Video games and sex have a long and rich history. From the snicker-inducing game ‘Leisure Suit Larry’ of the late 1980s to modern sex-filled versions of popular games like Sims and World of Warcraft, people have been finding ways to incorporate sex into video games from the very beginning.
But one online game has taken things farther and now creates randomly generated avatars for gamers with one odd twist – their penises are always on display. Rust is the latest title to take the world by storm and its popularity is revealing more than some players would like.
Rust is a multi-player role playing game, called an MMORPG, which means it is played by people all over the world, hence the MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) and RPG simply stands for Role Playing Game. Other well-known MMORPGs include World of Warcraft and Minecraft, both of which have become subcultures both online and off.
So what’s all the fuss about Rust? Well, in Rust, players begin by being “spawned” into a world armed only with a rock and a torch. They have to gather supplies, tools, food and friends in order to survive and flourish. Since the idea is to simply survive on your wits, players don’t create an avatar and give it any abilities. Instead, the game generated everything from a player’s race to their physical characteristics.
When developing the game, coders opted to let some things simply be random while others were based on random bits of information. One of these random selections was the size of the penis for male players within the game. Recently, it was revealed that the size of a man’s penis in the game of Rust is based on the User ID he uses for the website on which the game is hosted. Rust designer Garry Newman explained the process recently in this way:
“It takes the 64bit int Steam ID and uses it as a random seed which is then used to randomize a bunch of stuff about the player—dick length being one of those. We do this so players will be kind of recognizable in game and that their identity could be something that will follow them around.”
Penis size doesn’t actually matter in the game – or at least not in any logical way – but some players think those with a smaller penis may eventually feel intimidated by others. Could this potentially lead to self-confidence problems for men out in the real world? Certainly there have been cases where video game play has begun to serious affect a person’s Real World life, so the danger is there.
Of course, the more likely result – according to gamers with a sense of humour and a deep understanding of the gamer mentality – is that it won’t be long before people are selling virtual penis extender options for in game use. These penis extenders will, of course, only exist in the game and will be more for laughs than anything else, but the fact that gamers are already talking about them shows just how ubiquitous penis extenders have become within pop culture.
Some say art imitates life and others insist it’s the other way around. Whatever your take on it, the controversy and discussion penis size in the game Rust has caused proves that the two do go hand in hand. It also highlights just how intertwined our online and offline personalities have become and why it’s important to stay well grounded, even in the fantasy fueled world of online gaming.
