TAKE IT!!!
Anyway, leaving aside the increasingly laboured masturbation jokes for a moment, I feel that I should take a moment to preface my usual ramblings with a warning. And not simply that you may end up with a permanent mental picture most people would politely file under "FAR to much information". See, I can't really talk about this issue without talking about a type of game many people find somewhat distasteful. And one game in particular that has received a lot of press as being the worst thing ever™. At the very least we're going to be talking about something that many people do not necessarily find a comfortable topic of conversation. Consider this a trigger warning if you like. Because we're going to be talking about Rapelay.
For those who aren't aware (welcome to the internet guys, I'm sure you're going to have a GREAT time) Rapelay is a Japanese (of course) computer game in which it is the players job to sexually assault a family of 3 females.
So yes, I you can imagine this game is generally viewed as being a bit dodgy. God only knows what writing about this is going to do to my search impressions. But we're going to need to go through some heavy stuff before I can get to the points I really want to discuss, so let's press on.
Firstly we're going to have to talk about rape fantasy in games and media. There's an awful lot of this in the thriving Japanese sex game industry. I'm not particularly an expert I have to say. I've played one or two, and read about many more. And in games with an overt sexual theme there does seem to be an awful lot centred around the whole rape business. However, when you think about it, it does make a fair amount of sense.
But first let's get the obvious thing out of the way. Rape IS bad. It's a serious issue that affects far too many people, and really isn't the sort of thing to be trivialised. It's not actually sex, it's just wrong. But having said all that, do you know what else is wrong? Violence of any kind. But we, the game players don't feel the need to tiptoe around the subject every time the latest in a long line of war shooters comes out. Sure, some people are offended by such things, but we're always ready to dismiss those arguments against the medium. Shooters don't cause violence we say. There's no compelling evidence to suggest otherwise. It's just escapist fantasy. And we, as rational adults, are quite capable of telling fantasy from reality thank you very much.
So why do we suddenly feel uncomfortable when gratuitous sexual content is brought up?
Well, because basically everybody has a really weird attitude towards sex. Despite being a fundamental driving factor of the human race we're still a bit funny about it. This isn't really the place to get into all the social pressures and cultural factors that shape our views of sexuality, and I'm hardly qualified to discuss such things even if it was. But on a basic and grossly oversimplified level we are simultaneously taught that sex itself is both AWESOME and WRONG. And that's going to leave us a little confused.
Some a little more confused than others.
Part of this confusion manifests in the standard rape fantasy that is the staple of so many hentai productions. This is the "it isn't really rape if she likes it eventually" school of thought. In which the hapless female is portrayed as secretly enjoying whatever it is that's being done to her, but just needs to be convinced to admit it. After all, there's still this odd sense floating around in the cultural ether that women aren't really meant to be all that into sex. Don't ask me where that comes from, but you know what I'm talking about. A woman is either a nun or a porn star, there is no in between. That's why you get these stories where the sexual submission of the female character is portrayed as psychologically liberating I think. But I'm digressing. Then we have the problem with whole sex is wrong message that is broadcast in the cultural ether. This is most traceable back to crazy religious attitudes I think. But whilst the idea was probably to elicit some measure of control over what was viewed as the baser natures, the result was a little different. The problem is that if you go around telling people that SEX = WRONG then they're also going to start thinking that WRONG = SEX. The whole dirty wrongness gets tangled up in the sexual impulses and we end up with german porn. The forbidden angle becomes an intrinsic part of the excitement. And you don't get much more taboo than forcing someone to engage in such activities. And of course since it's so wrong they must logically enjoy as well because that's how sex works now apparently.
Then of course there's the classic male power fantasy angle. This is a phrase you'll hear a lot talking about games in general. Why wouldn't it apply to a game where you're teaching a girl to enjoy certain acts? Especially whether she likes it or not. To overcome such barriers with your raw manly sex power is pretty much the ultimate in that particular area.
Really what we need here is two different definitions. As I said before RAPE isn't really even sex. It's an assault. But in the strictly fantasy context of the various Hentai games, comics and shows we have, to borrow an internet parlance RAEP. Which we're defining as a semi consensual scenario in which one parties protestations are assuaged by physical stimulation.
As to whether or not these scenarios are right, normal or healthy... Well that's up to you to decide. Personally, whilst I think it's interesting to think about the root of such things I don't think adding any justification or condemnatory labels are really a constructive use of ones time. These are, after all FANTASIES. We, as rational adults, know full well that this is not how the real world works. And ultimately I can't find it reasonable to defend violent video games but condemn sexual ones. Even sexually aggressive or violent ones. Either games, films or whatever have an effect or they don't
Of course this isn't to say that there aren't example of the various media that don't tend towards the ACTUAL rape end of the spectrum. But I honestly have difficulty in analysing the appeal of such things. For me the essence of a sexually stimulating scenario is that everybody is having a good time, even with the added complication of several layers of repression or denial. Your mileage may vary. But there is someone out there right now jerking off to basically everything, and we're never gonna make any progress if we pretend it isn't happening.
Now, as for why this all makes sense in the context of a game, well, it provides a sort of progression. The player advances by, in effect, levelling up the females acceptance of certain acts. Be that teaching her to give good head or piss in a cat box. I'm not saying it's big, clever or even remotely necessary. But it IS there. Also factor in the fact that a general theme in most games is the aggressive assertion of the players desires (EG killing all the aliens, looting the bodies, stealing the cars, winning the race), and the fact that any single player game is inherently a one sided experience focussed on providing gratification to the player and you can kinda see how these raepy scenarios make a certain kind of sense in context.
But back to the game itself. Rapelay does rather tend towards the rape rather than raep, at least at first. After the initial "breaking in" phase things are a lot more raepy, even almost consensual in places. At least up until the point where the women rebel and kill the player off.
See, for all the fuss, Rapelay does contain at least 2 hidden gems of social commentary. Firstly that the game has no ending, except that if you fulfil certain conditions the player character will either be stabbed in the chest or pushed in front of a train. That kinda says something don't you think? Secondly and more obviously is the fact that, without an unofficial patch, all the genitalia is censored. Indeed, the penis is simply a flat ended, blurred out cylinder. I've always felt that, in these sort of things, the utter absence of any male appendages says a lot more about the target audience than any sexual violence against women contained therein ever could.
But why is it exactly I needed to bring this game up at all? Well, because under all the baggage of sexual violence and dubiously mature receptacles thereof, it's actually pretty fun to play. The main point of contention with the game was always the fact that it was about rape. But it really doesn't need to be. There's no reason that you couldn't make a game that was mechanically identical but just ditched the existing story in favour of a consensual exploration of sexuality between however many people is appropriate for this sort of thing. You could even retain the whole progress/levelling angle by simply having the pairing become more adept at whatever they're doing as they do it more and unlocking new techniques and positions. Of course this might tread on the toes of the male power fantasy aspect by implying that the player character isn't instantly brilliant at all the sex, but really, is that a bad thing?
The game worked using only the mouse (you know, so you had your other hand free to eat a sandwich or whatever) to poke, prod and otherwise manipulate. When engaged in the full deal the various motions and gyrations would set the rhythm and gusto with which you sought to bring things to a satisfying conclusion. In terms of making a playable game based around an explicitly sexual aesthetic it was actually pretty successful.
Well, apart from all the rape anyway.
In terms of visuals and mechanics it was pretty spot on for what would make a good porn game. The actors center stage, controlled via the abstract gyrations of a single hand input device. A free roaming camera to allow you to view the action from any angle. As I remember you could even set up some extra camera windows in screen for close ups or whatever. And of course there was always the fun of trying to gyrate the mouse at sufficient speed to cause a breakdown in the clipping and collision detection.
The question then is why there isn't anything really like that being made. Decent, playable games based around gratuitous sex rather than gratuitous violence. Especially with all this motion control stuff we've got going on the consoles these days. Could you imagine how cool a Wii port of something like Rapelay would be? Preferably without quite so much rape, but you know what I mean. Brings a whole new meaning to the term wagglefest doesn't it? I mean, we have all this advanced jiggle physics technology, why not put it to use in the one context where it would actually make sense?
Partly of course I think there's the problem of association. You think sex based video game and you're either talking shitty malware infested flash games or Japanese rape simulators. And who would admit to being associated with any of those guys? Then there's the issue of perception. Even with all our grim and ghastly murder simulators there is still a lingering perception that games are for kids. Never mind that we have a MATURE rating for a goddamn reason. Sure you could put Murder War 36 on a shelf where little Jimmy could see it, but not Kirbys Anal Adventure. Not by a long shot. Because as far as society is concerned, sex is still WRONG. And that only really leaves us with violence.
This is all a problem for me because I am, sadly, one of those people who actually believes games could (and indeed should) be able to do pretty much anything. And as a very lonely man I don't see why games can't do decent porn. I mean, if you do it right it could be BETTER than regular porn. Not just in terms of customisational content, but in terms of educational potential. It does, as they say take to two to tango (which I suppose makes an orgy like line dancing or something?). If we have some games that emphasised satisfaction all fronts as the condition for passing a level, then maybe that would help us sad lonely men see the ladies in terms slightly more personal than collections of conveniently located orifi. I don't know.
But it's something to think about.
ADDENDUM:
This wasn't the easiest piece to write. Indeed, I walked away from it for a few days to try and clear my head a little before coming back to it. It's a tricky subject to deal with, and I REALLY didn't want to end up accidentally saying that rape was somehow a permissible thing. I think it's both interesting and important to think about where these sorts of fantasies come from. But it's also important to realize that they are just fantasies. When discussing such a subject the debate can get pretty heated pretty quickly. But it's important to define what it is we're arguing about. I doubt there are many people out there who are going to defend rape as an action. Yes, I'm aware that there will be some. But when we're talking about games or comics or whatever I at least hope in most cases it's more than that. Because what they're talking about or even defending isn't actually the act of rape. It's the issue of freedom of expression, or the difference between fantasy and reality. This is something that get's me particularly when you see things like those dangerous pictures laws. It's not that I particularly think that pictures of donkey sex or whatever are really great. Rather that I, as an adult, are capable of determining for myself whether or not they might be and find it insulting for anyone to imply that I can't. The same principle applies to these rape games. On the other side of the argument you have those who simply regard the subject matter as wrong and unnecessary. And those are valid opinions too. They might even be more valid. After all, rape is not something that I personally have had to deal with.
Whilst I was procrastinating about what to do with this post THIS video was put up at the escapist, dealing with the subject of rape in the gaming medium. I recommend you watch it if you have any interest in the subject, as it has a lot of good points.
I don't really know how well I've managed to express any of this stuff. Probably quite poorly. At the end of the day though I suppose it's better to publish and be damned, safe in the knowledge that no one ever reads this stuff anyway.
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