And we have a winner: (via Slashdot)

Erotic MMO Targets Female Audience

My god...I'm not entirely sure what to say. There was me, cackling with glee at the thought of how badly an MMO based on Star Trek could possibly go, and then someone comes up with an idea like this. Reading through the article does little to answer the main question I have; which would be "What the hell are you thinking?", but the basic premise seems to be that women don't like conventional pr0n, like men do, but would prefer something more interactive - obviously, an MMO is the answer!

Frankly though, while I am certainly no expert on women, I'm fairly sure that the kind of comprehensively vile and psychologically abusive environment this world is likely to degenerate into within the first two weeks is probably somewhat less palletable to the average self-respecting 18-35 year old single gaming woman, than a typical top-shelf grot-mag or sleazy thumbnail site. Still, I could be, and am often, wrong.

I remember the gruesome fascination I had with the subversive underground exposes into the seemingly innocuous world of The Sims Online, when amatuer reporters were being banned left and right for daring to show the world what really went on in 'Alphaville'. I mean for godsake, it's a game about doing dishes, buying carpets and watching telly, all in the blandest suburban setting imaginable. That such an anodyne world can descend into one where players roam in packs and set fire to each others houses, and where underage gamers can run, by all counts, very successful brothels, simply didn't occurr to the game's developers, which is probably the same kind of problem we're looking at here.

(All though I do notice a very asinine 'We can't control what the community becomes' cop-out in there...nice try, but you're still probably going to hell after the first game-related suicide. Enjoy.)

Still, bearing in mind the absolute pandemonium the 'Hot Coffee' sex mini-game caused recently (up, up, left, A, A, right, B, B, apologise, move to spare room, cry self to sleep...), I somehow doubt that an MMO which is likely to need Rape-Homicide CSR staff and a Restraining Order List instead of an Ignore List is ever going to see the light of day. Probably a good thing too. Call me a prude, but I just know Bad Things are going to happen in a game like the one being proposed. (That's 'Revolting and Harrowing' Bad, by the way, as opposed to 'Naughty and Fun' Bad...just so we're clear.)

But remember kids, it's not just about one stupid oddball title - when the Normal People see something like this filter through to BBC News Website or MSNBC or similar in a month's time, they're pointing and laughing at All Of Us, WoW people included.

And the mechanics? I mean hell...how exactly is XP calculated, for starters? And Pick-Up Groups...is this finally a game where those are more appreciated than obsessive guild raids? The mind truly boggles. As if they haven't given the Fundamentalist Right enough to have fits over, they're still deciding whether to put homosexuality in the game too, or not. I think it's probably going to be needed really...there's going to be an awful lot of girls-who-like-girls-who-are-boys-who-like-girls-who-do-girls-like-theyre-boys type of shenanigans, and why cut yourself off from your main audience?

Gah...mind...seizing...up....too...much......stoopid!

I love being an MMO Pundit sometimes - it's like watching a slow motion car-crash....of clown cars!