“Rapelay” Goes From Banned To Worse
Rape games have been banned in Japan! No, wait… They haven’t. Oh, oh! Yes! Yes, they’re banned. SRSLY
The ripples from Amazon banning the violent rape simulation game, RapeLay, continue to roll, leading to a radical change in Japanese politics. In this week’s Robot Punch!, we’ll go over play-by-play this revolutionary change in the eroge industry and what these decisions say about our cultural attitude toward these controversial games.
As I reported in my previous article, Amazon and other online retailers banned the sale of RapeLay back in February after receiving complaints from customers. Since then, the feminist group Equality Now launched a crusade against Japan to repel their tolerance for rape-based entertainment. In a brief struggle that illustrates that a few dissonant voices can change the world, they got their wish. RapeLay’s publisher, Illusion, announced that they would pull RapeLay completely from sale.
However, the rest of their catalog, including rape-themed fighting game Battle Raper 2, is still completely available.
While there were many cheers, this was a small victory for Equality Now. Aside from the above point, the reality is that they’ve only succeeded in repressing the symptom of the core issue, not the cause. Just because you remove a rape video game from distribution, that doesn’t magically make the people who indulge in these games shrivel up and vanish. It’s the people and the harmful attitudes of a culture that groups like Equality Now should invest their full focus toward. If you mend the culture, the misogyny will recess. And if there’s an insufficient market for them, the industry for violent and perverted games will fade away naturally.
Seriously, ladies… Yes, rape games are pretty messed up. But they should rank substantially low on your totem pole of people to be sacked. Actual rapists: Dispatch immediately. Potential rapists (aka, people who beat off to RapeLay): Round up for “correctional treatment”. If the game’s sales manage to thrive after all predators in between have been neutralized, only then can the next mission be to pull it off the shelves.
Another fantasy crushed.
To make matters worse, Equality Now has let this triumph go to their heads and they’ve now declared it their mission to censor games all over the world. Can you hear the Team America theme?
The weeks that followed hosted much confusion, starting with the supposed ban of rape-themed video games in Japan. Politicians began to seriously examine the controversy, though it’s suspected their motives were more political than introspective. The Ethics Organization of Computer Software assembled to determine just how harmful these violent games are and what proper steps should be taken.
Hungry for attention, the Tokyo Broadcasting System hastily released a bogus announcement that all rape-based video games had been banned in Japan. The EOCS quickly stepped up to clarify that even though TBS had come to them asking for a statement, the EOCS had not yet come to any official conclusion…
…until a few days later.
On June 2, 2009, video games involving women being raped have been officially banned in Japan. This includes both the sale and publication of such games, leaving many eroge developers nervous. As should we all, since this move is at the top of a very slippery slope. As it stands, it’s uncertain whether this ban will include more “grey” interpretations of rape. These include BDSM, non-human aggressors like monsters, animals, and tentacles, or other bizarre fantasies that aren’t technically rape, but can be considered to be non-consensual.
Finally... Japan can return to its more
traditional interpretation of porn.
Further down the line may place other multimedia in the cross-hairs of censorship. It won’t be long before manga and anime fall under the same scrutiny. And while I dream of a world with less ridiculous cartoon porn, I’m worried about innocent, artistically tasteful series being thrown under the umbrella of “smut”.
It’s admirable of Japan to take these types of actions for the betterment of their culture, though we have to remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Tags: censorship, Girls, hentai
Once again, the vocal neo-cons and ultra liberal minorities have triumphed over common sense and free speech.
I don’t condone rape, pedophilia, or violence against women. Indeed I’ve often questioned why the death penalty is not extended to sex criminals as well as murderers. However, I don’t trust groups such as equity to know the difference between harmless entertainment with a little smut in it, and graphic porn. These are the people who think that Pokemon (which is heavily censored in the US), should be taken off the air, and that Yugioh promotes the occult.
In my experience banning games and media like this actually has the opposite effect. Adult games are what is known as a stabilizing genre. This means that people who are mildly perverted are able to satisfy their perversions in a harmless manner (One that’s also good for the economy, as perverts are often big spenders). Removing the games/media doesn’t remove the perversions that exist in society. It only removes the harmless outlets. Thus the perverts have to go elsewhere to satisfy their perversions.
Rather than looking at fake porn they look at real porn. Images of real children begin abused rather than animated ones. The lack of interactivity in the real porn also often fails to satisfy them so they look for nastier porn, or even real (thus interactive) sexual experiences. This fuels the sex trade and can lead to rape, child abuse and the use of child prostitutes.
Banning this could lead to more child abuse. People who satisfy their perversion with fictional sex will go looking for real sex, instead.
“However, I don’t trust groups such as equity to know the difference between harmless entertainment with a little smut in it, and graphic porn.”
Nah, I do understand their opposition toward the game. There is a disturbing message that those games reflect on our culture. My big issue is that I think that less energy should be focused on attacking these niche titles and their developers and instead more should be invested in nabbing the sickos that are thrilled by these games.
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It’s a good thing that Amazon removed that game created by people who are sick in the head. Games are supposed to bring good entertainment and take you away from the real world for some time. But for you to play the role of a rapist? What kind of person is that? I’ve read tons of articles stating all the bad effects of video games but I’ve read an interesting article: http://www.feelgr8.co.uk/articles/31339.html and it changed my view on video games.
I dunno… What does it say about Western culture that we favor entertaining escapism through war and violence?
equality are a bunch o retards in lovce with the sound of their own voice. a video game? are u fucking serious? raping computer generated images isn’t exactly my thing, but if a guy has that kind of fetish n wants to play the game, i’d rather that then him goin out n doin the real thing. they had a better chance of a victory declaring war on a video gaME then RAPE itself so when they succeeded they thought who the hell they were.
Equality n eveyr other feminist group who want sto unneccessarily speak their opinion should check their hypocrisy at the door. it’s a game who cares, all those years of fighting for women to be equal, u should just come out n say it “we don’t wanna be treated equal, we want to be able to get a hi paying job in a prestigious position that at one time was only occupied by the male gender…but i want special treatment when it comes to the sketchier side of society.”
i don’t agree with cult mass suicides, but Euqality n anyone else should take serious consideration of it n do the planet a favor.
oh n whoever engineered this game’s a freak…but hey to each their own
I think that what bothers me most about Equality Now is their name. They’re an openly feminist group whose agenda is based on female seniority, which doesn’t support the use of “equality” in their moniker. If I see a group named Equality Now, I think to myself, “Hey… Equality between the sexes. I can get behind that. I want both sexes respected equally.” But then I walk through the door and it’s like, “All men are scum!” (Which might also affect my application.)
The only explanation for the name is that it was a PR move. Equality is a value that most people see as a positive idea, so it makes them appear have a healthy presence in our culture. No one would even give them the chance to speak if they’d more honestly named themselves Feminism Now. “Equality” at least gets them through the door.
I myself believe in equal rights and respect for both sexes, but if I wanted to piss off Equality Now with a valid counter-argument, I’d play this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaxxSH1ZKUU