Larian Employed Intimacy Coordinators to Aid in Developing Baldur's Gate 3's Sex Scenes

And I bet that their writing will be just as weak and goofy as always. If you can't win the people with standards sell sex.

Pfft I could be an intimacy instructor. I’m an expert at pretending to have sex.

This is really awesome to hear. I’m a big advocate for actors having access to professional intimacy training and coordination. Whether it’s full motion capture work or even just voice acting alone, all actors deserve to feel safe in their work environments just as everyone else does.

Self fulfilling prophecy and very good business strategy: make people culturally question and feel uncomfortable about acting a sexual scene so you can sell them the service of making them feel comfortable again.

Acting is acting, abuse on set or anywhere else is illegal and a totally different problem.

Then again, in our litigious society, I suspect producers bring them onboard, I’m sure largely to the annoyance and inconvenience of actors, actresses, and directors, just to avoid spurious claims being made.

@thefourfoldroot1
Bang on. This obsession with monitoring sex is sad. Tens of thousands of years of civilisation and now we need people to help monitor other people who are pretending to do the most natural and important act that nearly every species must perform in case offense is caused whilst making a game.

I guess actors and actresses aren't very good at acting anymore.

And all the snowflakes rejoice at another dragon slayed as the cost of making games increases to employ a bunch of students with useless
gender studies degrees.

this is cool.. they went all is 👏

"I never felt 'yuck' in a recording session at all. And I've got quite a low 'yuck' threshold.

That's it then, nothing to complain about here, folks.

Good to know intimacy coordinators don't see any problem in simulated bestiality. Another piece of evidence to show it's just another one of these BS jobs our current society loves to create.

"OK Kevin, we're about to do the intimacy mo-cap. Are you feeling ok, is there anything we can do to make you feel more comfortable?"
"No I'm fine, thanks."
"Are you sure, is there anything we can do to help you feel more confident about your erection? Would you like us to help you maintain it somehow?"
"Errrr...no really I'm fine."
"OK!!! Bring out the bear!"

I don't understand why we need to see it at all though. What was wrong with the old "Roger Moore raises an eyebrow and then they wake up together?"

And to all of those "It's natural, you prude!!" people, let me remind you that so is taking a dump on the floor.

Do we really, really need sex scenes in a videogame? Can't it just be implied that something happens?

I can remember when games were games and nobody need to be instructed what to do,how to act etc. I feel that just about everything has to be overly diagnosed,disected and scrutinised for fear of somebody getting upset. Hell if it really upsets somebody then we'll just cancel it. I wonder if there was a therapist on hand for the poor sod who had to shag a virtual bear..

Why not just do what 98% of other games and just show it's about happen fade to black etc, cuts to then getting dressed, it serves the same purpose. It's a pointless purpose but sure you'll make the Simps happy 👍

Good to see they’re being used in games too, the industry’s been rife with people exploiting the unique situation for too long.

Wait, sex is not supposed to be awkward?

Video game sex scenes in a crpg is fantastically stupid.
We've come a long way from the Duke Nukem strip clubs

@MattBoothDev yes. It takes the edge off all the death and violence.

@CallMeDuraSouka yeah!! Why can't I just shoot someone in the face without having to be subjected to people pretending to be in love!

@riceNpea Love is not the same thing as sex. Not even close.

@LifeGirl maybe not the way you do it, it is for me, it's an expression of love. If it's just a physical, emotionless act for you I'm sorry to hear that.

Sex is definelty not the same as getting shot, set on fire and killed, I'll agree there.

Another sign that I'm getting old, this seems like a complete waste.
Unless I'm making a decision during sex that will affect the game, then why am I seeing it? Surely we have progressed beyond the days of hairy handed teenagers wanting buxom wenches in every game they buy?
Sex scenes are not needed in such a game and could easily be handled with some moments of intimacy between the characters, followed by a fade.
Once games start to have credits for 'genital modelers', I'm out!!!

@riceNpea not exactly what I want in 65 inches across the living room TV, though.

@MattBoothDev which one, death and killing or sex?

Would love to hear a bear-vampire sexexpert interview! Do it, PushSquare!

"Sex is a part of life". Evidently not for the developers if they have to employ intimacy coordinators.

I got some kinks so I think I might enjoy this game

From what I understand the filming of sex scenes in movies is hardly sexy at all ,what do these intimacy lads and lasses actually do?

I remember the days when Link entered a woman's house to have his "health restored".

No intimacy coordinator required. 🤣

@tallythwack Collect a paycheck.

@tallythwack collect a paycheck and generally not have a purpose in life

Did they pay them with Venmo? 😂

I only registered to say to "thefourfoldroot1" and "riceNpea" thank you for your insightful comments and that i couldnt agree more.

Modern society is really awful in that regard, we are moving backwards... (if you ask me its been downhill on sexual matters since the advent of Christianity)

"Intimacy coordinator" sounds like the new politically correct word for pimp.

@Titntin "Surely we have progressed beyond the days of hairy handed teenagers wanting buxom wenches in every game they buy?"

This is a Dungeons and Dragons game. I somehow doubt the target stereotype has changed that much in 20 years.

Seriously, though, yeah, I'm with you. Character romances is one thing, but I find it kind of awkward that Larian has put so much focus on sex in freaking Baldur's Gate. It feels like a western dating sim more than a new D&D game. We didn't need to watch Jaheira and Viconia simulate sex acts to know they were a romance option in the game. It may be a modern thing to do, but that doesn't mean it has any tact or taste. It's just the HBO influence on gaming dragging it down to the base denominator.

We've heard about sex weekly, and I haven't seen the word "2d10" once.

@Northern_munkey A bear named Pedo.

@GamingFan4Lyf 35+ years later and I never made that particular connection. Maybe she was just a nice friendly villager being helpful?

@thefourfoldroot1 @riceNpea Though the litigious angle does seemingly and unfortunately permeate every aspect of modern society, I’d like to think that, on some level, it’s about going the extra mile to ensure a safe set built on trust, understanding and communication. Humans can be unpredictable. I once had an actor walk on set and, in reference to a small scene to be shot that day and completely out of left field, the first words out of his mouth were, “So who’s the hot chick I get to bang?” All logistics considered, I immediately cut the scene from the script. Who’s to say things may or may not have been different with a professional intimacy coordinator involved in all aspects of planning the shoot but I do wonder. Surely the cast and crew of Rust would have appreciated some extra checks and balances on their set.

@NEStalgia Friendly indeed. 🤣

In all seriousness I don't think it was Nintendo's intention to "go there", it's just funny that it's all done behind closed doors. This isn't Golgo 13 for crying out loud!

Maybe she knows the Life Spell and casts it on Link (since it's the only way to restore Health), but why not just cast it outside?

The old woman probably just gives Link a Red Potion she has stored in her house to restore his Magic.

Wish they had employed a publisher for a physical release too. :x

@mckracken their comments are flippant and childish. If you want a softcore porn game there's plenty out there.

So these intimacy people are also familiar with bear sex?

@Jimmer-jammer a good point well made Jimmer.

We have laws in place to prevent unwanted actions between people at work and acting as an industry has a long relationship with sex scenes as part of the job.

However I can appreciate that during a sex scene things are very personal so if a person feels uncomfortable with what is going on then they should feel able to voice that concern. That is part and parcel of what HR does so there are already mechanisms in place to facilitate anyone who wants to report an issue. No one should have to do anything they are not comfortable in doing so there are labour laws protecting them from that as well as contractual agreements. Often actors in a sex scene request closed sets because of the nature of the shoot. It is common practice for actors to make special requests to help them perform these kinds of scenes, and in my experience (I have worked within the film business in the UK) actors are 99% reasonable people who do not go out of their way to make life hard for each other. Someone saying 'who's banging the hot chick' is extremely difficult to present as a reason for anything when we have no context. At worst it's a thoughtless, sexist remark that would requite taking that actor to one side and be spoken to about appropriate language in the workplace. It's certainly not indicative of the kind of person who will take a sex scene too far and abuse another actor or actress.

To actually create an industry of 'sex moderators' to oversee sexual acting scenes to me is a way of creating a problem to be able to sell the solution, and its symptomatic of this modern obsession with inserting beurocracy, finding offense, inventing reasons to insinuate potential worst-case, egregious interactions as exceptions that prove a rule, all on the name of being seen to be taking action to deflect ideological pressure and criticism from a cabal of people who are less interested in actually doing good than they are in creating a niche for their own righteousness and sense of purpose.

@Northern_munkey Just like in the movie industry we saw how well that went. What's the issue with some build in safeties for the workers.

@tallythwack Yeah it's just a paycheck where a lot of of people are watching and filming I can understand a lot of actors or actresses don't think thats so great.

@riceNpea I appreciate your thoughtful response. For context, this particular experience was my first short film attempted at a professional level (and first time working with professional actors). Due to the reality of micro budget filmmaking combined with the the lack of resources and general experience, you can understand how this scenario played out the way it did and why it impacted me the way it did. Beyond that, I’m pretty much in agreement with the rest of your points.

@Jimmer-jammer I totally understand. The first day of any job is pretty intimidating at the best of times. I'm sure as you get more seasoned that apprehension will dissipate and you become more comfortable with the day-to-day actions that other professionals well known to each other take for granted and forget to take account of when in the presence of new blood 😁

Films sets, due to the intensity of the roles played, the long hours and the close working relationships they breed are often boisterous and rambunctious which I think is healthy.

@riceNpea Absolutely. In this instance, there was no set chemistry built yet. On the right set and with the right crew it stands to reason that it might have flown completely differently (though I maintain it was still uncalled for). Anyway, I appreciate the respectful discussion.

@riceNpea Huh? That was a bizarre take away.....I mean the sex scene in wolfenstein was an eye opener, but was still just bizzare-i mean stars the point?
Do the SIMS have actual sex scenes? I think that would be actually be a place it makes sense

@CallMeDuraSouka not sure what you are talking about. Would you mind expanding, please?

Why are so many of you in this comment section so bothered by a sex scene? "Oh decapitating people is a-okay but how dare we show a nipple". Give me a break.

@Flaming_Kaiser not really sure if you are having a dig or not so i'll just leave you with a 👍.

@Northern_munkey I really believe that actors or better all workers in general deserve honest pay. A lot of people think about the payed actors but thats a small percentage of people that are so lucky.

Are you kidding me? Really wow!