Hurt Me Plenty

In 2016, Yang released a revised and updated version of Hurt Me Plenty as part of Radiator 2, a compilation of his previous games.

• Title — Hurt Me Plenty • Developer — Robert Yang • Platforms — Linux, macOS, Windows • Released — 2 December 2014 • Modes — Single-player

• Illustration — A screenshot of gameplay in the Radiator version of Hurt Me Plenty, representing the negotiation of boundaries with the partner. Gameplay in Hurt Me Plenty takes place over three stages, playable using the mouse or with a Leap Motion controller, in which the player simulates a scene of spanking with a computer partner. In the first stage, players "negotiate" boundaries and roles by using the controller to shake hands, providing the player to agree upon with a randomized level of intensity, the level of clothes worn by the partner, and the safeword chosen. In the second stage, players are able to spank the partner by moving the controller back and forth, with the frequency affecting the level of intensity. The player is given feedback from the partner on the level of intensity experienced, with the partner providing enthusiastic responses, pain responses or using their safeword if the intensity exceeds the agreed level. This stage ends when the spanking discontinues or when the player continues to spank the partner after the safeword is used. In the third stage, representing aftercare, the player uses the controller to rub the shoulder of their partner, who provides feedback on the appropriateness of the intensity of spanking given by the player and whether they respected the boundaries agreed at the start of the game. If the player violates the boundaries of the partner by continuing to spank them after the safeword is used, the player is locked out of replaying the game as the partner is "recovering from the previous player's abuse" for a specified time limit of several days.

Hurt Me Plenty was created by New York-based independent developer Robert Yang. Yang designed the game as a response and critique to the representation of sex in contemporary video games, citing the transactional and reward-based depiction of sex in games such as those in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series as "cold" and based on a culture of "manipulation and perceived entitlement to bodies". In response, Yang intended to create a game simulating sex as "an on-going process" emphasized on "tender interactions" and "intimacy". To design a responsive process, Yang modelled the experience on BDSM due to the emphasis on consent in those communities, integrating concepts practiced in BDSM including theories of consent, soft and hard limits of pain and intensity, and aftercare. Yang noted the game was best played in a group, in the event that players violate boundaries and lock future players out of the game to reinforce the message that "abuse doesn't just hurt an individual, it also hurts a community and makes it less safe of a place." Whilst Yang noted the game was not intended as pornographic and viewed the content as "too formal and distant" to be pornographic, Yang encountered problems with the sale and promotion of Hurt Me Plenty and similar titles due to their violation of content policies on payment and streaming services. Following release, Yang contributed to presentations and discussions about the game and its themes at the NYU Game Center in 2014, and IndieCade in 2018. In 2016, Yang re-released a revised and updated version of Hurt Me Plenty as part of Radiator 2, a compilation intended to enhance the "accessibility and preservation" of his earlier works, and provided additional graphical and gameplay enhancements to the game in a 2017 re-release of the compilation titled Radiator 2: Anniversary Edition.