I can't believe I'm making this writeup. Not because it's about sex, but because I'm going to lay bare before you the dark depths of my own gaming geekdom. You've been warned.

This seemed fitting with the recent rumblings of a Playboy featuring renders of "naked" female game characters (one could argue that game characters are almost always naked, since we don't bother to model the skin under their clothes, and underneath this skin, they're as hollow as a chocolate easter bunny). Those efficient Germans beat the US to the punch on the games/girlie mag cross-over front. Witness Spielboy! My mind is still reeling from the pun. Not only does this webzine exist, they are actually on their fifth issue.

Okay, so it's not a direct match to what Playboy is doing. Spielboy is really more about a playful combination of eroticism and boardgaming. It reminds me of Dan the Automator's Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By in that it's so playful that I have a hard time telling whether it's satire or straight-faced sex-positivism. Sections like the version of Am I Hot or Not using images from board and card games suggest satire, while the (tame) Pictoral points toward a more serious outlook.

This is the part where I reveal just how deep my gaming geekdom goes. What really interests me about this site is not the sex, but the sheer unadulterated love for non-electronic gaming and everything associated with it. There's a quiz page where you can try to match up 20 game designers with their previous occupations.

Take a minute to comprehend what that means.

While Germany is certainly famous for their love of family games, this sort of gaming wonkery just totally blows my gourd. Spielboy is unique in that it is not a goofy sexual niche site, no, it presents gaming qua lifestyle so completely that it demands human sexuality also be viewed through that lens.