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submitted 2 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Performers working in the games industry have spoken of their distress at being asked to work on explicit content without notice, including a scene featuring a sexual assault.

Sex scenes are common in modern games - and are often made by filming human actors who are then digitised into game characters.

But performers have told the BBC a culture of secrecy around projects - where scripts are often not shared until the last moment - means they frequently do not know in advance that scenes may involve intimate acts.

They describe feeling "shaken" and "upset" after acting them out.

Performing arts union Equity is demanding action from the industry - it has published guides on minimum pay, and working conditions in games, including on intimate or explicit scenes.

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[-] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 118 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Sec scenes are common in modern games?

Y'all I've been big into Armored Core 6, Stardew Valley and Factorio lately what have you been up to?

Edit: I'm being flippant, the idea that an actor could have such a thing sprung on them is awful and I hope they get the protections they deserve.

[-] AssaultPepper@monero.town 77 points 2 months ago

😏 haven't unlocked the sex scene in Factorio yet I see.

[-] einkorn@feddit.org 24 points 2 months ago

Not only the factory grows!

[-] Hupf@feddit.org 5 points 2 months ago

New NSFW game pitch:

Fucktorio

The bellies must grow

[-] runeko@programming.dev 18 points 2 months ago

I rail trains every time I play.

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[-] FarceOfWill@infosec.pub 10 points 2 months ago

Biters want one thing and it's disgusting

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I wanna git gud enough at Armored Core to see the robots fuck.

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 26 points 2 months ago

I know you're being flippant and it definitely is a real issue, but my first reaction was the same. I've played plenty of games with some sexual content in them, but never one with sexual violence other than implied, and usually even the consensual scenes were fade to black, or close to fading to black. I was a little surprised to hear that this is going on.

[-] Zahille7@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I've played GTA: San Andreas, and I don't think there's anything overtly sexually explicit in that one (besides the Hot Coffee thing, which still isn't that bad? It's simulated sex acts while the characters still wear their clothes). Even Cyberpunk has like two sex scenes (I never went to the joyous besides for that one mission) that you only really see tits from a first-person pov.

Though I realize that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Baldur's Gate 3 immediately comes to mind. You can fuck bears and mindflayers in that game.

EDIT: Oh hey, they're in the article in a good way!

Baldur's Gate 3 addressed this by employing intimacy co-ordinators - dedicated members of staff tasked with ensuring the well-being of performers in explicit scenes.

[-] flamingos@feddit.uk 8 points 2 months ago

Not to be that guy, but Stardew and Factorio both came out in 2016 (early access for Factorio). They're nearly a decade old, so I'm not sure they qualify as modern.

[-] Just_Pizza_Crust@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

Considering Factorio is still in development and has a major upcoming DLC release, I'd call it modern. Plus the modding scene is still pretty active.

[-] SaltySalamander@fedia.io 8 points 2 months ago

The Skyrim modding scene is pretty damn active too. Yet I still wouldn't consider it modern. Stellaris as well. Still receives DLC, modding scene is amazing. Still, nearly a decade old game, and it shows.

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 9 points 2 months ago

Skyrim was barely a modern game when it was new.

[-] cynar@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Most of the work on facturio has been on the underlying engine. Factories that would bring a high end PC to it's knees, at the start, now race along on a mediocre PC.

The factorio devs don't play factorio in the game anymore, they play it with the engine. By the results, they are both a team of geniouses and completely addicted.

[-] flamingos@feddit.uk 4 points 2 months ago

EU4 has received continuous updates and DLCs since it came out in 2013, but I wouldn't call it modern (still love it though).

[-] Just_Pizza_Crust@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I think "modern game" is really a semantics thing tbh. Like, is Age of Empires 2 a modern game, old game, or ancient game? I think it really comes down to how you're playing the game, rather than the year of original release.

Worms: Armageddon is another example. Is it an ancient game because of its release date, or is it a modern game because people are developing new rules and scripts to play the game by every year?

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 points 2 months ago

Aoe2 is a modern game. And it's the only modern game. Everything else is a distraction.

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[-] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 2 months ago

You haven't lived if you haven't watched all four sex scenes in Splatoon

[-] vaionko@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 months ago

If you don't have mods giving you graphical sex scenes os Stardew Valley, what have you been up to?

[-] Noodle07@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Playing path of exile, I'm horrified at the idea of a sex scene

(maven feet though...)

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[-] iamtrashman1312@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

For real, this. I'm playing everything from nice fluffy casual games to M rated horrorshows and I don't remember the last game I played that had a voiced sex scene. A few horror titles or indie games have certainly included sex or even sexual assault, but not voiced.

BG3 is fine and good as noted by another commenter (haven't actually played it myself), so what games are you guys playing?

[-] Cyberjin@lemmy.world 71 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Not okay, not letting them know what they are signing up for.. it's like having them do stunts.

What game does sex scenes? Usually it just fades to black

[-] mememuseum@lemmy.world 25 points 2 months ago

Baldur's Gate 3 gets pretty explicit

[-] count_dongulus@lemmy.world 44 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

They had a dedicated intimacy coordinator for those scenes who worked with the actors to make sure they were comfortable with it

[-] mememuseum@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

Oh yeah, they handled it properly for sure.

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 25 points 2 months ago

Sponge Bob Back to Bikini Bottom

[-] cantrips@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago

Custer’s Revenge for the Atari 2600. I play this game exclusively.

[-] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

What game does sex scenes? Usually it just fades to black

Witcher III is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. I vaguely recall Fable 1 doing the fade-to-black thing, but then staying black and playing out some cliche moaning, which is kind of the same thing from the voice actors's perspective.

Whole category of dating sims and basically soft-core-porn games, which I'm sure have a high demand for acting out these kinda of scenes.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 4 points 2 months ago

Fable was very much played for laughs. I can remember some guy going "ooh I like that" in a camp voice.

Heavy Rain and The Last of Us 2 had very awkward sex scenes though.

[-] gnomesaiyan@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago
[-] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Especially weird for the actor of the unicorn.

[-] P00ptart@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Far cry... 3? I think? Has a short sex scene.

[-] Kaiserschmarrn@feddit.org 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Jup... One of the endings involves the protagonist having sex with a cult leader and then >!getting sacrificed as soon as he cums inside her!<.

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

wouldn't be surprised if it was Ubisoft. they love sexual assault

[-] sebsch@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 months ago

Cyberpunk 2077

[-] Eczpurt@lemmy.world 31 points 2 months ago

Baldurs Gate 3 still getting praise long after release. Serious unicorn in the game industry!

[-] Mothra@mander.xyz 19 points 2 months ago

I say BG3 is to the 2020s what Skyrim was to the 2010s

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 2 months ago

That's an insult to BG3 and Larian.

[-] Enoril@jlai.lu 5 points 2 months ago

agree.. let’s say "the skyrim we remember all, with all the beautiful mods fixing the outrageous real state of the game."

[-] dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee 6 points 2 months ago

Just to be a counterweight: I have ~15 hours in BG3. At some point I just realized it's not for me. I can't really put my finger on it, but it just doesn't strike any nerve for what I enjoy in video games.

Skyrim, however was my favorite game through the 2010s, with probably north of 500 hours across multiple platforms.

Maybe it's something about the pacing and freedom to disregard the story elements.

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this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
191 points (91.3% liked)

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