Privates (video game)

Privates is a freeware twin-stick shooter video game developed and published by Size Five Games (formerly Zombie Cow Studios) and commissioned by Channel 4 as a sex education tool. It was published on 6 August 2010 for Windows.[1] The game received positive reception from critics and won a BAFTA Award.[2]

Privates
Developer(s)Size Five Games
Publisher(s)Size Five Games
Programmer(s)Dan Marshall
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Windows
Release6 August 2010
Genre(s)Twin-stick shooter
Mode(s)Singleplayer

Gameplay

The player plays as a squad of miniature Marines wearing condom hats who are sent into various people's vaginas and rectums, as well as other parts of the body, in order to kill real-life sexually transmitted infections (STI), which are depicted as monsters.[3] The right weapons must be used to destroy them, which include anti-bacterial and anti-viral guns.[3] The player can order their squad, which consists of up to three additional Marines besides the player, to attack certain enemy types while they cover the others.[3]

Plot

The main character is Jack, who commands Foxtrot Squad. The squad, whose members have been deemed too useless by the "top brass", is forced to embark on a dangerous mission with a combat veteran in the hopes that they will either "shape up" or die.[3]

Development

The game was funded by Channel 4, in order to promote safe sex for teenage boys.[4][5] Developer Dan Marshall compared the game to Gunstar Heroes in its design.[3] He called his Google Search history when making the game "eclectic, horrific and embarrassing", saying that "if my ISP are snooping on me, they're presumably pretty concerned about my well-being", and saying that the game's artist was "constantly getting sent stuff he desperately didn't want to look at".[3] He also said that his eyes were "opened" about sexual health, and realised how easy STIs were to transmit.[3]

The game was rejected from release on the Xbox 360 by Microsoft after being advised that it would fail peer review due to its overly sexual content.[4] This decision was derided by critics, with Destructoid saying "I think it's very disturbing that we have a culture where deplorable violence is considered normal, but sex [...] is treated like something freakish and wrong".[4]

Reception

The game was positively received by critics. Eurogamer said that it was "genuinely refreshing to experience something that gets straight to the point" about sexual health, pointing to "frightening" statistics amongst teenagers.[6] Rock, Paper, Shotgun praised the game's writing and music, despite remarking on some audio issues.[1]

The game was criticised by a feminist blog, Hoyden About Town, for being "misogynist".[7] In a counter-argument by Lewis Denby of Gamasutra, he said that the game does not try to send the message that women's genitals are "filthy and disease-ridden", but rather was a "great idea" due to its focus on sexual education, calling the article "tremendously bad reporting", but ultimately admitting that "the author has a point" and that humorous games about "serious issues" will always be open to criticism.[7]

gollark: And they're always sane and able to reasonably decide on things!
gollark: Because there's no* way parents can manipulate/coerce children!
gollark: As you can see, I can cause mild degradation of images AT WILL.
gollark: Because the parent can probably coerce them into apious work.
gollark: Parents are sometimes bad and not good.

References
  1. Walker, John (6 August 2010). "Privates Out, Flapping About In The Breeze". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  2. Purchese, Robert (28 November 2011). "Sex education PC game Privates wins a BAFTA". Eurogamer. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  3. Walker, John (17 May 2010). "Exclusive: Getting Intimate With Privates". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  4. "Vagina-based shooter Privates 'too sexual' for Xbox 360". Destructoid. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  5. Gibson, Ellie (24 May 2010). "Zombie Cow game too sexy for Live?". Eurogamer. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  6. Porter, Will (28 July 2010). "Privates Hands On". Eurogamer. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  7. Denby, Lewis. "Opinion: Channel 4's Privates Controversy". Retrieved 12 August 2017.
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