Feminist
Pro-Queer
Anti-Racist
Gaming

Rape in video games is, unfortunately, a more common occurrence than some may believe. This is particularly true of Hentai (anime porn) games. Perhaps it is common among other games as well, but I'm much more aware of this theme in hentai.

News somehow hit big on the internet gamer circuit that Amazon was carrying the rape simulation game, Rapelay. Rapelay is a gem of a hentai game in which the entire purpose, as suggested by the name, is rape. At least I'm assuming that that's the purpose - I think I'll pass on playing the game to find out. In this particular instance, feminists are not alone in their anger over the situation. The reception that the news received was actually surprising to me. Generally speaking, feminist issues tend to be a source of ridicule in the gamer circuit. This, it would seem, crossed a definite line for many. According to the Belfast Telegraph the game was listed on Amazon as:

Rapelay Japanese PC game

by Illusion

Game description on Amazon

Rapelay is an offshoot of the Illusion series, Interact Play. You, like in previous installments, play as a public nuisance that gets away from captivity and starts scouting for new targets. This time around you find a family of a single mother and her two daughters. You quickly begin your hunt and capture each woman one by one. The gameplay involves an amusing training/disposition system with which to break each respective target to your liking....

Follow up:

That Amazon was carrying it became widespread news yesterday. Today it hit the circuit just as hard that Amazon has banned the game. Belfast updated that:

After being contacted by the Belfast Telegraph Amazon today removed the webpage (still viewable here from Google's cache). A screenshot is also available at this location. The company would not comment on the item or say why it had been offered for sale through their website.

Hopefully, it bans the sequel as well (yes...the sequel). While I'm happy that Amazon responded to complaints so quickly, I think that kudos to Amazon at this point would be a bit preemptive.

I used to read Something Awful's Hentai reviews on a fairly regular basis. Most of the games reviewed there include rape scenes and simulations. Something Awful gives their game reviews with negative ratings to demonstrate the depravity in most of the games. Because of the widespread concern over Amazon carrying Rapelay, I decided to subject myself to the tedious process of searching Amazon for all of the games reviewed on Something Awful and then check the reviews on those games listed on Amazon for rape.

While the majority of the games on the list that appeared on Amazon did not contain rape, there were still a few which do. These are:
Tsuki Possession - the cover picture depicts two women in bondage. According to Something Awful "Possession is the single most unrelentingly horrifying Hentai game I've ever played." It goes on to explain that the game starts with 2 sequential rape scenes. Super. It could be, however, that Tsuki Possession listed on Amazon is different from the review game as SA lists it as simply Possession. Nevertheless, the image on the front of the Amazon listing leaves me to believe that rape is a dominant them in the game.

Virgin Roster - This game is listed on Amazon but it states that it's been discontinued by the manufacturer, leaving me to believe that if it wasn't, they would carry it. According to Something Awful the main character is a serial rapist who essentially runs a sex-slave trade.

Idols Galore - SA states that "rape [is] a key element of business negotiations.

7 Sins - While this game is not reviewed on SA, it came up frequently during my Amazon searches. So I looked it up. According to Talk XBox:

Being published by Atari and developed by Monte Cristo, this is a game in which one of the major gameplay “features” is the ability to drug and rape your date. Of course, the date rape isn’t required, as the game is open-ended. The “mature” equivalent of Postal 2, 7 Sins is just asking for media uproar.

Again...Super. XBoxTalk unforunately goes on to speculate that every incidence of date rape will now be blamed on the gaming industry as a result. The article gives me the impression that this is the Number 1 problem with the title.

There are also rumors of a rape scene existing in GTA 4 but, I don't necessarily believe these as there's also rumors of being able to play Leo in Final Fantasy VI

Unfortunately, we live in a rape culture. It's deeply ingrained in the patriarchal nature of (most) societies. Rape is not even seen as rape all the time, and I don't feel the need to tell any of you that the victim is still often the one on trial. Pairings of sex and violence pervade the media and advertisers use this coupling to sell sell sell. It shouldn't be surprising then to see this kind of thing spring up in video games. What is nicely surprising is that the reaction to this by many 'non-feminists' is one of disgust and not praise. However, I wouldn't be surprised if we see more and more titles like these in the mainstream - 7 Sins after all is a major company release. We do what we can, then, in urging popular markets like Amazon to drop the titles which choose to include this type of violent imagery.