Poll: Is featuring rape in a game going too far?

[Hagi]

If a game features actual rape and not 'just' implied rape then I think it's going too far.

What, in my opinion, sets rape apart from the whole killing thousands thing is the reason why you rape.
You're killing those thousands because somehow they're a threat. They fight back, you're not just trying to kill them. They're often also trying to kill you.

With rape there's really only one reason, getting please from inflicting extreme pain and humiliation on another.
As far as I know even games like GTA where you can kill hundreds of innocent civilians who don't fight back I don't think this reasoning exist. You can kill civilians, but you can't really torture them.

And I think rape has much more in common with torture then it does with murder and killing. In a way it even falls short with torture because even for that there are imaginable reasons that aren't completely psychopathic.

But I can't think of a single non-psychopathic reason to rape someone. And because of that I personally think it's just going too far. I really don't think actual rape adds anything at all to a game (implied rape, when used in the right context and handled with care I have zero problems with).

 

[krazykidd]

Rape as a plot point? Sure.

Rape as a gameplay feature? HELL NO.

Agreed. But even then using it as a plot point would have to be very very carefully done. I could see it being used as a plot point in a very adult story focused game such as Heavy Rain or a gritty crime investigation game. But even then you really have to stop and ask why, and what purpose does it serve other than shock value?

Probably the only time you could see it being used in a way that does not seem sensationalistic or just simply gratuitous is to work it in as a character or NPC's back story. Some hidden and horrifying off camera past event that slowly comes to light. Even then its best impact would probably be when it is implied and not directly said. Let the viewer work out the story for themselves.

Isn't earthbound story about rape? ( i think it was earthbound ) anyways that was a NES game . I mean i think we have at least gotten to the point where the gaming industry could handle rape has a plot point with tact ( except EA , please god don't let EA do this,it would set us back a decade).

 

[ireskimo]

No I don't. If people want gaming to be respected as a medium then why should it be regarded as too far???
There are books, films, and music with rape as a subject. Yet no one questions whether it should happen or not.
It should of course be shown in a way that educates and has a purpose. Not just thrown in, In my opinion it could be used to teach people a lot about emotions and morals especially if it was used in a moral choice situation. I know that not one person I know would want to rape someone in real life for the sole reason of seeing it in a video game. It's people being paranoid and over protective.

 

[Something Amyss]

No, of course it isn't. Sure, you can argue that rape is worse than murder, but we're not just killing one guy every time we go into a videogame - we're committing homicide.

I think you probably meant "Genocide."

Homicide is roughly the same thing as murder. If you were trying to up the scale, you would need to use a stronger word, not a synonym.

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

No, because I don't think any subject matter should be considered "going too far" to tackle in a medium. If rape can be an important part of a movie, I don't see why it can't be so in a game.

Now, I see a lot of people say that using rape in a game is like using murder, so I figure this is as good a time as any to bring up this point: unlike rape, we can (arguably) justify murder in certain situations. A hero kills the bad guys to save the day. A soldier kills another soldier. A man kills another to protect his family. We can argue the actual ethics of these situations until the end of time, but these justifications do exist. Its a lot harder to come up with a good excuse for rape.

Still, I stick with my original point that we shouldn't shy away from tackling the subject just because its a bad thing. It just needs to be handled well and with maturity (yeah, I know, good luck with that one).

 

[aba1]

you know one of the reasons killing never really bothered me is mostly because I know the people I would be killing in the game would just as quickly turn around and kill me. But rape doesn't really work that way so I don't think I would be comfortable with playing that. I think if it was a plot point sure I suppose. I am ok with bondage games but those are mostly there to fill a kink and there purpose is a little different I dunno it certainly is a fine line.

 

[ResonanceGames]

It's a poorly framed question. Rapelay glorifies the rape of women, which is incredibly sexist and misogynistic. There's no such thing as simulated sexism, just regular sexism, and this piece of shit has it in spades. There IS such a thing as simulated violence that hurts and degrades no one, so you can't really make a direct comparison between the two.

Is it possible for a game to deal with rape in a mature and thoughtful way? Yes. Rapelay is the opposite of that.

 

[SageRuffin]

The intro to Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate (the remake for the Xbox) had an implied rape scene. It actually helped explain the relationship between two of the characters.

My argument being that, like most said already, if it's properly handled then there shouldn't be too much of a problem. That is, of course, before the moral guardians roll up with the FOX newscasters and fuck everything up.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

What do you mean by too far?

Do you mean 'too vile for me to ever consider playing' or do you mean 'it should be banned' or what?

No matter how flippantly or graphically a video game features rape it should not be banned.

But as for being too vile for me to play? It depends how it's presented. Is it there to arouse the player? Is it there to show how evil someone is? Is it there for historical accuracy? Is it there as just another thing for the player to do in a sandbox that makes them feel like they have freedom?

These things can overlap but I think it's possible for rape to be in a game and not go too far. More often than not it'd probably be something I wouldn't want to see (well maybe once out of morbid curiosity).

I would have it in RPG games for people who are evil characters. I know they wouldn't do it, but I would think that games like Fable could have it. I mean if my character has red eyes and giant horns sticking out of his head to show how evil he is, and he kills innocent people, then why can't he commit an evil act like rape as well?

 

[Freddyqaqualung]

Rape can be a theme and it can be in a game, but it definitely shouldn't be an option. You could use it as another way to make a villain seem like an even bigger bastard, but you should never have the choice to commit rape and you should never make it a huge part of the story, just a little footnote to maybe flesh out a character.

 

[Captain Booyah]

As many others have said -- as long as it is handled appropriately and used as a plot point or to flesh out the narrative, rather than simply being there to entice. So, yes.

That said...as a gameplay mechanic, that's bloody sketchy ground. The protagonist committing rape isn't even something you really see in other media. For something as explicit as an actual mechanic, I can't see rape being handled very carefully at all. Avoid.

On a related note, it always astounded me how Silent Hill 2 never got any shit for this (to my knowledge). It heavily implied that Angela had been sexually abused by her father, and that's not even touching on what it looked like Pyramid Head was doing to the other monsters. It's not a major deal, but when the Think-of-the-Children Brigade are out and complaining about side-boob in Mass Effect, I have no idea how something like that ever flew under their radar.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

No, because I don't think any subject matter should be considered "going too far" to tackle in a medium. If rape can be an important part of a movie, I don't see why it can't be so in a game.

Now, I see a lot of people say that using rape in a game is like using murder, so I figure this is as good a time as any to bring up this point: unlike rape, we can (arguably) justify murder in certain situations. A hero kills the bad guys to save the day. A soldier kills another soldier. A man kills another to protect his family. We can argue the actual ethics of these situations until the end of time, but these justifications do exist. Its a lot harder to come up with a good excuse for rape.

Still, I stick with my original point that we shouldn't shy away from tackling the subject just because its a bad thing. It just needs to be handled well and with maturity (yeah, I know, good luck with that one).

So then when violence isn't justifiable, then you agree that its wrong? I think that blow up the nuke in Fallout 3 because some rich guys doesn't like it appearing on the horizon, would be an example of unjustifiable genocide.

 

[BleedingPride]

only unless its in silent hill... silent hill is excerpt from anything like that. mostly because they did it already with pyramid head, and maybe or maybe not in downpour, we'll see.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

Well it shouldn't be done cos it would fuel the media's crusade against gaming, but maybe it would be interesting to put a rape scene in a mainstream game like COD just to see fox news and daily mail readers go apeshit over it.

Spoiler: Also, to make rape acceptable, all you have to do is add And pillaging

 

[nokori3byo]

Whoops! I voted before reeding the OP's explanation. As far as the player being able to commit rape, I would say no. Aside from it causing a brand new shitstorm of moral panic, I just don't think an interactive medium like gaming is suited to that sort of content. If it does happen (outside of Japanese niche games), I'd say it would be in a fringe title that would possibly wind up being the Custer's Revenge of the HD era.

As far as rape being depicted in games, well, if it were presented with due sensitivity and justified by context, I don't see why not. Didn't COD:WaW feature actual archival footage of wartime atrocities? I don't mean to sound callous--and that scene definitely left a bad taste in my mouth--but if that sort of subject matter is kosher, then what isn't?

 

[CrystalShadow]

It's just that age-old cultural double standard again.

Violence = OK, Sex = bad.

Granted, rape = Sexual violence, so it kind of covers both bases.

But honestly, this is a pointless question to ask when games are so reluctant to consider sex of any kind without major provisos.

When you can't even show a normal, fairly healthy view of sex in a game, contemplating whether it's alright to depict rape is really awkward.

(As for something like killing kids... That's a different problem. If you can kill everyone else in a game, but the kids are somehow invulnerable, that's just very jarring. It's externally imposed morality that says you can do this to anyone you like, but oh. Not them. Sorry.

But then, that's just me personally. I don't like exceptions in game environments that literally dictate your actions by way of making something impossible.

If a game featured guards or police that punish you for doing bad things, I'd be fine with the punishment for killing children being much harsher. But making it literally impossible when you can kill anyone else just seems off.

Compared to being able to rape someone... That's a different issue. If you can't rape anyone in a game to begin with, that's fine. But if you can rape specific people, but not others, that annoys me again. - I mean, aside from anything else, what message is it sending that you are allowed to imitate rape, but only if it's directed at this specific group?
Or a similar thing with violence.
You can kill group A, but not group B. People seem to justify this because it's usually about children, but the inherent abuse here should be obvious; what if the game instead says you can kill black people, but not white ones? Or you can kill women, but not men? It's the same logic, but applied differently.)

 

[ShadowsofHope]

If it is in the proper context, then no. If it is just there for shock value alone? Then yes.

Is featuring rape in a movie between two real individuals going too far?

 

[Keymik]

I wished that rape was possible in Fable 3, because when I was being a evil tyrant I didn't want to have to whistle a fun little tune to woo the ladies.
We can already smash in people's heads into small bloody bits, then why can't rape be there? But as most has said it shouldn't be there just for the sake of being there. But I would like the option in a RPG game to do so. Not as something sexual or something(I mean almost all sex scenes in video games are black screens with grunting) why couldn't rape just be the same?

 

[DarkRyter]

There is no too far.