Depictions of sex have a long history of being controversial in any medium, and this Friday we are going to take a look at, discuss, and even *play* some examples from the history of video games. How has this evolving medium depicted the sex act, both visually and interactively, and how has this been shaped by the rise of game rating systems, both in the U.S. and in other parts of the world? Why do some people find these games even more objectionable than similar depictions in movies, and how are game makers responding to these objections as gaming demographics skew more and more adult?

Games will include (among others):

Custer's Revenge
Leisure Suit Larry
Grand Theft Auto
Indigo Prophecy
Fable
Dragon Age
UTE

"Behave!" - Censoring Game Sex is part two of a running discussion series on censorship in video games. Konstantin Mitgutsch, one of our visiting scholars, is a member of PEGI, the European games rating board. He wants people from local Boston industry, academia, and journalism to come and discuss various topics of game censorship - namely violence, sex, and politics - for a report he is currently compiling for PEGI. The goal of the report is to suggest changes to the current rating system.

This session will take place in GAMBIT between 4 and 7 pm (coming late is okay) on Friday 2/11. They will begin with Konstantin giving a little context for his report, how game rating systems currently work, etc. Then we will play a series of games and discuss them while we play. The goal is to capture the conversation. While it is happening, a small camera crew will be filming. The video will later go up on the GAMBIT website as part of our normal video series, but the video will also be used for reference for Konstantin's report.

There will be cookies.