Rape in Hotline Miami 2: Should It Be a Concern?

What if I were a female gamer who had been sexually abused or raped? I can only speculate about how I would feel. The rape in this game can be used as an opportunity for me and everyone to learn how a video game might affect a rape victim. I don’t think learning about how rape victims feel is a bad thing.

[ZodTheRipper]

What if I were a child whose parents were slaughtered by a serial killer? Crime is crime, but games are entertainment. If you can't handle or enjoy it, don't play it.

[FateoftheGame]

I'm sure such a child would shy away from violent games. The question about rape is different: should a game better inform the player that rape occurs in the game? Like Bob Reinhard over at Low on Life says: “‘By all means, include rape in a game if it’s that important to your artistic vision, to the point you’re trying to make, but place a warning at the beginning of it so someone doesn’t get completely caught off guard.”

[Enemy]

It's not like part of the game is that you have to rape someone to make progress. There have been rape scenes in past games as well. Why is it such a big deal now?

[FateoftheGame]

Hey Enemy, apparently you are instructed to rape the woman you've shot. But yes, as the article here states, it is a simulation of rape within the movie-in-the-game.

[1nsomniac]

People need to grow up & stop being so over emotional about everything!

No matter what anyone says this is just a game.... Grow up & understand that!

[ZodTheRipper]

As long as the game is not focused around raping I don't see anything wrong with rape enhancing a story. Playing a rapist on the other hand wouldn't be my cup of tea, even if murder might be the severer crime shooting people doesn't feel wrong somehow.

[Enemy]

@ FateoftheGame: I just saw the scene and it's so dumb and pointless I'll be skipping out on Hotline Miami 2. The creators were probably thinking "oh this'll make an impact LULZ!11!!"

[Gster]

Anyone who can turn around and say it was fun to rape a female character in a video game needs to re-exam their morals. I would feel pretty much ashamed, shocked and disgusted if I was forced or asked to commit such an act against a female character in a game.

[ZodTheRipper]

I feel the same but it's hard for me to explain why shooting, stabbing, crippling or decapitating people in a game isn't that much of a problem :D
I think I've not yet played a game that managed to make murder feel as bad as it is in reality.

[ifritAlkhemyst]

It was also entertaining to gun down an entire airport of innocent people in Modern Warfare 2.

You expect a game to tell you a story but when the story involves things not quite to your taste you turn against it. This is why you will never see a video game about 2 old people contemplating suicide, because the self-righteous will boohoo about it promoting poor morals or some such nonsense.

[Gster]

@zod Ok, just imagine if you were asked to kill Clementine at the end of the Walking Dead. You wouldn't feel like it's murder in any way because you know it's only a virtual character. But I think I would feel a deep sense of regret and sadness if I were asked to kill her. That's because during the whole game I have built up an emotional attachment for that character. And although it's virtual it's still a bonding feeling you have for her character.

I think that's why the Walking Dead was such a huge game because it created these special emotional feelings and moral implications that tested all of us during the game. I reckon that the majority of us who played the game always felt compelled to make the right choices out of our own moral obligations.

Well, I think the same applies to this game. The act of sex is a very intimate act that should be experienced between two people who love each other. That's why if I was asked to rape a female character I would feel morally wrong in doing it, because it should be treated as something special rather than a horribly degrading violent violation of a womans body.

[JimmyHACK]

It will be listed in the ESRB rating surely. If it's a topic you don't want in your game I'm pretty sure you aren't going to be playing Hotline Miami anyway. Also it's "rape" in quotes, since they are filming a movie in the game, so it's simulated in a simulation.

[LoaMcLoa]

So simulated killing and torture is ok but not rape? It's just a game, as said by zod18 above: If you can't handle it, don't play it.

There is an age-rating for a reason.

[Moncole]

You brutally murder people in this game. If the rape scene bothers you than you are playing the wrong game.

[wynams]

There is rape in books, should we ban them?
There is rape in movies, should we ban them?

GAMES ARE A FICTIONAL MEDIUM.
IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THE SUBJECT MATTER, DON'T PLAY THEM.

[FateoftheGame]

Who said anything about banning the game?

[RedSoakedSponge]

i think its more to do with the interacting with the content on screen that is the issue. but yeah i do agree with you.

well... apart from typing in capitals... please dont do that lol.

[Pintheshadows]

From what I read in the PC Gamer UK preview, Hotline 2 is trying too hard to be controversial and include these types of things. Sometimes games like this only work once sadly.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

It saddens me that these are ALWAYS the responses to these kinds of things. The argument always comes down to, oh well they already do this, so you can't complain about that. This happened, but you think that's bad all of a sudden? Don't like it don't play it. "It's just a game." I think these types of responses say a whole lot more about our society than the actual depiction in any game.

[matrixman92]

if people hadnt told me that was a rape scene, i wouldnt have though thats what the character is doing.

[FateoftheGame]

That's a good point. It's truly an ugly game from a visual standpoint.

[ifritAlkhemyst]

Don't care. I'll buy the game and play it anyway. Do I condone rape? Absolutely not, and if I ever witnessed anything like it I would do my best to stop it even if I didn't know the victim.

But I still laugh at rape jokes. And I won't bat an eye at a rape scene in a video game.

[Kevlar009]

Imo it's tasteless. Like was it really necessary to make it a better game, was it added because to the Devs it's what makes Hotline Miami what it is, and if it wasn't added would the devs feel like the game would be inferior without it?

I'm not going to judge this game from one scene, it's obvious the game is known for over the top action and gore. Personally it was hard to see how that scene makes the game better in terms of value. The scene imo takes away from the game, like it went too far in trying to preserve the name by having you rape a body that was mutilated by a shotgun blast.

Excessive for the sake of excessive can be a bad thing, but maybe in a game like this excessive is just the name of the game (which it is)

[BX81]

Wow, I'm actually surprised at the amount of individuals who don't mind rape. I think it's a lame element to add in a game. That's just my opinion. There are plenty of other ways to advance a story. Some people just don't mind certain things I guess? Hell I don't mind shooting enemy soldiers in other games.

[PurpHerbison]

Rape in RL, is it a concern? Yes. In a video game? Who the f*ck cares?

[_FantasmA_]

Beheading, shooting, stabbing, slicing, cutting, poisoning people good, but forced sex bad. Me no understand.