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JonCole

"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

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So a gaming site that was founded following the formation of an slut-shaming, misogynistic hate mob goes on to review a game with rape as mechanic as one of their very first reviews.  You can't make that shit up.

 

I'm going to be fair here though, and say that I actually appreciated reading that review and know nothing about the game in terms of how it presents it's content other than that piece.  I actually wish we had far more games that dealt with sex and sexuality in interesting ways, I just don't know if that is a game that does it or not. 

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"If you get easily offended by various fetishes, like sex with very questionable and probably non-existent consent, then going any further is a bad idea."

 

 

........wow

 

EDIT: this is way better than top 10 hottest girls in gaming

 

universe, you've delivered, i will never want for anything ever again

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"If you get easily offended by various fetishes, like sex with very questionable and probably non-existent consent, then going any further is a bad idea."

 

 

........wow

Well -- I don't care about anyone's fetishes. People should be able to get off to whatever they want as long as they don't push it on anyone else. I can't think of a single fetish that would offend me -- assuming, again, that truly transgressive fetishes are kept strictly in the realm of fantasy. I think, from what I was reading, the real problem is the "oh it's just kinda rape, I mean it's not RAPE rape" attitude of the description.

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So a gaming site that was founded following the formation of an slut-shaming, misogynistic hate mob goes on to review a game with rape as mechanic as one of their very first reviews.  You can't make that shit up.

 

I'm going to be fair here though, and say that I actually appreciated reading that review and know nothing about the game in terms of how it presents it's content other than that piece.  I actually wish we had far more games that dealt with sex and sexuality in interesting ways, I just don't know if that is a game that does it or not. 

 

Having a big interest in the doujinshi scene and having been fairly active on 4chan nearly a decade ago, I've played more than a few "porn" games in my time. Corruption of Champions is far from the best, by anyone's standards, but its creator is active on the various 4chan boards, updates regularly, and is generally well-liked, so it's definitely the kind of game that a no-budget site looking to flatter 4channers would review on launch. Still, in the time I was there, he also happened to be a fairly indifferent writer and programmer who frequently took fan donations to implement content and then wandered off with the money when the content being requested no longer interested him. Just checking the site again, it looks like it's as full of half-finished features and fetishes as it was five years ago. It's a wonder that no one's got an axe to grind there (or even sees the creator as being worthy of mention).

 

I'm also really miffed by the whole "boy howdy, looker there, a porn game" tone of the review, punctuated though it is by Objective Game Reviews-style lists, but maybe I shouldn't be.

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Well -- I don't care about anyone's fetishes. People should be able to get off to whatever they want as long as they don't push it on anyone else. I can't think of a single fetish that would offend me -- assuming, again, that truly transgressive fetishes are kept strictly in the realm of fantasy. I think, from what I was reading, the real problem is the "oh it's just kinda rape, I mean it's not RAPE rape" attitude of the description.

That's its own issue, I am more just soaking in the sheer irony of a movement founded on misogyny using a game featuring rape as their first review. Basically what Bjorn said.

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That's its own issue, I am more just soaking in the sheer irony of a movement founded on misogyny using a game featuring rape as their first review. Basically what Bjorn said.

 

I hate to say it, Twig, but I think "irony" needs the result to be contrary to the expectation, so this doesn't really qualify. Poetic justice, maybe?

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I hate to say it, Twig, but I think "irony" needs the result to be contrary to the expectation, so this doesn't really qualify. Poetic justice, maybe?

 

Poetic justice still doesn't feel right either, as that usually means that some repercussion or reward was granted due to someone's actions, and that hasn't happened yet (unless you mean the gaters getting this kind of content is their poetic justice...but some of them probably want this content, so there's not justice in it?).  This is just them proving that they will act exactly as we figured they would.  They just lived down to our expectations?  Is there a phrase for that?  I think I'm confusing myself trying to find good words here.

 

 

Having a big interest in the doujinshi scene and having been fairly active on 4chan nearly a decade ago, I've played more than a few "porn" games in my time. Corruption of Champions is far from the best, by anyone's standards, but its creator is active on the various 4chan boards, updates regularly, and is generally well-liked, so it's definitely the kind of game that a no-budget site looking to flatter 4channers would review on launch. Still, in the time I was there, he also happened to be a fairly indifferent writer and programmer who frequently took fan donations to implement content and then wandered off with the money when the content being requested no longer interested him. Just checking the site again, it looks like it's as full of half-finished features and fetishes as it was five years ago. It's a wonder that no one's got an axe to grind there (or even sees the creator as being worthy of mention).

 

I'm also really miffed by the whole "boy howdy, looker there, a porn game" tone of the review, punctuated though it is by Objective Game Reviews-style lists, but maybe I shouldn't be.

 

I should probably clarify to some extent my earlier half finished thought.  I know that there are porn games, and have very briefly attempted to delve into a few, but never found anything compelling enough to warrant remembering.  I think that sex and sexuality are endlessly fascinating and that there ought to be good games exploring them, but my default assumption is that any game attempting to do so is probably terrible, so it stops me from ever really engaging with what has been made, therefore reinforcing my opinion that no good games about sex exist.  I've appreciated Cara's S.EXE column over at RPS for introducing me to at least a few games that generally at least try to approach the subject with some interesting level of thought, which has not otherwise been my experience when looking for anything on my own.  But I've mostly just read her pieces and then not gone out and actually played any of those games.

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Well -- I don't care about anyone's fetishes. People should be able to get off to whatever they want as long as they don't push it on anyone else. I can't think of a single fetish that would offend me -- assuming, again, that truly transgressive fetishes are kept strictly in the realm of fantasy. I think, from what I was reading, the real problem is the "oh it's just kinda rape, I mean it's not RAPE rape" attitude of the description.

If you were a content creator, how would you deal with allowing things like this in culture and fostering a respect for the difference between fantasy and reality? I would assume most sexually themed games centered on rape play out in a realistic setting with realistic situations, since the fantasy/kink element of it comes from not being able to do things like this in life.

I guess this is kind of similar to the problem with violence in media, but I've always had this feeling that there's a stronger culture normalizing rape and suspending empathy in it than there is in like, killing.

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Oh my god their first review is literally Corruption of Champions. I could not ask for a better result. http://www.donotlink.com/blji

 

Oh you think I’m kidding when I say raped? I mean honest-to-god-you’re-about-to-be-assaulted-with-someone-elses-genetalia rape. Admittedly the rape is a minor inconvenience and feels more like “rape” that couples do when they want to make things more interesting so don’t expect any horrible, horror movie-esque rape scenes.

 

I don't even know where to begin with this bit of writing. I'm fine with your game being full of weird sex stuff, if that's what your game is (And it's probably less problematic in a game like that than in something like GTA or Watch_Dogs, which set about depicting a realistic world and are thus making a statement with the inclusion of rape or assault on women), although 'rape-as-a-mild-punitive-mechanic' is still kind of icky. But for the first review on a site born from GamerGate to encapsulate rape culture in the first paragraph... Well, no-one's really surprised, I guess.

 

Edit: added link to the article, for clarity.

Edited by Synnah

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Hey that's true! He does review the game! Your argument is completely invalid because of this one thing that that guy pointed out. Brilliant.

 

And check out the criticism on offer:

However I will say the average dicksize in this game is roughly 15 inches because apparently people really like ridiculously sized cocks. There is a 3 foot dick in there too, and you can take it to the balls as a 3 foot goblin. Somehow, I guess it’s bigger on the inside.

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"because apparently people really like ridiculously sized cocks."

Actually, it's men who like big...things. A massive statistical analysis of sex toy sales showed that men (both straight and gay) were more likely to buy bigger toys (dildos and butt plugs) than any orientation of women.

So yeah, size matters...to men.

http://jonmillward.com/blog/studies/down-the-rabbit-hole-analysis-1-million-sex-toy-sales/

It's a big (ha!) piece, the size stuff is about two-thirds of the way down.

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If you were a content creator, how would you deal with allowing things like this in culture and fostering a respect for the difference between fantasy and reality? I would assume most sexually themed games centered on rape play out in a realistic setting with realistic situations, since the fantasy/kink element of it comes from not being able to do things like this in life.

It's super hard! You can put disclaimers and stuff up front, but people never read that shit. I think we just need to hold porn to the same standards we hold other art to: If you're going to portray rape, you need to portray it as a terrible fucking thing to do to a person, and the people it happens to as actual real persons with lives who are affected by the things that happen to them. The role that rape plays in this game is super problematic because both A) it's a trivial slap on the wrist with no lasting consequences, B) the player is actually incentivized to experience it since it's kind of the main selling point of the game. Taken together, these are tacit arguments that A) rape isn't actually that bad, and B) the person being raped actually wants it anyway.

 

Once again, I think it primarily comes down to policing your culture. A clear distinction needs to be made between fantasy and reality, and people who bring hate speech into reality need to be penalized if you're going to have a healthy fetish culture. I'm far from an expert, but that's how I sees it.

 

edit: B)

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@ProblemMachine - Everything you just said - :tup:

 

 

And, then this:

post-33601-0-79963900-1410536624_thumb.jpg

I should get back to work.

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I'm glad they finally have a place to give their opinions that isn't somewhere I will ever go.

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Oh boy I played Corruption of Champions. Any questions anybody? <_<

 

So going back to the GamerGate thing, guess what? Apparently they're now exploring the option of RICO, a law they likely heard about when watching The Dark Knight, to fight against... whatever. Only nobody can figure out how it possibly applies (the law is rooted in dealing with organized violent crime so actual wtf levels are critical).

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Haha, oh man, Corruption of Champions. I remember this shit.

 

 

I specifically remember that there's only one gay male (most characters are bi/pan and either female or hermaphroditic) character in the game and you have the option to turn encounters with him off, because the creator was too icked out. The only other gameplay element I remember the player being able to permanently disable was the one that made parasitic worms infest their dick; so you're in good company, gay men!

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