The 15 Most Offensive Video Games Ever Made (PC World)

[Hatta]

What exactly is the point of getting offended? No one's getting hurt. Shake your head and have a laugh, it's far healthier.

[pepharytheworm]

Who ever wrote that article needs to proof read. There were so many "is" missing.

As in regards to what is offensive everyone has a different opinion. But I think most would agree that the following in general is offensive:

Genocide
Racism
Rape
Torture
Murder (not just killing mind you)
Execution
Religious Fanatics

On the other hand I would rather there be games and outlets for people to play these types of games then do them in real life. Rape seems to be the soft spot mentioned most in this thread. While I don't endorse rape, I do see the appeal a game like this could have, to be in total control and fufill sexual desires that otherwise most wouldn't let you do. Most people wouldn't want to hurt people in real life (at least I would like to think) even those who avidly play games like this.

If there is a game about men raping men, most would be more offended by the homosexual factor than rape. A lot would also find it funny. Its okay to joke about male rape, "don't drop the soap", but mention female rape and it becomes serious business. But anyway I think I talked to much.

[irixith]

Fictional rape isn't bad.

What are your thoughts on fictional violence?

I'll explain why I ask that, because it's an interesting parallel. I think that any reasonable gamer that's been around long enough can attest that playing violent games does not make a person violent. Those douchebags who snap and kill 50 of their classmates in a shooting rampage didn't get the idea from all those rounds of Quake they were playing, right? I think it's safe to say that someone who plays rape simulators is not going to turn into a serial rapist either.

The issue regarding fictional anything really (violence, rape, etc) is the desensitization to it, especially the more graphic it becomes. I can load up Borderlands and kill hundreds of skags, bandits and psychos, and it means nothing to me. I feel nothing, other than a sense of progress towards my goal. The same applies to any shooter I've played in the last 15 years or so. It doesn't matter how realistic the physics or the imagery are, I feel nothing. I can shoot off someone's foot in Soldier of Fortune and watch them jump around and scream, and then peg them with a headshot. Feeling? Nope. I wonder, why does this not affect me? Probably because the scenario in any given first person shooter is ludicrous -- carry around 9 guns and thousands of rounds of ammo, kill thousands of enemies while simply "healing" when food or health kits are found. It's that suspension of reality that somehow makes the "fictional violence" if you will, OK, even acceptable. Meaningless even, because the actual situation you're in is so far removed from reality. Even in something modern, like Modern Warfare 2, where the scenarios and people are as close to real life as we've come. Perhaps the desensitization comes from a combination of movies, television, the news, etc. I don't know.

Playing Rapelay (or dozens of other examples of this type of game, it's just that Rapelay is about as mainstream as this kind of game gets over here) actually makes me feel dirty. Perhaps part of that is just being a woman, being brought up a certain way, being taught particular things. Every moment while playing the game made me feel like I was doing something wrong -- like if someone had walked into my room at that moment, they would judge me as being some horrible sexual deviant. (A woman playing a game about rape, you must be really messed up!) If someone had walked into my room while I was clearing an area in Borderlands, neither I nor they would feel anything was amiss.

There are probably so many factors involved it's hard to peg them all, but playing games about rape haven't changed my views, haven't desensitized me towards it. I still think and feel that it's horrible. Do you think that these types of games could desensitize in the same way that games promoting violence do? I'm not a man, I can't step into those shoes. You're going to feel differently about rape simply because of what you are. I can see why Rapelay made the list, simply because of what's offensive to people in general .. or maybe people in the "West" in general. We do tend to be far more prudish about sex and anything sex-related than our counterparts in the "East" after all.

Blah, blah, I should shut it before I type a novel. I guess all I'm really trying to say is that rape is bad, and just because it's fictional doesn't make it less so. Though the same should apply to violent games, and I find that it doesn't. Weird eh?

[Hatta]

Do you think that these types of games could desensitize in the same way that games promoting violence do?

Games don't desensitize people to violence, they desensitize people to games depicting violence. Like you, I've blown the heads off of thousands of video game figurines and it means nothing to me. I'd still be horrified to witness an actual act of violence.

I guess all I'm really trying to say is that rape is bad, and just because it's fictional doesn't make it less so.

Yes, it does. If you're not hurting anyone, you're not doing anything wrong. Period.

Though the same should apply to violent games, and I find that it doesn't. Weird eh?

That's your hang up.

The only thing truly offensive about these games is that they suck.

[yomomma1]

Fictional anything or lack of anything isn't bad.
It isn't real, and can have some of the most offensive disgusting vile content(I would use an example here, but It would be too NSFW and graphic) in it and I will defend it's right to exist. Even if I personally don't like it, or am grossed out by It.

[VincentX]

((The following is a joke))

Those aren't offensive.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 is offensive; seriously, how could Sega do that to their beloved mascot?

[J T]

irixith, here's another offensive game that you might want to look into just because it turns the tables a little bit.

http://sexyvideogameland.blogspot.com/2 ... -miss.html

In "Hey Baby" you play a woman that gets cat called... and then kills the misogynists that annoy her.

[irixith]

irixith, here's another offensive game that you might want to look into just because it turns the tables a little bit.

http://sexyvideogameland.blogspot.com/2 ... -miss.html

In "Hey Baby" you play a woman that gets cat called... and then kills the misogynists that annoy her.

(That seems like it would be somewhat disturbing to play.)

I can't say I've ever felt the urge to murder a man who's advances were rebuffed, but now I can experience it through the magic of video games.

[VincentX]

And that's what video games are for: doing things that either you can't or shouldn't do in real life.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to hijack a helicopter, attach a jeep to it and then drop it on a soldier in Just Cause 2.

[the7k]

Well, the whole back and forth was 'TL;DR', but I personally don't see games like Rapelay, Bonetown, Custer's Revenge, Battle Raper, etc etc etc as a big deal because, well... If I had to choose between getting killed or getting raped, I'd choose the latter. That's just how I look at it.

Not to say I don't think these games are not offensive - it's just, when we're looking at an industry that is sustained almost completely on the joys of shooting people in the head and bathing in the blood while laughing maniacally, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

To me, the offensiveness of a game has a lot more to do with intent than anything else. When Rapelay was made, I don't think the intent was to demean women - I think the intent was to provide men with mindless entertainment that played not to blood lust, but just regular lust.

Maybe if the female characters are portrayed in an overly negative, derogatory way, I'd feel like it was pushing an anti-feminist agenda and see the game as offensive in the same way as 'Ethnic Cleansing'. And hey, maybe they do - I honestly haven't played the game; but just about every criticism I've heard has been not about the portrayal of the characters, but simply having the ability to rape women.

It just boggles my mind, honestly, that when a game involves rape, we shake our fingers and go "No no no!", but as soon as a game comes out involving shooting innocents en masse, it's just business as usual.