Porn and Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture

by Damon Brown, Jon M. Gibson (Foreword)

“A stimulating look at two of today’s most controversial subjects. . . . Sure to amaze and titillate anyone who’s ever hoisted a videogame controller.”—CNN Tech Correspondent Scott Steinberg No book until Porn & Pong has explored how pornography and video games have influenced America’s sexual mores and technological compulsions on a massive scale. The first Atari systems and their phallic joysticks began to sell by the million along with the rise of the VCR and the modern porn industry. Reality TV skyrocketed the same year as The Sims , and the surgically endowed Pamela Anderson was only outshined by one other Lara Croft. Porn & Pong ’s publication comes at the time of the release of several highly anticipated adult-oriented games, including a new Leisure Suit Larry , Tomb Raider , and the sequel to the most controversial video game of all time, Grand Theft Auto . Author Damon Brown examines how politics, hidden agendas, and financial pressure affect the controversial art forms of gaming and pornography. Damon Brown writes for Playboy , Spin , New York Post , and the Inspector Gadget column for PlanetOut, the largest gay and lesbian website.

Genres: Nonfiction, Video Games, Gaming, Sexuality

230 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Damon Brown (damonbrown.net) helps side hustlers, solopreneurs, and other non-traditional creatives bloom. He co-founded the popular platonic connection app Cuddlr and led it to acquisition within a year, all while being the primary caretaker of his infant first son. He now guides others through his consulting/coaching, his Inc.com column (incdamonbrown.com), and public speaking on platforms including TED.

Damon is author of the best-selling series The Ultimate Bite-Sized Entrepreneur. His newest book is Bring Your Worth: Level Up Your Creative Power, Value & Service to the World.

Join the conversation and get your free creative entrepreneur tools at JoinDamon.me.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whatever your opinion on the adult industry, it should be credited for having greatly advanced tech areas we all rely on (the web, digital cameras, home recording / web cams, distribution protocols, etc.). The book mentions that in 1979, 75% of VHS tapes sold in the US were hard-core films, since "the major Hollywood studios resisted the new medium" (yep, same old story). This helped VHS beat out Betamax (in part because Betamax didn't offer adult content).

I was already aware that Roberta Williams (most famous for her "Kings Quest" games series) had, early in her career, made "Softporn Adventure". She's actually featured on the box cover (image is work safe) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
What surprised me (according to this book) is that this Apple ][ game sold 25,000 copies at a time where there were only 100,000 Apple ][s! Remarkable, considering the levels of software piracy at the time.

I always enjoy books that put my childhood gaming into a larger sociological framework, while filling in the gaps. I was little disappointed that a book that gave so many classic game shout-outs completely ignored Infocom's "Leather Goddesses of Phobos".

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book that examines how both porn and technology have changed our culture since the fifties and their perhaps unsurprising coming together starting in the later 1990s. A good book that succeeds in it's overall goal of examining the issue without getting too complex or espousing one specific viewpoint.

Unfortunately, it is a short book and the last chapter seems nothing more than a collection of observations, leading to the title ending on a whimper. Still a fascinating read but once you get past the section on the Hot Coffee controversy, there is little reason to continue on. More pages to work with or perhaps more time, whatever the case may be would have served the book well.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not nearly what it claims to be about. If you're interested in a chronological history of sexual content in video games with a few mentions of contemporaneous cultural and pornographic events, then this is the book for you. If you were looking for a real assessment of how porn and video game sexual content have interacted with popular culture... well, look somewhere else. This book is heavy on the history and short on the analysis.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and entertaining stuff... but I wanted more! It had kind of a breezy tone and skimmed over a lot of things that I would have liked to see more details about.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este é um livro curto, mas bastante interessante sobre a intersecção entre videogame e sexo, ou melhor ainda, sobre a intersecção de sexo e pornografia. O autor, Damon Brown vai analisando tanto ma indústria de videogames quanto a indústria pornográfica possuem paralelos. Isso acontece a partir do ano de 1972 com o lançamento tanto do filme Garganta Profunda como do videogame Cluster's Revenge. Assim vai quando as duas indústrias se tornam um entrenimento para, digamos, serem usados em casa, com o fenômeno dos homevideos e dos homegames. Assim, a forma como consumimos videogames e pornografia, a cultura pop em geral, na verdade, possuem diversos paralelos interessantes e que só foram possibilitados por causa da tecnologia e seus avanços. Foram eles que permitiram com que os videogames e a pornografia se aproximassem cada vez mais do real e da realidade, criando personagens cada vez mais críveis. Não por acaso, as criações de fanarts pornoeróticas se utilizam de skins de videogames para dar mais realidade às cenas que criam. Os limites entre uma coisa e outra vão se tornado mais difusos.

[Michael Roop · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put this one in the philosophy self, cause video gaming is kind of a philosophical ideal; and this is kind of a break down of the history of sex in video games. If we think about it...sex can be very philosophical as well. I'm not here to argue semantics. I'm just pointing out why I thought it was a good idea to group this one into philosophy, even though I should know damn well and good it doesn't go there.
Enough about that though, lets get into this awesomeness of this book. This book is top of everyone's reading list because it's about sex and video games. It actually tracks all the way back to the first sex based game, which werent all that cool looking I'll tell ya that much. At times this book is a real dry read and other times this book is very enthralling. Still at other times you are learning things you had no clue about at all, unless you lived inside the video game industry. The evolution of sex in video games has been a part of all our lives. It should come to no surprise to you when you read about it in this book, but what should come to a surprise to you is how it evolved and came to be. How the rise of games and sex was fought with dollars and cents and society sat ideally by. Well, don't count out Tipper Gore. I still haven't gotten over that whore yet. This book is a must. It is written toward the collegiate environment or the thinking man, but even if you want to learn a bit more or are a casual reader; you'll dig on this book!

[Mjhancock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sensationalist cover and foreword aside, Brown's book treats its topic with a modicum of respect. He divides his discussion of pornography and videogames into three broad eras: the early era, where it was the concept of pornography in games that drove things more than any sort of realism; the growing public awareness heralded by Lara Croft, and what came after; and the GTA era, with public controversies and outcries alongside general acceptance. While the book isn't especially detailed, or in-depth, I do like that Brown spends considerably time matching game history with broader pop culture history, whether it's Ellen and the rise of the same-sex protagonist relationships, or reality shows and the Sims. The connection may not always make total sense, but the effort is appreciated.

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but ultimately very referential to other works. A good starting point and the bibliography can be used as a reading list.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a bunch of Wikipedia articles strung together. What it needs is some sort of critical perspective or argument--ANY argument.

[Travis Wagner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paints a far too broad narrative and one that seems unsure if it is condemning the subject of discussion or tepidly trying to defend it.

[FJohn Rickert · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit lighter than I expected. It is a good overview of the topic, but doesn't bring much new to the table.

[Sajjad Maliji · Rating 3 out of 5]

خلاقیتی که در طراحی عکس روی جلد بکار رفته شده برای من جالب بود. نویسنده از بافتی صحبت می کند که در آن تکنولوژی نقش اساسی دارد. جلد روی کتاب دقیقاً بافتی است که از آن نقد می کند. این کتاب برای آگاهی دادن عرق می ریزد و حقیقتاً تلاش خود را بخوبی انجام می دهد و نگاه تاریخی به وقایع می اندازد.

این کتاب شاید از نظر افرادی، سرچشمه گرفته از یک فرد بدبین باشد اما به نظر من تلاش او مستقلاً یک خوش بینی عملی است. من در دوران نوجوانی خیلی مشغول بازی های ویدیویی بودم و حتی شاهد مشغولیت هم سن و سال های خود بوده ام. هم عصر های من با شخصیت هایی مثل جیمی هاپکینز دربازی بیلی هم ذات پنداری می کردند که در کتاب به عنوان قهرمان داستان اشاره شده یا خیلی از بازی های دیگر به عنوان نمونه مرده یا زنده چهار ، خدای جنگ دو، سیمز دو و ...

نویسندگان بازی جی. تی. ای. پنج در بافت خود داستان بازی همانند جلد کتاب جواب دادند. جواب آن در شخصیت مایکل گنجانده شده. مایکل یک روز پیش پسر خود می رود. پسرش مشغول بازی های ویدیویی می باشد و مایکل او نصیحت را می کند که به بیرون برود تفریح های از قبیل دوچرخه سواری امتحان کند. بخشی دیگر مایکل هم با دخترش دعوا میکند که چرا رقص های سکسی در مسابقه استعداد یابی می کنی و یا مایل به بازی کردن فیلم های پورنگرافی هستی البته معتقدم از نظر شخصیت، مایکل گزینه ی خوبی نبود برای بیان این موضوع. سرآخر همانند فصل اول سریال کارگاه حقیقی جواب داد:

آدمایی مثل تو پیرمردی هستند که فقط نق میزنند و سراخر هم که کره زمین کار خودش را می کنه.

نظر شما چیست؟ شما چه فکر می کنید؟
آیا فیلم های پورن یا بازی هایی که صحنه های سکسی دارند توانایی تغییر در فرهنگ را دارند؟

[Mily Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture explores the impact of sexuality and adult themes in video games on modern culture. The author examines how games like Grand Theft Auto and Tomb Raider have become reflections of and tools for social change, raising questions about sexuality, gender roles, and moral standards.

This book not only analyzes how erotic elements and explicit scenes attract attention to games but also shows how video games have become a platform for discussing freedom, personal boundaries, and diverse sexual identities. If you're interested in the world of adult online games, I recommend checking out this article: https://www.thebestporn.com/blog/expl..., which provides insights into the most popular NSFW games and their significance in the industry.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contrary to the title, this is pretty much just a history of pornographic video games, and not at all an analysis of how they changed out culture. It’s rife with spelling and grammatical errors and, worst of all, it’s boring. I learned some things about early games, and that’s the only redeeming thing about this.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK book for anyone that knows nothing of the subject. This book is easy to read and other some good insight, but if you are a serious gamer I doubt you will learn anything new.