentially.
01/10/2009 at 20:28 Julian says:
I haven’t played the game yet, although I’m getting increasingly more interested on account of the thoughtful and intriguing coverage here. But based on what’s described here, it sounds like it’s not exactly promoting the stereotypical gender roles it portrays. The game may make you participate in this, but that doesn’t mean it endorses it. My impression is that this is a very dark and uneasy world, designed to disturb the player. What the protagonist does is not necessarily right. Could you really be the one-dimensional conquering paladin purifying this world, given the nature of the game? We’re going to see more and more ambiguous protagonists, unreliable narrators, and morally suspect systems and stories in games. This means we need to consider them more carefully because we can no longer take them at face value, but I think this ultimately opens the door to more meaningful statements by developers.
I think it IS fair to assess how well they accomplished the delivery of their artistic message, if they attempt to deliver one. Ham-handed plots and flat characters can and should be a ding against a game when they force you to sit through them or make a big deal out of them. Gears of War 2′s subplot about Dom and Maria is a great example of an appropriate time to dock a game points for failing to execute artistic ambitions. Now, I don’t think that we should necessarily be judging harshly the CONTENT of that message unless it’s dangerous or offensive, in which case you should rant about it on a blog and enter into debate with the designer. They have a right to say what they want, and it’s unreasonable to ding them for disagreeing with you, but it’s all well and good to ding them for saying it poorly.
01/10/2009 at 20:40 TheSombreroKid says:
chilax, don’t be ashamed of yor birthday suit! i think it’s a bit of both art and sex which is fine in the context it’s presented, presenting a ww2 raped and murdered spy as a sex symbol is tasteless, this is not.
01/10/2009 at 20:44 Archonsod says:
They could make a game about Nazi concentration camp porn for all I care, as long as it’s fun and entertaining to play.
01/10/2009 at 20:47 Bhazor says:
Ugh.
The human body is the most repulsive thing in the world.
Thank god I don’t have one.
01/10/2009 at 21:07 hydra9 says:
I envy you Bhazor.
01/10/2009 at 21:19 Jon says:
I’m constantly amazed at how people and the media get all bent out of shape over nudity! We don’t have trouble with violence – just sex. Not even sex – just nudity (which seems enough to imply sex to many).
Have a main character blow peoples brains out? No problem. We’ll stick a mature label on it and, for the most part (except in Australia perhaps?) people are ok with it. The discussion turns to how realistic the blood spatters are… But, god help us if we see a *NIPPLE* Now THAT is newsworthy!
Exactly how repressed is our culture? It’s a boob. Perhaps even a very sexily depicted one. Get over it.
Just like video games will not turn you into a homicidal killer – seeing nudity in a game or movie will not drive you to get a sex change or turn you into a sex offender.
With this kind of perceived power, why send the military to Iraq or Afghanistan? Just send a boatload of topless women! Theoretically it should be way more effective.
01/10/2009 at 21:36 DK says:
You shouldn’t speak for everyone – people in most of Europe are perfectly fine with nudity and don’t freak out over a nipple. Violence is a far bigger problem for a game in those countries – the more common sense stance I might add.
01/10/2009 at 23:06 Bhazor says:
Every song is art.
Every book is art.
Every film is art.
Every game is art.
Every creative work is art.
But art doesn’t mean the same as good.
01/10/2009 at 23:06 Bhazor says:
Oh poo. That wasn’t meant for here. Sorry lads.
01/10/2009 at 21:51 Psychopomp says:
As long as we don’t start giving out rave reviews to incomprehensible garbage, and docking stuff points for trying to tell a legitimate story, I’m fine.
Seriously, the “art” world is ass backwards right now.
01/10/2009 at 22:03 Pijama says:
Well…
Say what you want, but if they cry havoc on this, I will just ask about Dragon Age’s sex scene(s?).
Let the Russians do their aspirations. Dostoevsky wtfpwned almost every damn writer in Europe on his time.
(And Nikolay really does look like he just left a St. Petersburg imperial art school or something)
01/10/2009 at 22:10 Aisi says:
Any word on the US release? Digital/physical, date, etc?
02/10/2009 at 13:26 TeeJay says:
Here: http://www.mamba-games.co.uk/
and/or here: http://forum.ice-pick.com/viewforum.php?f=28
for details.
01/10/2009 at 22:20 Berzee says:
Oh, well if it’s next to __suits and paintings__ then…
pshaw.
Nudity as “artistic” doesn’t make it any less inadvisable. It is best suited to making marriage Even Extra Awesome and it fails to do that job nearly so well if you start throwing it around like so much aesthetic fingerpaint.
01/10/2009 at 23:36 ordteapot says:
Looking at that first photo, there’s the (mostly) nude woman, yes, but I find myself staring deep into Nikolay’s soulful eyes. And thinking about that beard. With that jacket.
Isn’t it about time for a second horribly-confused-homoeroticism tagged post?
02/10/2009 at 00:11 Cedge says:
I fear The Void is going to be the subject of unjust moral outrage because it features female nudity.
Eh, I’ll be surprised if more than a few thousand people even notice the game, much less raise any measure of moral outrage about some cybertits.
02/10/2009 at 00:11 Cedge says:
Much less artsy-fartsy cybertits, might I add.
02/10/2009 at 00:17 fuggles says:
So…the longest journey then?
02/10/2009 at 00:18 fuggles says:
Bah, that was supposed to be a reply about blatant male nudity in games. Now, watchmen…
02/10/2009 at 00:30 Railick says:
People don't generally get all upset just because a game has nudity in it any how. If the game says it has nudity up front and has the proper rating then no one will get miffed. It is only when the game has a lower rating and says nothing about nudity then suddenly parents come home to find their kids watching nudity on a game they THOUGHT was only about random violence (Yah I know its stupid but its true)that they get upset. If it says it has nudity on the box it is no ones fault but the parents. If it has unlockable nudity that no one told anyone about and is easily unlockable then people start to get upset very quickly.
02/10/2009 at 01:15 Evan says:
This is hysterical. I love that everyone just loves to line up an blow the “The United States is so puritanical” horn. It’s cathartic, huh? Then you can just run to the next forum and do it again.
I’m not saying we don’t have a problem with nudity, but really? This again and again is a little annoying. The idolizing of objectification and rape fantasies as an expression of freedom from “cynicism, fear of political correctness and Englishness” shuts down debate about the artistic merits of a game as much as those fears themselves do.
02/10/2009 at 01:18 Evan says:
Sorry, as a US citizen, I’m used to hearing “The United States is so puritanical”. You’re welcome to insert whatever English speaking country you like in place of it.
02/10/2009 at 11:52 Psychopomp says:
I don’t know how it is up in the northern states, but down here in the south people can be pretty damn puritanical.
02/10/2009 at 16:52 Luckylad says:
Its all simply a matter of whos company you keep. Personally, I’m from one of the most puritanical states in the nation by stereotype but I’m staying at the capital cities which by chance happens to be one of the most liberal cities in the nation. Calling it one way or another for any area is ill advised and short sighted.
02/10/2009 at 01:57 Muzman says:
It sounds tricky if, while playing, it takes a while to notice “sexiness” isn’t necessarily sexy. Like life I suppose. Games being adolescent things in all respects, subject mostly to reactions of short attention spans or knee jerk reactionism, it does seem headed for trouble.
If nothing else I’m looking forward to it catching on and all of EA rocking turtlenecks and artisitic detatchement next E3.
02/10/2009 at 03:35 Joseph says:
Everyone can think whatever they want of it. That’s the beauty of life. Are you worried it’ll be banned or something? Where’s the issue here? Are you just trying to put it out there that this may be art instead of shallow sexiness so that others might enjoy it as well? That’s nice of you. Good day, kind sirs.
02/10/2009 at 03:49 Joseph says:
It’s up to the person perceiving it to see what they want in it – it’s up to interpretation, and you believing the nudity was there to keep people interested and therefore feeling bad about it for those initial hours was just a veil over your eyes, you not taking it in for yourself and instead following the preconceived ideas of “sex in games” and “why this was done”.
In my opinion you’d be better off using this article to explain to people that the female body is something beautiful and potentially adds insight to an experience, just like everything else in the world, and to understand that it’s all multifaceted and whatever you want it to be. It’s sad that people need this explained, because the world is so beautiful and it’d be great if everyone could see that and be happy.
02/10/2009 at 03:54 Joseph says:
Wait, now I get it.
Is it just there purely to be sex and therefore attract customers, or is there some meaning to it.
Don’t know why it took me that long to get. Enjoy my random craziness above.
02/10/2009 at 04:04 Joseph says:
WAIT WAIT WAIT UP A SECOND. I’VE CHANGED MY MIND AGAIN.
Who cares why they put it in. It’s there for you to enjoy. Regardless of why – why is irrelivant. If you think “this is cheap sex” you are MISSING THE POINT. It’s an experience, not a word or an idea. Enjoy it. Don’t waste your time thinking about whether or not it is a good or bad depiction of “sex”. That’s silly. Nothing should be any certain way. Everything just is. There is only now.
Who care’s why they put it in. It’s there for you to experience, if there’s not something inherently wrong with the human body, which there’s not, then there’s nothing wrong with putting it in games, wherever you want, for whatever reason.
That’s my stance on it.
Enjoy every little thing in life for what it is instead of limiting it and worrying about pointless shit.
02/10/2009 at 03:53 Terazeal says:
It’s too bad they put something so revolting in this game, it looks really good otherwise. Or maybe it’ll be so good that the intense queasiness will be worth it, who knows.
02/10/2009 at 07:26 Mr.President says:
It’s actually not revolting at all. The whole thing worried me too before I tried playing the game, and it could turn out creepy as hell, but it really isn’t. Nudity is handled as tastefully as I could hope for. Still, felt kinda uncomfortable at first – not the kind of thing I’m used to seeing in games – but after a short while it was like the most natural thing in the world. It’s just a character design decision after all, not an attempt to exploit sexual urges (and anyone who perceives a video game character in any sort of sexual way has problems and needs to go out more anyway).
It also needs to be said that the girls being abused is merely Quinns’ impression and is highly disputable.
02/10/2009 at 08:14 Dominic White says:
Yeah, I never got the feeling that anyone was being abused but the player character, and certainly not sexually. This whole article feels like it was written starting out in a guilty-feeling mindset and going from there.
The Sisters are beautiful, soft-spoken, siren-like creatures who ask you to do their dirty work.. Which doesn’t sound that great, but it seems infinitely preferable to running errands for the Brothers, who are twisted, nightmarish creatures of flesh and steel, who’s very passing can unravel all your hard work.
It’s manipulating the player in one of the most instinctive ways possible.
02/10/2009 at 08:12 Helm says:
Actually I’d say that if you experience no sexual impulse when you see (even somewhat symbolized) forms of suggestive nakedness, you’re the one that *might* need to … well, not go out more, but ponder on your situation a bit. Same goes for when you see violence (of whatever degree of stylizations), if on no level absolutely you feel any ambiguous thrill and/or horror, perhaps it’s time to stop consuming so much because you’re getting desensitized.
This doesn’t mean this game is bad or wrong or whatever, I always have trouble following the premise that art endorses an ethical viewpoint or promotes it. I think that point of view is tied very much with hyperconsumer behavior, people feeling that a game should be about entertaining them first and foremost, and as such should not make them uncomfortable or press any of their moral buttons. If it does, they won’t patronize it with their money. That’s how you expect a mustard to work, you buy it because mustard makes you happy.
Perhaps product is here to make you happy, but art is here to rape you.
02/10/2009 at 11:41 Vandelay says:
Agree with you there. This whole topic has gone off on a tangent away from what the original article was really all about. No one really cares if a game features nudity for a good purpose and Quinns was perfectly fine with the inclusion of the naked women when he realised the reason behind it. The problem was that he original thought that the game was depicting a character that would find weak women in a world that was controlled by men and effectively rape them, complete with writhing bodies. Initially, he thought that the game was potentially sexist and misogynistic. That would be a problem.
Similarly, if a game starts having naked women (or men) all over the place merely for the sake of titillation and to objectify the naked character then we start getting into icky Michael Bay-esque territory, which is certainly one that I would rather not be a part of the games I play.
Simply saying “You are puritanical if you have a problem with nudity in games” or “The human body is beautiful thing and shouldn’t be frowned upon as a problem” (equally true statements) is belittling the debate and missing the point.
02/10/2009 at 11:56 Psychopomp says:
“Similarly, if a game starts having naked women (or men) all over the place merely for the sake of titillation and to objectify the naked character then we start getting into icky Michael Bay-esque territory, which is certainly one that I would rather not be a part of the games I play.”
I don’t know, God of War is pretty damn fun.
02/10/2009 at 11:44 Vandelay says:
This was meant to be in replay to Evan, when he said “The idolizing of objectification and rape fantasies as an expression of freedom from “cynicism, fear of political correctness and Englishness” shuts down debate about the artistic merits of a game as much as those fears themselves do.”
Think your comments system is a bit screwed up. I can’t access the forums either.
02/10/2009 at 11:58 Ian Hatch says:
Yeah, this. I’d love for the games industry to be in a place where a game about abuse was acceptable, if disturbing, but we’re not. The vast majority of games which do feature women or sex are very derogatory, and perpetrate the sex as commodity model which perpetuates abuse and sexism in the first place.
Maybe it would be acceptable if the game were making a statement *about* women in video games, but in light of the fact it took so long for you to decide it was about abuse in the first place, I’m not convinced.
02/10/2009 at 12:01 Ian Hatch says:
Sorry, post was intended in reply to “Hmm-Hmm”, above.
02/10/2009 at 12:11 Ian Hatch says:
Also, having read the rest of the comment thread: I mean acceptable to me. I have no desire to see the game banned or modified, I just won’t be buying it, and will be entering a frank moral discussion with anyone who tells me we need more games like it.
Also, if the game really is intended to creep out the user with his forcing of “colour” on the game’s NPCs, then more power to them. If it’s as subtle as you say, I have a doubt, and I’d be more inclined to think that the developers thought it would be awesome to have a sex metaphor.
For your reading pleasure: http://www.gamecritics.com/alex-raymond/women-arent-vending-machines-how-video-games-perpetuate-the-commodity-model-of-sex
02/10/2009 at 12:53 Dominic White says:
If you read this thread, the people who have actually played the game seem to be generally disagreeing with Quinns about the whole abuse/force angle. It sounds like he’s pretty heavily overthinking it all There’s definitely thematic reasons for the nudity. ALL the characters, male or female are naked (including the players avatar, who maybe be blue and ghostly, but you can still see your man-bits in your character screen), it’s just that the Brothers are so twisted that you barely notice it on them.
It sounds like he’s gone into this article feeling very guilty about enjoying something featuring naked ladies and coming up with a much darker interpretation of events than most would come away with.
02/10/2009 at 15:05 Quinns says:
“All of the characters, male or female,” are not naked. Perhaps something I should have made clearer in the article is when I say the game cuts to the women being naked during conversations, they’re wearing clothes beforehand.
02/10/2009 at 12:32 del says:
Quirk, that’s exactly what I was getting at. In the same way as having a woman dressed in a skin-tight black dress can be just as sexy, if not moreso, than having them appear entirely naked, does the atmosphere of Void feel enhanced by their nakedness in a way that could not have been achieved, with the same or more impact, using other methods? It’s probably something I’d have to play the game for to see how they’ve worked with it but a lot of the time I see developers using nudity as titillation first and impact second.
I think that you’re right to say that the naked form can be used to great effect, much further than just porn. I just wondered if this was the effect achieved in the game and whether the same effect could have been achieved without its use.
02/10/2009 at 16:07 Nalano says:
I say this in all compassion and grace, but you people really need to get laid.
02/10/2009 at 20:53 Mr.President says:
Perhaps the main reason why I was okay with all the T&A is that I had played and enjoyed Pathologic. Ice-Pick are about as far from machoist objectifying types and creepy hentai game developers as you can get, so I trusted their intentions and let myself enjoy the game.
Hmm, this is probably not that different from the point Quintin made in his article.
05/10/2009 at 00:35 Tore says:
This is the best piece of games writing I have ever read, without a doubt. That man in the photographs looks stunning, too.
24/11/2009 at 05:04 name says:
I like this post, it is hilarious.
02/12/2009 at 00:09 Thomas says:
When I first saw the screenshots for The Void, it reminded me instantly of Surrealist painters such as Dali. He has produced some of the finest paintings of the 20th century and many of them featured nudes.
Everyone seems to be wrangling over whether the female nudity in The Void is entirely necessary. Sadly, I have yet to play it (although post willing, my copy will arrive tomorrow \o/ ) but from the descriptions of the characters – the brutal, cold, emotionless Brothers, it does seem quite valid in this case.
Nudes were often used in Surrealist paintings (oh for heaven’s sake, check wikipedia for more info) as a *counterpoint* to something else – sometimes violence or corruption, or as a mockery of civilised values. Again, what information I’ve found out about the personality of the Sisters suggests that they are not exactly mindless airheads such as you’d find in a lads mag but cruel manipulators, sirens and similar.
To summarise, the nudity I think deserves its place here – the beautiful and erotic forums of the Sisters contrasts the nightmarish appearences of the Brothers and serves to lull the player into a false sense of security. Of course, sometimes beauty is only skin deep…..
24/12/2009 at 19:35 Jon says:
I think what bother’s me the most about pseudo-political / pseudo-intellectual conversations that take place in venues like this, would be the complete ignorance of the obvious. That being, (albeit an overused cliche) sex-sells. Now, before anyone jumps to the conclusion that I’m asserting that the IN-GAME sex is what’s selling here, I’m not.
Instead what I’m alluding to is that exactly the same moral choices, as if within a mirror of our daily lives, is what takes place within the heart and mind of the protagonist of this game. Were this a driving game, you could be damn certain that he would be coming to a complete stop undeterred by the traffic backing up behind him to allow one of these beautiful ladies to cross the road. Now, alternatively take another UNattractive female crossing the same road at the same time, all the sudden his risk versus reward mechanism kicks in and dictates to him “dont bother”.
Unfortunately this is human nature, this is EXACTLY what would happen in the real world, a man, myself ABSOLUTELY included, would gladly do these girls dirty work with the reward (because of the visual she portends) already firmly in place in his mind, being well worth the risk.
These girls (in the game) are selling precisely what they know the protagonist is buying, and if ANYTHING, this game is completely an experiment in human nature and introspection, and if the NUDITY bothers someone, I would suspect it would arise from 1 of 2 places: Either they see something within themselves that they dont like (because of the truth of it and how THEY would react), or perhaps from some ultra-feminist group whose sole purpose in life is to do nothing more than demoralize a healthy sexual appetite (typically because they themselves find that they are the ‘not so attractive types trying to cross the road’ and no one is taking the risk side for the reward)