Boobification

They're close to always there in our games, they are hard to avoid and we all have some kind of relation to them. Yes, as the title so clearly states, I'm talking about boobs. But I'm not talking about just any kind of boobs, I'm talking about the kind that we encounter in games.
Close to all games out there got female characters, at times these characters don't really play a big role in the story of the game, but they are there. One might wonder why it is that developers, at times, place female characters in their games even though, they don't really have any kind of major purposes, but I believe the reason behind this is quite obvious, the developers have figured out what most other industries also have figured out, sex sells.

I must warn you, the next paragraph contains spoilers for Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2, if you do not want to read these minor spoilers, please skip the next paragraph.

In a game like Mass Effect you could, without a problem, exclude the possible sex scenes within in the game. It doesn't really matter who you romance in the end, as it doesn't change much. What it does change is that, if your for example romance Liara, as I did, in ME1, then when you meet her in ME2 she will show the feelings she had for you in ME1. This doesn't mean she will follow you on your journey, as she, in short, got other things to do. If you chose in ME1 that Ashley should survive you will experience that Ashley doesn't really show anything, and I experienced her as relatively rude towards me, when you meet her in ME2. I haven't played through ME1 where I romanced Ashley so I do not know what happens if you do that.

You might think that these changes are funny and makes the game unique for the every player, but I think that, yeah it a nice little touch, but to be perfectly honest I wouldn't notice if it wasn't there, nor would I think the game got better or worse.

So with all the above said, one might ask the question, well why is it, in this case Bioware, makes romance options? One might say that it adds a bit of realism in the games, as in real life one would be able to romance anyone they wanted, if they had the skill to seduce ones “target”. I see that as a valid argument, but I also believe that the reason behind the sex scenes is that, as mentioned before, sex sells.

I've been unable to find the exact source, but I remember reading an article on the Escapist about the fact that by adding sex scenes in Mass Effect, the sales would raise, because a sex scene is always more interesting that not having a sex scene. That at least goes for the male audience, and even though everyone must admit that, more and more females are joining the “Gamer Rank”, so to speak, the male audience is still larger than the female one, in terms of games.

But I, for one, think that all this, “boobification”, is a bit over the top. Now before someone starts to shout at me and call me gay, let me explain.

Firstly, here's the link, that inspired me to write this article. The forum post is posted on the Escapist and it contains a picture of Ashley (and Kaidan). If you played through ME1, it's easy to spot that clearly, Ashley as gotten some kind of boob job. If you read through of some of the comments to this post, as I've done, you will quickly notice that, mostly people don't really enjoy this change, to quote from the 4^th post made by MiracleOfSound, an Escapist user:

“Oh for fuck sake, not more Dragon Age style massive balloon-tits
Give us some credit, Bioware”

This leads me to the next thing I would like to metion. A friend of mine have played Dragon Age 2 through, and I'm personally playing Dragon Age: Origins through. I can only recommend DA:O by the way. Anyway, my friend, keeps complaining about the massive, “balloon-tits”, in the game, as he find them unrealistic and they don't really turn him on in any way, and therefore only serves like a disturbance.

All of the above being said, there is of course some people out there who really like this change, and as I haven't read any other forum posts on other forums I can't really say what the entire gaming community says to this change. But, clearly the Escapist opinion, overall is that they do not like it, and I must agree with them.

Personally I'm not really turned on by such things as fictional characters, who are drawn or animated. I'm going to apologise in advance, but to be perfectly honest, I don't enjoy watching softcore porn at all, in movies in games, in magazines, where ever. Before someone again yells at me that I'm gay, I would like to say that if I want to watch girls nude, doing sexual stuff, I can just go onto one of many porn sites on the Internet, as honestly, I would prefer getting the whole “package”, so to speak, rather than seeing some clothes rubbed against clothes, in a long and boring cutscene in some game. Yes that was a reference to Yathzees review of ME2.

To mention another game, which I believe is a bit over the top, sex scenes wise, is The Witcher. I must admit I haven't played through the whole game but I've read reviews of it, and I've completed the tutorial, more than once. But I was very surprised that I got to romance the only, and the first female character I met in the game, and it was even before the first chapter started!

I guess my bottom line is that, I do not mind sex scenes in games, but I have a hard time understanding why they really are there, and I don't really see that much point in it, other than increasing sales. Then again I don't really see the point in softcore porn as a whole, but I'm probably just very weird. I don't think that if we removed all sex scenes in games, it would improve them much, but I think it will not derail us from the main story, which might turn out to be better.

One must not forget that it's the good storyline and the good gameplay that makes a game good, not softcore sex scenes.