Virtual rape hits GTA, usual lot outraged

[Valka D'Ur]

Secondly, we already depict extreme violence and murder on various games. Why is rape so special?

Anyone think this is a genuine issue? This whole story made me laugh.

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that you appear to have zero compassion for rape victims and that disgusts me.

Why is rape considered worse than murder? I don't think there's any way to bring people back from being murdered. Real life has no magic defibrillators.

Sometimes rape victims kill themselves. Sometimes they die from injuries sustained during the rape. Sometimes the victim ends up pregnant, which is especially awful if she's a child or teenager, or if the rapist is a family member.

Whereas with rape, there's really no way of justifying that, even considering that you're a hardened criminal who thinks nothing of stealing or murdering. That's just my initial gut feel though; I'm willing to be talked out of it.

Don't be talked out of it. You were right the first time.



Moderator Action: Warning issued for the statement "you appear to have zero compassion for rape victims". This is not the position the OP took, so this characterization is considered flaming.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Quackers]

My thoughts are that you appear to have zero compassion for rape victims and that disgusts me.

How do you get such an impression?
I have compassion for rape victims just not virtual ones.

 

[mangxema]

For whatever reason this strikes a chord with people more than shootings which is why rape scenes in movies are always more disturbing than murder scenes.

Well, murder scenes tend to be pretty quick. Rape scenes can be longer. Usually they cut away, but sometimes they don't, and those are uncomfortable as hell to watch. The same could be said for a drawn-out murder (i.e., torture to death scene), but there rarely is a need for that sort of thing.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

How do you get such an impression? You're nuts.

I have compassion for rape victims just not virtual ones.

You said:

Anyone think this is a genuine issue? This whole story made me laugh.

Rape is a genuine issue. The fact that you find it funny gives me the impression that you lack compassion for rape victims.

I don't appreciate your assessment of my mental health, either.

 

[Mise]

I can understand people getting triggered by virtual rape. So maybe that's #3 on the list of potential harms.

Still, in terms of what we should do about it, I think this ranks low on the priority list for problems in computer games. I mean, it ranks pretty low on the priority list for problems in GTA, let alone all of computer games.


@mangxema: Good point, that's surely part of the answer.

 

[Borachio]

Well you can justify killing people whereas you can never justify rape. I think that within the fictional world of GTA, you can sort of justify murder as "it's a dog eat dog world out there -- it's kill or be killed". Whereas with rape, there's really no way of justifying that, even considering that you're a hardened criminal who thinks nothing of stealing or murdering. That's just my initial gut feel though; I'm willing to be talked out of it.

Um. Yeah. I don't want to appear an apologist for rape or anything because no way do I excuse it (I'll put that right out front). Just make some observations on rape.

It does happen on a very large scale following some kind of physical violence/conflict/war between two groups of people. So,... it seems it may be related in some way to actually killing the males of a group and ensuring that the women bear the offspring of the conquerors.

I'm really not sure about this... just writing for the sake of it really... as thoughts appear to me.

I don't know. It just seems that rape has figured, and continues to figure, in human interactions, that it seems unlikely that it has no function at all.

I'm especially thinking of the mass rape carried out by the Soviet army after the conquest of Berlin.

People who have killed many others, faced death themselves many times, and witnessed the death of many people they've known, may not view rape in quite the same terms as the rest of us.

Maybe it's just the dehumanizing effects of violence that should bother us.

 

[Mise]

Yeah, war rape is a huge problem that tends to be ignored when we think about war. We think in terms of lives lost, but forget that war often turns soldiers into rapists and women and children into rape victims.

 

[brennan]

Rape is a genuine issue.

This thread isn't actually about rape. It's about some stupid mod on an online game.

 

[Quackers]

You said:
Rape is a genuine issue. The fact that you find it funny gives me the impression that you lack compassion for rape victims.

I don't appreciate your assessment of my mental health, either.

I find the furore about online rape of avatars, where nobody is being harmed, amusing.

Moderator Action: Although edited, my moderator time machine never forgets. There was trolling, which remains quantum entangled with the prior Quackers post existing in the mod universe, for which this post will receive points in the multiverse.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Valka D'Ur]

This thread isn't actually about rape. It's about some stupid mod on an online game.

The mod depicts rape as entertainment. That's disgusting, and is a genuine issue. If you don't believe me, ask the people who are the staff and clients of a rape crisis centre.

 

[PhroX]

The mod depicts rape as entertainment. That's disgusting, and is a genuine issue. If you don't believe me, ask the people who are the staff and clients of a rape crisis centre.

Is the fact that some people find simulated rape in a video game entertaining unpleasant? Sure.
Has this been utterly blown out of all proportion given that it is about a tiny minority of people who find simulated rape in a video game entertaining? Hell yes.
Does finding the fact that this has been so utterly overblown amusing make you a proponent of rape or demonstrate that you lack compassion for the victims of it? <snip> NO.

Moderator Action: Inappropriate language removed.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Terxpahseyton]

I liked how she reported live from a random games store.

 

[El_Machinae]

Why is rape considered worse than murder?

It's not clear. I get in waaaaaay more trouble for molesting a pig than killing one

 

[Borachio]

And that's interesting. Why is that do you think?

Is it because bestiality is so much less common than pig slaughtering?

 

[Greizer85]

EDIT: you had moved on to pigs from humans... In that case the reason is probably the potential spread of disease from humans to animals and vice versa. No grand mystery, and this taboo has merit even in modern times (imo). Taboos based on gut feelings are still a bad thing, mind you; we should be able to ground our laws in reason in all matters. So long as the animal is screened for every concievable disease and is not suffering from the act (giggles), I don't see why not, even though I feel otherwise.

And that's interesting. Why is that do you think?

Is it because bestiality is so much less common than pig slaughtering?

If I may answer -- could it be because in bygone days, rape victims were considered 'spoiled goods', meaning 3-7 less potential babies for the community? One rape would thus equal many murders in terms of harm to a primitive society, and be held in greater contempt automatically.

I know, I know; I've got a dark mind, thinking terrible thoughts. But since so many other human gut reactions are mere evolutionary hangovers, this may be one of them, too.

As to why potential partners wouldn't want to have 'legit' offspring with a rape victim, the reason may be even darker: there's no way to guarantee that she wasn't complicit in the rape somehow (initial promiscuity, carelessness, etc). Slim chance, maybe, especially considering that this was the Stone Age and men could take what they want, but them's the evolutionary breaks... Anyway it's only speculation; I'm of no use for serious debates.

 

[warpus]

"And there is nothing you can do"

Of course there is, you can shut off your computer or quit the game.

Or go find a different server to play on? What are we, 12?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Sometimes rape victims kill themselves. Sometimes they die from injuries sustained during the rape. Sometimes the victim ends up pregnant, which is especially awful if she's a child or teenager, or if the rapist is a family member.

And murder victims are always dead. No chance of going back from that. Zero. Zip. Nada.

The mod depicts rape as entertainment. That's disgusting, and is a genuine issue. If you don't believe me, ask the people who are the staff and clients of a rape crisis centre.

And war crimes being entertainment is not a genuine issue because...?

 

[brennan]

The mod depicts rape as entertainment. That's disgusting, and is a genuine issue.

It doesn't depict rape at all. It depicts pixels. It's juvenile idiocy, not a real issue.

This is exactly the same argument as 'violence in computer games corrupts our youth' - iow it's complete nonsense.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

I was once shot dead and tea-bagged in a game. That has to be worse than rape.

 

[El_Machinae]

It doesn't depict rape at all. It depicts pixels.

You can use pixels to depict rape. If the intent is to depict molestation, and that's what is perceived, that we can say those pixels depict rape.