Motherboard

When esteemed video game publisher Bioware released their top-selling sci-fi roleplaying epic Mass Effect in 2007, the video game industry had a bit of a tiff with regards to some of its more “mature” content. As the main character, Commander Shephard (who comes with the option of both male and female gender roles), you were allowed to pursue romantic relations with some of the other characters in the game. But while the fem-Shephard could initiate girl-on-girl interactions with humans and aliens alike, homosexual relations with the male version of Shephard were simply not an option.

This got a lot of people talking, and Bioware eventually caved and said that homosexual relations among male characters would be possible in the series’ upcoming finale, Mass Effect 3. Meanwhile, there are still very few successful video games that explore sexuality, and those that do almost always stick to more “traditional” paradigms.

But inside the anything-goes world of NYC indie arcade Babycastles, these mainstream norms need not apply. As such, “Bad Bitches,” the DIY arcade’s latest exhibit, includes games that unflinchingly tackle issues of gender-swapping, sexual deviancy, dom/sub relationships and more.

• See a profile of Babycastles on Motherboard TV

Behind a rusted metal door on Kent Avenue in Brooklyn, crowds gather to try the games that their local Gamestop won’t touch with a 10-foot pole.

While Babycastles’ new warehouse digs don’t resemble any kind of kinky club, the worlds inside the games certainly do. Almost immediately upon arriving I ran into Gamasutra editor Leigh Alexander, the exhibit’s curator. “We’re trying to get to the sex scene!” she announced emphatically, with a hint of impatience. She and a few others were standing in front of a hand-carved arcade cabinet housing an obscure import game called Yin-Yang: X-Change Alternative, a Japanese dating sim where the main character switches genders using magic potions in order to have sex with all of his/her classmates.

A trailer for Yin-Yang: X-Change Alternative 3.

Alexander rapidly taps the controller button to quickly advance the dialogue and sure enough, a few minutes later the game is showing an image of a pink-haired anime girl with her mouth full of … well, you know.

Metal cans clunk together in celebration. Cheers all around.

Another game, Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer by Nicholau Chaud, plays something like an interactive snuff film. A small audience sips watery lager and watches a player take on the role of a serial killer who wanders a pixelated city in search of victims to lure into his “pleasure dungeon.” Next to it, Hey, Baby by Ladykillas Inc. presents a rough-hewn simulation of Williamsburg, Brooklyn crawling with zombie-like creeps attempting to cat-call you on your way home. It’s a bit like real life for female Brooklynites, Alexander explains, only now you have a machine gun.

The exhibit’s two “headlining” games were both developed by indie creator Anna Anthropy. Alexander had nothing but praise for Anna, a talented game designer and critic who has won a great deal of admiration in the indie gaming community. Both of Anthropy’s games at Babycastles focus on the same decidedly non-conventional topic of BDSM relationships. But through her clever use of familiar game design tropes and humor, even the conservative and squeamish find little, if any, barrier of entry.

A scene from Mighty Jill Off.

One of Anthropy’s most recognized games, Mighty Jill Off uses its insanely challenging platforming to parallel the difficulties of being on the lower half of a dom/sub relationship. It’s a fitting metaphor as “abusive” games of this kind share a long history dating back to the days of the original NES. Other modern day examples like Battle Kid and I Wanna Be The Guy take this idea to sadistic extremes, causing gameplay to feel more like a battle of wits against the game’s diabolical designer.

Accompanied on either side by decorated department store mannequins and projected against the venue’s dusty south wall, Lesbian Spiders Queens of Mars is the exhibit’s most prominent game. It’s the “dom” to Mighty Jill Off‘s “sub,” involving a distraught femme-arachnid who must whip and ensnare her subordinates back into submission. Originally made for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim game portal, the PacMan-like black & neon playing field makes it seem like it might have easily blended in at an arcade in the 1980’s, bare-breasted spider maidens notwithstanding.

Like prior Babycastles lineups, the games are perfectly suited to the wry humor and alternative sensibilities of young Brooklyn. But Alexander and co. hope that the games will also help promote a greater understanding of sexuality, coaxing sex out of video game marketing departments and into more erotic, adventurous places.