What's next? Loli porn? This is totally unacceptable.

k.

I can't imagine what other response I can have for this.

So rape games=bad.

Games with nude 10 year olds=ok?

WHO ELSE BUT JAPAN?

@Kyosuke Nanbu

Westerners always think that nudity always equals to something sexual. Puritans.

As far as fighting the good fight goes, this isn't one of them.

This just means we won't be able to rape girls with our penis's, but 3 tentacles shaped like penis's in each hole will be totally acceptable.

@Nanbu - One step at a time.

Seeing as how I view Japan as being a screwed up place when it comes to wondering what their standards are, I'll just go with what TewDee has to say.

At first I was against this being I was picturing just H-games, but if this is really rape then it should be banned.

Ah, the devil's in the details. If tentacles and what-have-you will have to ask for consent from here on out, I've got no problem with that.

Japan ban rape games? They might as well ban giant robots and generic emo-hair RPG protagonists.

I wonder what kinda effect this'll have on those few who use these games as a release.

Time to start a psychology project! *glasses shine*

So graphic murder is A-OK, but games involving rape aren't?

I mean, im not outraged or anything, but why not just put a warning label on it and sell it only to adults

WARNING, CONTAINS: RAPE.

I'm all about freedom. So if someone wants to play or make these games more power to them. If I don't like them(and I don't) I won't buy them. End of story. It's not like anyone is getting raped in the process. It's a game.

Just want to reiterate that I can put a trashbag over someones head and strangle them to death in a game.

Wait, couldn't they just put a consent scene in, and turn it from a rape game, to a consenting adults engaging in sexual relations game??

@ suborbital: you say that this isnt a good fight but you may be right in saying that rape is wrong. However rape games are not I say this not because I enjoy rape games but because it boils down to basic freedom of speech. Now you may come back at me saying that if it stops even one person from being raped then its a good thing well this is true if it actually stops anyone from being raped. however if banning it causes even one person to be rapped then your reasoning for banning it will have failed. Now I defend this because I believe that Freedom of speech is the most important rights anyone has. If you do not defend the indefensible one day the people who came after that will come after something you like something you want and you know what? you will have already lost.

Ideas taken mainly from here

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/12/why-defend-freedom-of-icky-speech.html

Alright well the line has to be drawn somewhere. Video games where you play a rapist, games where you fondle underaged girls or look up their skirts, it's all rather depraved and we don't need it.

I would also say that running around shooting prostitutes in the face a la GTA is depraved as well.

Does this only apply to rape of humans? Because otherwise I'm going to have a hard time selling Ultimate Dinosaur Rape: The Simulation.

Come on people you can have one or the other! Either ban all of those sex games or don't ban the rape ones because those ones are only slightly worse when compare to the pedophillia ones

Now where am I supposed to get my rape fix now?!

Yeah Japan, keep doing that.

BUT WHEN YOUR RESOURCES GO DOWN AND YOU DESPERATELY NEED AN INDUSTRIAL BOOST DON'T GO BACK CRYING

@Monodi

Good Lord man! We had all ignored the fact that Rape games are Japan's Chief Export!

I don't get it... Rape games getting banned is a BAD thing? I'm all for freedom of expression and all, but I think I kind of have to draw the line at nurturing some pervert's rape fantasies...

@Timstuff

Banning things does not make them go away. I think the bigger question is should we allow private bodies or government committees to censor/ban things. I'm a fairly liberal person, and therefore intervention into this sort of thing irks me. I agree rape is a bad thing, but there are many bad things in the world, and they do not all need to be banned.

The bottom line is, you (I assume from your vehement posting against any mention of this subject) and I never played these games previously, and regardless of the banning or not banning, will continue to not do so. However, once you start agreeing to censorship, you open a whole can of worms.

You also do not know whether taking this sort of thing off the market is going to have any effect on a persons ability to get hold of media of this nature, nor what effect removing it will have. Lets face it prohibition doesn't seem to work in any other area. As I said earlier, it's easy to add a 'consent' scene (which could be skippable, who knows).

So basically, I don't think anyone cares particularly about rape games being banned. I think people are concerned as to the effects of ceding more control to 'the man'.

@SubOrbital and starhawl

Sorry, but I have to side with SubOrbital on this one. This isn't the good fight. We're not manning the barricades for Gasper Noe's right to make films like Irreversible, where the severity of the rape scene serves as a contrast to the equally mindless (and erroneous) brutality of the revenge meted out by the main characters. We're not speaking up for the right of people to epouse political views, or advocate anti-corporate movements that governmments and companies alike may find threatening, with the consquences of having your life destroyed through litigation, or state-sponsored harassment being quite real. I don't think that banning is really the right way to go, but more relevant issues surrounding freedom of speech won't likely be any the worse off for its disappearance.

Now, if I'm being presumptuous about the intended audience for such games, please feel free to correct, but they mainly seem like a palliative for lonely, insular, borderline-mute Japanese men - people so socially awkward that they barely exist. I reckon that teaching them to stick their head out the door once in a while, and meet some real wimmins would be ten times more helpful...

Another victory for America.

Strange...are people actually outraged that rape games are banned? WTF are they doing being made in the first place?
Lets a make a game called poke-her-when-mums not looking snap where you try to take pictures of naked children. No? Thought not

Ok you people are fools you say well as long as its something I dont like or its something I think is wrong its ok to ban and get rid of these things. But you are not SEEING THE BIG PICTURE if they can just ban this then one day they will come for all sex games then all violent games and you know what YOU WONT BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING TO STOP THEM WHY? because the law boards commities once they haVe precedent then their is nothing stopping them from legally banning anything that offends them or ANY OTHER GROUP.

The law is a huge blunt weapon not a scaple like you want it to be they take this then one day they WILL come for something you want. One time somewhere there will be a public outcry in response to some event alot of people will be angered alot of people will overreact. Then men and women on committies will decide that they have the power to appease the populace they will think of their careers they will think of re-election they will use that event that crisis to do something to subdue the panicy flawed humanbeings that we are.

You cannot and should not expect that the worlds to be rainbows, unicorns, and giggles its not it will never be. people will exploit anything they can to get what they want.

That is why you cannot say oh good they got rid of such and such because soon such and such will be something you like something you want and you will see the publics reaction as what it is overdone extreme and idiotic.

I can guarantee you that if the government had the power to ban a specific type of game when the tragic acts of columbine took place that violent fps would be banned and likly 3ps would be banned as well.

@starhawl: there is a difference between violent adventure and mischief fantasies and rape fantasies. We fantasize about violence from the moment we pick up a stick on the school playground and pretend that it's a sword. However, forcing one's self onto an unwilling woman is not a healthy fantasy to have. Rape games are not made for the general masses, because the general masses do not cultivate fantasies about sexual assault. They are made for people who are aroused by the concept of rape, and that is not a mentality that big corporations should be endorsing and assisting with their products. You can whine and argue that it's setting a bad precident, but the fact is that the precident has already been set by outlawing child pornography. As a civilization we have deemed that eroticizing child abuse for entertainment should not be legal, so what makes eroticizing the rape of an adult any better?

Child pornography has real implications on real children however a video game has no implications on its fake people their is a major difference between the two. Before you say that well even if its stops one person from being raped then it should be banned their is NO evidence that removing this sort of pornography has the desired effect. However Governments have noticed a spike in crimes against real people when they take moves to ban fake pornography.

In short child pornography is bad as it involves real children as is real rape but fake child pornography and fake rape are no where near the same level as their counterpart. I would rather rape games not exist but not because some group decides that it should be banned.

They are both intended to entertain the sickest and lowest form of human beings, and it's not a mindset that should be exploited for commercial purposes. It does not matter if actual people are being exploited, because the big corporations are still trying to make money off of a group of people who fantasize about rape and child molestation. It doesn't matter if it's "fake" or not, because the sickos who are buying it are still real. Fantasies about rape and child molestation are not something that a responsible corporation should be making money off of. They are exploiting a problem in society to make money.

Essentially, your argument is that rape entertainment is not as bad as kiddy porn because children do not get exploited in the making of it. Well in that case, you are claiming that it's okay for MAKING child pornography to be illegal, but enjoying it is harmless. The double standard some gamers have shown about rape as entertainment is very alarming to me, and you are not doing our community any favors with this "anything goes" mentality. I do not consider myself "pro censorship," but as a society we've got to have SOME sense of boundaries, at least when it comes to sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is NOT erotic, and exploiting it as entertainment to make money is not something that should be allowed.

first how many porn corporations are actually responsible? Im not saying that its ok to "enjoy Chi ld por nography" Im saying child pornography is wrong is and should be illegal because they are real not fake. Its not an "anything goes mentality" oh I never said anything goes so dont put quotes on it like I did. What I am saying is this and simply this freedom of speech freedom of expression should not be stifled by some board by any government no matter what the medium. However we need laws to protect people and children from being exploited.

Now something I would like to pose to you a book is written it contains a great story and is hailed as a classic a must read but in the book the author describes vividly rape what would make this any different then a game? what would give this anymore reason to exist? and by the way its not a book its a comic.

Now if you want to steer the argument twords the sick people who consume this stuff go elsewhere I do not care about them I do not care about the material all I care about is freedom of speech. This has nothing to do with the source material its about freedom of speech If you want to argue with some facts about why this stuff should be banned go ahead bring facts. not supposition and not strawmen arguments.

@Timstuff

Your arguments are all emotive, and thats a dangerous place to be. You claim that people who fantasize about rape are the sickest and lowest people in society, maybe they are, I havent seen the rating scale, but where do they fit in next to mass murderers?? What about genocidal megalomaniacs?? Is the person who loads this software up instantly a worse person than hitler??

starhawl is genuinely concerned that giving control over this area of censorship could leak into other areas, other mediums, or other genres. And I have to say I agree with him.

Yes, in a perfect world this stuff would not exist, but I would wager that its only a small minority that actively seek it out. I would also wager that a far more vocal majority are keen on banning things, claiming it helps society.

These games have been available for years in Japan, and Im not aware of any problems they have caused, until overzealous media got involved and tried to preach emotive morality. You seem adamant you want a new set of controls in place to protect someone from something. But you have to consider where this could possibly lead.

Well, the thing about these games that is disturbing is not that they feature rape, but that there are no negative consequences. One of the games that the controversy originally started over was a game in which you stalk a girl because she saw you molesting another woman and reported you to the police. Your character stalks her and all her female family members and punishes them with rape.

I think that while I would prefer rape not be in ANY game, that I would find it acceptable if it was clearly portrayed as a grotesque crime. Silent Hill has rape and shows it in the light it deserves: that it is disturbing and wrong.

It is also a concept that most men will never understand (which is a fortunate thing). Rape is degrading to women; it is both physically and emotionally traumatizing, and some people never recover from the experience. I don't even know how to put into words how horrifying rape is for others to fully understand. Death is something that eventually cannot be prevented which is why most people are desensitized to it, but rape can ALWAYS be prevented, and no person should be desensitized to the point where they think it is ok. Ever.

I think this article and I guess the legislation should really be expanded to look at all video games. Why should any one government draw the line at this rapegame when there are so many others that advocate mass killing. That being said, I am sincerely tempted to try out this game, it sounds almost so ridiculous I can’t imagine it exists. I found an interesting discussion on the matter at Pandalous. It can be found here at http://www.pandalous.com/nodes/ban_on_violent_computer