Board 8 > Which would be more offensive in a game: rape or child murder?

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inspired by this link and all the dumb comments on both sides:

http://kotaku.com/5861221/hooray-now-you-can-kill-kids-in-skyrim

So say we take a game like Skyrim, which is supposed to be pretty immersive and you can do whatever you want and whatever. They throw in the option to murder children or to rape anyone you run into. Does one offend you more than the other? Are both okay in video games, or neither? Or one but not the other?

Child rape.

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Rape definitely offends me more.

Although, my opinion is probably colored a little bit by the fact that most of the kids in Skyrim are douchebags.

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Would rape be like a minigame?
And do we get to see the whole act?

Both are pretty offensive if they don't contribute to the story.

I'm definitely killing that one kid who put a hit out on my head in Skyrim, though. She totally invited this.

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Child murder in games shouldn't even be offensive.

Deus Ex and Fallout had it, it wasn't a big deal.

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Neither would offend me if treated properly. Of course, since these are video games we're talking about, they wouldn't.

This does make me think, though. I wouldn't have any problem killing children in video games since there's no difference between them and regular humans in games. I would pause in having to rape someone in a game, though. The thing is, in real life I frown on murder much more than rape, because murder is taking a life, while a victim who is raped and isn't murdered at least gets to live, albeit having to experience severe trauma. Don't think I'm downplaying the horribleness of rape, but it's still not literally taking away another's right to live.

So why would I have no hesitation murdering while I wouldn't think of raping? Is it because video games encourage the death of your enemy? Or is it because there's no games that manage to make rape into as fun a mechanic as murder? It's almost cathartic to mow down a bunch of random strangers in GTA, but you know they're fictional. Would it really be any different to rape them? The reactions from the raped NPCs would perhaps be more mortifying than the people you gun and knife down, but would it really be any different?

To put it another way, if Harvest Moon, a series that contains no murder or really any crimes besides possible animal cruelty, had a mechanic where your crops would grow faster and be worth more if you raped the possible love candidates to appease some dark spirit, how many people would do it? Would it depend on how much detail the game goes into the rape?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that rape hasn't nearly been as desensitized as murder, because it really shouldn't be, and I'm glad very few games bother to use rape in as frivolous a way as most games use murder. It's just interesting seeing how games treat rape and murder.

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I fail to see how child murder is any more offensive than murder of any other innocent person. And I don't mean innocent as in virgin, since I know somebody will make that connection for joke or for serious.

Wait, are you saying that there doesn't already exist a game where you can rape everyone?

Guess I've been brainwashed by the media then.

yeah a game where the player character can actually rape someone is something that will never happen. it's definitely more offensive. I could see somewhere in the future a game having a rape scene, perpetrated by a villain.

child murder wouldn't offend me at all, unless it was some unnecessarily gruesome mini game or something.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapeLay

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The reason child murder is rare is that you can't sell your game in Germany if it depicts violence against children. Doesn't matter if they're actually thousand year old vampires, it'll still get your game banned in Germany.

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killed annoying kids all the time in Deus Ex

especially that one kid with the hat in Hong Kong

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TVontheRadio posted...
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapeLay

post /sig lol

ok, I stand corrected about there not being rape videogames. I just woke up and obviously completely forgot that Japan exists.

There's also some indie PC games that involve rape, mostly just to be edgy.

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The reason child murder is rare is that you can't sell your game in Germany if it depicts violence against children. Doesn't matter if they're actually thousand year old vampires, it'll still get your game banned in Germany.

Without meaning to be facetious, does that mean FFIX is banned in Germany?

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Kotetsu534 posted...
The reason child murder is rare is that you can't sell your game in Germany if it depicts violence against children. Doesn't matter if they're actually thousand year old vampires, it'll still get your game banned in Germany.

Without meaning to be facetious, does that mean FFIX is banned in Germany?

I dunno; then again, FF9 came out 11 years ago--those laws may not have been written.

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I would imagine FF9 couldn't have gotten a PAL release on PSN if it were banned in Germany.

I would think that that law would be more about the player inflicting violence against children. Then again, maybe there's just a certain amount of "detail" required in the violence.

This now makes me wonder if Xenosaga I is banned there. That would be highly ironic.

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FFIX isn't banned in Germany.
As for Xenosaga I, it was never released in Europe, so there's no point to banning it.

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You could *be* raped in a few games. Like Fallout

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colliding posted...
yeah a game where the player character can actually rape someone is something that will never happen. it's definitely more offensive. I could see somewhere in the future a game having a rape scene, perpetrated by a villain.

Custer's Revenge?

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I'm pretty sure Fallout 2 included both of these and pretty much nobody cared.

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That's because no one played Fallout 2.

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Man the worst part is that Bethesda seems to have intentionally made the kids as annoying as possible so that you would want to kill them, then made them immortal because they didn't want to get in trouble.

"ANOTHER ADVENTURER, COME TO LICK MY FATHER'S BOOTS"

justified homicide imo

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From: SHINE GET 64 | #013
killed annoying kids all the time in Deus Ex

especially that one kid with the hat in Hong Kong

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Rape

Child Murder already happens in some games, and I haven't heard anyone largely offended by it (like Heavy Rain).

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From: SmartMuffin | #025

Best game

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From: metroid composite | #052
The reason child murder is rare is that you can't sell your game in Germany if it depicts violence against children. Doesn't matter if they're actually thousand year old vampires, it'll still get your game banned in Germany.

Was Dead Space 2 banned there? Dead Space 2 and Silent Hill 1 are the first games I could think of where you murder children.

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In a game, rape. In reality, murder. Both should be in games if the idea is an open world.

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SantaRPG posted...
I think the big difference is murder is a typical thing that enriches gameplay, while rape does pretty much nothing for it. I suppose if there was a some sort of game where you had to torture your victims, and rape was one of the options, that would be all well and good (not really something id ever play)

Very sensible. While I was reading this thread, there was something in the back of my mind telling me that rape shouldn't be in video games. This post describes my thoughts clearly.

Murder adds to gameplay, rape wouldn't.

What about in Silent Hill 2?

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Louis Pan makes a good argument for child murder, as has been said in this topic.

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From: SantaRPG | Posted: 12/9/2011 10:54:30 AM | #027
while rape does pretty much nothing for it.

H-games disagree

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