It's not the conference, it's the response

Saw this 1Up blurb on a new Sex in Games conference and what struck me was not the blurb itself but the responses in the message board.

~ do we really need a massively multiplayer online orgasm? Thats just discusting.

~ This is a new low!as if cyber and phone sex aren't bad enough, now he have people masterbating while playing a video game

~ You will think you are having fun with a female but it is really a 30yr old bi-curious Star Wars fan. Stay away people stay away as far as you can I know I will.

~ how bored do you have to be with regular porn to crank it out to video game porn?

There's a more complete description of the conference at IGDA.

Personally, I think it's great. I see games and virtual worlds as a positive place for sexual exploration.

But I can see why some hardcore gamers would roll their eyes. Erotic games will attract a whole group of folks who wouldn't ordinarily play games, but they'll join these for the cybersex – an influx from webcam chat rooms and the like. It's possible that sex could do to some MMORPGs what AOL did to some (most?) IRC communities.

But then again, you're not going to see a bunch of sex-oriented non-gamers showing up in other games, so I don't think the advent of adult games, or a conference about them, will shake the bedrock of what it means to game or to be a gamer.

(And I always wonder, if you thought the person was one gender when you flirted and cybered, who cares what gender that person is in real life? It doesn't matter unless you're meeting offline. Does that fear – and it's one of the most common worries I hear from men about online sex – mean every male getting it on with a woman online expects to meet her offline?)