Funcom's upcoming M-rated MMO "Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures" caused quite a stir last week when the game's community manager said the US version wouldn't feature nipples, due to legal reasons.
The studio later flip-flopped, however, and declared the announcement a miscommunication; the US version would, indeed, have nipples. More specifically, players could choose to remove everything above the waist on their female avatars, thereby exposing their breasts (complete with nipples, obviously) to the other human players in "Age of Conan."
Gamers may have rejoiced at the prospect of virtual titillation, but Multiplayer wanted some basic answers: why even bother putting nipples in "Age of Conan"? After "Mass Effect," is Funcom risking a mainstream backlash? Did everyone read "nipple" in the headlines and overreact?
For more, we contacted Funcom Product Manager Jorgen Tharaldsen, who also works as a freelance journalist. He just returned from a vacation to Iran covering extreme sports. "Since the very first meetings we had about where to take Age of Conan we were extremely clear on the fact that we were NOT about speculating on sex and violence. We wanted to be about bringing the true Conan experience to the gamers out there, and we have always been clear on that," said Tharaldsen in an e-mail exchange with Multiplayer.
He has a point. Robert E. Howard's mythical universe is filled with scantily clad women -- case in point, the vast majority of "Conan the Barbarian" comic covers feature barely clothed damsels in distress. Conan's not wearing very much, either.
"This is the most hardcore Conan story of all," reads an Amazon.com review of "Conan the Barbarian" novel The Conquering Sword of Conan. "Dr. Freud would have field day with this. Graphic violence, deviant sex, sadomasochism; all are here in full display."
Tharaldsen takes several opportunities to point out that if such displays of nudity are par for the course in the Conan world, their appearance in a game based on that material makes sense, too. Nonetheless, he readily admits Funcom practiced restraint when implementing nudity into "Age of Conan," and expresses some frustration over the United States' response to what Funcom internally refers to as "nipplegate."
What does he mean by that? Read on to find out.
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