Video games are already struggling with misconceptions about their relationship to real world violence in the media, and perhaps one of the few things that can get the sensationalist organizations known as the uneducated news media in a feeding frenzy for more ill-guided news than violence is sex. Look no further than Fox News for a fine example of the not researching a topic and being ill-informed before trying to actually talk about it. I know, Fox making wild assumptions, go figure. Seriously, the level of dumb in this video is staggering.

BioWare writer David Gaider looks to tackle this tricky topic at this year's Games Developers Conference (GDC) in a talk entitled “Sex in Video Games”, which the description of the talk reads as follows:

Games have reached the point where realistic portrayals of sex and adult relationships are possible, but what does this mean to us as developers? How much responsibility do we have in addressing issues of sexism and sexuality, and are we inadvertently making statements about what is acceptable, even when we don't mean to say anything at all? Our industry is struggling with a conflict between the desire to be taken seriously as an art form, and the desire to avoid addressing social issues because what we make are "just games." These things have implications on our sales, and while they can be addressed, it can only happen if we are willing to acknowledge that greater discussion of the topic within the industry is merited.

Gaider hopes that the talk will help create a better understanding of the benefits, risks, and difficulties associated with addressing, or not addressing these issues as developers. The date for Gaider's talk will be announced at a later time. GDC is set to take place from March 25th through March 29th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.

David Gaider is a writer and narrative designer for BioWare. He is the lead writer of the Dragon Age series and currently working on the upcoming third installment of the series, Dragon Age 3: The Inquisition.

Source: GDC Sex in Video Games