Rape simulator game

[morningstar2651]

Recently, Amazon was selling a game entitled RapeLay made by a Japanese company, which essentially is a game that simulates rape. :o

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...-selling-3d-rape-simulator-game-14183546.html

*trigger warning*

Later on in the article it indicates that it has "key features" which means if a girl gets pregnant you can force her to have an abortion. Not only that, the player can get people to join in the attack.

Now there are a many issues at play here. Like whether Amazon is allowed to sell a game like this. But what does that say about society as a whole? To me it seems that this game will normalize rape, just like other games out there that normalize violence and other crimes.

What really bothers me is the cover, the girls look like sexualized objects which to me can send the message that rape and sex are the same thing.

What are your thoughts?

Freedom of expression protects even expression such as this. Ever heard of Custer's Revenge? I haven't played RapeLay, but I hear it's disturbing...

Games like this, however, aren't very profitable because retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon refuse to carry them. Most of the people that play them play pirated fan translations. This means that the game doesn't make a profit and the creators lose money.

You should read up on sex in video games.

http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Video-Gam...95/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1234691476&sr=11-1

 

[SallyNow]

I think it's really funny that so many people don't see the connection between what a society sees as entertaining and what a society does in real life and that culture can tell us a lot about a society. Funny because it's funny to think of so many usually sane, intelligent people be so ignorant about the connection between culture and society.

It is just a game, but it's a particulary violent, brutal game with very personal details. It's not like a book or movie or TV show about rape that makes a person really think about the subject. It's a game that makes rape a fun and entertaining activity. Plus, as can be seen by posts in this thead, it allows rape to be considred "funny". I doubt it will encourage anyone to actually go and rape people but it does say something when people find rape something fun to do in their free time.

 

[morningstar2651]

"Games are largely about getting people to see past the variations and look instead at the underlying patterns. Because of this, gamers are very good at seeing past fiction. This is why gamers are dismissive of the ethical implications of games -- they don't see 'get a [sexual favor] from a hooker, then run her over.' They see a power-up." -- Raph Koster, (A Theory of Fun)

 

[Chesterton]

The more sexually repressed a society is, the more - shall we say, "extravagant" outgrowths will blossom in its underground.

Now that I come to think of it, Victorian England and contemporary Japan are very much alike in that regard: publicly, anything pertaining to sexuality is UTTERLY taboo - while below the surface, strange fruits appear.

In what way are the games and public vending machines underground or below the surface?

 

[morningstar2651]

In what way are the games and public vending machines underground or below the surface?

Actually, the vending machine is used to make it more private - the customer doesn't have to be embarrassed by talking to someone or paying someone for the undergarments.

 

[Chesterton]

Actually, the vending machine is used to make it more private - the customer doesn't have to be embarrassed by talking to someone or paying someone for the undergarments.

But the customer has to stand in front of the machine in view of all passers-by.

They also sell booze in vending machines, don't they?

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

But the customer has to stand in front of the machine in view of all passers-by.

They also sell booze in vending machines, don't they?

I point you to this article on snopes, dealing with the whole issue.

Here's an excerpt that would directly relate to your question:
"Part of the appeal of such machines is attributable to a matter of convenience, but concern for privacy also fuels the mania. There is less chance of embarrassment in buying condoms from a machine than from a store where the sale must be rung up and bagged by a clerk. Likewise, purchase of "pink" videos (what in the West are termed "blue movies") are less likely to be blush-producing experiences when these transactions can be affected without anyone else's looking on."

 

[Chesterton]

I can see where using a machine would be preferable to dealing with a person, but I saw a news story once which showed a man using a panty vending machine in a crowded subway with dozens of people walking around him. I guess that's what I'm thinking of – that would be at least as embarrassing.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that I think some here may be confusing the idea of prudishness with the idea of politeness. I think there's a stereotype of the Japanese being a polite and quiet people (perhaps as opposed to a stereotype of the American being rude and loud). But politeness and prudishness are two different things. This rape game, panty vending and Japan's huge pornography industry are indications of Japan's permissiveness, not indications of it's repression.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

I can see where using a machine would be preferable to dealing with a person, but I saw a news story once which showed a man using a panty vending machine in a crowded subway with dozens of people walking around him. I guess that's what I'm thinking of – that would be at least as embarrassing.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that I think some here may be confusing the idea of prudishness with the idea of politeness. I think there's a stereotype of the Japanese being a polite and quiet people (perhaps as opposed to a stereotype of the American being rude and loud). But politeness and prudishness are two different things. This rape game, panty vending and Japan's huge pornography industry are indications of Japan's permissiveness, not indications of it's repression.

I've experienced Japanese prudishness first hand. Of course, it's a socially trained reflex that has everything to do with specific cultural conceptions of what's appropriate/polite and what isn't - but that's what prudishness amounts to, right?

My partner and I were having dinner with a Japanese exchange student. Afterwards, we said goodbye to each other, and my partner and I kissed. Not in an overtly sensual way. Just the sort of innocent "goodbye"-peck that you might even see exchanged between a mother and her child. However, the Japanese girl literally screamed and covered her eyes, showing all signs of intense embarrassment.
Now, this reaction was definitely prompted by what Japanese culture considers to be acceptable behaviour in public. Yet her reaction was intensely emotional, the sense of shock you might (potentially) derive from seeing someone naked in public. And that emotional reaction, that sense of embarassment at seeing even such an infinitesimal amount of intimacy - that's prudishness.

 

[Chesterton]

I assume your partner is female?

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

I assume your partner is female?

No, otherwise I would have pointed that out, don't you think? Don't hold this against me, but I'm a happily married, monogamous heterosexual.

 

[Chesterton]

I won't hold it against you, but Lilith might.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

I won't hold it against you, but Lilith might.

Yeah, it's almost shocking how utterly normal my private life happens to be, given how my personal convictions defy all sorts of cultural norms and conventions. I suspect my dreadlock-wearing, (formerly) pot-smoking party girl sister-in-law thinks that I'm boredom personified; the spitting image of a bourgeois intellectual.
Alas, I find her sort of rebellion to be awfully conventional, too. If you want to defy norms, don't do so by subjecting yourself to the next-best stereotype.

 

[Chesterton]

Alas, I find her sort of rebellion to be awfully conventional, too. If you want to defy norms, don't do so by subjecting yourself to the next-best stereotype.

I understand. It seems more difficult to be a non-conformist with any originality these days.

 

[Polycarp_fan]

Recently, Amazon was selling a game entitled RapeLay made by a Japanese company, which essentially is a game that simulates rape. :o

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...-selling-3d-rape-simulator-game-14183546.html

*trigger warning*

Later on in the article it indicates that it has "key features" which means if a girl gets pregnant you can force her to have an abortion. Not only that, the player can get people to join in the attack.

Now there are a many issues at play here. Like whether Amazon is allowed to sell a game like this. But what does that say about society as a whole?

I have made the case about what this says about society. "Anything goes" is a reality now.

To me it seems that this game will normalize rape, just like other games out there that normalize violence and other crimes.

What really bothers me is the cover, the girls look like sexualized objects which to me can send the message that rape and sex are the same thing.

What are your thoughts?

You can't answer this thread correctly without placing blame for society reaching this point on certain kinds of belief systems and social and political perspectives reaching true implimentation.

And that could violate the rules here no matter how you try to avoid naming names.

It's best not to buy this thing.

 

[ranmaonehalf]

Frankly i dont think its going to be a number one seller.

 

[svl3p]

I think it sounds sick sick sick...Just disturbing.

Yes, there are shows on TV that depict rape. But they also are "catching the bad guys" who raped..NOT encouraging it.

Yes, a lot of people will rape whether they play the game or not. But some who never would have thought themselves capable will play the game and think "hey I'm good at this on the game, why not in real life."
Or, they will become more violent.

Everyone's heard of kids "acting out" their games and TV shows....why would this be any different?

I just think it's sick and hope it never finds it's way to Canada..better yet, I hope it gets pulled off all shelves.

 

[Chesterton]

Frankly i dont think its going to be a number one seller.

The bonus edition comes wrapped in soiled panties. Maybe that'll boost sales.

 

[ranmaonehalf]

In what way are the games and public vending machines underground or below the surface?

Here in Japan they have vending machines for anything. Ive seen sex toy machine as well as porn. So yes it does cut out the face to face bit.
Similar to buying condoms from a machine or from a clerk. Some people get embarrassed

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Freedom of speech.

While I don't agree with the material, I agree with their right to say it and sell it. As long as they're not physically breaking the law, we don't want the government putting their nose in the business of what we as individuals should see and hear.

...or has anyone forgot what Hal Lindsay almost did to the music industry when he was given way too much authority to censor from Ronald's administration in the 80's?