Rape games to be banned in Japan

[Nyororin]

I personally don`t really feel the need to have these things banned. In the end they are games, and cater to the "What if..." sort of thinking rather than telling players that is what they should do in real life.
If it`s the type of person that wants to rape in real life, playing a game is probably not going to appeal to them all that much. It`s appeal is because it isn`t something you could or would do in real life. Just as games that send you violently killing people have an appeal because they are things you never would do in real life. It`s all fantasy and will stay fantasy unless there is something already wrong with the person.

[JackIsLost]

Originally Posted by MMM

Really? What is a worse genre of video game than the goal being the forced rape on a woman?

forced death upon others? i'm not saying that rape games are good. i'm just trying to say that these rape games are (to me) on the same level as any other violent game. GTA for example, you can probably beat children and women, shoot them, run over them, light them on fire, etc. i thought killing was worse than rape?

[ozkai]

This is definitely leaning more towards each individual opinion and experiences.

Back on topic. I thnk computer games send the wrong messages to the young one's.

Fantasies come later on and obviously some don't like them pointing towards the "law", and other's compare them with real life situations in dark alleys at night.

Whatever, a real life rape, in that a man or women goes out to rape an unknown, is definitely wrong.

[ozkai]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

I personally don`t really feel the need to have these things banned.

You may change your mind when your child brings one home from the local rent a DVD store!

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by ozkai

You may change your mind when your child brings one home from the local rent a DVD store!

I doubt this. He would have to be over 18 to even rent that sort of DVD to begin with. If he brought one home at a younger age it would be the store I`d be upset at.

Even if parents don`t want their kids watching/playing these things - why ban them? If you don`t want your kid (as in under 18) to have access simply don`t give them access and know enough of what is going on in their lives that you have some level of control. Asking for something to be banned because you are not a good enough parent to control what your child has access to is pure selfishness.

[ozkai]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

I doubt this. He would have to be over 18 to even rent that sort of DVD to begin with. If he brought one home at a younger age it would be the store I`d be upset at.

Even if parents don`t want their kids watching/playing these things - why ban them? If you don`t want your kid (as in under 18) to have access simply don`t give them access and know enough of what is going on in their lives that you have some level of control. Asking for something to be banned because you are not a good enough parent to control what your child has access to is pure selfishness.

Let's not forget that in many places over 18 means Adult legal, and that releases hormones into the minds of curiosity for those who qualify.

The access becomes irrelevant if the games are legal.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by ozkai

Let's not forget that in many places over 18 means Adult legal, and that releases hormones into the minds of curiosity for those who qualify.

The access becomes irrelevant if the games are legal.

Even legal, the games are still over-18 and kept a bit outside easy access of those younger. Things have gotten stricter so from what I understand they do check your age when you buy. So the chance of a kid under 18 just stumbling upon one and being able to buy it is fairly low.

If they are over 18, then it doesn`t really matter. As long as my kid has the capability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, who am I to stand in the way? And even if they WEREN`T able to figure out that it was a fantasy and not something they should do in real life, it would be my responsibility to keep them from having access - not a reason to ban something.

It`s sort of like saying that alcohol should be banned because some parents don`t want their kids to drink it even if they`re of legal drinking age.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by Salvanas

I highly disagree with this. Illegal is illegal. The law CLEARLY states that rape is illegal. Now, if the individual still thinks that rape is okay, then it's his own mind that should be brought into question. Not the game.

I agree that although rape games are over the top, in the end they're fantasies. Everyone has fantasies that they're not proud about, and someone saying that they don't would be lying. Hentai and these games exist for that reason. You can enjoy these fetishes and fantasies in private without the problem of judgement from the rest of the world.

The real problem is when these fantasies start becoming reality. Most people don't let it become reality though, many of them keep it a fantasy. I have many friends, who are sexually active, and socially liked people, who are into stuff like tentacles, rape and some even guro. (We're a close group of friends who shares things with each other.) As someone claimed that most of the people that play these games are otakus, I disagree with that statement.

I've played one of this games, and although it didn't cater to me, it wasn't horrendous. It's a simple hentai "e-book" with sound. It's not even a game. Hell, I wouldn't class it as one.

Let me just say straight up i have never played one of these games, or a game, and i've only ever seen someone else playing something like GTA and shoot-em-up games. Thus, I was running on the assumption that unlike GTA where the victims are little blob people who just explode into red pixels when you smush them, that the rape games focused rather more individually on who is getting raped.

Moreover, the violent games tend to have goals OTHER than the killing of random innocents. You can just coincidently blow off as many (probably 'evil') alien's heads in as interesting ways as you like on your way to... fix a computer or something. Sounds to me (again without playing) like the goals of the rape games are rather more focussed- get the girl into a rape-able situation and go at it.

Next, yes, the violence is supposed to be enjoyable, but it's still not necessarily being marketed as a pornography. It might be fun, but it's not supposed to be a turn on, and that's a big yet subtle difference and I think you might be underestimating the subliminal affect that has.

As to whether it's the consumer's minds or the game that should be called into question OR NOT, the producer still has a massive responsibility for what they produce. This is especially true for socially sensitive products, and shouldn't be palmed off so easily. Admittedly this depends very much on the individual game, but regardless, with making money off of entertainment based solely on rape and the trivialization of the harm it does comes great responsibility.

Finally, yes, fine that people have fetishes, and it's an outlet for it and most can distinguish between fiction and reality; I can appreciate that, but I still feel that it depends on exactly how the content of these games is being presented. Should it be banned? Maybe, maybe not; that's an issue for Japan to decide; it comes down to 'should a niche market be catered for at the expense of offending others?'. Is it simply the case of 'don't like, then mind your own'? Well, that seems like a paltry excuse to me. Whether one likes it or not, to some people it's offensive, and ignoring that fact will only make it more offensive.

[clairebear]

There's this video on youtube that talks about a specific rape game - where the objective is to "follow a 12 YEAR OLD GIRL on the train, get her into a bathroom then repeatedly rape her"

It honestly upsets me that games like this exist. They're just vile...I think its astonishing how people (especially women) defend them.

[pumpum]

Banning stuff usually just makes it more appealing to people!!

Think about how much stuff you have done in your life because soemone told you it was *wrong* when usually you would have never bothered twice, a lot of people commit crime not for necessity but for excitement.