Sex in Online Gaming, pt. 1 Blame it on Pong

I never realized how closely sex and electronics were linked until I was in my 20s and went to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The last place I expected to become physically aroused was at the world's largest electronics show. But then, in front of the massive Atari booth, I got a hug from a Penthouse Pet who I'd seen the month before in the centerfold of a Penthouse magazine with a staple in her labia.

Porn distributors leap on new electronic technology faster than Kid Rock on Pam Anderson's silicon-packed chest. So it's no coincidence that the Adult Entertainment Expo is held at the same time and in the same venue as the venerable CES. And it's no coincidence that porn pundits are casting a watchful eye on the new computer video games that are blurring the boundaries between porn and gaming.

These games make last year's highly-publicized Grand Theft Auto "Hot Coffee" sex mod look like shuffleboard at a senior center. So let's take a look at what we have now and what's in store.

The most exciting games today are MMORPGs, or Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. They can be so realistic that the military has commissioned specially-designed versions to help train soldiers in urban combat.

Today's well-equipped gamer plays on a computer that has a lightening fast graphics card, an Internet bandwidth that's wide enough to drive a Hummer through, and a display that refreshes faster than a hooker on a Saturday night.

To play, gamers adopt an online persona or character that is known as an avatar. Depending on the game, your avatar might battle monsters, storm troopers, fend off hostile trolls, and go on different quests. As with TVs Big Brother and Survivor, building alliances can be an important part of playing the games.

Avatars interact in a virtual world that is created by the company who makes the game. You might think that it's the violent aspect of these virtual worlds that keep girl players away. But it probably has more to do with the design of the Avatars.

The majority of avatars in combat games are males who are armed for combat. Their muscles and armor are exaggerated to the point of parody. The female avatars are equally exaggerated, but they are often armed for sex rather than combat. They emulate what the male fraternity of game designers perceive to be the idealized female. They are what code monkeys see when they close their eyes and masturbate: an incredible-looking girl with really big breasts and revealing clothes who always wants to have sex.

An equivalent male avatar would play the entire game wearing a g-string with an erection popping through the waistband.

Equally as interesting, according to gaming expert Sheri Graner Ray, is how male gamers will often choose to be female avatars, while few women gamers feel comfortable being male avatars. Ray feels that there would be far more female players if the female avatars didn't look like they are in line for a casting call at Victoria's Secret. Female avatars can be feminine-appearing and sexy, but skip the obligatory "I want sex now" persona unless they are in situations during the game where sex is what they want.

According to Ms. Ray, whenever females do become gamers, they tend to become some of the most ardent and devoted of gamers. So it is in the interest of the gaming world to attract more female players.

Next week, we'll look at some of new multi-user online sex games that are being designed from the bottom up to attract women players. As for the current male-oriented games like "Everquest II" and "World of Warcraft," most have special sex mods, skins and sims that allow for everything from flirting and nudity to all things hardcore, as long as you don't mind knowing that the hot female avatar who is giving your avatar such incredible sex is most likely that of another male gamer. Or maybe it's the slight but real possibility that the other gamer is truly female that makes it exciting!