Spend the Night: Women Prefer Active Eroticism
There’s a new MMO on the way that has nothing to do with orcs and elves, and everything to do with getting it on with members of the opposite sex. No more lurking around in taverns winking at green-skinned females with horns and curious protrusions, now you can actually interact with members of your very own species.
Republik is set to release the erotic MMO Spend The Night in 2006. It has all the makings of a curious cross between the Sims 2 Nightlife and an online dating service, though game creators deny that the purpose of the game is to find a date in real life. The plot seems pretty straightforward, with players logging in, mixing and mingling with other players, connecting with someone who catches your fancy, and quite literally getting a room. The point is to be able to play with erotic fantasies that “might not be available in hum-drum old reality”. Wow. Hum-drum reality? What kind of boring existence do these people lead?
You just know that three quarters of the players will be 14 year old boys who draw straws to see which of their friends gets to be the chick and respond to their unrefined one liners with a bat of the eyelashes and zip of the skirt. That is not, apparently, how game-maker Republik’s CEO sees it. According to him women will be more drawn to interactive erotic content than they will to “passive” erotic content.
The theory goes that gawking at a porno mag or ‘enjoying’ a bad video may be okay for male consumers of erotica, but women want to be a part of the experience. It’s the central theory that drives this development and is at the core of its success of failure.
We have found, just in talking to people and focus tests, that women respond better to our concept than men. That’s not so say that men aren’t interested but women are truly intrigued by this idea because it’s geared towards them and it involves them.
The poor man seems torn between showcasing women as sexual, erotic creatures, while sticking to the old stereotype that magazines and videos are not appealing to women. I have no idea how he defines “passive” erotica in video games, or the type of people included in the focus groups. It is nice, however, to see that companies are beginning to adapt their practices to begin including women in their plans. Cosland declared that Spend The Night’s entire marketing budget will be directed towards women, with men free to toddle along if they see fit. Obviously, due to the nature of the game, it will be released with an Adults Only rating, meaning decreased distribution possibilities, but Cosland and Republik seem confident that there are enough wanton women out there to make the game a success.
The entire thing seems a contradiction in terms, with Republik eagerly promoting it as a way for adults to indulge in their biggest fantasies, but stating that they will be controlling the available settings to ward off weirdos and perverts. So basically you’re allowed to explore your fantasies, so long as Republik deems them “normal”. They’re apparently not supporting off-beat things, so good luck to all you fetish fans, oh and gay folks, you won’t be living your fantasies if you Spend The Night.
8 opinions for Spend the Night: Women Prefer Active Eroticism
Jeremy Wright
Oct 6, 2005 at 8:03 am
I can’t see the image :(
Erin
Oct 6, 2005 at 10:00 am
Sorry about that! (I bet you were looking forward to something racy, weren’t you)
The spellchecker mucks up the HTML codes. Took out my block quotes as well and makes me look like a nasty plagarizer. Bah.
Matt
Oct 6, 2005 at 5:23 pm
I was looking forward to something racy!!! Hmph, what a disappointment. ;)
Honestly though..I have to agree with you on it probably being a bunch of 14 year old boys, or 40 year old men. Either way, I can’t see much of a female audience getting into that sort of game. But hey, I’m not a girl so I wouldn’t know. It just seems…dumb. This is a blog run by a bunch of girls with female readership, are you guys more interested in this sort of thing? Or is that guy just full of shit and hoping to get a cheap thrill?
Karine
Oct 7, 2005 at 1:52 am
I’m a girl, and admittedly not much of a gamer, and that definitely wouldn’t be the game to convert me, Matt. But I suspect teenagers might be another matter entirely.
Erin
Oct 7, 2005 at 10:23 am
I can honestly say that this game interests me no more than most, and certainly much less than others. Why they would think that it would appeal to women in particular is beyond me Matt. I suppose they’ve done their research to come up with such a conclusion, as not to waste marketing $$, but like Karine said, no way would this make me interested in gaming as a women if I wasn’t already involved.
Tor
Nov 21, 2005 at 11:13 am
I-I can’t stop laughing.. oh god.. the game I’ve been making fun of for years has finaly come to pass! Must.. call people.. must.. gather a group.. to play… dates! Hehe, nah seriously I have two friends who’s actually going to play this, well at least they say they are, and they are of that specie that we people like to refer to as “those who do not smell of pizza and old beer” which is quite interesting, but confirms your theory, they’re teenies. (agh, I post too much, but that’s just because I just found the page)
Erin
Nov 21, 2005 at 11:35 am
Post all you like Tor…we encourage it! It’s nice to know we’re not writing solely into the void of cyberspace.
No comments on the game..it..astounds.
the play girlz gaming blog: because guys aren’t the only players » Spend the Night: Screenshots Released
Mar 14, 2006 at 3:17 am
[…] All of you sex-crazed monkeys out there probably remember me mentioning Spend the Night, the new erotic MMO coming from Republik. Just when you thought that video collection in your closet (yes, that one…I know) would be the closest to actual physical interaction that you would ever come, take heart! […]
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