By: Ashley Wrigley

Sex sells. Fact. What sells better? Sex on the other end of a romance in a good story—or, at least, let’s hope so. It’s everywhere—in books, movies, and even video games. As viewers, we like seeing couples get together, share their first kiss, and even branch into the stage of intimacy. We connect to it. It moves us. And, albeit scripted, it’s reality.

Just like a movie or book, most video game romance occurs as part of the main story or as a side story and the player has little to no effect on it. Boy meets girl, you know the rest. However, all that changed at the turn of the century with a newly formed electronic entertainment company called BioWare.

For those of you not familiar with the company, BioWare has been dropping golden eggs into the role-playing gaming world since Baldur’s Gate in 1998. BioWare has attached their name to twenty games—three of which are set to be released throughout 2011 and anticipated as best-sellers—and, of the released seventeen, thirteen were major hits. After all, BioWare’s parent company is Electronic Arts whose game label is “home to the largest number of studio and development teams.”

Famous for immersive stories, interactive environments, and thoroughly developed characters, BioWare’s unique approach to character interaction has been part of their huge success. Starting with Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn in 2000, interactive romances were introduced into the gaming universe. A player was suddenly granted the choice of romancing one of a select amount of group NPCs (non-player characters) and engaging in unique dialogue that, based on player selections, allowed for flirting and eventually a relationship.

That’s usually where the other games stopped. The couple falls in love, share their first kiss, save the world, the end. BioWare had a different idea about romance. If you were going to potentially die the next day (or any given day), you’d most likely spend it in love and intimacy with your significant other. Thus, sex entered the field in Shadows of Amn. Though there were no graphic visuals or scandalous texts to read, a sexual encounter eventually cropped up and the player had the choice to engage or not. In the expansion pack, Throne of Bhaal, one of the female romances could actually become pregnant and have a child, which was carried around the rest of the game in the player’s backpack.

Three years later, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003) brought back the ability to establish romances in game. After that, five of the seven games released allowed for romances and BioWare became famous for their superior character interaction. As the graphics got better, the visuals became more elaborate and cut-scenes of sexual encounters began appearing. This began with the shooter RPG (role-playing game) Mass Effect in 2007, where a little caressing and a side shot of a naked woman crawling over a man before they kissed then faded to black causing major controversy among the ill-informed, and a temporary ban in Singapore. The situation was so outrageously exaggerated even Jack Thompson—king moron and sworn enemy of gamers everywhere—agreed it was ridiculous.

However, Bioware didn’t stop their interactive romances and went even further. When the dark heroic fantasy RPG Dragon Age: Origins was released in 2009, longer sex scenes (nudity replaced by basic underwear) and relationships extended to homosexual pairings had anti-gay groups in a rage. Critics must have missed the opportunity for a ménage-a-trois in Jade Empire (2005), or didn’t care since there was no visual linked to it. Mass Effect II continued the intimate tradition. Sex is a natural aspect of human interaction and BioWare doesn’t pull the blinds down on it when it comes to creating authentic characters that are behaving and interacting realistically.

Other gaming companies followed their lead with a much more licentious spin. The Witcher (2007) makes seducing women into sleeping with the player character achievement-like, each encounter leaving behind Sex Cards of erotic pictures of their conquests, though no sex was shown. Fable II (2008) does not show sex either. The screen always fades to black; but beyond getting married and having children, a player can be involved in same-sex relationships and unwanted pregnancies, as well as contract STDs, solicit prostitutes, and find condoms throughout the world to allow for protected sex. God of War 3 (2010) features a graphic and interactive sex scene with Aphrodite while two female lovers watch, caressing one another until they decide to have sex with each other. Mafia II (2010) had actual pages of porn to collect. The infamous Grand Theft Auto series was famous for the hooker scandal, not to mention the dating simulators famous in Japan where the only goal is to flirt with a group of girls or guys, make one your girlfriend/boyfriend, and have sex. Sometimes, you even get to go to prom.

The difference between BioWare’s golden eggs and some of these other games is that, with BioWare, you don’t get what you aren’t looking for. It’s easy to walk in on Aphrodite’s orgy and bedding her is a mere question one can answer “yes” or “no” to. In the Mass Effect series and Dragon Age: Origins, the player character has to spend time dialoguing with their romantic interest, investing in the relationship, and must purposely push for a romantic involvement. Again, the option of sex is always a choice clearly defined and easily turned down.

The truth is players want this. BioWare’s characters’ scandalous interactions can’t even compete with the sex seen on late night TV;  so it’s not as though gamers are getting off on legal porn. The ideal goal is to connect with your created character; and so, it’s refreshing to be able to form bonds with your fellow group mates, including romance. It’s a good feeling to have that romance go to someplace positive and rewarding. And, if BioWare or any other gaming company won’t give it to the community; the community will do it for themselves.

Thousands of game modifications are created by fans that allow the gaming community to go five steps further than any particular game allows. When BioWare did not script for romances in Neverwinter Nights (2002) and instead encouraged player-based interaction, the community-created, adult-only content persistent worlds that are still visited even today. Modifications for homosexual relationships were scripted for the Mass Effect series. And even modifications for characters one couldn’t even romance were created by the Dragon Age fans. It’s not just about sex. It’s about the relationships and sex is a by-product of that.

It’s a brand new world out there and young people are getting exposed to adult themes much earlier in life. So, sex in video games? Yes. Only let’s do away with the libertine-esque approach and stick to BioWare’s lesson: sometimes, when a man and a woman love each other very much… You get the rest.