Video Game Nudity

The Video Game Nudity Controversy

Developers are apprehensive about putting video game nudity into their creations because it is proven that games with the Adults Only (AO) rating are poor performers. Most games of extreme violence, nudity, and sexuality get this rating. The current list of AO games is at 30 and you can view this list at Moby Games.

A quick perusal of the titles and descriptions might make you realize that they probably didn't sell very well not because of the AO rating, but because they simply stunk. Game makers know that by overdoing sexuality that doesn't make the game flow is no way to sell copies. Games must be fun and not gimmicky and most of your developers know this and most of your gamers can recognize gimmicky when they see it. If you notice, the last AO game that was released was in 2005.

Titles with Video Game Nudity

Playboy: The Mansion

There is a small amount of nudity on Playboy: the Mansion and, unlike other games that sport nudity, it's actually useful in the game for progress. Your main goal in the game is to build up your magazine empire in a Sims-like game. Throw parties, make good creative decisions, and take photographs. The photographs you take are of computer models, but they are nude. You rotate the in-game camera and click away to get those photographs that will sell you more magazines. Playboy: the Mansion is the rare game that uses the subtlety of nudity in a classic way.

Singles: Flirt Up Your Life

Singles: Flirt up your life lets you control a man and a woman as roommates as you manipulate their lives domestically and romantically. This Sims-style game has one goal: get your people to become intimate. Once this happens, you stop becoming the controller and you become the watcher as they two characters figure out how to make love. There is no shortage of nudity and because the character models are so realistic, it's no surprise this game received its AO rating.

Leisure Suit Larry

For over 10 years, Leisure Suit Larry tested the sexual waters with each game. While it may have an American Pie feel to it, Larry's ultimate task was to get with as many chicks as he can. Leisure Suit Larry can best be described as cartoony and contains more silliness than nudity.

BMX XXX

Despite being an atrocious game to play, BMX XXX caused a lot of controversy because you could view DVD quality clips of topless strippers. Sure there were polygon babes riding BMX bikes, but the clips are what caused the controversy and the eventual AO rating. The gimmick of those clips and the rest of the nudity didn't hide the fact the gameplay was horrible and BMX XXX quickly faded onto the lists of Worst Games of the Century.

Quick List of Other Games

The following list of games didn't make much of an impact in terms of nudity. Some of the games had very little, or you really couldn't tell it was video game nudity.

• Mass Effect—it was one scene that didn't last very long.
• Conan: the Barbarian—save topless video game vixens.
• Naughty America: The Game—an MMO with 2D characters. You're right, not as much fun as it sounds.
• God of War—Kratos gets lots of invitations from the Greek babes.
• Custard's Last Stand—this Atari 2600 game probably led the way for video game nudity. Granted, the nudity is very pixelated…and Custard.
• Bubble Bath Babes—this NES game ripped off gameplay elements of Tetris while putting soapy girls at the bottom of your screen.

It's Still Just a Game

Whether there is video game nudity or not, there is still something else to do and look at and that's the actual game. If a game stinks, it still stinks with or without nudity, even if the nudity is part of the game, like in Playboy: the Mansion. Don't purchase a game just because you heard it had nudity it in it; purchase the game because it's a good game.