Video game actors want less secrecy over projects when explicit scenes are involved

Video game performers want less secrecy over the projects they sign up for, because it can sometimes lead to them performing in distressing scenes without warning, a new report finds.

This article makes reference to sexual assault.

The BBC cites numerous motion capture and voice acting performers, who say they want the industry to be less secretive over the games they’re providing performances for.

Casting director Jessica Jefferies told the BBC that performers are often told nothing by developers about the nature of the game or the scenes they’re shooting until the last minute.

“We’d get an email or a call from a studio saying we need you on these days for a shoot,” she explained. “That was all the information we’d get.”

Jefferies said she had experienced distressing examples of this first-hand, including one situation when she was asked to play the victim of a sexual assault without being told about it beforehand.

“I turned up and was told what I would be filming would be a graphic rape scene,” she told the BBC.

“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 added: “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. 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.”

Jefferies said she refused to do the scene and it ultimately wasn’t recorded that day, but argued that performers should never be put in a position where they have to “kick up a fuss” about explicit scenes they weren’t aware of, especially if – as in her situation – they’re the only woman on set.

A voice actor, who chose to remain anonymous, also told the BBC that performers sign non-disclosure agreements but are still “told almost nothing” about the games they’re working on.

She also recounted a situation in which she signed up to record audio for a major game and only learned when she turned up for work that it was for “a full-on sex scene”.

“I had to [vocally] match the scene and through the glass in the booth was the entire team, all male, watching me,” she explained. “It was excruciating… at that stage I had been in the games industry a while, and I had never felt so shaken.”

She added: “What upset me so much about the situation is I was put on the spot, nobody thought to ask me if I was ok with it, and nobody checked to see if I was ok afterwards.”

Performing arts union Equity is demanding that the games industry take action to improve by giving cast members a summary of the story, scene breakdown and scripts in advance, allowing performers to request a closed set if needed, and hiring intimacy coordinators.