Seamus Blackley, creator and designer of the original Xbox, has revealed that Microsoft were not particularly happy when he compared playing video games to a bit of happy time by yourself.
Near the end of 2001 and just before the first ever Xbox launched across the world, Blackley spoke to journalist Dina Bass and said “Gaming is like masturbation. Everybody does it, nobody wants to talk about it.”
“This quote nearly got me fired from Microsoft,” tweeted Blackley recently. “It was mainly that the quote appeared in the east side journal and some conservative spouses of executives read it and… I was summoned to building 4 shall we say,” he added.
To put things in perspective, back in 2001 gaming was viewed in the mainstream media as a very niche past time and not something adults really did. However, plenty of adults did game but rarely spoke of it, hence the hand shandy metaphor.
Obviously things have moved on since then, the majority of adults game and we’re rather more sexual liberated these days as well. Channel 4 has Naked Attraction in which nude contestants decide on who to date while viewing their downstairs area and Netflix has shows such as the sex positive Sex Unzipped and then there’s the ever delightful Cock Destroyers.
Those “conservative spouses of executives” are probably horrified of where video games have ended up. We have same sex relationships in Assassin’s Creed and other games, rampant boffing in the older God of War titles, and dating simulation that cover every possible scenario you could think of.
Want to date your massive weapon who turns out to be a sexy handsome chap in disguise? Boyfriend Dungeon is for you. How about a cat, or maybe a pigeon? On PC there are thousands of dating titles and plenty of games that cater for every desire, including one where you soap down hunky men in a shower. What a wonderfully liberated world gaming has turned in to.
Source: Twitter
