Did you know we have message boards? Yeah, I kinda forgot too.
I shut down signups sometime last year due to massive spamming, and never did fix it. That is, until now. The MMOrgy Boards have returned.
Hopefully they won't turn into a big pile of spam again, but I'm not keeping my hopes up. So go and post your little perverted heart out before I get sick of administrating them again.
Never put salt in your eyes.
Also, never book yourself to get back from one conference, and only have 1 day in between before you leave for the next. Bad things happen, like iPods breaking and bad blocks in the reiserfs system sector of your main storage drive. Basically, anything that will take more than a day to fix will happen on that day.
Anyways, off to San Jose and GDC. I'll be there from Sunday to Friday, and will be speaking as part of the Sex In Games talk on Wednesday at Noon, with Brenda Brathwaite of the Sex In Games Special Interest Group.
I will not be liveblogging this conference, unless someone would like to pay me to liveblog it for their blog. Just email the tips address over there. I need all the cash I can get, people, and you know I'm funny, I know my shit about video games, and I'll be smack dab in the middle of lots of new releases. So come on. Support the MMO Sex fund. I've got monthly fees to pay.
Off to do last minute packing checks. See you in San Jose!
OMG PARTY TIME
So, to recap, Slashdong Second Life Party tonight. 5PM PST/Second Life World Time, on Saturday, March 4th @ Nonpolynomial Labs, Deneb (222,190)
Yup, we're havin' a party to celebrate the first birthday of Slashdong!
Now, of course, I'm too damn poor to have a REAL party, not to mention I don't think most of my readership lives in, or near, Oklahoma at the moment, so this is going to be a virtual party in Second Life!
Yes, that's right. I'm celebrating the first year of running a blog by sitting in front of my computer monitor, playing silly music, and drinking heavily. If there were every a more stereotypical way to party about a site about virtual sex, I certainly couldn't think of it.
So, party starts at 5PM PST/Second Life World Time, Saturday, March 4th.
It'll be at Nonpolynomial Labs, Deneb (222,190). If you can't figure out how to get there or are just too lazy, send a message to qDot Bunnyhug in world and we'll get you set up with a teleport.
See you Saturday!
So, to update, qDot (and possibly other MMOrgy authors) will be speaking at:
Wheee, conferency goodness!
I try not to usually just publish Press Releases here, but this is important (and not just because it involves me :) )
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Evergreen Events Announces the First Annual Sex in Video Games Conference
Seattle, Washington - January 11, 2006 - Evergreen Events is pleased to announce the upcoming Sex in Video Games Conference: Exploring the Business of Digital Erotic Entertainment to be held June 8 and 9, 2006 at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco, California. The conference is the first of its type and will be an annual event.
The unique conference will focus on the design, development, and technology of sex in video games from a national as well as international perspective. In addition, this conference will also have a strong focus on business matchmaking and networking. During the conference’s two day run, it will feature numerous lectures and keynotes, a machinima art show (erotic art and movies derived from video games) as well as panel discussions with leaders in video game and adult video game development.
Currently announced lectures include “Sex in Games: Where are We Now?” by Brenda Brathwaite, Game Designer and Founder and Chair of the International Game Developers Association’s Sexuality SIG, “The Future of Sex and Technology” by Dave Taylor, Game Producer and Game Consultant, and Programmer on DOOM and Quake among others, and “The Making of the SeXbox: Applied Hardware” by Kyle Machulis, a robotics engineer and founder of Slashdong.org and MMOrgy.com. Panels include “Designing Successful Online Erotic Games,” “Creating a Massively Multiplayer Online Erotic Game,” and, focusing on the international success of the hentai market, “Integrating International AO Success into the US Market.”
Continue reading "Evergreen Events annouces Sex In Games Conf" »
As the only staff member who can't possibly make it through a full round of cybersex without dying of giggle fits and faking connection disruptions right before that lovely moment of final virtual release, it's only fitting that I be the public face of the page.
So, I'll be speaking at South by Southwest Interactive, on the "Secret Sex Lives of Video Games" Panel on Tuesday, March 14th.
Tony Walsh - ClickableCulture (A spiffy MMOG blog)
Glennis McClellan - Republik Games (Makers of hopefully spiffy MMOVSGs)
Julianne Greer - The Escapist (Makers of that "New Games Journalism" that the kids seem to love.)
Mark Wallache - Who Cares (Peddler of commy pinko yellow journalistic trash media and master of the occult practice of getting book deals about aforementioned trash media)
Kyle Machulis (aka qDot, aka qDot Bunnyhug, aka ME) - Nonpolynomial Labs/IGDA Sex In Games SIG/Slashdong.org/MMOrgy.com (Lord of the Pixel Boobies)
Come see us try and discuss emergent sex in video games in a vaguely academic way until we all break down and just start saying naughty words on the panel just because we can!
MMOrgy welcomes our newest writer, Aderes! He'll be covering Furcadia.
The MMOrgy Message Boards are now open and ready for use. So get in there and start discussing... stuff!
These boards can be used to discuss the articles we post here on the front page, give new ideas for things we should write about, or to advertise (within reasonable means, please do not spam our boards, we have no problem banning people) sex events/products/services that others might be interested in.
We've got a good staff here at MMOrgy, but we still need to grow! There's quite a few worlds we aren't covering enough, or covering at ALL. If you're interesting in writing about a world for us, send mail to isabelle [at] mmorgy [dawt] com
We're very much in need of more World of Warcraft coverage while our current WoW writer gets resituated, as well as people to cover all of the topics with no posts on the sidebar. We'd also be happy to have more Second Life and Sociolotron writers, assuming they could fill a certain, specialized niche in the world. We're also happy to take one-off pitches and submissions.
MMOrgy welcomes our newest writer, Sumatrae! He'll be covering Second Life and MUDs/MUCKs for us.
Brenda Brathwaite, head of the IGDA Sex In Games Special Interest Group is currently looking to interview several individuals who regularly engage in cybersex for an upcoming project she's working on. If you would like to be a part of this project, please contact her at brenda at mmorgy dot com.
MMOrgy welcomes our newest writer, Cazmet! She'll be covering the worlds of Sociolotron and Second Life.
Covering sex in all of the virtual worlds currently available would be an impossible (and expensive) job for just one person. Right now we only have people (2 of us, actually) covering Second Life and World of Warcraft, and those worlds are large enough that we could use more reporters there. So, if you're involved in an MMO of some sort, and are interested in writing for MMOrgy, please contact me by email at isabelle at nonpolynomial dot com.
MMOs are becoming quite the rage these days. From the humble beginnings of MUDs in the late 70's to the 3+ million subscriber levels of games like World of Warcraft today, we've seen online interactive gaming come a long, long way. With that progress has come new social paradigms that can only be found in the virtual worlds we have created.
That being said, sex in virtual worlds is useless, at least, in terms of the world itself. You will not level up by fucking (unless you're playing Sociolotron, of course). You will not gain new items automatically by hitting the buttons in such a way that it makes a crude cunnilingus animation out of what was supposed to be a dance. Sex is the act of reproduction, and as of now, very few games actually offer that feature. (I eagerly await many a heated email from Sociolotron players)
Why do we have sex in games? Simple, it's part of our nature, and MMOs are all about human nature and creativity. We bring to the world the things we are familiar with, our hopes and dreams, the things we wish were possible but are sadly not because of money, time, or the laws of physics. Combine this with the fact that every month some new feature comes out that makes these worlds a little more immersive, a little more real, and soon youve created a playground where people can lose themselves, experiment, and learn new things all in front of their computer screen. MMOs allow us to act out events without fear of being caught publically or not being able to stop it if we don't like it. The power switch to your PC or console is one of the safest "safe words" you can have.
One click, and it's over (at least, until you log on again. :) ).
Now, a lot of people wonder why someone would have sex in a game instead of just using the freely available, easy-to-use video/audio conferencing available. If you can see and hear the real person, what's left?
If you're in a long-distance relationship, in-world sex can be a way to change things up a bit. You know it's the same person on the other end, and that context adds amazing things to the value of the world.
If you're low on bandwidth and too poor for long distance, text may be all you have. Why sit in a messanger when you can play in a prebuilt, scripted world that will add to the experience?
For instance, look at our header graphic. People are turned on by different things. Men like to play as women. Women like to play as men. Both of them like to play as vampires, furries, masters, slaves, doctors, patients, and a multitude of other roles. If you have software that will allow you to get deeper into those roles, why not use it?
So, just because MMOs don't require sex, it doesn't mean that it doesn't make them a better place, or a better experience for some users. That's why we're here, to let people know what they can find in these worlds and where they can find it. No more logging on and feeling sheepish 'cause you wanna know where the bordello is first. No more endless search through horrible shops finding implements for you and your fiancee who's 3000 miles away to have fun with. Just keep an eye on MMOrgy, and we'll keep you informed.
