Oh! Oh! A question that I’m qualified to answer, finally!
I may be a Science Idiot, but I DO know a lot about Gaming, having been in the business for over ten years as an artist, programmer and designer.
So, let me explain why porn titles never do well in the gaming market. And please, don’t anyone take offense, because I’m going to have to say some things that some people might find objectionable- but they’re still true. I’ll try and be as objective as possible.
First of all:
The Porn Business is full of werid people.
One has to face the facts of life, and one big fact is that to even WANT to make a Porn title, you’d have to be a little bit scummy. Again, I wish I could be less blunt about it, but if you want a real answer, you have to face real facts.
I knew Joe Sparks personally, and actually worked on the 3d Software used to create Virtual Valerie. It was not a pleasant experience. These were not pleasant people. I don’t want to get in to a debate about what constitutes “normal”, but whatever it is, these guys weren’t it. So just accepting the fact that you’re not dealing with real upstanding individuals, you’re left with all sorts of problems just MAKING a porn-based title.
-Reputable artists and programmers won’t sign on for the deal, so you’re left with B-talent at best.
-Funding is a problem.
-The folks involved are notoriously flakey, and people don’t like dealing with them.
REAL porn is always better than virtual porn.
Remember “Custer’s Revenge”? An early title where a pixel-based Custer ran across the screen to rape a pixel-based indian princess. It looked like crap. Even when the technology reached a level where you could simulate sex more realistically, your average Porn fan would still just watch the real Jenna Jameson than a computerized version of her.
Most folks like to seperate their Gaming from their Masturbation.
There are a great many normal, wonderful people who like porn. Liking porn isn’t really a sign of degeneracy. However, most normal folks view porn much as they do defecation or any other private act- as private. Just as your average person wouldn’t want to play a game where they’re running around crapping, they also feel creepy and sleazy playing a game where they’re running around having sex.
Hardcore porn addicts are not a profitable gaming market.
Leisuresuit Larry had a cult following, but man, if you ever met a member of that particular cult, you immediately understood why Sony was never going to fund “EverQuest Larry: Naked Elves”. Again, there’s no point in lying to ourselves if we want a real answer to the original question. Folks who’d actually WANT to play a game about having sex (as opposed to just going and having REAL sex) are not traditionally people who have a lot of free cash to spend on games.
You’d never get a mainstream distributor.
Electronic Arts probably isn’t going to risk parental wrath and potential boycotts by releasing a porn title. And “softcore” titles, such as the aforementioned BMX game, have NEVER made enough money to justify the potential backlash.
My personal opinion is that as a person matures, they lose a lot of their fascination in sex for sex’s sake. Most adults are having sex, so they don’t need to giggle and obsess over it. The point being that you’re probably not going to find a lot of good artists and engineers who’d be willing to sign on to a porn based game title, because they’re already involved in other projects that interest them more, and stand to make them more money.
But all moralistic/maturity judgements aside, as a game designer, it also comes down to this: A porn based game would just get boring after the first few minutes. Virtual Valerie, for example, was INCREDIBLY boring. I hope to never meet the person who could spend more than five minutes amusing themselves by making a polygonal model abuse itself with a polygonal sex toy.
