Because sex in video games is creepy.

Leisure suit Larry disagrees.

ITT: People who have never visited ULMF or Hongfire claim there is no sex in video games.

(Obviously, that statement carries the mother of all NSFW connotations, should you choose to visit either.)

because porn?

A A B B A ^ ^ A A A A A AAAAA!!!

Because sex scenes in movies are stupid, unrealistic, and gratuitous even though there are real actors.

Video game sex scenes are even worse.

In my opinion, I don't really think sex scenes are necessary. And if they are included, if they're not done right, they are really difficult to take seriously. Throw in the possibility of modding, and you get all kinds of ridiculous 'skimpy' this and 'doggy style' that kinds of mods that sometimes make one roll one's eyes.

That being said; IF sex in a game is done well, it can be enjoyable. A good example in my mind is Dragon Age: Origins. A bad example would be its sequel, Dragon Age II.

Also, adding in sex to a video game can be a controversial decision. If you decide to budget the game more tightly by adding only heterosexual encounters, all the gays (myself included) get a little bit irritated by this, especially if the game company has a history of including homoerotic experiences in past games (see BioWare). If the game company decides to be inclusive, and add homosexual experiences as well, they run the risk of alienating the more conservative fan base.

If sex is done well, it can enhance RPG video games greatly, and can be seen as a reward for complex interactions and play choices with certain NPCs. If done poorly, it makes the game laughable. But in the end, I can take it or leave it. If I was forced to choose between sex and no sex in all future games though, I'd probably pick no sex since it's the least risky option for a potentially enjoyable game.

The real problem is that we can't have sex with video game characters yet.

Leisure Suit Larry. Now that was hot.

Cythraul: If sex is done well, it can enhance RPG video games greatly, and can be seen as a reward for complex interactions and play choices with certain NPCs. If done poorly, it makes the game laughable. But in the end, I can take it or leave it. If I was forced to choose between sex and no sex in all future games though, I'd probably pick no sex since it's the least risky option for a potentially enjoyable game.

I'm not a big fan of romances in general, but sometimes those lead to different rewards. More character options, dialogue, stat increases etc. If the reward is just a sex scene, I'd much rather they left it out altogether.

The biggest obstacle is that too many people who would oppose putting sex in anything cannot admit that "video games" can be for adults.

/Hot Coffee

Because with the video game rating system, if you created a decent sexual video game, you could only sell it at places that sell Adult Only rated games, and that cuts out your biggest video game stores, not to mention, where the fark would you advertise the game at?

There is a reason why porn games look like crap. You really can't make money off of them so why bring your A game?

The games industry hasn't reached that level of maturity yet. Not "maturity" as in rating, "maturity" as in being able to tell a compelling story where sex taking part within the context of the game works as a plot element to improve the overall story being told.

Some devs are still trying (BioWare, Quantic Dream, etc.), but we're still some years and some evolution away from really getting to where sex as an integral story element can work well within gameplay.

If games were movies, we're essentially still in the porn and exploitation phase, with some stumbling movement into serious drama and art house territory. Give it time and another generation of game devs. It'll get there.

Leather Goddesses of Phobos?

meat0918: Money, and they can make a hell of a lot more selling Teen rated games than Mature or Adults Only. Same reason studios want PG-13 over R movies.

That seems reasonable, except that there's a lot of triple-A titles that are rated M. I don't see a lot of stampeding to get a T rating.

It makes sense if you think about it. The reason that PG-13 is the holy grail in Hollywood is because they want to get entire families to go see their movies and there's a gatekeeper at the ticket window to keep kids out without parents.

When it comes to buying titles for home there aren't nearly as many obstacles to selling an M title, especially since the only gatekeeper is at the point of purchase, where, unlike a movie, you don't have to bring your kids to the counter to buy the product. If a dad wants to buy God of War for his own pleasure, he can do it quite easily, and it's entirely up to him whether or not he wants to let his kids play it, too.

verbal_jizm: Because sex in video games is creepy.

Pretty much.

When it comes to video game violence, we don't care that it's not photo-realistic. In fact, that's one of the things that makes violence in video games so acceptable: it doesn't really look like the real thing.

Sex, though? That falls right into a very creepy crevice of the uncanny valley.

And what sex would you put into a video game?

Video games are about about achieving goals through a mixture of puzzles, speed and dexterity. You can make a game where someone has to shoot Nazis without getting shot. But simulating say, seduction isn't easy.

Consider how you get the "Achievement Unlocked: 3rd Base". You've got to be attractive to a woman from a number of points of view like physical attraction, wealth, humour, youth, how you dress, hobbies and so forth. You then need time, the right environment, you need to pace things right. I once was getting on real well with a woman and just went too fast, going for a snog on the first dance, and she blew me out, wouldn't talk to me, answer my calls.

And the problem is that simulating that is pretty complicated, even from just a verbal perspective, because we don't have advanced Turing Test-passing machines that simulate a woman on a date. You can, at best, end up with multiple choice situations, but then, people just work things out quite quickly. Fact is, the most advanced sex game that we have is probably Leisure Suit Larry.

Kuroshin: The games industry hasn't reached that level of maturity yet. Not "maturity" as in rating, "maturity" as in being able to tell a compelling story where sex taking part within the context of the game works as a plot element to improve the overall story being told.

Some devs are still trying (BioWare, Quantic Dream, etc.), but we're still some years and some evolution away from really getting to where sex as an integral story element can work well within gameplay.

If games were movies, we're essentially still in the porn and exploitation phase, with some stumbling movement into serious drama and art house territory. Give it time and another generation of game devs. It'll get there.

Yeah, came here to say almost exactly this. As others note, there are tons of sex games, but there aren't very many games that aren't about sex, but still include it as a plot or character device. Probably Bioware is the most cutting edge in that regard, but they still haven't quite got it right.

About the only "sex" in video games I ever found worthwhile was Liberty City were you could get a hooker, drive into some trees, and get a health bonus. It was amusing and you could kill her to get your money back. Even then they didn't show it, they just played some amusing sounds of the car's suspension squeaking.

As others have said, you're playing video games to do something you normally can't do. Everyone can jerk off except for the paraplegics.