A game too far?

[Korgeta]

News Link

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Games have been bordering on controversy for some time now, with complaints of overly realistic violence in first person shoot em ups or the level of intense violence and sadisim such as the saw game, resident evil, manhint and other games that are 18 rated. Is this a game too far to some, or all? And if people do frown on this then should they frown upon the heavy violence in some games as well?

[Moby Halcyon]

A small Japanese game doesn't exactly represent the entirety of gaming - it's like claiming the torture porn of Hostel and the like represent the entirety of film. Moreover, what does "too far" even mean beyond vaporious 'think of the children' nonsense? That said, the game developers had to have been smoking something when they thought this up.

Though, tossing out Resident Evil as an example of extreme too far realistic violence made me laugh. Surely one couldn't have thought of a dozen more violent games to object to?

[Korgeta]

Am just throwing the questions and read what other people have to say, I do agree that a small game does not represent the gaming industry or what people play on but popular gaming styles will be mimiced if they were popular enough. The GTA series pretty much made people copy the free style roaming and 'do what you want' with your character.

[Vehrec]

You're Four Years too late to be complaining about this game's questionable morals. And since it's developer stopped releasing it two years ago, you're complaining about a game that can't even be obtained. Face facts man, if nobody's mimicked it yet, it's pretty damn unlikely they will anytime soon.

[adam_grif]

If people think this is the depth of moral depravity, they ain't never been to 4chan.

I think I mentioned in another thread that there are communities of people dedicated to rape fantasies (would you believe that our science teacher in year 8 casually mentioned this in one of the classes ). There is porn (the filmed kind) about this sort of thing. This is a fairly extreme example of it, but it's really not that much worse than a bunch of the other shit out there, much of it available at no cost to anybody with the inclincation to find it.

I don't think anybody here seriously thinks this is anything other than fear-mongering. I've never seen a retail chain that even carries AO games, so the only thing "banning it" will do is force people to torrent it instead of ordering it online.

[AniThyng]

Why is a rape game 'too far' over a violent murder simulator (aka just about any action game, notably gta) anyhow? Both depict criminal acts, and most legal systems procribe far more servere penalties for one over the other, emotional outrage notwithstanding...

[Archaic`]

Why did CNN and other news agencies drag out the story of this game again? It's such old news it's not funny.

[Samuel]

If people think this is the depth of moral depravity, they ain't never been to 4chan.

I think I mentioned in another thread that there are communities of people dedicated to rape fantasies (would you believe that our science teacher in year 8 casually mentioned this in one of the classes ). There is porn (the filmed kind) about this sort of thing. This is a fairly extreme example of it, but it's really not that much worse than a bunch of the other shit out there, much of it available at no cost to anybody with the inclincation to find it.

I don't think anybody here seriously thinks this is anything other than fear-mongering. I've never seen a retail chain that even carries AO games, so the only thing "banning it" will do is force people to torrent it instead of ordering it online.

No, the depth of moral depravity was best shown in another thread:
http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 2&t=141482

There are worse, but that is near rock bottom. This is just disturbing- although as long as they stay away from trying to write lyrics and a tune it doesn't spark extreme revulsion. There is notably worse stuff that we are not allowed to speak of on the board (rule 7).

Looking at the first link, apparently there is no good ending for the game, which seems appropriate.

Why did CNN and other news agencies drag out the story of this game again? It's such old news it's not funny.

The second link is from the BBC. It mentions a push to ban it- maybe that is why it is in the news again. Or maybe it gives them an opportunity to sell copies- it has everything: sex, videogames, japanese, women and violence.

[Ford Prefect]

Uh, it was banned. Like, two years ago? I can't remember the dates exactly. That said, I like how the CNN article about this automatically equate all hentai with violent rape and describes it as 'thriving'. Amazingly, there is a market in Japan for pornography, and there is a subset of that market which likes some weird shit. I'd make a 'video at eleven' joke, but apparently there already has been video. As it is, there's a pretty large social stigma associated with porn games of any stripe, even the most vanilla of such.

[Vendetta]

Actually, the interesting thing that came out of CNN discovering Rapelay two years later than the entire rest of the news media is that they had one of their pet experts on, who basically said that if it weren't for the exposure on things like CNN, most people would never even have heard of the game, and so any potential damage they claim it might do would only be possible because they reported on it in the first place.

[Korgeta]

You're Four Years too late to be complaining about this game's questionable morals. And since it's developer stopped releasing it two years ago, you're complaining about a game that can't even be obtained. Face facts man, if nobody's mimicked it yet, it's pretty damn unlikely they will anytime soon.

Well one of the links for the article was dated 2/3/10 so you can't really shoot the messager if am following an article that states something as if it was recent and not something that occured four years ago. Though I did use the search status for the term raelay and it was only brought up here twice, only in the context of posters and not so much about the game itself. The post though isn't a complaint it's just bringing a topic to the forum.


Moby Halcyon:

Though, tossing out Resident Evil as an example of extreme too far realistic violence made me laugh. Surely one couldn't have thought of a dozen more violent games to object to?

Well Manhunt at the time was banned in the UK, if you want to talk about the 'bad' games then talk about what you know or caught the most media attention.

The saving grace on games like rsident evil Resident Evil, etc are at least they are still trying to go with the survival aspect to justify the killing, or simply killing bad guys/monsters.

[dragon]

Uh, it was banned. Like, two years ago? I can't remember the dates exactly. That said, I like how the CNN article about this automatically equate all hentai with violent rape and describes it as 'thriving'. Amazingly, there is a market in Japan for pornography, and there is a subset of that market which likes some weird shit. I'd make a 'video at eleven' joke, but apparently there already has been video. As it is, there's a pretty large social stigma associated with porn games of any stripe, even the most vanilla of such.

It was banned in Japan 2 years ago, the US never banned it as the company stopped making the game. Granted that don't mean much as it's very easy to find a English version of it, in many different locations.

Having played it, can say yes it's disturbing but no worse than these ultra violent games full of death and mayhem.

[Havok]

So then, not disturbing at all? Because I don't know a single person, or have even heard of anyone, being 'disturbed' by playing a violent video game.

[dragon]

So then, not disturbing at all? Because I don't know a single person, or have even heard of anyone, being 'disturbed' by playing a violent video game.

Really even all those teens driven to kill because they played violent games Granted that was disturbed in the head. Would sick and disgusting work for better adjectives.

[Losonti Tokash]

i have, on occasion, seen rapelay described as "the falcon 4.0 of rape"

prerape startup checks and a dynamic subway car

[Oskuro]

So then, not disturbing at all? Because I don't know a single person, or have even heard of anyone, being 'disturbed' by playing a violent video game.

Well, I have. When I'm shooting people in a game sometimes I start thinking about how horrible it would be if they were real people, with families, pets, mortgages... That is until I was doing taxi missions on GTA:SA and a random girl jumped in and said "My father is rich! Drive!" after wich I calmly proceeded into an alleyway, had her out of the car and baseball-batted her to death.

Now, seriously, feeling empathy for fictional characters isn't that hard, but just as critics of videogames should do, you need to remember it's just a game.

As for Rapelay, I looked into it when it was brought up on a thread here before (with that hilarious Falcon 4.0 quote too ), and it didn't look too far from other 3d sex games out there (didn't play it, though), and was quite tame compared to some hentai adventure games I've laid eyes upon. I guess all the fuss comes from the game being honest and having the word "Rape" on the title, because, seriously, almost half of the hentai games I've seen are about the main character forcing himself on women (or on not-quite-women-yet ). It is a sad day when I miss Cobra Mission, wich not only had consensual sex between adults, it had actual gameplay.


In fact, here's an example of a regular (and somewhat tame by hentai standards) game: Benzaie's GameFAP Review (NSFW)

[Admiral Valdemar]

I'm sure it was a really great game for the genre, but clearly we're far more into the whole soldiering or brutal murdering aspect of virtual worlds, not rape. And we all know murder is more socially acceptable than rape for entertainment purposes.

[Oskuro]

Again, haven't played it, but wouldn't define it as great anyway, it just seems to do in 3d what many hentai games have been doing in 2d for quite a while. It is funny how this game is getting all this attention, while games with way more disturbing premises go unnoticed, I guess it's because of the title, it'd be harder to make decent headlines with one of the more cryptic japanese titles.

Murder, rape, and many other ills of society are a part of our world, and it is perfectly valid to include them in whatever entertainment product you want to make. The problem arises when said behaviours are portrayed in a positive light, or even encouraged. Of course, it is worth debating why murder is so acceptable when compared to other awfulness, but that'd be better suited for a morality thread, I guess.

[Stark]

i have, on occasion, seen rapelay described as "the falcon 4.0 of rape"

prerape startup checks and a dynamic subway car

Do you have something against rape checklists? Systematising sex has been good for the Japanese birthrate. Oh... wait?

Since people love playing games where you're an unrepentant murderer just out of jail for murder who murders for no reason, this really is just a cultural thing; people don't like to talk or think about rape, even though sexual violence is very common. It's just not common IN MEDIA, unlike regular violence which is ubiquitous. The flow of hentai games is psychologically interesting (right down to the whole same four archetypes of girls in every single game, the no challenge/no risk thing) given what you can assume is a closeted and repressed audience.

Well, my girlfriend likes them, but I mean the OTHER audience.

[Spekio]

Yes, we should ban this work of fiction beacuse it's subject is offends society's moral. Specially because it is being shoven down our throaths and we can't avoid seeing it.... oh wait.

[Admiral Valdemar]

i have, on occasion, seen rapelay described as "the falcon 4.0 of rape"

prerape startup checks and a dynamic subway car

Do you have something against rape checklists? Systematising sex has been good for the Japanese birthrate. Oh... wait?

Since people love playing games where you're an unrepentant murderer just out of jail for murder who murders for no reason, this really is just a cultural thing; people don't like to talk or think about rape, even though sexual violence is very common. It's just not common IN MEDIA, unlike regular violence which is ubiquitous. The flow of hentai games is psychologically interesting (right down to the whole same four archetypes of girls in every single game, the no challenge/no risk thing) given what you can assume is a closeted and repressed audience.

Well, my girlfriend likes them, but I mean the OTHER audience.

I do find it endlessly interesting how cultures react to such things. I also note that the only people I know who really play these games are female. A work colleague often downloads them and has fun, though she is bi and not one to be bossed around, so I think it may play to some sexual deviancy in her rather than idle curiosity. She, ironically, finds FPS games rather nasty and boring.

[Glimmervoid]

I'm sure it was a really great game for the genre, but clearly we're far more into the whole soldiering or brutal murdering aspect of virtual worlds, not rape. And we all know murder is more socially acceptable than rape for entertainment purposes.

Don't forget genocide and crimes against humanity. I remember some good times killing each and every member of a civilisation, down to the last peasant, in Age of the Empires as a kid. Really you have to wonder about the value system we apply to games sometimes.

[Sarevok]

Its not just games. Anything charged with sexual themes is a strict taboo in movies too. Hollywood would gladly show people gunned down, decapitated, set on fire etc. But there is no way in hell a mainstream movie is going to feature a sex scene without convenient shadows and bedsheets.

[AniThyng]

I'm sure it was a really great game for the genre, but clearly we're far more into the whole soldiering or brutal murdering aspect of virtual worlds, not rape. And we all know murder is more socially acceptable than rape for entertainment purposes.

Don't forget genocide and crimes against humanity. I remember some good times killing each and every member of a civilisation, down to the last peasant, in Age of the Empires as a kid. Really you have to wonder about the value system we apply to games sometimes.

It's also worth noting in context that generally speaking historically with the sack of a city or an invading army came plenty of rape.