May I ask a question of opinion
I know this is a sore topic but

If you were playing a creature collection style game. Any kind of capumon type thing.
1: How upset do you think would people be if some of the designs had genitals in a non sexual context.(IE: A bull statue type of creature based on the Brazen Bull or that one statue on Wallstreet having balls in its design)
2: How upset would YOU be if some of them had genitals.
3: Would this make the game better or worse in your mind?
4: If you can answer... why?

Honest answers only please.

1. People get upset over the littlest things, so it’s safe to assume that some would get upset over this. For example, a small amount of gamers got upset of seeing horse balls in Red Dead Redemption 2.
2. I wouldn’t be upset. I worry more about the gameplay.
3. Unless the genitals majorly impacts the gameplay (lol), I remain neutral about it.

demesejha said:
May I ask a question of opinion
I know this is a sore topic but

If you were playing a creature collection style game. Any kind of capumon type thing.
1: How upset do you think would people be if some of the designs had genitals in a non sexual context.(IE: A bull statue type of creature based on the Brazen Bull or that one statue on Wallstreet having balls in its design)
2: How upset would YOU be if some of them had genitals.
3: Would this make the game better or worse in your mind?
4: If you can answer... why?

Honest answers only please.

I would not be upset in the slightest. In fact, I hate the "genitals are invisible when not in use" trope. I would buy such a game on the spot if only for the refreshing change.

People in general however, would raise holy hell.

thirtyeight said:
I would not be upset in the slightest. In fact, I hate the "genitals are invisible when not in use" trope. I would buy such a game on the spot if only for the refreshing change.

People in general however, would raise holy hell.

That was kind of the conclusion lots of people seemed to come to as well, and I really appreciate the input. Im gonna go ahead with it when appropriate.

All answers depend on the realism level of the game, and more importantly on the desired audience the game is supposed to reach, and if the addition of it adds anything of value to the game.

1: If you market it at kids in an english speaking country: very. If it's marketed towards adults probably a lot less
2: Not at all, unless it's just there to cause controversy and get people to talk about an otherwise unremarkable product
3: Heavily depends on whether it's just aesthetics or if it has consequences on the game play
4: As an example if you need to ID creatures yourself in the wild in order to catch the proper sex for breeding it'd be useful to have. That would give the game more realism and an (easier?) way to tell the sex apart, and wouldn't rely on something like a magical indicator. But if it is used as such an indicator it should be consistent that *all* monsters have some form of dimorphism that makes it possible to ID them. Maybe a few could have something where you need to catch them first and have a "professional" ID them for you, but the majority should probably be able to be told apart by view.

Also, none of the above assumes sex happens, for all I care it can still be eggs and the business just happen off-screen at some ranch or daycare.

I assume it is about games that are not explicitly positioned as porn.
1) Nudity and genitals are very sensitive topic for some reason I don't understand. No one demands you to dress your pet in public, but if your game character has genitals? Outrageous! Still, it is currently a bragging matter for some adult-rated games, so it is possible.
2) I'm all for having characters with all their anatomical parts.
3) It would improve its atmosphere. You know, like famous horse balls in RDR2. And, if it matters for a gameplay, visually discerning sexes may be useful.

In both cases as you brought up yes it would primarily be used as a method to tell what sex each creature was to allow for the breeding system and also just in general for flavor since theyre just monstrous animals for the most part.

Really appreciate the input.

I think it would be cool to see a game where you sexed animals via their genitals and/or other dimorphism, rather than being given just a male symbol or female symbol in some informational chart.

That said, if you are determining the sex of an individual by their genitals, it might come off as a little bit weird if any two individuals of a given species were otherwise identical. There's something a little bit odd about having to examine a creature for an individual trait, even something like genitals, because it makes you confront that otherwise, the models / art are all the same, which is something you usually don't have to worry about as an artist because people aren't really examining or considering it much after the first individual.

Plus it might be a bit boring if players have to examine the creature but are only ever interested in one characteristic?

If you're going to do something like this, and you're having a breeding system, I think you might be best off having some other traits that players would be on the lookout for for any individual. You could have their size and coloration differ, neither of which requires changing the models. And then perhaps a couple of other more complicated traits.

I really don't know what sort of game you're going for, but I'm generally of the opinion that if you're going to go for some feature or gameplay mechanic, you're best off giving it some depth or it could end up coming off like a simple chore.

I'm more or less neutral about it. I don't see anything wrong with it but then again as I'm nudist and not bothered by nudity I may be biased. I could see a mixture bothered by it, not caring or liking it. I wouldn't do it in a kids game. That being said I feel that Pokémon could benefit from it if it wasn't aimed at kids. As a game mechanic...well once I learn a species' dimorphism I'm pretty good at spotting the difference but I feel that genitals would help with species that don't have a difference. Like other people said it does add to the realism which I like. Bottom line I can take it or leave it.

I don’t see any problems with the genitals in games if they are designed for an adult audience. For those who are against just add a censorship setting. So for example they did in the game "Conan Exiles". there you can even adjust the size, also the genitals will be in tamed animals, it only affects the appearance

It's funny, Animal Crossing New Leaf does not censor paintings and sculptures. It looks to be the same for Animal Crossing New Horizons as well, with them in HD even.

I'm neutral about it if it's in a mature game. As long as it's just part of its design and for nothing else

If you were playing a creature collection style game. Any kind of capumon type thing.
1: How upset do you think would people be if some of the designs had genitals in a non sexual context.(IE: A bull statue type of creature based on the Brazen Bull or that one statue on Wallstreet having balls in its design)
2: How upset would YOU be if some of them had genitals.
3: Would this make the game better or worse in your mind?

1/Highly depend of the target of the game. I wouldn't mind, in your exemple, if it was in a game with heavy content (like a "last of us", but def' not a current style "pokemon".)
2/I generally find it not necessary, and it usually reveal the "hornyness" of the autor. So I'm usually against it. Drop my satisfaction quite a lot.
3/as said, worst (conditionnally). without a good reason to put it, it's not necessary. I like nudes, but if it's just to please some horny teenage, I'm off.

as a small edit : I say all this, but I dont think I would really bat an eye if suddenly pokemon was more "realistic". Change by itself isn't a bad thing and those change wouldn't really hurt anyone. (in your exemple)

1. There ARE people who complain about the ball sack on the Wall Street bull sculpture. You can expect people to complain if genitals are present in your game (if there is no due warning beforehand).
2. I wouldn't care. We all have them. Pornography and artistic nudity doesn't faze me. Otherwise I wouldn't be here.
3. It would make it better OR worse for me. I'd interpret it as an artistic decision.

However, I am not "most people." A lot of stuff doesn't bother me anymore.

In the end we decided to do it after all. Having dimorphism be natural and not locked to a specific symbol is good tbh.

That said. Im kinda surprised you necroed this 2 month old thread. Was there something specific about this topic you wanted to discuss?

demesejha said:
In the end we decided to do it after all. Having dimorphism be natural and not locked to a specific symbol is good tbh.

That said. Im kinda surprised you necroed this 2 month old thread. Was there something specific about this topic you wanted to discuss?

When your game is ready, will you be providing a link so we can support it?

thirtyeight said:
When your game is ready, will you be providing a link so we can support it?

Absolutely! Its still in early phases so it will be a while but it will absolutely get mentioned here.