Why is rape in gaming largely ignored?

[FrozenLaughs]

Because if it's legitimate rape the game has a way of shutting it all down

LOL

I actually properly laughed at that.

Now the people on the train with me think that I'm weird, I hope you're proud of yourself.

I fully expected to get banned for that one.

We live in a world where the tough guy image implies there is no such thing as raping a man, that men will never say no to free sex and that forcing a man is simply "foreplay".

It's no surprise that it has leaked over into video games, its the exact same thing as the dramas that get stirred up whenever a fantasy female is put into a chainmail bikini, but nobody points a finger in outrage towards us.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

It makes people uncomfortable.

And too many people are adult-children who can't accept the concept of such things being explored in Gaming.

 

[TristanBelmont]

F.E.A.R 2 seems to be the one out of this--in my humble and sexy opinion at least--that I would give a pass to, because Alma raping Becket is a major event in the plot that leads to the story of F.E.A.R 3.

While I grant that the series could have handled the "demon babby prophecy" or whatever the bloody 'ell this franchise was based on, Alma's multiple rapes as part of the experimentation and her forcing of Becket were the most serious parts of the trilogy's story, and I feel they were handled well.

Just my own buttery opinion though.

 

[BarkBarker]

The first one is a comedic slant, the second one is deemed as an awful thing, the third is just two consensual people with no suggestions of anything else as it clearly shows, the fourth is just weird really as it seems to be making me feel like even when getting raped this main character is just super deadpan like its supposed to be an exaggeration, and the final one seems to be trying to be more creepy and uncomfortable implications that are never cared about again despite it being suggested.

I'm sure lots of people...oh for the love of god, its LOSE their minds goddammit! Yes, I'm sure a lot of people cry rape, but the first situation was people assuming the worst of a villain when a timid weak girl like Lara is tied up and touched at all by someone of the opposite sex. The second is supposed to be a sort of prod at people, baiting and switching what looked like a fat murderous guy about to rape someone, but oh haha jokes on you what sort of madmen do you take me for, the games are about ridiculous violence, not rape YA SILLY.

People cry out for the potency of rape on females because it is clearly the most prominent in the media as "the worst thing a human being can do", a power play and of course EVERYBODY assumes that power plays like subjugation of will are for men and all their testosterone and totally bad way of being to women in generall grrr men are bad stupid bullshit.

I think a MAJOR reason any idea of female on male rape is ignored...is because its never shown to us in a serious context, of the examples only the FEAR one is at all something to be taken seriously, and it is met with people who found it awful and scary. If you showed genuine believable female on male rape, people would take that shit seriously, but it rarely is shown as anything other than a joke for YEARS in media that we all assume its supposed to be played for laughs. That's how you jump them, you make them fall into their natural mindset like Spec Ops:The Line did, let them all assume its all okay because it always is....right?

There is a problem with people reading too much context, it is a very touchy subject for many as it is something that, as said before, is deemed the most evil thing you can do to a person. you even hint at a legitimate example of ape and people cry out, but this is because...well how often do see male on female rape played for laughs? People fall into their habits and assumptions of rather predictable media and anything outside of that is hard to tell if it is deliberate. People will change when they face the fact that they show tremendous bias out of being thrown the same kind of shit for yars and all of a sudden a screwball is thrown at them.

 

[Vivi22]

The common denominator here is that these are instances of female characters raping male characters. The reason this is largely ignored is because society has some incredibly fucked up views on rape including a massive double standard when it comes to men being raped.

Woman gets raped? That's a tragedy. Man gets raped? "High five bro!"

It's frequently treated as a joke, or at least something which isn't serious in many types of media. I can think of two movies which did this off hand and played it for laughs when the male characters were actually being raped. But perhaps the worst part, and a major reason why I doubt this will change anytime soon, is that many people don't think men being raped is an actual problem. Hell, a disturbing number of people don't even think it's possible.

It'd be nice if media would at least treat male characters being raped seriously though. At least then people's attitudes might actually change as it's addressed more and people are made more aware of it.

 

[Me55enger]

Society is often just okay with the idea of males having sex they don't consent to.

I'm doubtful anything will happen with this situation, whilst it's an uncomfortable double standard, it seems so acceptable, and the idea of fighting against it is dismissed so readily, it occurs merely accepting it as a fact of life is all there is to it.

I wouldn't call Operation Yew Tree a ready dismissal of sexual abuse. I call it late and ham-fisted, but not an avoidance. I also think that citing rape and sexual abuse as a fact of life is the wrong idea in the extreme.

I think there's a boatload of reasons as to why rape and sexual abuse is a lesser-discussed topic in videogames, and you could with genuine ease write a damn fine dissertation about it and still have enough for episode 2.

I think the key reasons, however, are relatively clear: Target Market (is small), sense of entertainment/escapism, current real world gender inequalities, the slurry-storm that is "the gender problem" inside gaming culture and the developer backlash of discussing important topics and finally: the level of immersion involved in videogames.

Pick apart what you will, they are all reasons why it's avoided.

 

[MirenBainesUSMC]

Don't forget Metro- Last Light. There is a scene where the caravan was destroyed and the raiders were basically raping the survivors, one of which you could save I believe if you acted quickly though I am not sure.


In that case you could hear the NPC crying and in distress.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

F.E.A.R 2 seems to be the one out of this--in my humble and sexy opinion at least--that I would give a pass to, because Alma raping Becket is a major event in the plot that leads to the story of F.E.A.R 3.

Beckett is shown as being utterly traumatized and disgusted by what happened to him, and at no point in the third game is it played up for laughs or treated as "no big deal". So yeah, I'd say that despite FEAR 3's sins in other areas, it did a fine job there, at least.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Before she rapes the main character, the player does have the option to either imply he's Ok with this, or to resist. Either way, he gets raped and freed after.

Alpha Protocol:
That isn't true. I agree that SIE is being extremely pushy, uncomfortably so, but she doesn't have sex with you if you keep resisting her advances. This is what happens if you say no, skip to 2:20.

Spoiler

Men being raped is terrible and the double standard that exists in fiction and the real world where it's largely brushed aside and treated as a joke or that he's 'lucky' is awful. Now I haven't played FEAR 2 but from what I've heard and seen of the ending it looks like it portrays it right, as a horrible horrific experience.

As for rape as a whole, well I've posted on this before so I'm just going to copy what I said.

Now rape is horrible, that goes without saying, I have and hopefully never will experience it. But I feel that it definitely has a place in video games and art and media in general. Handling the topic well goes without saying, all topics should be handled well and rape is pretty sensitive material so treat it with care. Of course not all stories need to or even should have rape in them, rape certainly wouldn't improve Super Mario Brothers but I hate the idea that it is a topic that should never be handled in the medium. I also hate the notion that games as a medium just aren't good enough to tackle the subject material. Now do I think a lot of developers would do it poorly? Yes, but not all of them would. I feel it feeds back into the idea that games are just toys. You can't say games are art and then when they handle difficult topics say they're just games. Now I certainly feel for people who have experienced rape and I understand that rape and a lot of other things can have triggering effects on people but that doesn't mean art can't or shouldn't explore these topics.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

The fact that it is a less-common theme in games is a good thing. Let's be honest, most game "writers" couldn't write their way out of a wet paper bag, let alone handle a topic like rape with the gravitas and maturity it deserves. When rape -or the threat or sexual assault- is used, it used simply to "raise the stakes" for characters, rather than as a real exploration of the violence or emotional impact of rape itself.

As medium, there is no real reason rape cannot be addressed, but practically speaking, there are few if any writers in this medium that have any kind of right to address it. Even if a writer were skilled enough to tackle the subject, they would likely run afoul of the publisher, because any deep character exploration does not make for explosions, shooting, or online multiplayer.

Where gender is concerned, it is a valid point that rape against men is stigmatized differently than against women, especially against sexual assault against adult men: "He should have been able to stop her," or "he is in prison, so he likely deserved it." But this is still a tertiary concern when you realize that few if any can properly handle the subject regardless of what the gender or age of the victim is.

 

[Netrigan]

Really up to us men to push male rape as not being a joke. Sadly, it is largely just a joke among us men, which makes it even harder for the victims.

 

[Netrigan]

Because games, like all media, tend to reflect the attitudes of the society that makes them, and our society has a distinct double standard when it comes to male victims of rape.

Not so much a double standard as two groups having different standards. Women tend to take the subject of rape more serious than men. The jokes mostly come from men.

Problem is women don't think about male victoms of rape. Men tend to think its sexy or funny. Neither group thinks overly much about the victims.

 

[giles]

I remember playing FEAR 2 with my sister and when that scene came up I just looked at her like "... is she seriously raping him right now?" and she just went "... I dunno O_O". It's kinda intercut with gameplay so it's a weird and creepy experience, appropriate for a horror game I guess.
The problem is that while this one is not downplayed, it's also not your "standard" rape because she is not a woman but some kind of all powerful psychic monster thing. You could argue that's the reason this is taken more seriously. Kinda sad when you think about it.

 

[Piorn]

Because you can't convey the feeling of being raped in a video game, there's always a detachment.

In almost all cases, It happens to a character in a cutscene. QTEs during a cutscene still count as cutscene. It might tickle your empathy gland but nothing more. If you don't have control similar to normal gameplay, it's just another cutscene.

Integrating it into gameplay as a narrative experience has never been done properly, and would be rather unsettling propably. I'm thinking of scenes like the microwave hallway in MGS4, the end of SotC, or similarly scripted things like bossfights you are meant to lose. It would hit closer to home, because it would happen to your projected self in the game, not an actor in a cutscene. It would be pretty disturbing, and would require the global narrative to support and contextualize that scene, which is propably pretty hard.

 

[Leoofmoon]

I think everyone kinda shakes there head at it, I just watched a anime where they even mentioned a gang rape on two girls and that almost got me to shut off the show.

 

[AllCorrupt]

Because you can't convey the feeling of being raped in a video game, there's always a detachment.

In almost all cases, It happens to a character in a cutscene. QTEs during a cutscene still count as cutscene. It might tickle your empathy gland but nothing more. If you don't have control similar to normal gameplay, it's just another cutscene.

Integrating it into gameplay as a narrative experience has never been done properly, and would be rather unsettling propably. I'm thinking of scenes like the microwave hallway in MGS4, the end of SotC, or similarly scripted things like bossfights you are meant to lose. It would hit closer to home, because it would happen to your projected self in the game, not an actor in a cutscene. It would be pretty disturbing, and would require the global narrative to support and contextualize that scene, which is propably pretty hard.

You can if you play EA games and use Origin.

 

[SonOfAnarchy91]

Hopefully its because people actually know the difference between reality and a video game. Its the same with movies, sure its controversial but we know (or at least should know) that it isn't real.

 

[Rogue Trooper]

Because in the grand scheme of things nobody cares.

 

[wakuboys]

I for one find it funny how everyone would freak out about the IMPLICATION that the pig dude was going to rape some helpless woman, but is fine with all the murdering of a bunch of dudes protecting her.

Spoiler

And by funny I mean extremely depressing