Ever since the RapeLay controversy, things haven't been going well for the noble and honest men of the Japanese erotic game industry. Japan has banned a number of games containing scenes of rape and other extreme sexual content, but one particular studio at least has a sense of humor.
Shinobiryuu was released in Japan on December 18 and you may be forgiven for thinking that it contained all sorts of cheeky rape in it. However, disclaimers cover all, and this particular game's disclaimer goes to great lengths to point out that it isn't rape because it's -- get this -- not real:
This is a declaration made with the consensus of all the characters that appear in this story.
All the characters appearing in this game have gone through special training and all actions carried out are done on the basis of mutual agreement. Even if you're a inhuman person who believes that fictional characters in creative works do not have human rights, please do not ignore this. We also thank all the kind people who see a character in the story saying phrases such as "help me" and take it as a real call for help.
However, even though you are worrying for the characters in the story, these are all lines spoken from a script. They are not saying all this from the bottom of their hearts. We are sorry that they have put in so much effort into their acting that some people will confuse it as something that is really happening.This game is a fictional story.
Wow, rape in a videogame isn't real rape, what kind of crazy talk is that? If you listen to some people out there, videogame rape is just as serious and real a crime as actual rape.
Seriously though, these guys make a salient point through their humor. I might find virtual rape disgusting, but as I argued in the past, it's not real, and if people want to put that in their games, they should. Let's stop worrying about pretend crimes when there are real ones to be taken care of.
Contest:
8:40 AM on 12.22.2009
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I’ve recently learnt something that surprised me
Listening Suigen Ninja:
What is it?
Surprised Suigen Ninja:
We, fictional characters, apparently have human rights.
Listening Suigen Ninja:
Huh?
Surprised Suigen Ninja:
There are apparently some special people that will get angry and show sympathy for us if we get raped. And they’ll start lobbying for us too.
Listening Suigen Ninja:
Wow, we even can’t do anything ourselves without a creator or a player but we have human rights
Surprised Suigen Ninja:
Surprising isn’t it?
Listening Suigen Ninja:
Yeah. But since they acknowledge that we have human rights, I wonder if they’ll acknowledge that we have the right to vote too. Our creators will work hard to do some political manipulation.
Surprised Suigen Ninja:
We can’t be greedy. But well, since we have human rights we might as well suggest it.
Listening Suigen Ninja:
You’re right
Surprised Suigen Ninja:
We’re doing as we please. Please stop taking unneccessary actions."
It's only a matter of time before Master Chief, Solid Snake and Lara Croft start voting! Since you know, they have human rights.
Why stop there? How about:
* Virtual pedophile (dating sim)
* Virtual torture games (has someone made Hostel the game)
* Virtual female mutilation (think Trauma Center!!)
* Virtual sex trafficking (SimTraffick?)
* Virtual boy soldier (FPS similar to Far Cry 2)
* Virtual kidnapper (Gotta catch em all!)
I *might* find all of these concepts for games disgusting, but as I'm sarcastically replying now, its not real and if people want to put that into their games, they *should*. Let's stop worrying about pretend crimes and instead reflect on why Destructoid, a generally awesome gaming site, associates itself with a person who supports entertainment that provides amusement in sexually assaulting women. Controversial pageviews? Pageviews. :(
Wait...
You mean, I didn't really mow down people in that airport? That car that I just stole in Liberty City wasn't real, either?
Well, damn! There goes my whole day.
Yes, they should be able to do that. Though I'd guess the market wouldn't be too big for such titles really, and thus not profitable.
Frankly, I cannot understand how people cannot see a difference between this kind of completely fictional material and real child and rape pornography. In the former, absolutely NO ONE is harmed. In the latter, the production requires real people to be harmed, so I have no problem banning it and punishing those who create/distribute/possess it.
What humor there is ends up dampened by the realization that if this is the level of rhetoric on the anti-censorship side, the pro-censorship faction will continue to gain ground.
I torture a person in a game - people laugh.
I rape a woma(man) in a game - People says thats not funny, thats horrific.
BUT KILLING AND TORTURING IS FUNNY?
Come on people. If you find it funny and acceptable to kill and torture people in videogames but then look down on someone who likes to rape people in videogames and call them sick and twisted thats hypocrisy big time.
I havent played a rape game but why would virtualy raping someone be worse then virtualy killing/torturing someone? I do not consider virtual charathers real and i do not consider any violent action against them morally wrong. Thats why i can play games such as GTA 4.
Either you can do anything to virtual charathers or nothing. The whole its okay to shoot a charather and watch him bleed to death but by god do not fuck a virtual charather attitude is ridiculous
"Virtual Boy Soldier" doesn't sound too disgusting or outrageous to me.
People will be who they're gonna be. Loose your crazy privately and don't hurt people.
Maybe the world's ready for a game featuring the kidnapping of 9-year olds who are then used for combat. Instead of an FPS, why not make it an RTS--instead of unit building, you control hero units who roam the African countryside, "recruiting" innocent children to help solve mission objectives. Multiplayer strategies could include "kid rush" where players send every unit they have into the path of stationary machine guns, manned by more seasoned 11-year olds.
I just don't know if it's edgy *enough.*
@Dumie
Glorifying violence, especially in the fictional context where extreme sides of right and wrong are represented by respective heroes and villains, is an acceptable part of our culture. Rape isn't. In fact, rape's so wrong that if you need to be reasoned with as to why making a game where the goal is to sexually assault women, then it's a waste of everyone's time from word Go.
wouldnt be racism fictional too if it was portrayed on a TV or videogames by actors and/or CGI characters?
i mean the point is, the meterial here can be offensive for some, and that might be the reason of banning instead of thinkin its just as worse as real crimes
becuz by that logic every single insult ranging for idiot, fucker to the N word could be considered harmless given the fact theyr abstract concepts which cannot be seen or felt
What is offensive is entirely subjective. Do you really want someone deciding what you can and can't watch or listen to? Personally, I trust myself to make those decisions. Why must the ignorant mental defectives who feel compelled to emulate everything they see in the media ruin it for everybody? Might as well just ban everything right now and get it over with.
I'm not going to sit here and say that I enjoy the kind of game you described. I don't and I wouldn't. However, I do enjoy doing many things in video games which would be considered heinous crimes against humanity. I don't think I need to go into detailed examples here, but just look at first person shooters and games like GTA.
It's perfectly fine to run over innocent bystanders on the sidewalk in GTA for the sole reason that it isn't real. No one gets hurt because it's a game. It's just make pretend.
Now, if I were to purposefully do the same things in real life as I do in GTA, I would have HUGE feelings of guilt, remorse, etc for the sole reason that real people would be hurt or killed. For that sake alone, I doubt I could ever take such actions in real life. However, I actually find these actions fun when I'm just pretending (playing video games).
My point here is that playing a video game involving rape does not imply that the person playing the game would actually enjoy raping another human being in real life or that such a game would encourage or cause the person to rape another person in real life for the reasons stated above.
Another example is Overlord II. In this game, I played an evil overlord who committed genocide on the elven race, enslaved a human town, and did other generally evil things.
I enjoyed it immensely.
However, as I said before, I could never commit such acts in real life.