New record: We just wrapped up this month's episode of Random Encounters, which has a runtime of... 3 hours and 15 minutes. Oof. There was just so much to explore with the legacy of the Emmanuelle franchise, the game adaptation, and the fascinating work of its creator Muriel Tramis, the first Black female game developer.
These kind of discoveries are the best part of this job.
This is by far the funniest game over screen I've ever seen in an adult game.
A few final throughts about #NoMercy, even though I'm honestly tired of talking about this, because I feel this needs to be said:
The individuals and organisations speaking out about this game without doing proper research first have done both the discourse and themselves a great disservice, because going forward, it will be incredibly difficult to trust them.
A key point of (progressive) political activism is, or should be, honesty. Employing the same tactics as the far-right is a no-go; making false claims, rage-baiting, threatening and dehumanising people, openly asking peers to doxx individuals, and demanding that a piece of media you don't feel comfortable should be removed from the face of the Earth? That's not okay just because you're doing it in the name of some twisted idea of feminism.
A line has been crossed, and there's no coming back from it. I'm disheartened. And I sincerely hope that at least a people of the people involved learned from their mistakes.
Eine "Random Encounters"-Sonderfolge aus aktuellem Anlass:
(CW: sexualisierte Gewalt, Hate Speech)
Am 22.03. erschien ein Adult Game auf Steam – soweit, so normal. Doch nachdem erst die Presse und dann die Politik auf die Veröffentlichung aufmerksam wurde, ging alles sehr schnell: Verbote in drei Ländern, eine Online-Petition mit 70.000 Unterschriften, wütende Stellungnahmen und die Entfernung des Spiels aus allen Online Stores. Was war der Grund des Anstoßes? „No Mercy“ zeigt schwerpunktmäßig Inzest und sexualisierte Gewaltakte. Das zu kritisieren, ist legitim, aber stattdessen folgten Drohungen, Doxxing, und manche Aussagen, die rhetorisch die Grenze zum Faschismus überschreiten. Wir ordnen in dieser fast zweistündigen Folge die Ereignisse kritisch ein und machen etwas, was scheinbar sonst niemand getan hat: Wir reden über einen Titel, den wir tatsächlich auch gespielt haben.
https://insertmoin.de/no-mercy-analyse-zum-skandalspiel-random-encounters-special/
(keine Paywall, frei für alle zugänglich)
Insert Moin: Unabhängiger Spielejournalismus zum Hören. Reviews, News und Diskussionen mit illustren Gästen aus der Spielebranche und -Presse. „No Mercy“ zeigt schwerpunktmäßig Inzest und sexualisierte Gewaltakte. Das zu kritisieren, ist legitim, aber stattdessen folgten neben den Verbotsforderungen Drohungen, Doxxing, und manche Aussagen, die rhetorisch die Grenze zum Faschismus überschreiten. Gloria und Nina ordnen in dieser fast zweistündigen Folge die Ereignisse kritisch ein und machen etwas, was scheinbar sonst niemand getan hat: Sie reden über einen Titel, den sie tatsächlich auch gespielt haben.
If there's one thing missing in games journalism, it's high-quality writing about adult games. Despite it being such a huge (and growing) market, very few people dare to cover it, and even fewer do it well.
That's why you should consider supporting the Adult Analysis Anthology project, which is currently collecting money for its third issue.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/adult-analysis-anthlogy-issue-3#/
All funds will be used to pay the authors.
(I'm not affiliated, nor paid for advertising the project. This is a genuine recommendation, because I think it's important to promote nuanced discussions of adult gaming and pornography in general.)
This talk is a great introduction to Adult Gaming, making several key points about the potential for sexual self-discovery, the overestimated risks as well as flaws in studies about porn addiction and violence, and the opportunities for game creators to tap into new markets.
Making the World a Better Place with Adult Games:
I continue to be terrible at self-promotion and thus completely forgot to mention that the "Bloomsbury Handbook of Sex and Sexuality in Game Studies", for which I wrote a chapter on digital games and sexual health, has recently been published!
The book offers a wide range of perspectives on this widely neglected, but incredibly fascinating topic, so make sure to check it out if you're even remotely interested in exploring relationships and sexuality in interactive virtual spaces, queer representation, or the history of eroticism in the medium.
Kaamguru
Nina Kiel
hiroimeans
wandachao