this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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Actors demand action over 'disgusting' video game sex scenes (www.bbc.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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TL;DR: Video game actors being told to mo-cap sex scenes without being told beforehand

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[–] [email protected] 82 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (7 children)

A summary of the story, scene breakdown and scripts should be distributed to all cast members in advance.

performers should be able to request a closed set where access is kept to a minimum.

A competent intimacy coordinator should be engaged.

These are not big asks.

In one recording for a major game she first learned it was explicit only when she turned up for work.

"This was actually a full-on sex scene," she said.

"I had to [vocally] match the scene and through the glass in the booth was the entire team, all male, watching me.

"It was excruciating... at that stage I had been in the games industry a while, and I had never felt so shaken".

Not unreasonable to say that this situation should not be repeated.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, what they're asking for is pretty standard stuff in other media. A friend of mine is an actor who played a scene where he had to shoot a masturbation scene. He was alone in a room with like 3-4 people: sound guy, camera guy, director, and I think the intimacy coach was there too.

Having a whole team watch you pretend to have sex is not okay, what the hell.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Having a whole team watch you pretend to have sex is not okay, what the hell.

the problem here is the consent and awareness, not the actual scene. It should be entirely illegal to approach production like this.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I mean, most of the team should be watching because they're trying to do their jobs, not because they're ogling the actors. And this is even more removed from sex than movies' simulated sex, because I assume they're in full mocap suits and everything.

Hell, you don't even need both people doing motion at the same time, as long as you have the poses roughly correct. You can edit the motion curves to make the rhythm match.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

I don’t believe you’re wrong here in saying that. These don’t seem like unreasonable asks at all, and something I’d expect to be normal standards for the industry.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I wonder if that would be a genuine use case for "AI". If the voice actor consents to have his voice represented in such a scene but doesn't want to play it out in a studio, the computer model could take over that part.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yes, these precipts seem to be common in the movie industry

Ms Jefferies was consulted by Equity in the development of their guidance which requires that when recording explicit or intimate scenes:

A summary of the story, scene breakdown and scripts should be distributed to all cast members in advance.

performers should be able to request a closed set where access is kept to a minimum.

a competent intimacy coordinator should be engaged.

She argues giving actors more information will help them deliver better performances and argues "there is an appetite for change".

Ms Jefferies stresses the guidelines are not trying to put boundaries on storytelling. In the ten years since that incident there have also been major improvements, she says - and "these guidelines are just to bring it even more in line with the best practices in the film and TV industry". and I can't think of news stories that show this is a problem in terms of leaking a story.

So, why not have the same degree of safety and protocols in game development?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

They are the bare minimum that should be expected. Honestly, the studios who did this should be named and shamed. The actors shouldn't ever have to deal with this, and I'm sure the studio would lose far more money than they could wish to gain by being deceptive. It's capitalism. They're after profit. Make honesty the most profitable option or you'll get dishonesty.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

With THIS context added, yeah I see why people are made. I thought this was the usual "Video games are too sexy!" nonsense we've had ever since we saw Princess Toadstool's ankles for the first time back in 1964... But uhh, wow.. This

This is just outright fucked, I would even argue this could legally count as a form of sexual assault. IANAL though

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

ok so like, is video game acting like the worst field on earth, could you not just, refuse to do this? Seems like a fully reasonable thing to do to me.