MMOSG (Massive Multiplayer Online Sex Game) as a new genre?

Recently we met so many tendencies to put sex as part of an online game.  I have read articles about what porn star think about game.  I have also read about a porn star being banned from WoW for whatever reason it is.  In the developers forum, we heard how they are afraid to put sex in the game.  But then we found an online game that put sex as the main part of the game.  Paradox’s article really make me laugh very hard and I can understand how he imagine the game turn out to be (dude, you rock XD).

But the question is: will Massive Multiplayer Online Sex Game success and become a new genre?

I know that many people are pesimistic about it.  Let’s take a really close attention.  BTW, MMOSG is just popped up in my mind, no one ever has that kind of positioning before ^^.  Let’s get back to the topic.

Sex is always become a driver in many industries.  We heard that prostitution is the oldest job in the world (I don’t buy it, I would say trading is the oldest).  Internet fastest growing category is adult and sex.  Movie category that never had any downward slope of growth is porn industry.  I just attend a marketing seminar and found the reason behind why do all the stewardess in Singapore Airline wear their tight type uniform, is because a result of a little research.  This research point out that more than half of male passenger during the flight always had a “dirty” daydreaming about the stewardess.  Apparently, SEX DO SELL!!

Sex has many myths and it’s legendary pleasure drive people to always remember it, talk about it, want it, and even pay a high price to get it.  No wonder, it is much easier to sell a product with “sex element” in it.  It is ‘memorable’ too.  C’mon guys, admit it.   Even the most hit of photo gallery in MMOSite during this articles being made is 3Feel Online, a sex theme oriented MMOGame! (6800++ hits, and please compare to the 2^nd: 3100++ hits from 2Moon)

90% of my friends (read: male friends), know who is Miyabi a.k.a Maria Ozawa and Asia Carerra.  They can describe them perfectly, none of them will say that Maria Ozawa is a singer.  But that number will be decreased heavily if you ask whether they know about World of Warcraft or not.  Many of them will put a generalization that World of Warcraft is equal to a PC strategy game called Warcraft. 

Here’s pictures of Miyabi:

And no, I won’t put her nude pic, cuz this is a game blog, not an adult movie blog.  Anyway, Maria Ozawa is just one of many AV actress, and already many people know about it.  WoW has THE BIGGEST number of subscribers but there’s so many people still mistaken them.  I even test a name that only pop up several times in our country’s newspaper, and they knew it!  I try with Monica Lewinsky.  Words travel fast when it comes to sex scandal.  As you maybe already know, within hours after Kira posted the nude picture scandal of Hongkong famous celebrities, most of my friend (again, read: male) already got the pic.  Talking about the speed of internet (sex) information.

So it is very common to put something that can be memorized quickly, being highly seeked, and easy to be sold, to any products, including GAME!   I don’t know about the western adult game industries.  As far as I know, I still believed they’re still good at sales.  No one will ever make a sequel if the pilot series is a failure.  We know that Leisure Suit Larry has many sequels.  So I do believe that this genre is selling.  The problem lies in the perception that adult game is for the geeks that never had any REAL sex experience.

But what make me really believe that adult game is selling to all segments, is when I go to Japan.  Eroge (a term for adult anime type game) or Hentai game is like a common product to be sold everywhere in there.  In fact, the genre is developed very well that they have to make many categories: yuri, yaoi, shota, bukakke, loli, and many more.Usually, player has to choose a storyline to end up having a sex date with certain sex opposites or some of them.  Sometimes they combine them with RPG elements like Cobra Mission and Dragon Knight.  Some titles are very popular that the game is made into an anime series, especially from Type Moon company.  Some of you might know these titles (not all of them come from Type Moon): Fate Stay Night, Tsukihime, School Days, They Are My Noble Master, Prism Ark, Tsuyokiss, Da Ca Po, To Heart, Pia Carrot, Ayakashi, Yami To Boshi To Honno Tabibito, and many more.

The sex game industry in Japan is developed very well because the market responded very well too.  When you go to the other countries, some of us might feel a little embarassed entering an adult shop.  But in Japan, all people can go without being embarassed.  Well I did a little bit, when I went to Ikebukuro that time.  I was entering an adult comic shop (K-books) with my friend (male), and after a while we realized that the shop was full of female buyers, and their eyes were staring at us.  Later, we quickly exit the shop because we’ve just realized that, it is a gay comic shop (yaoi specialist shop).  But anyway, the industries in adult entertainment, is growing.

So the truth remain the same that Sex Game is selling.  So how about MMO game with sex in it or even sex as the theme?  Now please don’t get me wrong.  This argument is excluding the morale issues, because I just want to answer the question.  As for me, I am a more conventional old fashioned one when it comes to sex issues.

When it comes to MMOG, the most important issue is game features.  If I take a look at Japanese eroge, the famous one usually emphasize in story.  While in MMOG, story has not play much because what really makes the MMOG and stand alone game different is that in MMOG, people are interacting each other in massive number.  The feature will play more important role here.  The stand alone eroge usually will take players to interact with NPC with the outcome of having sex with them.

I never play 3Feel yet, so I can’t give any comment about will the game be a success one or not.  However, if the game was just a media for player to interact each other in sex terms, it won’t stand for long.  As paradox(destruction) said, there’s so much fragile points in giving freedom for people to have sex (to each other) in a game.  Please read his article and you will understand (and laugh, … paradox dude you make my stomach ache).

I don’t know what will make the MMOSG success, because there hasn’t been any cases to study.  But I was thinking that maybe (BIG MAYBE), it would be more successful if they follow the path of stand alone sex game.  Provide so many NPCs with so many outcome of sex interaction with them, and have story for each of them.  There has been a revolutionary way of interacting with NPCs with Granado Espada a.k.a Sword of The New World, where you can recruit the NPCs if you do specific quest.  So maybe (again), emphasizing sex interaction with NPCs, is much more logical than just letting players to have sex with each other.  While this feature, sex among players, might still can be accessed by certain way, but we can’t let horny kids running around and shouting “f*ck me noobs*.  Developers has to create certain rule for that.

Aside from the morale issues, from my point of view, putting sex in a MMOGame is quite a good strategy.  However, putting it without a real game feature, will only result in humiliation.  There is chance that this genre can become a new genre (MMOSG???).