This whole Rape Controversy has gotten silly,

[Jimesis]

It's hit a note that's just off to me and it's been scratching the chalkboard in my brain for days. I'm going to start this with a warning label, if you've ever been the victim of a sexual assault and to this day discussion of the subject makes you uncomfortable or rubs glass in psychic wounds please head for the exit. You're not going to hurt my feelings by not reading this and I'm seriously going to discuss the hell out of the subject without any tip-toeing.

This all started bothering me because my long time girl-friend was raped and the recent controversy bothered her. I was offended on her behalf to be honest. But the "why" isn't what you think. I'm upset because of the outrage that flared up. There's this underlining tone to some of it that's really offensive. There're a lot of people that seem to view rape as a fate worse than death. There are even more who seem to believe that rape utterly destroys a person, robbing their lives of all joy and forever crippling them. You know, that could be true for some people. And I feel bad for those people. But that's not everyone. Every victim of rape does not live the rest of their entire life thinking of themselves as a victim.

There's no one in the world I respect more than my girl. She's the strongest person I know and she's been through some terrible ordeals. Her rape was just a bad thing that happened to her. It wasn't the defining moment of her life. The way they handled the scene in Tomb Raider could have been handled better, sure. Maybe even the intent behind it, that Lara's femininity would be leveraged to make her a damsel in distress for you the big strong player to protect, was a little messed up and ran against the grain of her established character. But the premise that rape can be trauma that can be overcome where the person comes out stronger, this is not flawed. It's kind of annoying that some people don't even think it possible.

Let's say a guy loses both his legs in a horrifying accident. They were bit off by a shark, I don't know. There's a couple ways this could go. The man can live his life "crippled" by this. Haunted by the memory of that shark every night. Reminded everyday when he looks down at limbs that don't exist. His work life could collapse. His home life, friends, romances. You don't have to lose your own legs to conceptualize the hardships this guy "could" face. But if I was to tell you that losing your legs is the worst thing that could happen to you, that it was more merciful to die than live crippled that way. If I was to say to you that all paraplegics lead a sad empty life and could never hope to reclaim a semblance of what they had before well... I'd kind of be spitting in the face of everyone who overcame their disabilities. I'd be disrespecting everyone who went on to live happy fulfilling lives even after losing limbs.

That's what's happening right now with this whole rape mess. The worst part of this is that the people doing it believe they are being respectful to all rape victims. They are genuinely trying to be nice. A big problem here is that people are saying Rape should not be in video games at all. It's too sensitive a topic to discuss. I say No. It's too sensitive a topic because no one is willing to discuss it. And we should. As mature adults there should not be conversations we can't have. Misunderstandings like this one spring up because no one is willing to have the dialogue.

There's even a whole Rape vs Murder debate going on. It's been discussed by Jim Sterling and in several articles here on the site. I'll let you in on something right now. Murder is worse than Rape. Killing someone is (just about) the worst thing you could possibly do to them. To kill someone is to remove them from everyone else's lives. It robs them of all the combined joys they could ever possibly have and steals any impact they could have had on other people and the world at large. The best thing about you is that you are alive, so long as that's true anything's possible. To cease existing is to lose all those possibilities.

If you'll let me paint you a picture: A fate WORSE than Death is a life filled with Nothing but pain, sadness, and/or fear. It is a place where hope and joy are not even possible. A life like that is one where death is a mercy and suicide is simply an escape that one you couldn't be blamed for taking.

Now I know what many people are going to say. Rape bothers you more than Murder, therefore it is worse than Murder. But this is wrong. It is not correct. We are desensitized to death and physical violence because we are exposed to it so often. Violence and Murder are part of the discussion and have been for a very long time, that's the only reason it doesn't bother you. As a society, especially over here in the US of A, sex is not really part of our discussion. Rape deals with sex, Rape is also not talked about, we are not desensitized to it so it bothers us more than Murder does.

Another thing that's just silly. In the last few days I've been reading and hearing about how killing in most games is pretty justified within the context of the story. It's all about bad people getting what they deserve. The argument, as it is made, is that while games can justify killing, they can never justify rape. And ya know, I'm going to dispute both of those points just for the hell of it.

Jim Sterling and Andy Chalk both independently label videogame killing as a justifiable and even heroic act. Jim makes the point that you're doing your killing in self defense anyway. Let's assume that none of us has ever played a game where an enemy was disarmed and we had the choice of killing them or not and we shot them in the face or something anyway. I still wonder then if we've been playing the same games. In a sandbox game such as Skyrim, Saints Row, Grand Theft Auto, etc. I don't know any Gamer who hasn't gone off the reservation and just killed a bunch of defenseless civilians. Just for the hell it. Just cause it was funny to watch them die. Justify that. Tell me how stabbing townsfolk in Skyrim or running pedestrians down in Grand Theft Auto are victimless acts with subconscious heroic undertones.

Fine, you say, but how can you justify rape in a videogame? Or ever for that matter? In the same exact way, by the same exact logic, as stabbing or shooting a villain to death. If you can say that a death sentence is a fine way to punish someone for evil deeds then rape as a (at best) equivalent evil is just as justifiable.

The kicker for this one is that you might still say that rape can't be justified. Thing of it is since murder is (just about) the worst thing you could ever do you can't really justify that either. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with murder being totally abhorrent and doing it in videogames anyway because videogames are pretend.

Even if it's clumsily handled we shouldn't wholesale ban rape (I am aware that neither Sterling nor Chalk suggested such a ban) from games because if we do that we'll never get to a point where we can address it maturely. We have to be able to think of people who have been raped as PEOPLE, and not just victims living as shivering bundles of fear and sadness. We have to be able to respect them properly. We have to be able to express rape in our stories because it's a part of the human condition. And we can't do that if no one is willing to talk about it.

 

[Lilani]

I don't know if you've read this article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9766-The-R-Word] or not, but the way you said not every rape victim goes around thinking of themself as a victim, I get the feeling you haven't. While not every rape victim might react that way, rape can leave very vivid mental scars, and give victims the same sort of post-traumatic stress reactions as soldiers fresh from the front lines.

We shouldn't be afraid to portray rape, yes, but I feel we should also avoid misrepresenting it and trivializing it. If rape is going to be portrayed in a "real" way, then the writers should make the effort to do their research on rape victims and how they cope. Don't just assume it's going to be a super intense "growing up" moment that's easily interchangeable with some other tragedy, like a dog getting killed or losing a loved one.

 

[J. Mazarin]

^^^ Seconding the whole PTSD spiel. You should probably look into it.

Not too much to say that Lilani didn't, though. Just consider his/her comment again.

 

[J. Mazarin]

^^^ Seconding the whole PTSD spiel. You should probably look into it.

Not too much to say that Lilani didn't, though. Just consider his/her comment again.

I know, it was when they brought up mental scars it got me thinking hence why I quoted them.

Agh, those arrows were meant to point to Lilani's post, not yours.

You got there before me though.

 

[Lilani]

I don't know if you've read this article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9766-The-R-Word] or not, but the way you said not every rape victim goes around thinking of themself as a victim, I get the feeling you haven't. While not every rape victim might react that way, rape can leave very vivid mental scars, and give victims the same sort of post-traumatic stress reactions as soldiers fresh from the front lines.

We shouldn't be afraid to portray rape, yes, but I feel we should also avoid misrepresenting it and trivializing it. If rape is going to be portrayed in a "real" way, then the writers should make the effort to do their research on rape victims and how they cope. Don't just assume it's going to be a super intense "growing up" moment that's easily interchangeable with some other tragedy, like a dog getting killed or losing a loved one.

This may come off really ignorant but surely some of the trauma has to come from how seriously we take it? I mean, it's seen as one of the worst things ever so if someone is raped surely that's shitloads more baggage that is going to be weighing down one them that doesn't need to be there. I'm not saying we should treat it in a light-hearted manner but it's such a sensitive topic these days.

I realise I could be full of shit but I've been wondering this for a while.

One of the lines of the article that stood out to me was "Let's just say I know the exact sound a child's arm makes when it breaks after he's thrown on a bed -- it's two muffled snaps, one right after the other like a revolver being cocked." I don't feel like that's something a person easily shakes off, especially when it happened to them as a child.

I can understand why you feel this way, because I think it's something you can't really understand until it's happened to you. Personally, I happen feel the opposite. I have no doubt in my mind it can leave mental scars, and I try to never underestimate other people's pain just because I don't understand it.

I had a friend who, starting in middle school, had clinical depression. She never got medication until about her junior year of high school, and until then I more or less became her personal therapist. I spent countless hours at her house and on MSN and email, talking out her problems with her. A few times we had some major falling outs. I couldn't wrap my head around why she felt that way, and for a long time (and some now, really) I was convinced it was just for attention. She didn't have a bad life--two parents who loved her and provided for her, middle class, a good number of friends (though being girls there was quite a bit of drama). It didn't make sense to me that she could be so miserable even though she had absolutely no reason to be.

But once she got the medication, she immediately became more independent, and determined to see to her own personal happiness. After seeing that change in her, I knew I was wrong. There was something wrong with her, and the fact that I didn't and still don't understand it didn't change that.

So just because you don't understand someone's pain doesn't mean it doesn't or can't exist. And, I don't mean to sound condescending here because I do have a lot of respect for you Matt, but it might help you understand people better in the future if you tried to think of people and their problems like that, too. Yes, there are people who make a lot out of nothing. But it probably isn't good for you or them to assume the worst of everyone you meet.

 

[Jimesis]

I actually did read that article before, and I'm aware that Rape can and has affected people that way, but from personal experience of knowing more than one person for years who has been raped I know that not everyone has that reaction to the trauma. One of my issues, and my gf's, is that most people seem to think that either everyone who was raped goes through their lives like the author of that article or that rape isn't serious at all.

There are many shades of gray in this rainbow, same as with most issues. There are people who are crushed by the trauma of their experience and people who move on without much issue. If it seemed like I was belittling the former group I apologize, but I think it's important to note that the story told by the author of "the R word" isn't a universal one.

 

[Lilani]

I actually did read that article before, and I'm aware that Rape can and has affected people that way, but from personal experience of knowing more than one person for years who has been raped I know that not everyone has that reaction to the trauma. One of my issues, and my gf's, is that most people seem to think that either everyone who was raped goes through their lives like the author of that article or that rape isn't serious at all.

There are many shades of gray in this rainbow, same as with most issues. There are people who are crushed by the trauma of their experience and people who move on without much issue. If it seemed like I was belittling the former group I apologize, but I think it's important to note that the story told by the author of "the R word" isn't a universal one.

I understand it's not a universal story, and that's why I feel like we need to be very careful about how it's employed in narrative. If you go the route of it not being a big deal, then you belittle those who had extremely violent and traumatic experiences. But if you make it too traumatic, then it has the possibility of being too hammy and totally undermining every other aspect of the victim.

I think the main issue with rape being in games that doesn't so much affect it being in films and literature is because in films and literature it is always an isolated character. You are constantly aware that the person going though that is not you, and has their own thoughts and feelings on the situation. With games, you are often supposed to be living vicariously through the character. Feeling what they feel, going through their toils with them. Rape is such a personal thing that everybody reacts differently to that any attempt to accurately put the player in the character's exact emotional state will always fall flat for a lot of people. But, if it is made perfectly clear that the character you are dealing with is a unique individual with their own emotions separate from the player, then I think that could be solved. And that is why I think there is still a possibility of the attempted rape in the new Tomb Raider game could work. Just as long as they don't make it too hammy and keep it focused on what Lara is feeling instead of the player. Don't make it about "this is how rape is," make it about "this is how rape is to Lara."

 

[Jimesis]

This, I totally agree with what you're saying.

As an aside, I think the only way to make the rape of a character meant to be your avatar have a proper impact is to make the rest of the story gripping enough for you to emotionally invest in this person and then give you choices afterwards that could express how you felt about the event. You'd have to be pretty invested for it to work well, and the choices would need to be varied enough for you to not be shoe-horned into an emotional state you don't identify with.

 

[LetalisK]

Don't make it about "this is how rape is," make it about "this is how rape is to Lara."

Side note, I feel this is a rather universal rule in writing. Bad writing will just slap a label or experience on a character and call it a night. Good writing will start by exploring what it means to that character to have that label or experience. We'll see which happens with Tomb Raider. Trailers are deceptive.

 

[Conn1496]

I think the circumstances are in order to be looked at in this scenario. Each person has their own limits, and we just have to accept them. Some people may come out of an ordeal like that mentally unscarred, however, it may just affect them to the state where it affects their entire lives. Sometimes, rape can be a fate worse than death, and we have to face that. But until we see the full picture, no assumptions can be made about each and every rape case. Each scenario is different, and people just haven't taken that into consideration, mainly because everyone has taken sides on the argument without seeing that there is actually a middle ground in it. This really isn't an issue that can be safely discussed without offending at least one person all in all, and it probably is about time we dropped it.

 

[Nomanslander]

I don't quite understand why the issue of rape needs to be brought up in games to begin with? Except for a story mechanic I don't see what the deal here is. All I see is a bunch developers and gamers doing nothing more than blatantly taking further steps in bringing gaming into the light of art without the sensibility of how to do so; all based on the concept that in order to do so we need to tackle complicated issues like rape here.

You see, this might work for movies, books, or TV, but it's a bit more tricky matter when it comes to an interactive media like video games. Now in video games there is such a thing as linear stories through cutscenes and such, and that's pretty much what I consider no different from movies or books because it's not interactive.

Once the matter becomes involved in gameplay now we have ourselves a different ball game. Now the difference between murder and rape to me at least is killing in games is just another way of defeating your opponent, and THAT'S IT. If you really think about it, there really is no such thing as "death" in video games since you and even the NPCs can always come back from it. Games are built around the concept of defeating your opponents, and since there really is no such thing as mortality in games, there is really no such thing as murder. Take Gears MP, you can chain saw the shit out of each other all day long, that opponent that you just decapitated or "killed" will be "re-spawning' in a matter of seconds to come get his or her revenge.

Now the only thing I can compared rape in video games to is a thing called "ganking" which you see in MMOs. It's really a means of getting your jollies harassing another opponent, and if you look at a lot of gaming communities, ganking is something that's almost always frowned at.

Now if we try to ask the same question again, I still can't seem to get past the notion of why rape needs to be in video games to begin with if it has nothing to do with the story.

 

[thom_cat_]

I think it's just because the media is sensationalising the topic, it being on the radar that you only tend to see the extreme cases. Most people understand that there are people who have been raped who handle it better than others, and some that don't even see it as a big deal at all.

I agree with this:

I think the main issue with rape being in games that doesn't so much affect it being in films and literature is because in films and literature it is always an isolated character. You are constantly aware that the person going though that is not you, and has their own thoughts and feelings on the situation. With games, you are often supposed to be living vicariously through the character. Feeling what they feel, going through their toils with them. Rape is such a personal thing that everybody reacts differently to that any attempt to accurately put the player in the character's exact emotional state will always fall flat for a lot of people. But, if it is made perfectly clear that the character you are dealing with is a unique individual with their own emotions separate from the player, then I think that could be solved. And that is why I think there is still a possibility of the attempted rape in the new Tomb Raider game could work. Just as long as they don't make it too hammy and keep it focused on what Lara is feeling instead of the player. Don't make it about "this is how rape is," make it about "this is how rape is to Lara."

(thankyou by the way, it was well phrased and written to convey what I could only badly put to words)

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

People who have been murdered are dead. Therefore they can't be offended by playing a game with murder in it. People who have been raped are alive (usually) and therefore can be offended.

That's an argument someone might choose to use. I would probably do so if I could be bothered, but the whole argument doesn't seem that important unless we're forcing these victims to play these games. I'm scared of spiders but I don't need Dragon Age banned because there's scary spiders in it.

 

[Iron Lightning]

Now if we try to ask the same question again, I still can't seem to get past the notion of why rape needs to be in video games to begin with if it has nothing to do with the story.

For pornographic reasons, of course. Although technically I suppose those all have to do with the story too since all games have at least a basic story and there's no way to totally disconnect an event from the emergent story.

People who have been murdered are dead. Therefore they can't be offended by playing a game with murder in it. People who have been raped are alive (usually) and therefore can be offended.

Nah, that argument doesn't work since people who have been murdered often have people who care for them very much and thus those loved ones are susceptible to being offended by playing a game with murder in it. One could argue about the relative severity of the offense taken but nevertheless we can agree that it can be pretty harsh either way.

That's an argument someone might choose to use. I would probably do so if I could be bothered, but the whole argument doesn't seem that important unless we're forcing these victims to play these games. I'm scared of spiders but I don't need Dragon Age banned because there's scary spiders in it.

This, on the other hand, is spot on.

 

[undeadexistentialist]

Even if it's clumsily handled we shouldn't wholesale ban rape

I'm not sure what you're referring to being clumsily handled (if you mean a ban or the topic of rape) but this is my real issue. Rape in the public view is an extremely emotive topic. This means that if it's well-handled in the game then it SHOULD be included because it will draw us in, make the game emotionally engaging, make us care about the characters and it opens so many interesting doors in terms of character and plot development. Why I'm convinced rape should NOT be put in games (at least right now) is because with the way mainstream devs are at the moment, the chances of them handling it in an emotive, elegant, and significant way are practically zero.

On the other hand, they won't learn to handle issues well if they never try to handle them, so maybe this is a good thing, if only for the ultimate good of actually having emotional depth in games. Either way, nothing I say here or anywhere will influence their choices, so I'm content to sit here and wait to see how it turns out; I won't buy the game myself, but I imagine I'll hear about it on forums, and if it results in games that CAN handle topics like this well, I'd say the controversy is worth it.