Are you freakin' kidding me?

[Nazulu]

I have no idea, but it seems like a mighty over-reaction. There are so many people on TV that became really sensitive over some words and are very quick to call out sexist and racist, and that's ridiculous. Can't anyone stop and think before calling out people like their monsters? And it's hypocritical for many as well since most people can talk to their friends or whoever and say things they normally couldn't say to others, so sometimes it becomes a habit. This is just making the whole world paranoid as far as I can see.

 

[fibchopkin]

[
They may not have been the best choice of words but I didn't think of rape when he said that. It's ridiculous that something is so easily put out of context. He was beating her at a game. Not raping her.

I didn't realize it was a rape joke either, until the big fuss over it- and I'm really touchy about rape and domestic abuse jokes, I don't believe they're ever appropriate, but The E3 situation? Maybe the guy chose his words poorly, but the girl didn't seem upset, scared, or offended, so I really don't see the problem.

 

[AstylahAthrys]

It honestly sounds more like what the nurses say to me when I gripe about getting my blood drawn.

Also, as someone who really can get sensitive about men being misogynist bastards and rape jokes, I don't see a problem. Not everything needs to be taken out of context and construed into a rape joke. This certainly shouldn't be.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Microsoft seems like they want to just absolutely destroy all goodwill they have after how strong the 360 was in the last geneartion (not that they had much with the constant RRoDs and time it took tog et a new one).

Granted its a joke and i dont think anyone seriously thinks thats the best way to introduce your system on th elargest gaming stage, but still, after how badly your new system has been received pretty much on day one, Microsoft needs to start kissing ass. Keep going this way and thy'll have to ship 100$ in each game with a written apology if they want to keep the market.

 

[Uhura]

Yeah, I wasn't aware of any rape connotations either. I just thought that that part of the presentation was just really awkward.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Before I get to the meat of my response, I'm going to shield myself in the cloak of Louis CK. Remember when Tosh made those rape jokes and everyone jumped on him? And then Louis CK kinda/sorta defended him and a bunch of people jumped on him before he explained himself? In an excellent interview on the Daily Show, CK talked about the reaction to his "support" for his fellow comedian as well as his defense of the "anything can be funny" hardline. Then he went on to talk about how reading a few women's blogs on the issue made him think.

In particular, he said, his reflexive response that ?any joke about anything bad is great? was challenged when he read a blog post about how the possibility of rape ?polices women?s lives? and narrows their possibilities.

I'm going to disagree with the majority here and say that it's very important we analyze our culture and take steps to correct or even excise things that don't belong. The "casualization" of rape humor, rape language, and rape imagery is an enormous problem. It's certainly not limited to this industry, but I think it's fairly safe to say it's more prevalent in online gaming communities than anywhere else. You definitely don't see much of it in, say, professional sports.

I also understand the reactions in this thread. There's really no denying the toxicity of the gaming community. For whatever reason, it's pretty much a cesspool. As a member of that community, I can also empathize with people who are tired of being called misogynistic and oppressive and sexist at every drop of a hat. It's frustrating to be hit with such powerful labels when most of us think of ourselves as pretty decent people - and most of us are right.

At the same time, if you're most men, you will never "get" rape. You will never appreciate the extent to which fear of sexual assault governs and limits the lives of women. You simply can't fathom it. I'd say it's almost like a white man's inability to grasp the oppression of racism, but that's not even an accurate comparison; there are many social circumstances wherein a white man might suffer from racism. In fact, the only people who might properly empathize with a woman's pov on rape are prison inmates.

I've rambled. Point is: language is powerful. Rape is beyond prevalent in our society. If you disagree with the way someone is connecting dots, that's fine. But is it really worth clinging to these jokes? Are they that funny? Should they be so endemic to our way of life that we can't recognize how they might affect a vulnerable subset of people and consider ejecting them? Why not adopt other (admittedly still aggressive) terms to describe what we do to one another in video games? Why insist upon using language and imagery that are so clearly gender-charged?

 

[Darken12]

I do not find this okay. Not because it was directed at a woman. This is in, fact, about rape. There are no other connotations were "Just let it happen. It will be over soon." is not meant to be related to rape. This is not "reading too much into things". That is using rape to trash-talk someone.

And I genuinely do not care about the genders of the people involved. This would be just as terrible for me if it was a woman saying that to a man.

I am also extremely disturbed by the amount of people who consider all this to be normal or even acceptable. I don't know what I find more repulsive, the line itself, or the fact that nobody gives a fuck.

 

[JazzJack2]

I do not find this okay. Not because it was directed at a woman. This is in, fact, about rape. There are no other connotations were "Just let it happen. It will be over soon." is not meant to be related to rape. This is not "reading too much into things". That is using rape to trash-talk someone.

And I genuinely do not care about the genders of the people involved. This would be just as terrible for me if it was a woman saying that to a man.

I am also extremely disturbed by the amount of people who consider all this to be normal or even acceptable. I don't know what I find more repulsive, the line itself, or the fact that nobody gives a fuck.

It's called a joke, you might want to look that word up in a dictionary.

 

[GonvilleBromhead]

FieryTrainwreck, I happen to agree with you, but at the same time I do think that by being overly vocal against such language doesn't really help eliminate it. There is a lot of humour to be derived from breaking taboos, and by further strengthening such taboos inevitably leads to a pushback - and those people who derive humour from violating this particular taboo will thus find the jokes even funnier; in much the same way that, whilst fewer people make racists jokes these days, the existence of the taboo against racist humour causes the joke to be (for all intents and purposes) funnier on account of the shock element. Knowing we shouldn't find something funny when it is funny makes it all the humourous.

Honestly, I think the best way to deal with it is simply not to laugh.

With regards to the phrase, the connotations with sexual violence seems a tad flimsy to me. It's a phrase that I've heard used in a variety of circumstances. For example I'm certain that's what my Doctor said to me when I had a lumbar puncture.

 

[HippySteve]

I don't think it's a massive issue, but honestly, hearing that during the show- already poorly scripted, I might add, just made me squirm. It was uncomfortable.

 

[Darken12]

It's called a joke, you might want to look that word up in a dictionary.

You mean I can say literally anything I want without consequences if I claim it's a joke?

WOOHOO CONSEQUENCES ARE FOR SUCKERS!

 

[ShipofFools]

At this very moment, I am completing the construction of a machine that will, once activated, rape every man, woman and child on the planet (AND in space) simultanously.
Just so we can finally be done with this thing.

 

[SSJBlastoise]

Yeah. That comment was taken way out of context. I would be more concerned with just how EMBARASSING it was for the woman.

I mean seriously. Not only was the presentation dull, but it seems that she either didn't get a grasp on the controls long enough, or she just doesn't know how to play the game.

Like no one likes having their ass totally handed to them on a giant platform. Aside from the guy who was clearly a "pro" she didn't look like she was having any modicum of fun getting the beat down.

And no guys, it wasn't scripted.

This is probably going to sound condescending but did you even watch the presentation? It was either scripted or they managed to both pretend they were both good and bad. She kicked his ass 5 mins after he beat her in the exact same fashion so it was most likely scripted but there was no way she was really that bad.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I thought it was a hilarious unintended meaning. There aren't a lot of things typically said in game trash-talk that you can say at E3, and the ridiculousness of the script just made the rape connotations funnier. But even if it was intended, "Just let it happen, it'll be over soon" would, I think, be a reference to actual rape, made for comedic value because of the meaning that is being used, which is not actual rape, but rather in-game humiliation. Rape as part of casual language is closer to it's serious meaning than, say, 'gay', which means unfair, unmanly or stupid as opposed to homosexual, but I consider it the same kind of thing. And similarly, I have heard the term 'homosexual' used in place of 'gay' in a casual context for comedic value as a reference to the 'serious' definition. Basically, saying 'rape' as meaning a thorough in-game beatdown is fine with me. I wouldn't say it in my own persona, but when other people say it I know what they mean.

 

[DoPo]

There are no other connotations were "Just let it happen. It will be over soon."

Medical operation, as was said before. Also, getting a tattoo, I suppose. I find it disheartening that "it can only be about rape and nothing else" when, in fact, it can. Similar language can always be used when somebody is in a bad position and somebody else is advising them to bear with it. Now, it could be rape, but saying it can only be rape because it could be rape strikes me as "jumping to conclusions".

 

[RubyT]

Exactly what context would "Just let it happen, it'll be over soon." be okay?

People aren't saying "beating a girl at a game = rape" people are saying "using stereotypical rape dialog is pretty nasty"

What the heck is "stereotypical rape dialog"?

When did "Just let it happen" become taboo? If you PC Nazis continue your stride, we'll have limited the English language to three dozen approved sentences by 2020.

You know, unlike you I'm no expert on rape lingo, but I'd imagine phrases like "Don't scream!" or "Take off your clothes!" would be in there. Are those offensive? Please, tell me, you seem to be the authority on appropriateness.

 

[Darken12]

There are no other connotations were "Just let it happen. It will be over soon."

Medical operation, as was said before. Also, getting a tattoo, I suppose. I find it disheartening that "it can only be about rape and nothing else" when, in fact, it can. Similar language can always be used when somebody is in a bad position and somebody else is advising them to bear with it. Now, it could be rape, but saying it can only be rape because it could be rape strikes me as "jumping to conclusions".

As a healthcare professional that routinely needs to inflict minor but necessary pain to patients, let me assure you that you never, ever, ever say that to a patient. Not that there aren't some douchebag healthcare professionals that try to play it "cool" like that ("oooh I made a rape joke, aren't I super edgy and cool?"), but I would seriously consider it grossly unprofessional. So please, don't consider it something acceptable within the healthcare profession because one doctor committed a faux-pas.

And no, it's not jumping to conclusions. That is exactly what the comment was about, and what it tried to convey. To presume otherwise is to play dumb.

 

[Proto Taco]

Yes it was a rape joke, yes it was a rape joke because he was playing against a gal instead of a guy and yes it was entirely inappropriate because it was a rape joke directed at a young woman. You can try to justify trash talk and 'open-ended words' all day long but at the end of the day a rape joke is a rape joke and they're not ok because it's still a very real problem.

As soon as men stop perpetrating the majority of violence against women the kind of joke mentioned in the OP can be discussed. Until then it's way out of line, especially for a public corporation on a public stage.

 

[josemlopes]

Yeah. That comment was taken way out of context. I would be more concerned with just how EMBARASSING it was for the woman.

I mean seriously. Not only was the presentation dull, but it seems that she either didn't get a grasp on the controls long enough, or she just doesn't know how to play the game.

Like no one likes having their ass totally handed to them on a giant platform. Aside from the guy who was clearly a "pro" she didn't look like she was having any modicum of fun getting the beat down.

And no guys, it wasn't scripted.

Yes it was (unless you are talking about the sentence that he said). The beatdown was scripted, how would you explain the fact that in the second round she took out his entire life with one combo. They both knew how to play, one was supposed to destroy the other first to brag about it and show off that record feature and then the other was supposed to do the same to brag about it while showing off the Twitch feature. Nothing wrong happened here, this was all just to show two features of the console while adding what one could call a "storyline" to make the presentation less boring.

Either way both knew how to play and both kicked each others asses so I dont see why most people suddenly forgot about the second round.

As soon as men stop perpetrating the majority of violence against women the kind of joke mentioned in the OP can be discussed. Until then it's way out of line, especially for a public corporation on a public stage.

How many women did you ever killed in games? How many men did you ever killed in games?

 

[Something Amyss]

If it were another guy on stage I guarantee no one would have made a fuss about it. It is normal game trash-talk in the sense that it's pretty much gender-blind and happens in every competitive game you'll likely ever play.

I like the way "gender-blind" almost always means "male."