RapeLay: Why This Is Important to the Video Game Industry

RapeLay is a video game basically focused on, well... Rape. This is important to the video game industry for a number of reasons,and necessitates a few questions to be asked, including...

[tdogg06051991]

It does it for reason. We know Hitler is bad by seeing the disturbing Holocaust videos so that we would have purpose to go to war. We helped kill people in Modern Warfare 2 in order to uncover a terrorist plot to start a war with the United States. Something disturbing without purpose is not at all helpful to the gaming industry, this is the exact thing that makes lawmakers try to ban games it is not helpful or ok what so ever.
I'm not saying freedom of speech is something we should hamper but rather make sure this is the bastard game NO ONE WANTS so that we all are not punished for the select idiotic few.

[Xelmen]

A fairly common opinion to be sure. Unfortunately, games based around shooting people are marketed on the basis of killing Nazis or taking down secret terrorist plots in order to provide a loose justification on the fact that your shooting people that would logically have opinions and morals just as strong, if not stronger than yours. Now that this has been done with success to the point where violent video games are as mundane as grass in fields, bad guys in shooting games aren't even necessarily evil or even misguided (sometimes) in many more recent violent titles. This nullifies the excuse we so desperately cling to when shooting our Nazis to the point that the loathsome chikan featured in RapeLay had nearly the same amount of justification when he committed his own violent act (he was sent to jail when one of the characters reported him for fondling and came back for revenge). No one's saying rape is right, just as no one's saying killing is right. Point is, basing an argument on justification is just a little pointless.

[MattS]

This article is about games as an artistic medium, though.

Sometimes the entire point of an artwork is to shock and offend. By it's nature, then, it's transgressive and offensive. To not be offended by it suggests some unpleasant things about the person.

But, that's the point, and that's exactly why we should be fighting for its existence.

[Shadowstar]

On the one hand, I agree with freedom of expression and artistic license in games. I don't think games like RapeLay should be banned, but they should get international condemnation, as RapeLay mostly did.

On the other, I think someone who's an artist is consciously making art when they're offending people. I don't think that's what games like RapeLay are attempting to do. They're not trying to make us uncomfortable and force us to face a reality, they're trying to titillate a vile subset of people who want to pretend to be child rapists, and I'm not sure that kind of speech is something we want to protect.

Intention matters.

[SilentNegotiator]

"Sometimes the entire point of an artwork is to shock and offend"

But Rapelay is not. It's meant to help people get off. Bring me a game that uses rape for a serious element to a much better game. I'll defend that.

I'm not going to start a protest, but you won't see me wasting time defending smut like a rape simulator.

[MattS]

@ both Shadowstar and SilentNegotiator:

How do you know that that was the intention of the developer? Did you ask them? Have you got some other kind of objective proof?

I personally think the very idea of Rapelay to be vile. But then there are people who think the sole purpose of Bill Henson's photography is to be vile, and there is another group that defends it as art.

Neither of you - or me - has any right to determine what is and isn't art, based on our own interpretations of the material. That is precisely why we shouldn't be banning it.

[SilentNegotiator]

Oh please. The tact isn't there. It's a straight rape simulator. It's intention is clear.

[DarkHeroZX]

Is this game any good?

[Megaton]

Really? You're going all the way back to this well? What is this game like the Insane Clown Posse, where the media goes into a frenzy every few years over it?

[Xelmen]

Sry, commented to the wrong person.

[zeal0us]

Rapelay wasn't the first game to focus on rape. In Cluster Revenge, General Cluster was raping the Indian girl tied to the pole. Wonder why people didn't go crazy back then?

[vortis]

They couldn't tell the pole from his pole, so it was all fair game.

[jeeves86]

Gaming wasn't as big in the 80s as it is today. Custer's Revenge would have never made it in today's gaming market.

Ever.

[Xelmen]

You're absolutely right, I have another article that feature's it. Oh, and it's *Custer not Cluster

[izumo_lee]

In Japan there is a culture that some in the west simply do not understand or capable of accepting. Not saying it is right what they do over in Japan but what they do there is no different than the porn industry we have here.

The use of digital/CG art to portray pornography is much more rampant in Japan than we have here in the west. It is fantasy driven & all people have fantasies.

The Women's group that say that this game encourages rape are justified and there is no arguing that. But a person is responsible for their actions so making a game (or any sort of media) an excuse for committing a crime is stupid.

So a game called Rapelay exist....big deal. Does not mean i am going to go out to rape a women cause of it. Same reason i will not go out to shoot some dude cause of COD. It is the person responsible playing it to make a conscious decision....it is just unfortunate there are many out there that do not.

[Megaton]

"The Women's group that say that this game encourages rape are justified and there is no arguing that."

Not quite. Unless you just mean within the game itself, then yes, the game unequivocally encourages you to rape in-game characters.

If that's not what you meant, there are studies that show these types of things actually prevent those types of people from acting out in real life. Distasteful? Sure. Drives people to rape? Not so much.

[izumo_lee]

You are right on both examples. I was just trying to say that the Women's group that argue about this game have the right to do so cause of its content. That i can not argue with.

The game does portray the consequences of your character if you get caught but for some reason nobody talks about that. It is the main content of the game that offends & that is why it is such a big deal for many in the west.

Its not like Japan condones such an act. The game is part of their porn industry & to them it is normal. Why do you think the eroge industry is so successful over there? The same reason the porn industry is massive over here. Heck they even have awards annually for the best porn picture. So what is the difference between Western porn & Japanese porn....porn is porn.

Which brings me to your last point. I too have heard about studies that stuff like this can prevent people from acting it out in real life. It is kind like shock therapy...or that scene in a Clockwork Orange with the Ludovico Technique (if you know what i mean...if not look it up. Kinda disturbing).

[Megaton]

I was under the impression that it wasn't so much the effect of shock therapy, but that it proved to be an alternative. They now have an outlet to act out their fantasies, so they're less inclined to do something like that in real life.

[izumo_lee]

Yeah good point. An alternative means to full fill ones fantasies is better than going out to act them out personally.

Bubbles up!

[Snookies12]

What is this?? An intelligent conversation on N4G!? *slams face into wall* There, had to do something drastic to fix that.

[jeeves86]

To the article writer - there's a huge difference between being highly dominant and being a rapist. Making that comparison is insulting and ignorant.

The concept of this game is almost just as disturbing. There's a huge difference between shooting bad guys and raping people, even if it is in a video game.

RapeLay, as I see it, tasks you with stalking, molesting and assaulting your victims. You're the bad guy, and your crimes unfold slowly and agonizingly. Even in the article, it states that every little detail is meticulously and sadistically rendered.

This isn't like quickly shooting a bad guy to advance to the next level. This is the equivalent of tearing the wings off of a fly and and tearing each leg off of a spider. It's sadistic.

[Redempteur]

"and your crimes unfold slowly and agonizingly"

Not really .

"This is the equivalent of tearing the wings off of a fly and and tearing each leg off of a spider."
except that in this game the spider comes back and kill you at the end ..

"It's sadistic."
More sadistic than looking your sims in a room and watch them die of hunger ?

I love your optimist thinking but rapelay is hardly the first game where you can do crazy and socially unnaceptable things with virtual characters..

[jeeves86]

There's a big difference between letting little people who talk in gibberish die in an unrealistic simulator.

The article states that RapeLay goes the extra mile to make it seem realistic.

It's a tasteless kind of game.

[Redempteur]

"the article states ??"

Rofl ..

So you're complaining about a game you've not played .. Congratulations ...

"There's a big difference between letting little people who talk in gibberish die in an unrealistic simulator"
Because rapelay is realitic ? Lol ..Rapelay setting is laughable at least pitifull at most .it does take place in a city in modern times but then it's perfectly normal to make the comparaison to "the sims".. ( that also take place in a modern setting ).

So let me get this clear ...if the character talk giberrish it's ok to do bad things to them ? Is that the limit of your conscience ?..
"it's fine because they can't talk back " ?? is it ?
Why are you making an exception in this case ? or maybe you're just complaining on internet about a game you've never played .. and that's it.

[wishingW3L]

wow, the way you describe the game is like if Rapelay were a portal to hell! But you know, at the end of the game the guy ends up living with the girls happily ever after. The game's about rape but the presentation and tone aren't as graphic and disturbing as you think.

What I get from your comment is that you're imagining the game to be like that rape scene of Monica Belluci in Irreversible. Now that is some pretty strong stuff.

[Redempteur]

"But you know, at the end of the game the guy ends up living with the girls happily ever after."

Not really the character you control ends up living with the familly because he blackmails them..and there is 2 endings:

-First one is you main characters being stabbed to death by the big sister of the familly ( meaning , even with your political connexions and money you're still dead )
-Second is you getting pushed in front of a train by the mother of the familly or again the big sister
( again you're dead )

There is nothing happy about this game .. BUT this is not a game that will tell you that rape is a good thing , there are several things in this game that do the exact opposite and that will your only choice as a character is to die ( sudden death really ) for your actions within the game.

[Redempteur]

Rapelay is not a game that will encourage rapists , it's quite the opposite .

To the potential disagrees : Don't bother answering if you haven't played the game untill the end ..

People making a case , month after month , on a single game that didn't even sell that much ( it was a flop really ) as if it had any effect on you, or on anyone else .. are making me laugh .

The game would had been an obscure release , a one time thing lost in the abyss of internet if you guys didn't stop talking about it ..

There is nothing that special about that game stop talking as if it's important ...

[TemplarDante]

This is a filthy game. and anyone that condones it has a twisted sense of reality.
Picture this. If you had kids, and your 18year old son played this, what would you think?
Its easy to have a warped perception when picturing yourself, or applying your reasoning to certaing things. But games like this makes people even further blame videogames for problems of the world. Yet, we all know that isnt true.

[Gigawatt25]

This was better than COD, Halo, Infamous, and ME put together!

[Kratoscar2008]

Is strange that all this games about sex with lolis (Wich are basically little girls), rape, incest (the classic brother-sister love)and the such are prevalent in Japan and that country has the lowest record on those aspects in the world.

While in America and other parts in the world people kill cabs drivers (a Guy trying to probe if is that easy to kill them like in GTA4), commit genocide (Someone Inspired in CoD)and the such and you dont see people trying to bring down those series, there is a double standard there.

I say that in Japan that has worked because the japanese knows that those are games and some people use it to fullfill fantasies that they know will never comes true is like they are more mentally stronger than non-japaneses, while here there is always someone that cant distinguish between reality and fiction but not for that reason we should ban violent games because that was the action of that individual who didnt have the mental growth to make the distinction.

Rapelay is important because it helps to reduce those acts because it shows how henious that act is, if someone rape because the game is because that person didnt have the mental growth to assimilate it.

[SilentNegotiator]

Yep, those Americans committing genocide and what have you.....so inferior to Japan....
/s

For a solid, powerful argument on why "but if violence in games is okay" is a highly faulty argument, see the latest episode of the Jimquisition.

"more mentally stronger than non-japaneses"
-
lol

[TemplarDante]

Japan does have huge levels of suicide to population ratios, as well as mental health related incidents that tie into types of both schizotypal dissorders, or various dissacoative disorders (by population)
You must understand, the author is in a nutshell not calling for a ban on the product, but rather a reminder that there are certain things (to remain human) that we never desensitze ourself to.

[Canary]

So much idiocy here.

For people trying to justify this as a "Japanese" thing: Western porn caters to rape fetishes, too. And incest. And scat. And all other manner of nasty perversion out there.

Hell, there are Western porn games, too, they just aren't as good.

For people commenting on how the game does or does not "promote" rape...

From what I've heard--nah, just kidding with ya'. I've played the game.

It's basically a generic eroge with active 3D sex scenes. You "win" by bringing the woman to orgasm. The "rape," such that it is, is more of the "in name only" variety. The women don't resist, and the goal of the player is to get them to enjoy themselves. A more appropriate term would be "forceful sex."

The problem with the game, again, such that it is, is that it promotes ACCEPTANCE of rape. Basically, if you see an action--any action--depicted in media, particularly visual media (film/televsion/games) treated as normal, you (the viewer) will likely (eventually) come to adopt a like opinion--that such actions are, in fact, normal.

The degree to which this happens is dependent entirely upon how well grounded in reality a person is.

In short, saying this game promotes rape is EXACTLY as appropriate a thing to say Grand Theft Auto promotes prostitution and homocide. There's no real merit to the argument, but at its core, there is a kernel of an issue to be had.

In Japan, guns are illegal, so homocide isn't a big issue. Their main criminal issue? Rape. So for the Japanese, this game is, by itself, very worrisome. For the rest of us? For us Americans, for example, living in a nation where tens of thousands of people are gunned down each year? Maybe we should worry about all the murders and violence depicted in our entertainment media first.

[MattS]

You almost - almost - had the perfect argument there.

Then you went and said something silly like "homocide isn't a big issue."

Yakuza.

There is plenty of organised violence in Japan, and plenty of crimes of passion. Violence in general - physical, sexual, emotional - is a big problem everywhere in the world, and every kind of it is everywhere in the world.

[Canary]

Sorry, I misspoke. It's not AS big an issue in Japan as it is in the United States. It's also worth pointing out that most homocides in Japan are caused by knives, not guns, which leads to fewer fatalities.

Basically, I Japan, the most common "big" crime is rape. In the united states, it's murder. So let Japan worry about rape games, and let Americans worry about murder games.

[Bolts]

This is not about rape. It's about porn, there is a difference.

[Agent_hitman]

So Rapelay game is working on Windows 7?.. I believe that game is old...

[TemplarDante]

edit Victims Say Japan Ignores Sex Crimes
Committed by Teachers

www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/wo rld/victims-say-japan-ignores-s ex-crimes-committed-by-teachers .html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Japan also has a penchant for disregarding or downplaying sexual crimes.

[Hicken]

Actually, they have a penchant for persecuting supposed offenders without there being any proof whatsoever. Underage girls can charge older men to have sex, and the girls will rarely, if ever, face any charges.

You bring up an article from 2003. From nine years ago, to try and prove your point. One example from NINE years ago, and it's a penchant. That's like saying that, due to a case a decade ago, America lets murderers off.

On the point of the video game, I think it's ridiculous to say it "promotes" anything, aside from sexual enjoyment of a fictional event. Someone who enjoys playing the game is not necessarily someone who will or would commit the acts. Incest-related materials are hot to me, but I find the idea so repugnant in real life that I scarcely have an attraction to black women, just in case. People LOVE horror movies, but I don't think any of them are dealing with supernatural serial killers on a regular basis.

Some folks just need to understand the difference between entertainment and reality. This is even a game where you suffer the consequences of your actions.

Oh, before I go any further, it should also be noted that, to a certain extent, Japan's culture has an "it can't be helped" attitude when it comes to the sexual desires of men. While sex, in general, is not talked about much in public, it is definitely taken care of: just in case guys get the "urge," there are "health clubs"- places where you can choose a girl who'll get you off for a fee. Sex isn't allowed, but the mentality is that it's better to have it taken care of safely than for a guy to do something regrettable.

[Auron]

if this game is about raping females then it's pure garbage! no one should defend it.

[tigertron]

You can't defend this game.

Playing as an action hero or criminal running around shooting people is not the same playing as a sexual predator.

I always defend violent video games such as GTA but I won't be defending this.

[CLOUD1983]

The random blogs who advertise this game make it much more popular than it would be if they never talk about it, anyway the only thing I have to say about this is that every1 must have in mind that rape-fantasy is one of the TOP 3 for both man & woman yeah I am not joking search a little in the internet and u will see that it's like I say & btw I dont find this game bad in any way Japanese r just more honest than puritanism western societies and have the @@ to make a game that in western societies is taboo and never touch it, that's your whole "free of expression" thing thrown out of the window..

[Enigma_2099]

Not this s*** again...

This game is NOT important. If you wanna play your little sex game, go play it, stop bothering us with it, and stop trying to pretend it's important to the gaming industry in any way.

Why the hell does showing games as an artistic medium have to include games like this?

[Hicken]

You're absolutely right. It's one game- one that didn't do very well in the first place- that has virtually ZERO impact on gaming. It's NOT important.

It's just a largely obscure game that people bring up to try and make weak points.