Hackers play rape on gamers - fun or sick humor?

[Thorne]

What to think of this?

I gotta go with those who say it's no worse than the other crap that happens in the game. First of all, it's a GAME! If you get your jollies off killing virtual people, running them over with cars, shooting them in the head, or all the other junk that happens in these games, why would you be disturbed by a little virtual rape? (For the record, I've never played one of these games, never seen one played, only know about them from the news, so forgive me if I get some details wrong.)

Sure, I can see that it can be annoying that your character gets stuck and you can't do anything with it. That's too bad. Complain to the manufacturer. But is it really any worse than having your character shoot some other character in the head? Or having your character shot in the head?

If you can't deal with that kind of shit in a video game, you probably shouldn't be playing those kinds of games.

[thir]

I gotta go with those who say it's no worse than the other crap that happens in the game. First of all, it's a GAME! If you get your jollies off killing virtual people, running them over with cars, shooting them in the head, or all the other junk that happens in these games, why would you be disturbed by a little virtual rape? (For the record, I've never played one of these games, never seen one played, only know about them from the news, so forgive me if I get some details wrong.)


Sure, I can see that it can be annoying that your character gets stuck and you can't do anything with it. That's too bad. Complain to the manufacturer. But is it really any worse than having your character shoot some other character in the head? Or having your character shot in the head?

I have to explain myself better here, I can see that, because this to me is not primarily about people who play the game and do not like virtual rape.

I have followed what has been going on in various places of the Western world in recent years, even in Denmark which shocks me the most. Bear with me for a bit.

What I have heard about is the tone in many schools, where girls (8-10 yrs) have to accept and get used to being called 'whore' and 'sow' and various other expressions. When teenagers in too many schools the problem of boys groping girls is overlooked or ignored. Patting bottoms, pulling tits, trying to get them in a corner. Many women (or even teenagers or girls) have experienced calls from cars with abusive language or suggestions, some who talk back experience the car stopping and the idiots running after them. The same thing happens with cat calls and unwanted suggestions from strangers, remarks on looks benign or less so, things happening in working places and on field jobs and so on. And online, it often happens that women who either say something unpopular or who are simply in the public eye gets splashed with sexually orientated shit. It is a real burden on too many people.

Where am I going with this? Simply that when you (judges, teachers, journalists or whoever) get to talk to some of these people, they all say variations over the same theme: "I did not mean it." "Doesn't everyone?"

It is taken as normal by far too many people.

You see where I am going with this. I do not like games with murder and gross violence much, but I do not think that even if they are there people get to think that murder is normal. But an awful lot of people think that above is normal, up to and in some cases including rape. I fear this will reinforce this trend.

And secondly, the Steubenville case and the others are in too recent memory for me to see this as any kind of joke. They raped and put pictures of the rape on the net, just as these people do with their virtual version. The exact same way. If this is a joke, it is an extremely sick joke.

If you can't deal with that kind of shit in a video game, you probably shouldn't be playing those kinds of games.

If you know about it, yes. I gather this has come as a surprise, that is the whole point of doing it, isn't it?

[Thorne]

Where am I going with this? Simply that when you (judges, teachers, journalists or whoever) get to talk to some of these people, they all say variations over the same theme: "I did not mean it." "Doesn't everyone?"

I'm in complete agreement with you here. The way people in authority tend to dismiss or overlook these actions is, IMO, criminal. What's even worse is that, in those rare instances where the women and girls actually defend themselves, they are viewed as the criminals!

But that has nothing to do with the game. Repeated studies have shown that game play does not translate into real life actions, except in extremely rare cases of certain mental illnesses, in which case the actions would likely have occurred regardless. What HAS been shown, I believe, is that role-playing in such games can actually help to defuse violent tendencies and reactions, to some degree.

I do agree, though, that something needs to be done, in our schools and in our courts, to punish those who harass others, either physically or verbally. And on the Internet it's gotten out of hand. As you've noted, a woman saying something that refutes a point made by a man will almost always be subjected to the most vile, hateful, demeaning rhetoric imaginable. Not because she's wrong. In fact, the more right she is, the worse the hate. This has got to be addressed and controlled. Those who comment in such ways should be banned and have their ID's released to the public.