CNN discovers RapeLay

[banthesun]

CNN Reporter: "But this is a terrible game, and you were horrified, right?"
Woman: "Nope, I don't really see why you're kicking up such a fuss."

 

[Danpascooch]

For all of you saying "America owes them for the nukes, let them make the game" are absolutely nuts.

The assertion that we are doing them a favor by letting them make the game is insane, we don't own them. And we do owe them a massive debt for cluster-fucking two of their cities, but the idea that letting them exercise their own culture and law in their OWN COUNTRY is somehow subtracting from the debt we owe them is outrageous.

That's like saying "I owe you a favor, as repayment, I won't VIOLATE YOUR RIGHTS THIS time" - Oh gee thanks

 

[thepopeofatheism]

Ah, Japan.

If most people knew half of the kinds of shit that went on in countries like Korea and Japan this would be nothing.

It's an entirely different world over there.
Y'know, there's a reason Japan had an isolationist policy for so damn long....

EDIT: Besides, I can think of at least three other rape-based hentai games.

 

[PopcornAvenger]

I really wouldn't rely on comparing rape statistics between the US and Japan. That's REPORTED rapes, and in Japan, where the female is expected to be submissive and is still very much a second class citizen, very few victims of rape ever report it. Unless, of course, the perp is a foreign national.

I disagree that sexual repression is the source of our ills, also. The very act of trying to repress sex, of making it taboo and forbidden, only makes it the more alluring. Forbidden fruit always tastes better. I would say our attitude towards sex is to be admired and enjoyed, not dismissed. On the other hand, Japan's attitude towards sex IS very different from ours in the US - they're far more open about it, always have been. They've always viewed sex as something natural, shameless, and not mysterious or taboo. As a result, when they REALLY want to get deviant, then you have S&M, rape, and their infamous tentacle scenes.

Yes, it's old news. Japanese hentai - games & video - is filled with nonconsensual sex. It's just the game's title that got red flagged over here in the US.

 

[Weaver]

And in other news the Sun rises again!

 

[Ancientgamer]

Damn.

Somehow the real fact of all this culture of sexuality and fetishism kinda springs from the results of ATOMIC FUCKING WEAPONS being dropped on not 1, but 2 japanese cities 65-odd years ago.

With a genetic memory of that, it's not hard to see why the culture there is way far-out there in comparison with american culture.

I always think of Robin Williams whenever something like this gets brought up in any way shape or form.

"America was first colonized by the Puritans, who were people so uptight, the british kicked them out."

Me typing it isn't nearly as funny as him saying it is, but you kind of take my point.

Anybody here seen Cosplays? It's basic fetishism, but in an arena were you can act out and be applauded in public.

That section of the culture has already seeped into the Fandom arena.

It's strange to see people going on about something like this. Particularly when whenever one of these politicians or corrupt preachers/etc, etc, is outed publicly for sexual perversion, the kind of crap that's listed is like a laundry list of the content found in games/media of this type.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Way to completely misinterpret the cause of current Japanese society. Genetic memory does not mean what you think it means.

Basically, the only religion Japan had previously ever know to any large degree was Shinto, which treated the emperor more or less a holy symbol. After world war 2, the imperial throne had been publicly humbled, destroying a lot of the basis for the radical nationalism and moral code that had come beforehand. At the same time, they were exposed to Western style consumerism, without the strong puritanical background of the west acting as a counterbalance to unrestrained capitalism. Say what you will about religion, but sociologically that's basically why Japan became such an insanely materialistic society. Which, compared to the west, is "weird".

I really wouldn't rely on comparing rape statistics between the US and Japan. That's REPORTED rapes, and in Japan, where the female is expected to be submissive and is still very much a second class citizen, very few victims of rape ever report it. Unless, of course, the perp is a foreign national.

You can't argue from a negative, it's a possible theory, but of course it's also all fabricated. You have no idea of the average report rate of rapes, I doubt you know much about the actual state of feminism. You're just assuming a premise that conforms to your hypothesis, but if you want me to take your argument seriously you need to stop arguing from a postulation against hard evidence.

Oh, and that was quite insulting too.

 

[Coalhada]

Should Japan ban RapeLay because a bunch of stupid gaijin threw a ***** fit? No.

Should Americans collectively shut our fucking mouths and realize that the rest of the world views us the way the other kids on the playground view the asshole rich kid, as nothing but a source of cool toys to play with and otherwise not worthy of friendship?

HELL FUCKING YES.

Agreed.

I'd like to point out that I found particularly hilarious that a feminist group is featured in that report from CNN. ORLY, you guys are offended by RapeLay? What about porn videos that emulate rape situations (some of which are made in the US)? And written short stories about rape fantasies?

I mean, c'mon. Ask JAPANESE WOMEN if THEY are offended. Who gives a f*ck if a WESTERN feminist group is outraged? The game _probably_ (don't know for sure) wasn't even meant to get out of Japan, so yeah. There you have it.

P.S.: "Vanilla Sex", by NOFX, comes to mind.

 

[witheringsanity]

i believe that americans get offended at this stuff because we're far less sexually progressive than (some) other countries, and that with or without the "rape" aspect, people would cry for a ban of hentai games here the same way the cry for a ban of porn now. but even if rape is an illegal and hateful crime, that doesn't mean that media depicting, or even glorifying it, should be illegal here or japan.

same goes for murder. think about mass effect, a game where you end up killing hundreds of people, even innocent people, and yet the flack it got from the media was about it's 5 seconds of butt nudity.

censorship is a slippery slope, allowing the censorship of one thing will just be a foothold for the next step in censoring anything that people don't like. we need to draw a clear distinction between what is REAL and what ISN'T. until we have concrete PROOF that playing violent or sexually deviant games turns you into a violent or sexually deviant person, i dont think we should be banning anything in games or other media.

 

[Lepre-Khan]

After noticing this article from CNN [http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/japan.video.game.rape/index.html?hpt=C2] on my homepage, I just had to post it here. It concerns the game RapeLay, as well as the very old, though CNN describes it as if it is new, controversy that came with it. Basically, it ends up boiling down to this: should Japan ban games such as this, especially since they have now reached international attention?

I find this intriguing. Honestly, I'm slightly offended that someone would even ask this question. I don't feel like we, as Westerners, have the right to say that Japan shouldn't release media with content such as this, especially considering how much we are supposed to respect freedom of speech. It just comes of as if people are judging a culture they don't know very well harshly because they find something in it, which they are unwilling to look at through the eyes of the place from which it emerged, objectionable. Granted, this is not to say that rape is approved of in Japan, but rather to state that the game itself may not be considered strange there, at least by some portion of the population, and that we don't really have a right to impede upon their culture with our own.

So basically, rather than the controversy surrounding RapeLay, I'd rather this discussion be about examples of cultural imperialism, from any culture against any other, in video games. For instance, is it really proper to criticize certain gameplay elements that may be popular in Japanese games when these titles are released in the west?

I agree wholeheartedly.

Well...except for "is it really proper to criticize certain gameplay elements that may be popular in Japanese games when these titles are realeased in the west."

I believe we have a right to criticize certain popular gameplay elements in Japanese games (or any games for that matter) when these titles are released in the west, because some of those elements and western gamers don't really get along. But outright banning of the games because of those mechanics? No.

 

[Phoenixlight]

Hmm I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to ban games like these. It's not like they're very good or even remotely necessary when there's so many other better games around.

 

[Phoenixlight]

I've never played it but from what I know it's a rape simulator right?
While America is SUPPOSED to respect the first Amendment, we really don't. Sure we don't ban music and whatnot but controversy arises over the slightest thing.

Take Lady Gaga's topless twitter pics. There was no pornographic content at all. you only say her shoulders and a bit of cleavage. The media erupted over this. We're in a war in the Middle East and America is focusing on Japan and boobies?

America wants to play Global Police Force. We still want to protect everything. We can't change Japans culture and it would be a dick move to try to.

Well if they're wanting to make the world a better place to live in you can't really blame them, it benefits all normal members of society.

 

[Amnestic]

I really wouldn't rely on comparing rape statistics between the US and Japan. That's REPORTED rapes, and in Japan, where the female is expected to be submissive and is still very much a second class citizen, very few victims of rape ever report it. Unless, of course, the perp is a foreign national.

I've argued this before and in the end I'm unconvinced that Japanese society can account for over 18x fewer reports than U.S. society (which isn't exactly Rape Report Central to begin with, ya know?). While number discrepancies are expected, I just don't think there's that many to support the argument that they're not still behind the U.S. in numbers of actual rapes.

But, regardless, the U.S. is not low on the table and they should probably look at about fixing things on the hometurf before going abroad to ***** about an Interactive Storytelling Experience with virtual rape.

 

[oppp7]

Dammit, I just realized we can't make fun of Custer's Revenge because of this...

 

[II2]

Should stay out of Frontiersman's crank file and focus on reporting government spin jobs.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

yeah cnn is trolling way to late about this..plus who are we as americans to try and tell them thats wrong? the facts have pointed they have one of the least rape rates in the world while we ***** at them for having stuff like this...honestly i would tell japan to keep em goin, obviously its working over their, and maybe someday we can get off our high horse and set bullshit sheltering aside and try out what works

 

[gamefreakbsp]

This is just wierd. I know very well that different cultures have ways that can seem.....unusual.....so to speak. But this....I just can't wrap my head around a culture accepting something like that as normal. It leaves me wondering if eventually american culture will be in the same place.

 

[Snotnarok]

You can tell CNN cares because this game now got free publicity. GTA got the same thing, and Mass Effect, if you didn't want people finding out about it, reporting it is a BAD IDEA, maybe if you, ya know didn't say the name?

The game is old news, my friend got it to show everyone how hilarious japan can be and get away with it how offensive it is. Or was that Rape-play, I recall it was identical to Soul Calibur but clothes came off, all the way off.

 

[Yopaz]

Is it proper to criticize foreign gameplay elements?

Hell to the yes. My standards are always the same, foreign game or not. They can't pull the culture-card and claim that it makes them immune to my criticism.

I must say you do make a valid point here. Spain got bullfighting and that's supposed to be OK because they eat the bull after they're done and it's a part of their culture?
Just because it's culture it doesn't make it right.

 

[C117]

Just leave Japan alone. They've been somewhat weird and different from us westerners ever since the picture The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife was made.

And that's just the way I want them.

 

[Lullabye]

Leave japan alone.
God I hate it when people single out videogames for this crap. How come they don't want to censor out all rape porn? Huh? Well? Exactly.
Hmmmm.........the thing that really bothers me though is how long it took them to catch on.