Actors demand action in response to “disgusting” scenes from explicit video games.Actors in the video game business have expressed their anguish over being called in at short notice to work on explicit material, such as a scene involving a sexual assault.
Modern video games frequently feature sexual scenes, which are created by filming real actors who are then digitally transformed into game characters.
However, actors have told the BBC that they frequently are unaware in advance that scenes may involve intimate acts due to a culture of secrecy surrounding projects, where scripts are frequently withheld until the very last minute.
They say that after acting them out, they felt “upset” and “shook”.
Performing arts union Equity is demanding action from the industry – it has published guides on minimum pay, and working conditions in games, including on intimate or explicit scenes.
Professional casting director Jessica Jefferies primarily works in the video game industry and has a passion for it.
She was a member of a small group that performed motion capture for studios that game developers frequently used before that.
Motion capture performers act out the movements of video game characters on a sizable, empty set while donning skin-tight body suits covered in markers. Their movements are digitally recorded.
According to her, developers frequently kept actors in the dark about the nature of the scene or the game.
“A studio would email or call and say, ‘We need you on these days for a shoot,'” the woman explained.
“That was all the information we’d get.”
Ms Jefferies told the BBC she was once asked to act out a scene with a male performer involving a sexual assault with no prior warning.
“I turned up and was told what I would be filming would be a graphic rape scene,” she said.
“This act could be watched for as long or as little time as the player wanted through a window, and then a player would be able to shoot this character in the head.
“It was just purely gratuitous in my opinion.”
She refused to act out the “disgusting” scene – which was made worse as she was the only female on set.
“There’s no nudity involved, but its still an act and there’s an intimacy in that act and also a violence in this situation,” she said.
“So yes there may be a layer of Lycra between us, but you are still there and still having to truly immerse yourself in this scene.”
In the end her concerns were listened to and the scene was not recorded.
