PORN AND PONG by Damon Brown

One of  history's dirty little secrets is that most advances in technology have wound up being used for pornography/erotica -- so it's no surprise that sex has made its way into video games.  But did the sex in society affect the games, or did the sex in games affect society?  This is discussed in Damon Brown's book Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture.

This book is divided into three sections: "The Porn Era (1972-1995)," "The Lara Croft Era (1996-2001)," and "The Grand Theft Auto Era (2001-2008)."  Brown talks about not just the overtly sexual games -- the ones in the title; the infamous and crude Custer's Revenge; and the Leisure Suit Larry series -- but also what else was happening in the world and technology.  For example, one section begins with a detailed description of the interactive experience NASA provided of images from Mars -- and how they were overshadowed by the online Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape.  "Porn pundits argue that it was downloaded or bought online several times over any Mars-related paraphenalia," observes Brown wryly.  "In retrospect, it seems that Pamela Anderson Lee was the real uncharted world."

Porn & Pong isn't a consistent look at the intersection of video games and sex.  The book provides some good details and observations of the mix of the two, from the iconic Lara Croft's idealized/excessive measurements (38-24-34) to the fact that Custer's Revenge "sold eighty thousand copies at fifty bucks a pop" to the MMORPG gay pride parade held in World of Warcraft.  However, the book doesn't make a case for these games affecting culture as for their being affected by it, namely through the numerous controversies and attempts to ban them.  Porn & Pong notes that Playboy had its first video game centerfolds in 2004 -- but that it happened after the magazine was losing readers to Maxim.  This book isn't helped either by numerous typos (plus the phrase "a porn," as ridiculous sounding here as when used on Family Guy) and excessive spacing between paragraphs, giving the impression this book needed to be padded out.

The most insightful part of Porn & Pong is in Jon M. Gibson's introduction, where he argues that video games are still stuck in the juvenile, t&a-focused stage of dealing with sexuality.  Brown's book tends to support this view of sex in video games without commenting too much on it.  In the conclusion, Brown says, "...video games and their virtual worlds have rapidly changed our perception of entertainment, of interaction and of human relationships."  While this may be the case, Porn & Pong suggests that when it comes to sex, video games follow societal trends instead of creating them.

Overall grade: C+
Reviewed by James Lynch