But I don’t have any money: Actual Play and Porn

The cyclical comparison has returned: actual play is to tabletop as porn is to sex. The basis of the metaphor usually starts and ends on one primary philosophical pillar: actual play and porn are both unrealistic performances of an intimate experience. In some ways, this is true. The two mediums certainly share a lot in terms of form, performance, and audience desire for ever-elusive “authenticity.” A number of cross-pollinations have occurred between them from the early (and, for many reasons, forgotten) AP, I Hit It With My Ax and its cast of adult performers, to the contemporary Tabletopless, an actual play of “porn stars and cam models playing hardcore RPGs,” which can be found at what might be a perfectly named site, CriticalHole.com. I’d also agree that the most popular versions of actual play and porn have created a culture of mismatched expectations around TTRPGs and sex, respectively. And yes, as a teenager I did quickly close my tab when someone knocked on my door while I was watching actual play.

"Actual play is to tabletop as porn is to sex."

A wave of condemnations, disagreements and memes greeted game designer Grant Howitt’s tweeting out the most recent iteration of this comparison. Those in support of porn say it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of both mediums. Those who look down on sex work say it’s a crass comparison that undermines actual play, or use the metaphor as an intentionally derogatory statement. Those focused more on authenticity in either medium argue about the accuracy of performed play (in both senses of the word) to their off-camera equivalents. However, as discourse is wont to do, the conversation is usually limited to debating individual points. It reduces two expansive, complex, and multi-faceted art forms—yes, porn is an art form—to their most visible and commodifiable elements without considering the larger culture in which they both exist. Perhaps we can find commonalities between the two fields, and, in doing so, better understand and support both art forms in an increasingly hostile digital and political landscape.

Sex, like play, is a pleasurable but largely controversial part of being alive. Attempting to dictate a correct way to desire and provide pleasure has been a topic of political and social debate for… a very long time. Embracing that pleasure through personal gratification, artistic depiction, and/or marketable commodification are all manifestations of this attempt to control natural impulses; either through exploitation or radical reclamation.