As you may know, the upcoming MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has a...well, incredibly curvaceous and voluptuous (and other 'ous words) female character: Keaira, a close associate of King Conan, and a source of secret information throughout the land. If it's me, I'm guessing she gathers information by use of her sparkling personality; but if it's you "nerdcore" junkies, you're probably thinking it's on account of her big, beautiful, bulging, bra-busting, bountiful, buoyant, bitchin', bouncy boobs. But don't sell her short like that.
Whatever though, Age of Conan will most likely rock in its own right, regardless of cup size. However, 1up.com reports that one gamer has started a petition on the official AoC forums, requesting a toggle to turn off the nudity in the game. Which is pretty rare, for a gamer to request censorship.
And here we are yet again, greeted with the why-is-sex-worse-than-violence question. In a game rife with violence, pillaging and such, why turn off the sex, and not the violence, as the 1up writer pointed out.
But before you WTF yourself to death over this guy, take a moment to see his perspective. Violence is a part of gameplay, and has been even before Mario learned to crush Gumbas to death. Part of the rush of playing a game and having fun is the cathartic release in pummeling your enemies into dust. But sex? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a whole OTHER type of cathartic release, one that seems strange when it's so aggressively presented in a game? If games are supposed to be moving closer and closer to an art form (if not there already), then shouldn't they stay a notch above SkiniMax? And it's not like they're hiding her boobs, either. She was included--boobs a'bouncing--in the December, 2007 issue of Playboy, as a part of their "Girls of Gaming" feature.Don't get me wrong: if you like a bit of MMO with your breast ogling, you are (I think) constitutionally permitted to indulge, and even perhaps further inflate Keaira's jugs to your satisfaction. But there's still something about it that feels like it's moving in the wrong direction.
The way I see it, at the very least, if you don't want to be taken in by that Hollywood-esque manipulation of men to drive sales, you should have the option to play the game sans-wood. So to speak. No? I wonder what others think about this. Feel free to comment.
