Perverted Minds: You Name it, there’s Pron of it

When playing Super Mario Galaxy, do you wonder what happens when the Wii turns off? I always imagine Mario in his overalls with the arms cut off of his shirt, answering some call for plumbing at the Castle. Peach is not in her normal dress, but a scandalous bathing suit, and Daisy is just over to use the shower. Mario answers the door with an Eastern European accent, assuring them that he will fix the toilet, because he is a plumbing expert. Mario fixes the plumbing, but it is not the toilet — reminds me of a scene out of Logjammin’.

If you haven’t guessed it, we will peer into the perverted mind of the contemporary gamer and the imperative to find (even if they do not find) and create pornography in the world of video games. The images have been coined “Pron,” (intentional misspelling of porn), and have become ever pervasive in contemporary culture and have even been written and read about in numerous (EGM, PC Gamer, Time, etc.) periodicals.

So, how do you say something without saying it?  The answer is secret language (i.e., argot).  We use pron to be secretive, because frankly, we are perverts.  As perverts, we look for pornography in the ordinary, or we search for it so hard we see it when it is not there.  I view it as a demand created from our subculture.  So, here’s my commentary on the pron detailing an old favorite, a special interest, and a contemporary game.

I am a little disturbed at the whole sensationalizing of porn in video games. The thought of childhood favorites making whoopee, or misinterpreting the therapy given to Little Mac as some kind of sexual healing: he’s fighting Iron Mike, he needs all the help he can get!

Though, my lighter side sees this lowbrow attempt at the sexualization of gaming comedic. DragonBall Z characters were an easy pron target if you ever watched the show or played the games. When the Z fighters raise their respective power levels, I think you know what that looks like (over 9000!).

I think World of Warcraft (almost ousted by Age of Conan) takes the cake on this one, allowing highly articulated virtual characters to be put in various positions. Whenever I’m online and see people simulating sex scenes, it reminds me of what 5 year-olds do with Barbie and Ken dolls.

Is this truly a loss of innocence, or a contemporary reflection of the values in a gaming culture? It seems to now be part of a cultural identity, gamers as potential pron (and porn) connoisseurs. Conceivably, pron could be the next pop-culture phenomenon to be accepted by authoritative texts. Maybe we’ll see the likes of “pron” published in Britannica and the Noah Webster Dictionary next to w00t.