Trigger Warnings and I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

[CaitSeith]

Just say that this game contains disturbing scenes not meant for the immature/susceptible audience, and it should be watched it at their own risk. It's an adult game that goes where mature ones never do.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm on team "Warning: Disturbing".

It's all Silent Hill 3 needed before it plunged headfirst into rape and unwanted child allegories.

 

[Areloch]

OT: Why not add trigger warnings for all the "offensive" content people may not want to see? Rape is the obvious one, but anything involving a nazi scientist probably needs a lot of trigger warnings too.

Problem is, with the 'Trigger Warning' craze - that some articles on this site actually touched on, is that ANYTHING could qualify as a trigger to people that legitimately suffer from post traumatic stress triggers. The big problem is though, is that the people that actually whinge about triggers warnings being on things tend to be from the tumblrite crowd, not necessarily people with real psychological trauma, and 'triggers' there basically mean 'something I don't like' which is even more ludicrously nebulous.

If we were going to "properly" trigger warn IHNMAIMS, it'd probably look like:

"Trigger Warnings: Rape, Graphic Violence, Body Horror, Mutilation, Oppression, Nazis, Apocalypse, War, Irrational Hatred, Sexism, Giant Penis, Death, Murder, Starvation, Eternal Suffering, Human Extinction", I could keep going but honestly there's so much to list in something like IHNMAIMS that I got bored.

IHNMAIMS is an astoundingly dark story and game, and labeling anything that may 'trigger' someone in it is a fools errand. A general-purpose "This contains depictions of graphic content and themes" is sufficient enough to cover all bases without trying to wallow in the madness that is trigger warnings.

 

[Spider RedNight]

Just do what Retsupurae did; they made jokes about it all up until it happens then just acknowledge that they made jokes about it but the subject material isn't funny. They did a really good job of making it funny without it actually being offensive and tasteless.

Even though something titled "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" isn't really something over-sensitive people should watch or listen to or read, ANYWAY. But I guess I'm in the same boat as everyone else; just put a quick tag that says that it has disturbing stuff and to watch at your own discretion. I personally felt that the entire sequence was a little too phoned-in (I'M THE ONLY FEMALE HURRR) but whatever, this is why I'm not Harlan Ellison. It just shows that AM didn't really have to try but he did so everything is comically over-done.

Problem is, with the 'Trigger Warning' craze - that some articles on this site actually touched on, is that ANYTHING could qualify as a trigger to people that legitimately suffer from post traumatic stress triggers. The big problem is though, is that the people that actually whinge about triggers warnings being on things tend to be from the tumblrite crowd, not necessarily people with real psychological trauma, and 'triggers' there basically mean 'something I don't like' which is even more ludicrously nebulous.

If we were going to "properly" trigger warn IHNMAIMS, it'd probably look like:

"Trigger Warnings: Rape, Graphic Violence, Body Horror, Mutilation, Oppression, Nazis, Apocalypse, War, Irrational Hatred, Sexism, Giant Penis, Death, Murder, Starvation, Eternal Suffering, Human Extinction", I could keep going but honestly there's so much to list in something like IHNMAIMS that I got bored.

IHNMAIMS is an astoundingly dark story and game, and labeling anything that may 'trigger' someone in it is a fools errand. A general-purpose "This contains depictions of graphic content and themes" is sufficient enough to cover all bases without trying to wallow in the madness that is trigger warnings.

I like this explanation, too.

 

[Shiftygiant]

I'd say use a generic 'This video contains disturbing imagery that some viewers will find distressing' card at the start of each video that you think has particularly disturbing themes, be it the rape scene or holocaust sequence. Just don't make jokes about it.

 

[Azure23]

ah. for those not familiar, the 'elevator scene'...

contains the game's female character being forced to remember the details of a rape that broke her mentally, and confront it.

Yeah, because we need trigger warnings for rape but not for all the other acts of violent shit that is shown, portrayed and played out in games?

Fuck the oversensitive people and fuck the people who are perfectly fine with disturbingly violent acts but rape is a big no no.

There are already warnings for that, on the back of the box and usually in the boot up screens. You know, ESRB ratings and "this game contains scenes of explicit violence and gore."

See, here's the thing about rape specifically, I've never been disemboweled with a chainsaw, or shot in the head with a rifle, but I have been raped, so there's that. Certain types of violence are so overdone as to be almost fantasy, rape is a reality for a lot of people. I was uncomfortable with the violence in the Last Of Us, it seemed more real and plausible, and it had more effect on me than your typical video game fantasy violence. I don't get triggered by scenes of rape, triggers are pretty complicated, but I do get extremely uncomfortable to the point where I usually just try to avoid media with explicit portrayals of sexual assault. If there's a warning, I can make a more informed choice, it's a pro consumer thing.

But nope, fuck me I guess. Not winning any empathy prizes huh?

 

[Azure23]

OT: Why not add trigger warnings for all the "offensive" content people may not want to see? Rape is the obvious one, but anything involving a nazi scientist probably needs a lot of trigger warnings too.

Problem is, with the 'Trigger Warning' craze - that some articles on this site actually touched on, is that ANYTHING could qualify as a trigger to people that legitimately suffer from post traumatic stress triggers. The big problem is though, is that the people that actually whinge about triggers warnings being on things tend to be from the tumblrite crowd, not necessarily people with real psychological trauma, and 'triggers' there basically mean 'something I don't like' which is even more ludicrously nebulous.

If we were going to "properly" trigger warn IHNMAIMS, it'd probably look like:

"Trigger Warnings: Rape, Graphic Violence, Body Horror, Mutilation, Oppression, Nazis, Apocalypse, War, Irrational Hatred, Sexism, Giant Penis, Death, Murder, Starvation, Eternal Suffering, Human Extinction", I could keep going but honestly there's so much to list in something like IHNMAIMS that I got bored.

IHNMAIMS is an astoundingly dark story and game, and labeling anything that may 'trigger' someone in it is a fools errand. A general-purpose "This contains depictions of graphic content and themes" is sufficient enough to cover all bases without trying to wallow in the madness that is trigger warnings.

I'm always wary of people claiming that someone else who they've had no contact with has no trauma in their past. I personally try and take people at their word so as not to be a dick about it. It's not my job to tell someone else what they should and shouldn't be affected by. As for the Tumblr thing, I have a tumblr, I like it, I follow a bunch of people who make videogame art and post old comic covers, stuff like that. I also follow a few survivor solidarity blogs, which list resources for survivors and stuff like that. There are a lot of survivors on Tumblr, really on any blogging platform or general purpose message board. People always need safe spaces you know? I wouldn't be so quick to discount people asking that their experiences be taken into account, especially when it's something as harmless as a quick "this contains scenes (or descriptions, portrayal or depiction are good all media words too) of graphic violence and sexual violence." It's impossible to take a person's individual triggers into account, I don't see a whole lot of warnings about "the sound of strong waves breaking on a beach," (that would be super helpful) but you can just slap a "sexual violence" label on something and boom, you've helped an unfortunately large amount of people make a more informed decision about consuming a piece of media.

 

[Areloch]

OT: Why not add trigger warnings for all the "offensive" content people may not want to see? Rape is the obvious one, but anything involving a nazi scientist probably needs a lot of trigger warnings too.

Problem is, with the 'Trigger Warning' craze - that some articles on this site actually touched on, is that ANYTHING could qualify as a trigger to people that legitimately suffer from post traumatic stress triggers. The big problem is though, is that the people that actually whinge about triggers warnings being on things tend to be from the tumblrite crowd, not necessarily people with real psychological trauma, and 'triggers' there basically mean 'something I don't like' which is even more ludicrously nebulous.

If we were going to "properly" trigger warn IHNMAIMS, it'd probably look like:

"Trigger Warnings: Rape, Graphic Violence, Body Horror, Mutilation, Oppression, Nazis, Apocalypse, War, Irrational Hatred, Sexism, Giant Penis, Death, Murder, Starvation, Eternal Suffering, Human Extinction", I could keep going but honestly there's so much to list in something like IHNMAIMS that I got bored.

IHNMAIMS is an astoundingly dark story and game, and labeling anything that may 'trigger' someone in it is a fools errand. A general-purpose "This contains depictions of graphic content and themes" is sufficient enough to cover all bases without trying to wallow in the madness that is trigger warnings.

I'm always wary of people claiming that someone else who they've had no contact with has no trauma in their past. I personally try and take people at their word so as not to be a dick about it. It's not my job to tell someone else what they should and shouldn't be affected by. As for the Tumblr thing, I have a tumblr, I like it, I follow a bunch of people who make videogame art and post old comic covers, stuff like that. I also follow a few survivor solidarity blogs, which list resources for survivors and stuff like that. There are a lot of survivors on Tumblr, really on any blogging platform or general purpose message board. People always need safe spaces you know? I wouldn't be so quick to discount people asking that their experiences be taken into account, especially when it's something as harmless as a quick "this contains scenes (or descriptions, portrayal or depiction are good all media words too) of graphic violence and sexual violence." It's impossible to take a person's individual triggers into account, I don't see a whole lot of warnings about "the sound of strong waves breaking on a beach," (that would be super helpful) but you can just slap a "sexual violence" label on something and boom, you've helped an unfortunately large amount of people make a more informed decision about consuming a piece of media.

Well, yeah. I said as much that a general "this contains some bad crap" warning is a far better option than attempting to deal with the concept of 'trigger warnings'. I'm in agreement that a basic warning is a good thing. But attempting to properly "trigger warn" all the potentially triggering stuff in something as dark and screwed up as I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is, as I said, a fools errand.

Also, I have no problems if people are sensitive to traumatic experiences and wish to avoid them, but my lady-friend reads a lot of fanfiction and tumblr stuffs, and she's shown me a lot of instances of just how stupid the whole trigger warning thing can get. She's shown me people going into angry tirades because the author didn't have a "trigger warning" about a particular character appearing in a story, or another instance where the person was posting pictures of fruit, and had a shot of a cut open fruit.
Someone responded to that tumblr post berating them for not having a gore trigger warning and wouldn't have any of the original poster's explanations that it's fruit, not intestines.

So yes, I find the "trigger warning" ecosystem impressively absurd to attempt to cater to. Real psychological triggers are astoundingly personal things that are impossible to properly account for, and the more general tags you can put on stuff only draw the inane commenters.
Thus, I think that a general "This contains graphic depictions and themes" is sufficient to cover for the interests of people that legitimately suffer from sensitivity to those sorts of issues.

 

[DEAD34345]

OT: Why not add trigger warnings for all the "offensive" content people may not want to see? Rape is the obvious one, but anything involving a nazi scientist probably needs a lot of trigger warnings too.

Problem is, with the 'Trigger Warning' craze - that some articles on this site actually touched on, is that ANYTHING could qualify as a trigger to people that legitimately suffer from post traumatic stress triggers. The big problem is though, is that the people that actually whinge about triggers warnings being on things tend to be from the tumblrite crowd, not necessarily people with real psychological trauma, and 'triggers' there basically mean 'something I don't like' which is even more ludicrously nebulous.

If we were going to "properly" trigger warn IHNMAIMS, it'd probably look like:

"Trigger Warnings: Rape, Graphic Violence, Body Horror, Mutilation, Oppression, Nazis, Apocalypse, War, Irrational Hatred, Sexism, Giant Penis, Death, Murder, Starvation, Eternal Suffering, Human Extinction", I could keep going but honestly there's so much to list in something like IHNMAIMS that I got bored.

IHNMAIMS is an astoundingly dark story and game, and labeling anything that may 'trigger' someone in it is a fools errand. A general-purpose "This contains depictions of graphic content and themes" is sufficient enough to cover all bases without trying to wallow in the madness that is trigger warnings.

I... Pretty much agree. I think it'd be a good idea to having something more extreme than "This contains depictions of graphic content and themes" for this particular game though, because that is so tame that it could be added to almost any game in existence, so it doesn't help anyone figure out if they're going to be offended or affected or whatever.

For most other games however it'd be pretty easy to throw up a quick list of some general things some people are likely to object to, and warn them about it in advance.

The way I see it is that "Trigger warnings" and other warnings like what you've described are like a perfect defence against censorship and outrage. Someone claims they hated the depiction of -whatever- in your game, and organises an internet crusade against you? Well, you can just point to the "Trigger warning: Contains -whatever-" and it immediately becomes clear that it's not your fault, they knew what was in the game and played it anyway. The warning doesn't cost anything at all, it protects some people from experiencing content they don't want to, it mollifies (to some degree) internet mobs hunting for people to burn, and yet you still get to keep whatever was in your game and the people who want to experience it still can.

It's all upsides and no downsides.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

You could just put an annotation going "This scene is hard to watch. Click here if you want to skip it" right before the scene, I guess, if you wanna be super considerate.

So yes, I find the "trigger warning" ecosystem impressively absurd to attempt to cater to. Real psychological triggers are astoundingly personal things that are impossible to properly account for, and the more general tags you can put on stuff only draw the inane commenters.
Thus, I think that a general "This contains graphic depictions and themes" is sufficient to cover for the interests of people that legitimately suffer from sensitivity to those sorts of issues.

Essentially this.

Hell, when I was dealing with my first (painful) breakup, bening shit on my facebook page like a friend sharing "10 signs your BF is a keeper!" would pull my emotional triggers even almost a year after the event. >_>

And people supporting bullies and saying it's either not a problem or a GOOD thing STILL trip my berserk button nearly 10 years after leaving high school.

Personally, I just see "trigger warnings" as a nice gesture, but not something we should necessarily enforce. A general "This game contains graphic and very dark depictions and themes" is enough, I would think.

 

[Areloch]

OT: Why not add trigger warnings for all the "offensive" content people may not want to see? Rape is the obvious one, but anything involving a nazi scientist probably needs a lot of trigger warnings too.

Problem is, with the 'Trigger Warning' craze - that some articles on this site actually touched on, is that ANYTHING could qualify as a trigger to people that legitimately suffer from post traumatic stress triggers. The big problem is though, is that the people that actually whinge about triggers warnings being on things tend to be from the tumblrite crowd, not necessarily people with real psychological trauma, and 'triggers' there basically mean 'something I don't like' which is even more ludicrously nebulous.

If we were going to "properly" trigger warn IHNMAIMS, it'd probably look like:

"Trigger Warnings: Rape, Graphic Violence, Body Horror, Mutilation, Oppression, Nazis, Apocalypse, War, Irrational Hatred, Sexism, Giant Penis, Death, Murder, Starvation, Eternal Suffering, Human Extinction", I could keep going but honestly there's so much to list in something like IHNMAIMS that I got bored.

IHNMAIMS is an astoundingly dark story and game, and labeling anything that may 'trigger' someone in it is a fools errand. A general-purpose "This contains depictions of graphic content and themes" is sufficient enough to cover all bases without trying to wallow in the madness that is trigger warnings.

I... Pretty much agree. I think it'd be a good idea to having something more extreme than "This contains depictions of graphic content and themes" for this particular game though, because that is so tame that it could be added to almost any game in existence, so it doesn't help anyone figure out if they're going to be offended or affected or whatever.

For most other games however it'd be pretty easy to throw up a quick list of some general things some people are likely to object to, and warn them about it in advance.

The way I see it is that "Trigger warnings" and other warnings like what you've described are like a perfect defence against censorship and outrage. Someone claims they hated the depiction of -whatever- in your game, and organises an internet crusade against you? Well, you can just point to the "Trigger warning: Contains -whatever-" and it immediately becomes clear that it's not your fault, they knew what was in the game and played it anyway. The warning doesn't cost anything at all, it protects some people from experiencing content they don't want to, it mollifies (to some degree) internet mobs hunting for people to burn, and yet you still get to keep whatever was in your game and the people who want to experience it still can.

It's all upsides and no downsides.

The problem is, if you fail to include something someone is "triggered" by, then you look double-bad for it.

And if you did manage to build a trigger list for every theoretical trigger in your work, it'd probably take many dozens of times as long to work through that list than it would be to consume the content. And I certainly don't feel like writing an entire dictionary of possible triggers for everything I make

 

[DEAD34345]

-snip-

The problem is, if you fail to include something someone is "triggered" by, then you look double-bad for it.

And if you did manage to build a trigger list for every theoretical trigger in your work, it'd probably take many dozens of times as long to work through that list than it would be to consume the content. And I certainly don't feel like writing an entire dictionary of possible triggers for everything I make

I don't think you do look "double-bad" for it. If you miss something and someone complains you say "Huh, sorry, didn't think of it that way. I'll add it next time." and then you look like an extremely reasonable person and they have nothing to grab onto to keep the anger flowing, even if they want to.

You don't need to build a list of every theoretical trigger, but throwing a few seconds worth of effort (and I mean that literally, I wouldn't spend longer than that) on a couple of obvious ones may save someone from a painful experience, and it may save you from having to deal with some stupid angry internet mob. As I said, no downside, all upside.

 

[Uratoh]

I'm half tempted to just throw up http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/481701-south-park-rally-playstation-screenshot-the-revamped-south.jpg and call it a day, but I can probably do something a BIT better XD

 

[Ravinoff]

No, for fuck sakes, no. It's a game based on a classic piece of literature, sticking a bunch of idiotic "trigger warnings" all over that is like slapping a big "WARNING: CONTAINS RACISM" label on the cover of "To Kill A Mockingbird." Not only is it disrespectful to the audience, but it's a slap in the face to the original work.

 

[MerlinCross]

I'd say throw up an general warning. Like;

"Caution, this game covers and goes to some pretty dark places at times"

or something like that. This isn't something I would put up without at least saying "Heads up, this is gonna get dark/weird, strap in!"

 

[Rack]

So I think I'm going to LP this game next, since it's in my wheelhouse and I've never completed it myself, though I do know what it contains. Obviously I should note it's very, very dark at the start, but one specific scene makes me wonder if the video containing it should have a special disclaimer regarding the...'elevator scene'. I generally laugh at and even mock a lot of the easily offended types, but I'm not ignorant of the realities of things like this. I'm wondering the best way to 'warn' about it/etc, if it needs it.

The story is about how a computer hatefully tortures a group of people for 109 years. It features horrors of all kinds, including mutilation of mind and body, forcefully changing someone's sexuality, a Nazi "doctor", rape, turning people into helpless slobs of flesh and pain (kinda where the title comes from) etc. etc.
Singling out the rape scenario is bloody ridiculous.

What kind of world do you live in that you think ANY of those other things are likely to have happened to anyone!?!?

 

[Uratoh]

I think I've got what I'm going with:
http://orig02.deviantart.net/3d8d/f/2015/163/4/1/ihnm_splash_by_uratoh-d8x0h3f.jpg

 

[Silvanus]

It's sort of an alternate 'what if' to the story. it references some elements of it, such as the cans of food on the ice, but since the game is occuring at all, the story clearly didn't end the same way. The game designers worked closely with Ellison (he even voices AM in the game) and had to wrangle with his vision of the story vs the idea of a game being 'winable'.

I may as well just leave this here since you're interested:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Uratoh42

I'll be starting to upload videos from it Monday. I think I'm going with the short intro-warning image idea.

Ah, thank you, much appreciated.

I think I've got what I'm going with

I think that's pretty appropriate.

 

[happyninja42]

So I think I'm going to LP this game next, since it's in my wheelhouse and I've never completed it myself, though I do know what it contains. Obviously I should note it's very, very dark at the start, but one specific scene makes me wonder if the video containing it should have a special disclaimer regarding the...'elevator scene'. I generally laugh at and even mock a lot of the easily offended types, but I'm not ignorant of the realities of things like this. I'm wondering the best way to 'warn' about it/etc, if it needs it.

I think if you are genuinely concerned about being sensitive to the people that might react negatively to this scene, then you should put up a warning. Of course, putting up the warning runs the risk of a bit of spoilers for the events of the game, which might annoy others.

Here is my random suggestion on how you could try and satisfy both parties.

"Trigger warning for upcoming content in this episode of my Let's Play. This warning does contain slight spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled, mute the audio until the warning is removed on the screen."

And then put up an overlay with something like "Spoiler/Trigger warning being said now, keep muted until this message (with a timestamp) fades from the screen" That way, the people who aren't worried about the trigger issue could simply mute the game for the next 30 seconds or so, but those who are wanting to warning, could listen to it, and be forewarned.

I recall seeing TotalBiscuit doing this on a recent video of his. The gameplay footage was basically swamped by a very obvious message that took up most of the screen, saying roughly "Spoiler Talk Happening, keep muted until (timestamp) to avoid spoils". Once he was done talking about that, the message went away. It was very simple and direct.

Now, if you are doing a live let's play, you will need to do something else as your warning, since you can't put the overlay. Maybe point the game field of view at a specific thing, and tell those who don't want the spoil to mute the sound until you see me start moving away from this image. And maybe point the character at a poster on a game wall or something, or have them look at an ingame clock. And once you turn away from the clock, and start playing the game again normally, they know to unmute it.

*shrugs* Those are my ideas.

 

[BayouStalker]

The moment you said Trigger Warnings and mentioned I have no mouth, my brain wondered how long it would take before your hands were locked in arthritic husks from typing out everything offensive about the game. Maybe claim that the trigger(Not fond of that word for what its used for) list would take longer to write than the actual recording and subsequent uploading of the video.

A very good story based on very, very, very dark subject matter. It is a horror story/game and should be treated as such. If you are offended by dark subject matter than it probably shouldn't be watched, and if people go out of their way to watch and claim offense after, that is sort of their own fault. You can't really go out of your way to be offended and act shocked that you were offended.

Never got to play the game though, I really need too.