I hear about things like this 'game' and I feel as if I've entered some parallel universe, a Mad Max post-Armageddon, bizzarro world, where mankind is quickly diminishing itself to some caricature of its' lowest possible denominator. In a word... No. This game should not be protected by free speech. Rape is nothing if not a hate crime, and a game of this description has no place in any civilized society which counts both genders as citizens.

Here's a counter argument at Slate.com.

http://www.slate.com/id/2213073

Be advised that the description of the game is very detailed.

Banning one video game won't stop all that evil,
and trying to ban one evil is what George W Bush tried to do (supposedly) and look where that got us.

That being said, men have also been the victim of rape. In prison, in police stations...

I'm a woman and yes, I hate the thought of rape, but I'd like to point out that it's not just a woman thing.

And, no, I don't want to see the game sold here, but it seems that others are already working against having it here.

It's simple. If it is against the law, then games that have people participating in 'virtual' felonies should be outlawed and their makers subject to jail time.

After reading what is going on in Japan (64% of women get groped on public transit) I would have to say that is one Japanese import that they can bloody well keep.

If not for ourselves then for our daughters.

I read this article

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090314/ap_on_re_af/af_congo_stop_the_rape_1

last night just before I went to bed. I did not sleep well. It ain't pretty. If you read it, be warned.

This video game brought it right back into my mind. The idea that they would make a game of rape is just beyond appalling. It's disgusting and disturbing. Very disturbing.

Q: Should Free Speech Protect the Japanese Video Game RapeLay?

A: There is no free speech in yelling "fire" in a crowded movie theater.

I'm going to say some things that you are going to disagree with, and maybe even fly into a rage. That's okay.

I don't play video games. From what I know of Grand Theft Auto and other games like it, players score points by killing characters in the game. In one of these games, players are supposed to have sex with a prostitute, steal her money and then kill her. Other games glorify killing in "war" even when innocent "civilians" are the targets.

Google "rape fantasy" or "BDSM rape" or "snuff fantasy." It makes the content of "RapePlay" pale in comparison. That content is there -- as disgusting as it is -- because we deem it necessary to protect freedom of speech (expression) even when it clashes with our personal moral standards.

But we also have laws that protect children from the exploitation of pornography, even when that protection abridges our freedom of speech.

So, yes, as disgusting as it is, RapePlay should be protected by the First Amendment. However, Orlando, the game can be regulated by (and here comes the good part where we get to use conservative, Republican phraseology in the manner it was intended) the Free Market. Just don't buy it. And furthermore, create or promote a better game. In the "free market" society, sucky products don't sell. Good products do. Products for which there is no demand don't sell, products that have demand, sell.

(This is another part you won't like, but I'm saying it anyway.) While feeling outraged about it feels good, and gets others to be equally outraged, the negative press you give the game serves to promote it just the same as the dork who put it on eBay in the first place. Think about it: you've written a post about it on the internet and someone googling for the game will stumble upon your post and other ones on the 'net. That person may think, "Well, if they're that incensed about it, I might as well see if I can get it, to see what all the fuss is about."

Okay... I've said my piece: I believe it is protected by the First Amendment, but I also believe you can use the power of the marketplace to kill it.

Jade, so you don't think this type of game is tantamount to yelling 'Fire' in a crowded room and that we should not speak out/remain silent so as not to showcase it for the scum?

Please clarify. thanks.

Ban it. Full stop. Child porn is illegal, but visuals of raping children isn't? WTF?

All the endless, high-minded talk about freedom on this irritates me no end. Oh, rights and constitutions and free markets? Two elections stolen. An entire economy crashed. Wars started. Torture & wiretaps. A country where 46 million people have no health insurance. Where assholes have tens of millions of guns. Where the press is absolutely & utterly bought and paid for.

And ALL of these, every damned one, based on appalling lies, and then sold under the banner of "freedom." YOU'RE FREER WITHOUT THAT HEALTH CARE, AND WITH ALL THOSE GUNS, AND WITH THE WAR IN IRAQ, AND WITH WIRETAPS, AND WITH YOUR MONEY BEING STOLEN.... AND NOW WITH A GAME THAT LETS YOU RAPE KIDS!

Feel the burn, that's the burn of Freedom, baby. Mmmmm mmmmm, gonna get me summa that high-minded FREEDOM pie. Yeah baby! So we can find ways to eat alllllll that shit they sold us, allllll in the name of freedom, but along comes a game about rape, and rape of children, and that's the SOLE PURPOSE of the game, the thing you get REWARDED FOR... and suddenly, THAT would impinge on our FREEDOM! How delightfully fucked up.

And FREE MARKETS, kids! Magically, the market is free again! Who-hoo! Damned if it wasn't a con and a fix last week, when we lost (and they stole) a few trillion - but don't worry, it's safe to come back in! FREEDOM PIE! Do you want that with or without raped kids on the top?? Do you want anally raped kids, or just the normally raped kind? With or without beatings? Gang rape for your friend?

Not the first or faintest damn clue. Tell me. I'm going to bed tonight, and like 700,000 others, I'm not worrying about guns. Not one bit. While 70 asswipes are going to bed feeling their freedom's been all smushed up can't they can't own a semi-automatic. I'm going to bed, like 700,000 others, not worrying about what happens if I get sick in the middle of the night. While 70 are boo-hoo'ing. And I'd bet I'd go to sleep quite happily, not batting an eye, if 70 twisted fucks were stressed because they couldn't buy their rape-a-kid game and their freedom of expression got trammelled.

This is a 10 second decision. Ban it. Now, can we get on to some of the other very real kinds of freedoms that got sold down the river? 'Cause this sure as shit ain't one of them.

I can't read any of the links describing this game. What I have heard so far makes me ill. But the question was asked, should it be protected under free speech and on that, my gut reaction is to agree with Lisa B and Jade. However I am hesitant about making a total commitment because of another question that was asked.

"Jade, so you don't think this type of game is tantamount to yelling 'Fire' in a crowded room"

Seems to me that may be the real crux of this issue. I don't have an answer that I can back up at this point.

Not to diminish the despicable act of rape but am I ready to open a Pandora's box by taking away freedom of speech? I am not comfortable with that idea either. Please understand, I'm talking as much to myself as I am to you guys, sort of talking my way through this if you will.

I have a grown daughter,I was fortunate she came of age before the big ballyhoo of the internet so I didn't have to deal with many things parents have to deal with today. I did have to contend with rap music. There are songs out there that in content, are on the same level as this game and they ARE protected but with a warning label.

I managed to navigate that mine field by restricting her access to certain music, (not to say she probably didn't hear it anyway)talking to her honestly and being straight forward and introducing her to as many positive cultural activities as I could. In addition to all of that, non organized religious me, prayed a lot. Somehow, it all worked and I have a dayum great kid, I'm proud of.

I understand not all kids will have parental supervision. That's always been the case but this to me is a problem society needs to deal with not legislators. How in hells bells did we get to the point, anyone would think up a game like this and then think it would be fun? Not because of the U.S. Constitution and if the Constitution didn't cause the problem, I doubt if it will correct the problem.

Bwark, we shouldn't have to be we do, as did our parents and their parents. As LisaB said, there has always been evil out here and always will be.

My esoteric self sees it as the balance of life. You can't have one without the other. How we react to it, is the true test. IMHO

that should read but we do (not be)...sorry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skpqsCCdK48

LisB, I'm not a Nirvana fan so I couldn't get through the entire song but I did find the lyrics.

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Rape-Me-lyrics-Nirvana/DD7DCBBF70A75BE44825682D000D84B0

They are actually tame compared to many gangster rap songs. I stopped looking at the accompanying videos as well as tv for the most part years ago and trust me, I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination.

LisB. I get that you want people to be good, without the government and laws and bans. So do I. And that's not just words. I believe we have an enormous amount to do, with our families, our communities, workplaces & friendships to get there. And I have slogged through, for 30+ years now, dealing - direct - with friends and lovers and family and rape, incest, beatings, attempted killings, the whole shit. I don't always show up, nor am I always there on time, nor do I do it right - but I get it. And at its best, person-to-person is the best way to do things. I think we probably pretty much agree here.

But I actually have a problem with some areas we allowed long ago to become "free fire" zones. I think we made some mistakes, and now we're left fighting on marginal grounds. Like tv and video games and what they do to people's minds. They'll argue about the brain evidence forever. But I have NO doubt.

Why? Well, back in the stone ages, I was a big video games guru. Travelled all over. Won everything, did demonstrations, all that. But I watched as even those early video games changed my dreams, changed how I could read, changed my attention span. Very cool in ways, but I realized that the games had so patterned my brain, that the little neurons - like Thera says above - actually grew, got reinforced, and then, were suddenly there, wanting more stimulus of a very specific kind, when 6 months before... they weren't. That kinda freaked me, but it taught me something. The shit is addictive, in ways just like ciggies. You want more.

Years later, and I've now seen this with loads of friends, like in that book on The Brain That Changes. How porn can rewire the brain. And I feel we have to start to come to terms with this. Yes to freedom... but when the brain rewires and wants more - there's a question about "freedom" there. Our lil friend the ciggie does brain rewiring like this too. I DON'T know precisely what's being rewired, and that's means we have to act without all the evidence. But that's often the case.

Like, we already knew, from decades past, that if you repeat and repeat and repeat lies, people come to believe them. The Church has done it, racial leaders do it, politicians do it - and men have done it. And people come to SEE the world that way, and their brains will light up, physically, when presented with certain stimuli. But then, we missed something when we just allowed advertising to run wild - we allowed the SAME thing to happen. Opportunities for certain groups to repeat big lies. We passed a law that said the corporation is a "legal person." So their rights of "free speech" deserved certain protections. So they were unstoppable. But... what if that decision was wrong? What if giving them free speech - but more money than anyone else - has enabled certain messages to get drilled into our heads, hundreds of thousands of times... and they're lies?

Because every ad, every one, says that YOU LACK SOMETHING. Aren't as good as you could be if you bought X. We all seem able to grasp that the concept of original sin, drilled in just during Sunday Sermons, could hurt us in certain ways. Well, these ads are telling us we've all originally sinned somehow, and fallen short. WHY is this different?

And now, the same cloak is getting wrapped around games. Like I said, I was a gamer. My nephews got Doom 15 years ago, and I kicked ass - was in and through it like a hot knife. But the imprint being laid in my head wasn't just blowing up goofy little starships or asteroids. This was first person shooter - you see through the eyes of the killer - and then you blow 'em away, graphically. And it hit my brain just as hard, harder, than the early stuff. It wires in somehow, if you spend enough time to get good at it - and the game is designed in levels precisely so that's what happens.

Smoking? Well, I'm a smoker. I laugh at the hypocrisy of people driving cars or drinking or whatever that figure I'm scum. But. Truth? My old roomie was the lawyer that won the case up here to stop smoking in restaurants. On behalf of non-smoking waitresses that were dying from lung cancer. It gets down to -40F here, for weeks on end, and I smoke outside. I don't like it. I don't like it that other activities that are also harmful haven't been nailed. But the ban - in combination with higher taxes and education - lowered smoking here, especially amongst kids. So, I'm ok about the cold thing.

So I guess I kinda feel we should treat games like this NOT so much as a free speech thing, but more like ciggies. They rewire the brain. We may think that's ok, we may want to limit it, we may argue over the boundaries. But... I'd rather have at it, right now, and sort it out a bit - even if wrong around the edges - than wake up to have tens of millions of kids who were not only into first-person shooter, but rape.

'Night LisB.

But you say that the game is not for sale in the US so what is the issue? If it isn't sold here what's the concern?

The Japanese have some pretty weird (by whitebread American standards) and widespread sexual fetishes involving violence, domination, humiliation, etc... of women. This has been the case for many, many years. I had never heard of this game, but it seems to fit right in to this fetishistic pattern.

If nobody's right, then everybody's wrong.....but, I think we're all right.

Jade's point of calling attention to this game by somebody finding it through this or some other blog is legitimate. I reckon there will be more than one gamer that's just gotta have it now that they know about it.

On the flip side of that, I reckon there are now more than a few parents suddenly aware of this game and its content and will be sure that their kids don't get their hands on it. Becoming aware that this game exists makes it that much easier to avoid.

On the other flip side, I reckon there are already more than a few thousand bootleg copies of this game floating around the country. Hard core gamers are notorious for stuff like that.

On the other, other, flip side, not all gamers are children. I reckon a hefty percentage of gamers are adult men in their 20's and 30's and a game like RapeLay would be fodder for those among them with already sick minds.

In disclosure I am admitting that I am a fan of the ancient RPG's. I used to play Zelda and Shining Force for hours on end. RPG's stopped being fun for me when the graphics of the newer games became too realistic. Back in the day you killed little cartoon monsters with a teensy sword that went zwink, zwink who disappeared in a poof.

The games now are too real. The characters talk, they blink, their expression will change, real live actors are used for the voices. The sound effects of the fighting are exceptionally realistic. The vanquished bleed, their guts spill out. You witness their death rattle. That was too much for me.

For what it's worth, there is a volunteer game rating system in place. This RapeLay game would likely receive a rating that would prevent it from being sold to children when, or if, it was ever released for sale in the U.S........but once out of the store, who knows who would end up playing it.

Video games, regardless of content, are games as are Monopoly, Chess, and You Sunk My Battleship! and I can't envision Free Speech protections connected with them. This is leading me to think Free Speech is not the heart of the matter.

But, RapeLay is such a vile use of the genre it quite stands out there on its own. This game might be the line that is finally crossed because it truly violates....something.

I found this. Maybe it will help to put another perspective on the subject...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games

There's a reason why this game is not on sale in the U.S. and it's not because we are too pure a society that no one would be interested in the game. The reason is it would be found to violate obscenity laws in damn near any community in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_v._California

The average person, applying contemporary community standards (not national standards, as some prior tests required), must find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;
the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions[1] specifically defined by applicable state law; and
the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

It's the same reason you wouldn't find people advocating free speech protections for a came called Child Abuse Me or Lynch Me or Prison Rape Me. I'm sure no one would be arguing that those games should be protected, so it is bizarre that sexual violence against women is somehow on the protected under free speech.

That said, the fact that this is not legally accessible, does not mean that people can't find it on the intertubez. We are a global society and the game in question while not sold in the US, did show up on Amazon and Ebay through third party sellers. Which begs the question, what is wrong with condemning the game as it is to make it clear that is not acceptable in the United States? Community standards change from time to time, and what is wrong with making it clear that we think that glorifying rape in a game violates those standards?

Flowerchild I have an on going discussion with a friend about right and wrong. Neither one of us have been able to come up with definitive poof regarding absolute truth. You could be right on about everyone being right:) Thanks for the link, I found this while reading.

"No games have been "banned" in the United States because of freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, although several have been refused a rating below Adults Only by the ESRB. Although these ratings are not law, console makers will not license AO or unrated games and most retailers will not stock them, forcing a sort of self-censoring to obtain a lower rating."