Crystal D – “Rape” is not in our vocabulary, communication

Why’s this even getting media attention… ??? If this was ina film no one would be bothered so why is every so bothered because it’s a game? So many films are so much worse than games (in terms of violence, sexism, racism, bestiality, gore and on and on and on)

I’ve yet to see a rape scene in a film that didn’t bother me… But to answer you question, it’s an issue cuz videogames are for kids innit.

@2
Certainly feels like it. Moral panic.

It’s not rape if you say “SURPRISE!”

How much attention is this getting? It’s a Bloody Game not a news report, no one has been raped!

@5
It generates traffic and traffic means more ads are watched, more ads watched means more money for VG247. You have to keep in mind this is a mainstream “news” site

#6 I guess they must hate me and my Adblock Plus then

@7 Haha likely, however VG247′s ads I can handle, they never jump out with a big box and the background ads are only click-able in certain areas unlike some sites where they have ads forced upon you making it hard to read an article… god I hate that XD

@8 I know, The amount of Lynx shower gel ads I used to see on Gametrailers actually made me hate Lynx for quite some time XD. God knows how I lived without Adblock *first world problems* ;P

“We are not building a game where we’re basically saying ‘Hey… our goal is to have the player protect Lara,’”

Then you shouldn’t have your own staff state as such.

Jesus.

@2 What? Are you a little girl? Also, “videogames are for kids”? LOL!! Then WTH are you doing here? Unless, you really are a little girl..

GF was playing Mafia II behind me today.. there was an attempted rape on main character in prison.

Where’s the drama and media sensation over that one then?

@11 He was being facetious on purpose. His whole point was that games aren’t treated seriously enough.

And it’s people like you, who use the female gender as a derogatory form of insult, that we really don’t, especially in these particular threads. Go play CoD with the other VG247 meatheads or something, please.

@12 But its expected to be rape in Prison.

@13 Whenever I hear someone use “little girl” as an insult, I picture them as the heavy from TF2. Just as smart as him I’m sure. It’s an automatic thing, and it always makes me laugh. Better than taking offense I guess.

@14 One chick on an island full of clearly suspect male mercenaries, is just as likely a rape situation as a prison shower. Doesn’t matter tho, rape is rape. Pisses me off the drama just because it’s a chick in danger.

@12 Hmm, you’re slow as usual. Are you a girl too? The problem is not that games are not treated seriously enough but that games are treated too seriously. Oh and I’m using the female gender as a derogatory form an insult versus what is suppose to be a boy and not just versus anyone. It’s a difference between what I did and what you think I did. Yeah, you’re definitely a girl. See what I did there? … Aaaah never-mind.

@16 – First of all, yes.

Secondly.. I’m slow? You’re the one who doesn’t understand the term derogatory. Why does a guy being called a girl take offense? That’s the part you don’t seem to understand, i.e. the fact it shouldn’t be offensive at all. Using it in an attempt to offend makes the term eventually become offensive. Just like how the usage of the word gay seemingly changed overnight..

It’s just as wrong to use the word gay as an insult, but you know what? I am long past caring. People who talk like that to one another (other than jokingly) are people I generally won’t socialise with in the first place.

And I’m pretty sure I was discussing how it’s sexist (against men too!) that so much drama has risen from this one event because the avatar is female. Suddenly it’s taken too seriously, because it’s a woman. Why? It’ fucking stupid. This is the sort of shit the media thrives on, no doubt it’ll become a news sensation at some point, with reporters gleefully neglecting the fact we’ve seen much worse in modern film and books.

@16 “…what is supposed to be a boy…”

You’re one of those people who think men can’t be sensitive and women can’t be tough, aren’t you?

Man, gotta love outdated, sexist mentalities.

I… no, I already have a headache. I don’t need an even bigger headache by trying to make a sexist person see the error of their ways. I’m not going to step into this one.

I’m just going to turn around and leave.

Hooray!

Actually I think it’s more a case of kids being kids rather than sexism, if you’re talking about the comments that is.. let’s just say if roadkill is over 12 I’d be both surprised and alarmed. And I don’t mean the age thing as an insult either, nowt wrong with being young.. just so much to learn and not the best at debating.

Mountains out of molehills…. Sexism, actually all the “isms”, exist and will be around FOREVER. The sooner people stop getting upset over individual ignorance, the better off we’ll all be.

Ah s**t! My last post was meant for Michaela and not for silkvg247. Sorry mate. I wrote the wrong number. Damn it! Why can’t we have a quote feature here?

Also, I am a sexist.

^ No your just boring, though please feel free to spice up your online persona with adult language and *controversial* viewpoints…

If you ask nicely, a grown-up may even explain to you what those views actually mean

O’connor, just shut the trap for once. You’re the biggest ‘meathead’ around here, you mature Erthazus..

@25 I think you’re probably the first person to ever accuse me of being a meathead.

Makes a refreshing change from “overly sensitive girly faggot” I guess. Hahahaha.

You’re both sensitive and dense.

But hey.

What can I say? The ladies love it.

Good god you’re entertaining. Human beings like you are a great barometer for everything a person shouldn’t be. It helps inflate my already huge ego to know the fact.

No you are.

I’m off to my quality artistic entertainment where I have the worst weapon stats all around. Enjoy your silly toys, kid. I met 10 ladies while playing it yesterday.

And I really really don’t care what you think.

Edit – the above is sarcasm. Just in case.

@29 Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality
Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see,
I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I’m easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to
me, to me

Mama,
I just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger
now he’s dead
Mama… life had just begun,
But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away
Mamaaaaa oooh,
Didn’t mean to make you cry,
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow,
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters

Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine, body’s aching all
the time
Goodbye, ev’rybody, I’ve got to go,
Got to leave you all behind and face the truth
Mamaaaaa oooh, (Away the wind blows)
I don’t want to die,
I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all

(Guitar solo)

I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the Fandango?

Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening
Galileo, Galileo
Galileo, Galileo
Galileo, Figaro – magnifico

I’m just a poor boy, nobody loves me
He’s just a poor boy from a poor family,
Spare him his life from this monstrosity!
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go
Bismilah! No, we will not let you go
(Let him go!) Bismilah! We will not let you go
(Let him go!) Bismilah! We will not let you go
(Let me go) Will not let you go
(Let me go)(Never) Never let you go
(Let me go) Never let you go (Let me go) Ah
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me,
for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

So you think you can stop me and spit in my
eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to
die?
Oh, baby, can’t do this to me, baby,
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta
here!

(Guitar solo)

Nothing really matters, Anyone can see,
Nothing really matters,
Nothing really matters to me…

Anyway the wind blows…

Thank you for some insightful contributions, as well as for adequately reacting to an internet flaming and preventing further derailment of the topic. As usual.

Best of luck in your future endeavors, my independently sensitive, mature modern artist of the internet.

I think I’ll need to steal that phrase.

“What can I say? The ladies love it.” LOL! No s**t! Of course they love tools like you. They can do whatever they want with you. I bet that you’re wearing a collar and that you’re being whipped right now. And no, I’m not talking about leather ones. That would be a step up for you. I think you’re being r***d every day and it’s starting to get to you. I was wondering how you know so much about rape.

@33 I’m married with children. That was the joke. Thankfully she’s *not* one of those obsessive control freak types though.

Wow, now you’re making insensitive remarks and jokes about rape? You really are a class act, dude.

“It’s always funny until someone gets raped. And then it’s just hilarious…”

@35 How is that even remotely funny?

Well this thread went downhill fast huh?

This Rape talk is all just a publicity stunt by Crystal Dynamics to drum up interest in this game.

Good skills, that’s marketing in full effect… Next, peado comparisons in Mariokart…

Whatever… we all know that all taboo’s / crimes are fair game these days, so why people are still ‘shocked’ to see these harrowing situations not being used to sell or promote games surprises me.

It’s just the same shock tactics promotion of video nastys used in the 80′s. It’s rarely well thought out but who gives a fuck ultimately.

They made it sound like this was one step away from ‘I spit on your grave’, when it’s clearly not. Still looks fun though!

Also, O’ Connor, stop acting so much like a drama queen. I didn’t think you could become anymore preachy… I understand you may have been raped, and of course that is traumatising, but do you keep having to keep going on about it!

I mean, I stepped on my friends terrapin by accident, you don’t here me flame baiting Nintendo articles involving Mario, do you?!

@38 “I understand you may have been raped, and of course that is traumatising, but do you keep having to keep going on about it!”

Lazy pseudo-psychology, for the loss.

I’m not going to claim to be a victim of something I haven’t been. That doesn’t mean I can’t have some level of empathy for the degree of trauma and suffering that people have gone through because of it. Some things aren’t funny. Unfortunately, I came to the realization a long time ago that most people have a complete inability to understand the sensitivity of the vast majority of things without first hand experience. Doesn’t make the attitude any less disgusting.

I completely understand that being an insensitive, apathetic asshole is the “in” thing right now, but no thanks.

@39

No, we live a sheltered existence Michael. Especially you by the sounds of it. I work daily with people who express severe trauma dealing with some very complex issues.

Of course I wouldn’t joke in and around these kind of personal issues, but, in our ethos, we tend to ignore the behaviour, not the person. If you start to outline certain taboo subjects I.e. rape, murder etc… In media, you might as well ban a whole lot of historical text altogether…

You just come across as some kind of guy who takes on these kind of opinions in an attempt to become more sensitive when trying to pick up women…

The worst kind of dick really…

Bare in mind, a lot of people in the medical, health and public service (police, army) etc… Have to develop quite a ‘hard shell’ when it comes to these kind of issues. Not because we find them funny in anyway, just because it’s a certain way of dealing with some very complex situations.

Games like Tomb Raider using a pseudo rape scenario to get a bit more publicity is kind of annoying, but hey, if Lara had to fight off attempted rape at the start of the game then take revenge on her captures, why not? It’s a story after all…

Resident Evil 4 is Racist
Call of Duty is a terrorist training tool
Why not have Tome Raider advocating Rape in some way?

This is all bullshit publicity stunt material, and glad you are here to defend us all, the white knight.

@40 Picking up women? What the fuck? Where the hell did that come from?

“I work daily with people who express severe trauma dealing with some very complex issues.”

So do I. My life is many things, but sheltered? Fuck no. I’m not advocating avoiding the topic, or putting it under the rug. My problem is with people *not* giving these serious issues the respect they deserve, instead using them to make cheap jokes or asinine remarks.

“Bare in mind, a lot of people in the medical, health and public service (police, army) etc… Have to develop quite a ‘hard shell’ when it comes to these kind of issues.”

My wife is a surgical technologist, and has been involved in the medical field for close to a decade. I’m perfectly aware of the “hard shell” you’re talking about. This is far from a subject that I am naive to.

“If you start to outline certain taboo subjects I.e. rape, murder etc… In media, you might as well ban a whole lot of historical text altogether”

The problem isn’t with a game tackling the issue. The problem is with Tomb Raider’s almost misogynistic approach to its female lead.

I don’t support censorship in the slightest. Never have, never will.

@41

Well, that’s how I feel you come across. And if you’ve managed that over an Internet forum while constantly boasting of your egotistical nature, god knows how you come across in real life

Look, people will never give these kind of subjects serious thought over a gaming forum, nor should they.

If crystal dynamics want to try the “rape” motif, then more power to them if they manage to pull it off.

It’s not a very pleasant subject, but, last time I checked it was a mature rated game, so what’s the problem?

People’s comments on here are pure flame bait, and you know that. But that’s how people react when faced with uncomfortable scenarios. Not always productive or mature, but what do you expect?

Are you telling me you’ve never made a joke at someone else’s expense? I find that very hard to believe , Ghandi….

It doesn’t mean these people are evil, it just means people deal with shit in different ways, who are you or I to say how this should go down.

The main crux is, how well this game deals with this potential situation, I’m assuming it’s implied. So, in that way, prob not very well.

Games are trying to ape movies, although that’s the subject of a different topic, I’m afraid your going to see these ‘out there’ subjects crop up more and more frequently as games try to find their ‘big boy pants’, in a media world dominated by movie scripts.

But, judging by some of the shit movies out there at the moment, games are catching up pretty fast when it comes to character development…

Also, what is the misogynistic lead? Would you like her to get raped and not be able to fight back because that is more realistic? Or not raped at all, I mean, if we’re being really realistic, she would have been killed in an instant after some of the horrendous falls in the cut scenes…

As for protecting her, why not? I’m always trying to ‘protect’ my game characters, I.e. I don’t want them to die!!! ever since mario, cause that means game over!!!

It’s just a power fantasy scenario, nothing more. Wether that is good or bad, depends if you understand people in the real world. Lets not try and create another GTA scenario here…

Also, let’s see what it’s like when it’s released!

@42 “Well, that’s how I feel you come across. And if you’ve managed that over an Internet forum while constantly boasting of your egotistical nature, god knows how you come across in real life.”

I don’t “boast” about it. I just dont make any bones about it.

I’m exactly the same “in real life” (I despise the idea of having separate personalities online. I think it’s cowardly). Some people like it. Some people don’t. Your value for the concept of honesty over false niceties goes a long way in defining which camp you fall into. Some of my best friends are the ones willing to disagree with me the most.

“Are you telling me you’ve never made a joke at someone else’s expense? I find that very hard to believe.”

By accident, sure. And I’m obsessively apologetic about it when it happens.

“Look, people will never give these kind of subjects serious thought over a gaming forum, nor should they.”

And that’s really, really fucking sad. You can do it with music, literature and movies. Why don’t video games deserve the same?

“As for protecting her, why not? I’m always trying to ‘protect’ my game characters, I.e. I don’t want them to die!!! ever since mario, cause that means game over!”

That’s not the same thing, and you know it. I’m using the words of the developers themselves, who phrased in a horribly male-orientated fashion that played on the fact that she’s a woman and the player is male.

You can say its human instinct, blah blah blah, but from my own experience as a father and a married man, nothing could be further from the truth. A female character should be able to stand on their own two feet without some sort of overbearing white knight mentality surrounding her.

@43

I’m pleased you feel you portray the same sensibilities offline, as well as on. Likewise, I’m happy to adopt one persona.

It’s slightly worrying though, that you seem to have a superiority complex, especially as you seem to feel quite at home in handing out advice.

If you don’t feel that, then why are you constantly having to defend your ego to other posters?

Let me guess, they are all wrong and you are right?

This only leads me to 2 conclusions,

1. Being you like the smell of your own farts and,

2. Everyone else on here is a tool, yet you still bother to hang around in an effort to ‘best’ people you have no regard for anyway.

Gaming can derive serious discussion, although I hardly think this is the place. If you were really bothered, you can start your own forum threads in the hope of attracting a more ‘relevant’ clientele…

How do you think gamers are going to respond to articles like this when every year, games like CoD try to out do each other, with more and more intense scenarios?

Of course you are going to get frivolous comments. The problem is, when you do have your issue, you generally appear in a thread with a 2 sentence generic bash down of a response.

If you don’t want to participate, don’t winge about later when other people don’t want to chime in.

You can’t have it both ways!

Also, Lara can still be a strong character. It’s impossible to have a female character with male intervention in its creation, to be completely relevant to how a female would see things. But, as a revenge, action story, you can kind of get away with it. Wolf Creek almost certainly was an inspiration for this game by the looks of it.

It’s always going to end up with mild expliotation. I suppose you think Bayonetta is the perfect example of a strong female character?!

O’Connor, nobody from literature, music or cinema industry would take you half seriously.

That’s what’s ‘fucking sad’.

Anything you ‘contribute’ can be freely read elsewhere on some blog or yet another board.

Have a good time with 17 year olds and wasted people killing time on the internet calling you intelligent. Don’t forget to post a link to your independent website more often, toy wannabe critic.

@45 “Everyone else on here is a tool, yet you still bother to hang around in an effort to ‘best’ people you have no regard for anyway.”

There are maybe a handful of people on this site I have a genuine dislike for. They know who they are. The rest I get on with just fine.

God help any developer who would do a scene similar to the Jodie Foster movie The Accused

@46

To change tact, What games do you feel have handled a ‘traumatic’ event well?!

Surely that is a better way to tackle the subject?

I.e. so and so, did this well, crystal dynamics didn’t, etc…

The problem with that being, no game has handled these kind of issues very well. And, that, (IMO), comes down to graphics / realism when handling these kind of issues.

I mean, a cell shaded violent scene, really doesn’t carry the same ‘oomph’ as a realistic looking game whie trying to get over this point.

Hence why anime gets away with much more than realistic cinema.

Now, with games attracting big name actors and new consoles potentially being able to handle more realistic scenarios, surely, these type of games will be able to handle these sensitive scenarios with more effectiveness, or not….

Surely that is a better argument to follow?

Aerith’s death in ff7 was handled with tact, I doubt anyone who’s loved one was stabbed through the chest with a 10 foot sword by a genetically modified soldier would have been offended…

You are WAY too sensitive O’Connor. You sound like a feminist. What you call a misogynistic approach I actually found empowering. The reality of life (real life, not internet debates about puppies, kittens and “sensitivity” ) is that a woman trapped on an island with a bunch of men would be in very real danger. She could very well be raped, and surviving that attack would be very empowering. I feel like that’s what the devs are going for.