Rape Games Not Banned in Japan After All

[Doug]

You can't say there's no correlation between violence and violent games and then claim there is one between sex and videogames. We are in no posistion to judge.

How so? Sex and violence are 2 different things, despite what ratings boards think. I'll admit that we're not in a position to judge without data on whether or not they affect peoples minds in a negative way.

 

[benylor]

First, the game is not cathartic for anyone and the best that can be said for it is that people aren't actually getting raped. There's the very real possibility that some teenager gets into this shit and his subconscious training helps him cross a boundary when he's on top of his girlfriend one day. It's worse than a "murder" simulation game in that someone is more likely to take one step too far when they're pawing their girlfriend with hormones raging than be walking around with a gun in the heat of a murderous rage. However, banning it is useless and we should not be censoring things we just don't like. Humanity at large is better than "see rape game, then rape" and stores will refuse to stock the game either way for the simple fact that the vast vast majority of people really don't like rape or rape games.

Rape is traumatic. It's an intensely personal crime where someone dominates you on a very intimate level. Rape victims will have nightmares and it will haunt them for years. But humans are resilient, and we can overcome adversity if we are not encouraged to wallow in it. You can recover from the trauma. It does not need to define your life. It should not define your life. Suggesting that we need to tiptoe around the subject so that rape victims do not shatter like glass DISempowers them. It suggests that despite all your words, deep down you really believe that the rape victim is damaged goods and will never recover without being sheltered. It's feeding the trauma. If you are actually friends with a rape victim the last thing you do is run around sighing dramatically and suggesting that it's a worse fate than death. It is just not helpful to anyone. Unless you think suicidal depression is the cure.

You really want to help fight rape, at least in America, stop white knighting about killing all the rapists with your bare hands and instead focus on our weird hangups about sex that cause us to be fixated on it. Give teens realistic sex education. Stop going fucking ballistic whenever anything remotely related to sex appears on broadcast television. Stop treating guys like a penis with a body attached whose worth depends on notches in the headboard. Stop treating the vagina like it's some sacred object not suited for discussion from which women derive some sort of archaic purity.

People being embarrassed and ashamed about sex and our bodies in general is a huge cause of both rape and its under reporting.

Quoted for emphasis.

 

[LuckyClover]

Sigh, why doesn't Japan just ban rape FULLSTOP!

sorry to say this but Japan has one of the lowest amount of rapes in any country because of these games...

American rapists rape people
Japanese rapists go out of their way not to and play rape games
we call this MORALS

Actually there are reports of people in Japan who hold "rape parties". They invite unsuspecting girls to dinner parties pick out their favourites and rape them.

Furthermore Japan may have the apparantly lowest rate of rape but maybe thats because the judicial system over there makes it harder for women to prove they have actually been raped, the victim has to show undeniable proof that she had tried to fight her attacker off before its considered rape, so situations where the woman was too afraid or even unable to fight back are not considered rape.

For people saying "its just a game" its more than that, it normalises rape in society. This game is different than GTA as the whole point of GTA is not to kill people but to move up the ranks, and there is the 5 star system, so the player is still "reminded" that what they are doing is wrong. In Rapelay the whole purpose of the game is to rape that family to the point they no longer care and there is no system in place to say what is going on is wrong, infact the character feels justified in what he's doing.
The fact that games like this exist makes me sick, what kind of decent person would actually want to play a game like that?

PS: Since when has rape ever been erotic? Perhaps you should ask victims if they think their attacks have ever been in any way erotic....

okay

1) i've heard of those parties i'm fairly sure it was exaggerated there were very few but a bunch of wankers had to go and think it was cool and claim they did it too

okay 2) the game isn't something i'm gonna protect it is EXTREMELY dodgy even by rape game standards (or so I hear) however there will be people who don't need to do more than play this games so it does sotp a few

also it may put off some people because of how "obscene" it is

I can't say I've ever been entirely convinced by the the whole "these sort of games stop rapists/murderers/w.e", people do become used to such things and may try to find 'bigger', more realistic thrills, especially if they were going to do it without a game to "stop" them.

While I don't beleive that games make children go out and chainsaw someone to death, I do believe exposure to such things does lead to a certain desensitisation, I mean you only have to look at really old horror movies to see how much more we are able to take in terms of such things. This leads to a problem because while we have laws and general common sense to prevent chainsaw murders becoming common place, the ineffectiveness in rape laws (fyi I'm British so I'll be talking about the Scottish/English legal systems here, no idea how it is in the US) practically makes rape legal (i.e. woman wearing short skirt or was drunk therefore asking to get raped and man is innocent sort of thing), games that perpetuate this idea of rape being something that is ok let alone encouraging it like Rapelay should be openly condemned.

Just think if Japan produced a game in which you play an angry white guy whose only goal in the game is to find black/asian/muslim people to beat to death there would be international outcry. Rapelay is nothing more than a game in which an angry man commits a hate crime against a 'minority'. Perhaps people should consider that before they say "its just a game"

 

[RelexCryo]

First, the game is not cathartic for anyone and the best that can be said for it is that people aren't actually getting raped. There's the very real possibility that some teenager gets into this shit and his subconscious training helps him cross a boundary when he's on top of his girlfriend one day. It's worse than a "murder" simulation game in that someone is more likely to take one step too far when they're pawing their girlfriend with hormones raging than be walking around with a gun in the heat of a murderous rage. However, banning it is useless and we should not be censoring things we just don't like. Humanity at large is better than "see rape game, then rape" and stores will refuse to stock the game either way for the simple fact that the vast vast majority of people really don't like rape or rape games.

Rape is traumatic. It's an intensely personal crime where someone dominates you on a very intimate level. Rape victims will have nightmares and it will haunt them for years. But humans are resilient, and we can overcome adversity if we are not encouraged to wallow in it. You can recover from the trauma. It does not need to define your life. It should not define your life. Suggesting that we need to tiptoe around the subject so that rape victims do not shatter like glass DISempowers them. It suggests that despite all your words, deep down you really believe that the rape victim is damaged goods and will never recover without being sheltered. It's feeding the trauma. If you are actually friends with a rape victim the last thing you do is run around sighing dramatically and suggesting that it's a worse fate than death. It is just not helpful to anyone. Unless you think suicidal depression is the cure.

You really want to help fight rape, at least in America, stop white knighting about killing all the rapists with your bare hands and instead focus on our weird hangups about sex that cause us to be fixated on it. Give teens realistic sex education. Stop going fucking ballistic whenever anything remotely related to sex appears on broadcast television. Stop treating guys like a penis with a body attached whose worth depends on notches in the headboard. Stop treating the vagina like it's some sacred object not suited for discussion from which women derive some sort of archaic purity.

People being embarrassed and ashamed about sex and our bodies in general is a huge cause of both rape and its under reporting.

Wow. Nice post.

 

[RelexCryo]

Rapists do not have control over what their urges are, they have a mental problem. Do we consider everyone with a mental problem scum? Including, but not limited to: depressed people, mentally handicapped people, etc.

If the mental disorder causes them to deliberately harm an innocent, yes.

I'd like you to explain why you seem to fixed on calling an entire group of people scum, while you do not know them all, possibly even knowing if you yourself may be one waiting to happen as well in the future.

Anyone that decides to harm another person, regardless of reason, is scum. Every single person, in the entire history of humanity, has always had a choice, at every single second of every single day of the entirety of their lives. Rapists chose to rape someone. That makes them scum. The same holds true for thieves, murderers, con-artists, and just about anyone else you can think of that deliberately brings real harm to an innocent.

"regardless of reason?" what if you kill in self-defense? Not saying I support the mental issue thing, but what about killing in self defense?

 

[Agayek]

"regardless of reason?" what if you kill in self-defense? Not saying I support the mental issue thing, but what about killing in self defense?

I answered that a post or two after. I wasn't clear in my original post due to it being 1 AM.

What I meant is "Anyone that initiates violence against another person, regardless of reason".

Essentially, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_axiom

 

[Sigenrecht]

First, the game is not cathartic for anyone and the best that can be said for it is that people aren't actually getting raped. There's the very real possibility that some teenager gets into this shit and his subconscious training helps him cross a boundary when he's on top of his girlfriend one day. It's worse than a "murder" simulation game in that someone is more likely to take one step too far when they're pawing their girlfriend with hormones raging than be walking around with a gun in the heat of a murderous rage. However, banning it is useless and we should not be censoring things we just don't like. Humanity at large is better than "see rape game, then rape" and stores will refuse to stock the game either way for the simple fact that the vast vast majority of people really don't like rape or rape games.

Rape is traumatic. It's an intensely personal crime where someone dominates you on a very intimate level. Rape victims will have nightmares and it will haunt them for years. But humans are resilient, and we can overcome adversity if we are not encouraged to wallow in it. You can recover from the trauma. It does not need to define your life. It should not define your life. Suggesting that we need to tiptoe around the subject so that rape victims do not shatter like glass DISempowers them. It suggests that despite all your words, deep down you really believe that the rape victim is damaged goods and will never recover without being sheltered. It's feeding the trauma. If you are actually friends with a rape victim the last thing you do is run around sighing dramatically and suggesting that it's a worse fate than death. It is just not helpful to anyone. Unless you think suicidal depression is the cure.

You really want to help fight rape, at least in America, stop white knighting about killing all the rapists with your bare hands and instead focus on our weird hangups about sex that cause us to be fixated on it. Give teens realistic sex education. Stop going fucking ballistic whenever anything remotely related to sex appears on broadcast television. Stop treating guys like a penis with a body attached whose worth depends on notches in the headboard. Stop treating the vagina like it's some sacred object not suited for discussion from which women derive some sort of archaic purity.

People being embarrassed and ashamed about sex and our bodies in general is a huge cause of both rape and its under reporting.

Quoted again for emphasis, and because I'm tired of people just ignoring an extensive, well thought-out post and continuing through the thread with the same bullshit dead-horse arguments they had before, even though they were more than like responded towards, and thus pages (7),(8), and so on of the same mindless drivel.

 

[RelexCryo]

I think Qayin has hit the nail on the head here.
All video games are fantasies, just because those fantasies exist doesn't mean they should be banned from being video games.

These are a small group of people who have a fantasy. They are never going to act on it because they can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. They just want to live out that fantasy in a video game. Just because I and most other people find this fantasy abhorrent, it doesn't give us the right to ban it. To think it does is Jack Thompson Logic.

People who rape are going to rape anyway, the existence of these games will not make more rapists.

You cannot be a proponent of free speech if you want things that you don't like banned especially if the content isn't in the country you live in or affects you.

You don't even know what free speech means.

Free speech does not mean the freedom to say or express anything you want in any medium you want without repercussions.

Free speech means the ability to say stuff and accept the consequences for what you say if it isn't taken well. If the consequences include criminal charges, you accept it and move on. That's free speech.

So...if it is made illegal to say anything bad whatsoever about the current incumbent party...and I say it anyways and go to jail for expressing an opinion on the current government...that's "Free Speech?"

I think the idea of the Free Speech is the ability to say what you want, as long as it isn't an outright lie, WITHOUT going to jail.

 

[RelexCryo]

"regardless of reason?" what if you kill in self-defense? Not saying I support the mental issue thing, but what about killing in self defense?

I answered that a post or two after. I wasn't clear in my original post due to it being 1 AM.

What I meant is "Anyone that initiates violence against another person, regardless of reason".

Essentially, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_axiom

Ah. I felt that was a necessary clarification, thank you.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Rape games banned, rape games not banned...

Does it matter either way? The sick freaks who like this stuff will still find means to get to it either way.

Exactly. When they ban these games it's like a parent saying to a child 'not to touch those sweets on the table' then just walking off.

 

[meisnewbie]

Wow. I don't think anyone understood what the "ban" was.

 

[Sigenrecht]

Liberty to express opinions and ideas without hindrance, and especially without fear of punishment.

Free speech does not mean the freedom to say or express anything you want in any medium you want without repercussions.

Free speech means the ability to say stuff and accept the consequences for what you say if it isn't taken well. If the consequences include criminal charges, you accept it and move on. That's free speech.

America; we change the definition of the very words that make up our perceived divinely given rights. Frequently.

 

[Cortheya]

You know what I say? good. Not because I aprove of the content of the games but because I approve of a government that DOESN'T censor and control people. BRAVO Japan BRAVO

Free speech does not mean the freedom to say or express anything you want in any medium you want without repercussions.

Free speech means the ability to say stuff and accept the consequences for what you say if it isn't taken well. If the consequences include criminal charges, you accept it and move on. That's free speech.

no it means WITHOUT consequence WITHOUT. That is taking our rights and tearing them apart until there is nothing left but half truths. REMEMBER big brother is watching you don't do anything he won't approve of

 

[Dommyboy]

After all, it's only rape! It's not like it's illegal or bad or anything.

 

[Glerken]

So does that mean rape games don't really make up 20% of Japan's video game market?
Please mean that...

 

[sonidraw]

So...if it is made illegal to say anything bad whatsoever about the current incumbent party...and I say it anyways and go to jail for expressing an opinion on the current government...that's "Free Speech?"

I think the idea of the Free Speech is the ability to say what you want, as long as it isn't an outright lie, WITHOUT going to jail.

Ya, I don't actually believe what I said. I'm not sure if I used the wrong words or if I was just in a bad mood, but my original post is definitely not my position. Sorry for that. I totally agree with you: one shouldn't go to jail just for expressing your opinions about the government.

I think it would be more accurate to say I believe that one should be responsible about your speech. IE: I see some people thinking that free speech allows them to express whatever they want without consequences, which just isn't the case.

Edit: An extreme example is if someone yells "FIRE" in a crowded theater with only a few small exits...

 

[mike1921]

I'd like to know The Escapist's official position on these "Rape Games".

You can have mine: Kill it with fire.

Rapists are scum. Pure and simple - semihuman at best, animals at worst. I've seen their handiwork, and by god, it was the single most horrible thing I've ever seen. A human being destroyed, and yet still alive. I'm sorry, but words cannot accurattely convey my revulsion here.

I sense a strawman, numbus didn't ask what you thought about rape, he asked what you thought about rape games.

Does it really matter? Either way, they'll find a way to play it. They don't care what the law says.

Yea, no fetishist gives a damn about the law. Especially when there are legal alternatives (I'm pretty sure rape porn is legal everywhere).

 

[scotth266]

Erm.

Am I the only one more offended about being delivered false information than hearing about developments in a country halfway 'round the world?

Bloody hell, people. These folks just destroyed a pillar of journalism! And no one cares... how quaint. These reporters (Not the Escapists, as they did not actually alter information. Love ya, Maly.) at TBS should beashamed for providing false information. This is the most sickening thing I've seen in years.

I'm not that shocked Emu, though you're in the right to be outraged. Tricking the masses, providing misinformation, and even lying are all staples of the media.

What people need to realize is that the media is trying to sell you your info these days: they don't give a shit about validity or whatnot. Anyone else remember that CBS fiasco, the one involving G.W, where they brought up a bunch of "evidence" that was quickly proven to be false?

The news networks no longer fufill their original purpose, which was to bring the common man what he needed to know. Now it's just a matter of bringing the common man what will appeal to him.

 

[IamSARAhearMYgrr]

who the hell cares?

You know possibly people who have been raped?

This is ridiculous, although I'm against censorship games that simulate rape need to be stopped, burnt with fire, purged with salt, then tossed into the lorenchin abyss.

hmmm... or rape victims shouldn't play games with rape in them! Just like people offended by racism shouldn't play games about Neo-Nazis or the kkk. You don't have to play a game just because it's there. I'm against animal killing and am a vegetarian because of it. Therefore I do not play games like Deer Hunter or anything like that because I don't agree with it. Don't be retarded