Watch_Dogs and rape -no spoilers-

[dogefan]

With all the leaks of watch dogs showing up now that people are able to play the game we now have images of some quite disturbing material.

I was quite disappointed after spotting the below images on an irc channel that I frequent. Unfortunately the people who were commenting on them were just laughing the whole issue off.

It would seem like ubisoft still hasn't gotten away from the disturbing rape and STD references that they were also criticized for when Far Cry 3 came out.

Just like in Far Cry 3 the Ubisoft team is handling these issues with little understanding of the topics and even less regard for actual victims of rape or STDs.

For example in the pictures and gifs below we see HIV being made into a joke by assigning the disease to a character who is a blood donor.

And even worse, rape is being handled by portraying it as a fetish for women who are larger and don't conform to the beauty standards we have today. The text messages related to the rape references are also disturbingly degrading.

Why can't we have a game that deals with these issues with at least some understanding and care? Why does this happen even after all the public outrage about similar cases in the past? Do these companies not have PR departments capable of thinking straight? Why do they want to drive away big parts of their potential customer base?

Is it just too much to ask not to have to see material like this in majority of the big budget titles these days? Would people actually miss this stuff if it was gone?

 

[tippy2k2]

I'm going to have to side with Ubisoft on this one.

Now I haven't played Watch_Dogs yet but from everything I know, it's not some whimsical adventure where nothing bad ever happens. It's supposed to be like our current world and surprise!, there's some pretty fucked up people in our world. Hell, flip on the news (here in America at least but I presume other countries have the same sensationalized news reporting like us) and you'll see plenty of stories just like these two (teachers who are fucked up individuals and people who don't care who they hurt as long as they get paid).

 

[nevarran]

They wanted to have a perv npc, big deal. And I doubt they specifically assigned that personalty to this specific character model, I'm pretty sure that's a random process.
The blood donor "joke" is stupid.

 

[Tragedy's Rebellion]

I'm more outraged about the graphics sucking tbh ;D I don't get all this controversy around rape in video games. Rape exists and, like everything else, it exists in all kinds of art too, even music (just listen to John Cage ;D). I also think it's a random process which "archetype" gets assigned to what NPC.

 

[Zhukov]

Yeah... not really seeing it.

As I understand it, the NPC fact thing is just supposed to show some random fact. Some of which are unpleasant. Intended to make the world feel a bit bigger. Like when you point the talking heart at people in Dishonored.

 

[Barbas]

It would seem like ubisoft still hasn't gotten away from the disturbing rape and STD references that they were also criticized for when Far Cry 3 came out.

Were they? I can't say I noticed; I was enjoying Far Cry 3.

For example in the pictures and gifs below we see HIV being made into a joke by assigning the disease to a character who is a blood donor.

No, we don't. Not if we're going by that one picture alone, anyway.

And even worse, rape is being handled by portraying it as a fetish for women who are larger and don't conform to the beauty standards we have today.[...]

No, it isn't. Not if we're going by that one picture alone, anyway. Is that NPC randomized?

Why can't we have a game that deals with these issues with at least some understanding and care? Why does this happen even after all the public outrage about similar cases in the past? Do these companies not have PR departments capable of thinking straight? Why do they want to drive away big parts of their potential customer base?

Is it just too much to ask not to have to see material like this in majority of the big budget titles these days? Would people actually miss this stuff if it was gone?

Until I see sufficient evidence to the contrary, I will assume that the developers of this game have good intentions in addressing these serious matters. Some may find those pictures to be inappropriately shocking, but I do not, because after having spent years on the internet, I have seen people say and do worse things. In short, there are people you will meet in life who have secrets like that.

Why does this happen even after all the public outrage about similar cases in the past?

It still happens, I will assume, in spite of outrage, because outrage is never calm and rational. Outrage would have us sit in the false comfort of ignorance and refuse to face very real problems because we simply don't want to talk about them. As for these issues being supposedly turned into jokes by the developers, I didn't laugh and I don't know that I'd be comfortable around someone who thought such matters existed solely for their entertainment. I do not think the developers are those people.

Do these companies not have PR departments capable of thinking straight? Why do they want to drive away big parts of their potential customer base?

I wasn't aware that they had any intention to do that, but if it's a choice between that and plodding the same, safe roads, I can only commend them for choosing the former.

Is this game even out yet?

 

[rbstewart7263]

wha what?! But....but women have rape fantasies? some of them anyway. I had a girl tell me that she dreamt that I raped her cause it was a turn on???! I think about half of women not sure but alot have this fantasy.

And I mean come on that hiv joke surely isnt worth the trouble is it?

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Yeah... not really seeing it.

As I understand it, the NPC fact thing is just supposed to show some random fact. Some of which are unpleasant. Intended to make the world feel a bit bigger. Like when you point the talking heart at people in Dishonored.

That's my understanding too. Furthermore, from one of the interviews on the topic one of the designers said that these are pretty much randomly pieced together snippets of information that are assigned to random characters when you decide to go NSA on them.

As one of the usual people to object to trivialization of rape, objectification of women in games and chauvinist attitudes among gamers and game developers I am not really seeing the problem here.

 

[Elfgore]

Maybe that little tad of info for people is completely random? Maybe the game just chooses a random fact from a huge list of choices. I don't think they were trying to say larger women get off to rape or make some big political statement.

I'm really starting to feel bad for this game. Seems no matter where it goes it gets crap, no matter how deserving it is, thrown at it.

 

[Whitbane]

This crusade of censorship is ridiculous. If you don't like it, don't play it. Just because you find something offensive doesn't mean that other people will. The ESRB rated the game appropriately, so just sit down and deal with it. People cannot be this soft-shelled nowadays, are they?

 

[synobal]

Maybe she was searching for support groups because of a recent rape experienced by a friend or even herself. Why do people jump to the assumption she is looking for porn.

 

[shrekfan246]

So Tumblr has finally become sentient, and its first stop is here? I'm not sure if we should feel honored or not.

I'm really not sure what else I'm supposed to say here. I mean, there are women who have "rape" fetishes and there are HIV positive people who donate blood. Those things being glorified or mocked in this context is completely on the person looking on to interpret for themselves; just because they're present doesn't automatically mean they're making light of anything. People are horrible and insensitive, the world is horrible and insensitive, and games are allowed to portray that.

Also, "the majority of big budget games" don't do stuff like this. And I think it is too much to ask to "not have to see it". For one thing, you don't have to play it. You don't have to look up information about it. You don't have to go on social justice crusades about it because you saw a screenshot on Twitter or Tumblr or Reddit or wherever else. I have a remarkably easy time avoiding randomly stumbling across things like those, in fact, so I never "have to see it".

Also, I'm not sure how putting in bit-piece NPCs could be handled any more carefully. At least, I'm assuming these characters aren't story-integral, and as such why don't you explain to me how these things could be implemented with more care? No, seriously, I see a lot of knee-jerk raging about every time any idea related to rape is even mentioned within the context of video games, but I never see anyone actually give any examples of how it could be handled more "tactfully". Because it's so much easier to get angry about something than try to come up with a better solution for it. And no, "just don't put it in your game" is not a better solution.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Eh, normally I'd agree problematic things should be removed just for the sake of not being retarded, but this doesn't seem that problematic tbh.

I'm not sure where it portrays rape as a "fetish for women who are larger and don't conform to the beauty standards we have today". It doesn't say much about rape at all outside it being one of her search terms.

Also, is the girl supposed to be the pervy one in the text conversation or the person who receives it? The text message doesn't really even look that degrading either, I'd say the response was pretty assertive and appropriate considering the implication that the two are married or otherwise live together.

 

[lacktheknack]

The average SJW has "rape" as a common search term, too, I bet...

Not everything has to be sexual.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

so a small gag by the developers is now an affront to rape victims and HIV positive people?

man why south park doesnt get into this kind of shit?

this reminds me of this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcebgKvAoh0

 

[Eve Charm]

Ya really I don't see the "Joke" here. The main character in the game is hacking into people "Private" lives and you know what, things like that in a world with 6 billion people, you'd fine people in real life with things like that to.

This is one of those "It's times to grow up" or are we going to start seeing Pics and gifs making fun of if there are any NPC's that are LGBT?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's a game about a hacker who can snoop into people's internet browsers, how could you NOT cover the fact that a sizeable percentage of searches & content are porn?

 

[The Crispy Tiger]

This crusade of censorship is ridiculous. If you don't like it, don't play it. Just because you find something offensive doesn't mean that other people will. The ESRB rated the game appropriately, so just sit down and deal with it. People cannot be this soft-shelled nowadays, are they?

If something is offensive, Why should be not be allowed to call it out and criticize it? Why should we not talk about WHY it offends me? How it offends me? Why should I not be allowed to complain? It's stupid, and criticism will only make things better not worse.