Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38912
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38912
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Videogames with sexual content do exist. Bioware's _Mass Effect_ and _Dragon Age_ franchises offer "vanilla" sex, same-sex sex, BDSM sex, interspecies sex. All of it loving, consenting, and heart-warming. All of it story-relevant. None of it actually shows any "naughty bits" - it's mostly smart camera angles, but there are mods that change that, for those players who want to see more. The bias you talk about does exist, violence is treated as "more OK" than healthy sex, for some reason, but it's not that games are entirely devoid of the latter.

Considering your audience is going to be adults anyway, I don't see anything wrong with including sex scenes. What troubles me is that you say those scenes don't add anything to the story. So, if the scenes don't add anything, why are they there? To titillate the audience, like porn? Think again - why do you want those scenes there - for edginess? The way I see it, if a scene serves no purpose, it should be cut, whether it's sex, or dialogue, or anything else.

If the sex scene is relevant to the story, but you're not sure how graphic it should be, offering a toned down option in the game settings is a good idea. There is an audience for scenes that leave less to the imagination, as evidenced by numerous mods. There is also an audience for the less explicit version. However, here's one more thing for you to consider: as a player, I wouldn't want a 15-minutes _anything_ scene. I'm a player, I want to play. If I have 30 minutes to play, I don't want to suddenly spend half of my playtime watching a scene. 1-2 minutes - great. Anything longer, and I'm going to lose patience, get myself a coffee, open a book, all while I wait for the stage where I get to finally do stuff. Videogames are an interactive medium. A long cutscene takes away this interactivity aspect.

Finally, regarding naked 12-year-old girls, I'm sure you're familiar with the "Napalm Girl" photograph from the Vietnam War:

[![Napalm Girl](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2sOdB.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2sOdB.jpg)

I'm sure nobody would call this picture "sexualised" or anything similar. I'm not sure what you're planning, but I wouldn't start shouting "paedophile" without having seen first. That said, @Amadeus is not wrong - the other scenes in the game might colour how the scene with the girls is perceived. It might not be sexualised in itself, but perceived as such because of scenes before and after.

Original score: 4