When Video Games Get Sexually Disturbing

Of course you just dont wanna be anywhere nearby when it happens... you WILL get wet.

i'm down with anything animated, especially japanese lol

Lol thanks ;D

That would be a good start 0o

They would indeed .

Pods? on Current? Laughable. That would be like Music on MTV.

exactly!

I will remember that.

WRONG. This is just the fringe culture here. I live in Japan, and this kind of stuff is about as popular here as it is in America. It's just done differently here. Japan get singled out too much, it no different, if not worse, everywhere else.

I also lived in Japan for awhile. This kind of material didn't strike me as particularly mainstream, but it was perhaps more readily available. Things may have changed, but I remember walking in to the equivalent of a 7-11 and seeing the pornographic manga right next to the wrestling magazines, all at kid level. Funny story: I was waiting for food once at a small shop and I sat and picked up a magazine on a table, started flipping through it, and realized it was manga porn. I felt like such a creep. I hadn't been in Japan for long, so it totally threw me for a loop.

In that sense it's not that much different from parts of Europe :)

This is not mainstream Japanese culture, lol.
This is otaku porn.
Your average Japanese person looks down on this kind of thing.

Porn knows no language barriers

You know, I get what you're saying. We're okay with murder and killing in video games, but this kind of treatment of women is seen as unacceptable, and, on the surface, that may seem a double standard. However, and I'm not saying this is right, violence is seen as an acceptable means of securing justice, therefore it has a social good. While this doesn't apply to ALL video games, there is a sense that violence in games in directed toward a larger good for the characters, and therefore is acceptable. There is no social acceptance for this kind of violence against women (thankfully), so a video game with this theme seems more reprehensible to us.

And death, don't forget mindless death.

Well, the fact that this is a fantasy game... wouldn't this be at the same level as the accepted violent video games? It's not real, it's kinda ridiculous, and like the violent games, if somebody takes this as something you do for real or inspires you to do such, then you have problems beyond a video game.

We need to focus on reminding people what reality is instead of hiding fantasy because it makes you uncomfortable.

Gurls With Guns ! F-yah ! The American way ! ( Well,...Texas,....and video games....)
+^d !

There's a part of me that agrees with what you're saying. On a fundamental level, there's no difference between a game whose object is to kill and maim gangsters/soldiers/aliens/zombies/whatever and whatever the hell the object of the game above is. I was just suggesting that culturally we put these two behaviors in separate categories, which is why people might be reacting to these games so strongly.

The one above honestly just seems kind of silly. The "Rapelay" game below is more troubling to me. I do think there's a big difference between those who fantasize about "slaying a dragon" and those who fantasize about victimizing young girls.

I'm not a big believer that video games alter a person's behavior. Like you say, most healthy people can separate fantasy and reality. I do, however, believe that the types of games that become popular are indicative of a society's larger attitudes.

The problem with both sex and violence in media is that neither is presented realistically. Sure maybe the gore is realistic but you can't represent the consequences in a realistic way, because they are way too long term and affect way too many people. Sex tends to be shown the wrong way too, treating women like sex objects, take a look at what MTV has to offer. On the other end of the spectrum you have people that want to make you think sex is evil and ignore how important it is to people and healthy relationships.

I couldn't agree more. In fact the two sides work against each other. You have games and shows with the unrealistic images you talk about and that just fires up the other side even more. Healthy, reasonable discussions get drowned out in all the shouting. It's either out there in such a salacious way that it offends, or it's buried in Victorian fashion and never discussed.

HAH ! +^d

Way +^d

But it's Ok to play games where you kill people.

Now, I know this doesn't apply for some of today's games, but traditionally, video games with violence followed a "slay the dragon" motif: a character working his way through a series of scenarios all designed to lead him/her to a big bad. There's something archetypal and heroic about the whole thing. Even in war games like Halo, the violence is "justified." There's nothing socially or morally justifiable about the actions in a game like this.

Ok I can see that. Thanks for clearing it up for me.

Absolutely. This could have been a great pod. Too bad we'll never see it on Current. Oh, I gotta go. I think there's another show about stunts on...

No, it is not OK to play either type of game. I am far from being a prude, but all of this garbage makes me ill. Further, I don't believe for one second that this kind of material is at all marginal in Japan. They have a whole mainstream category of manga called "tentacle" for Christ's sake. I have no idea what the hell they find arousing about that concept, but they clearly do or they wouldn't be selling those books by the millions.

I think both the U.S. and Japan have been doing past and current generations a terrible disservice by desensitizing them to the horrific realities of violence in general and violence toward and objectification of women in particular. I think incidents like Columbine and Virginia Tech grow directly out of this horseshit. I am aware of all of the counterarguments. Not buying them...

Deeply disturbing. To the extent this ugliness is produced in the U.S. or finds its way here, I believe that it should be classified as obscene and therefore unprotected by the First Amendment.

I have no problem with adults viewing nudity or sexual intercourse between consenting adults. This is so far over that line that I just cannot understand how someone could have a contrary opinion.

I don't play games I haven't sense i was in school. they are not what I call good entertainment. just more crap to waste brain cells on. Oh and to make serial killers of our young ones.

I completely respect what you're saying. We could each pull up studies on both sides of this issue and never get a conclusive answer, so we have to rely on our guts. I'm uncertain about whether violent games and movies influence young minds, but I do believe that the human mind is too complex to be pushed into something by a single influence.

As for Japan, I can only speak of my experience living there. As I said in another comment, pornography maybe more accessible, but that doesn't make it more mainstream. Television was pretty clean over there. The game shows are awesomely strange, but that's about it. Honestly, I think MTV might have been doing more damage to Japanese youth than manga.

Ok I Googled tentacle I really wish I hadn't. Thats some sick shit.

LOL...I think I know what that is, but I really didn't want to know for sure. Based on your reaction, I'm glad I didn't look...

You, sir, are a victim of the over-popularization of Japanese fringe culture. Japan is NOT like this and there is MORE DISTURBING things that are REAL coming out of your country every day. NONE of this is mainstream in Japan. I know. I live there.

I'm not defending the content, I'm defending Japan from the uneducated babble that people like you spew because you feel you have the moral right.

Before you go attacking other cultures, look at what is in your own back yard, open your eyes. These books do NOT sell "by the millions". Harmless fantasy porn had NOTHING to do with the violence in either of the events you mentioned. The asinine association of the two you made is what makes ME ill.

Stop being a mindless vigilante and work on your core problems. If you had a better argument then I might listen, but I just can't take you seriously when you're being so ignorant.

I'm not going to play it. Nobody I know here in Japan is going to play it. I'm not going to tell anybody to play it or even mention it.

See? That's how I do my part. If you don't like it, don't play it. Teach your kids that's it's not OK. Don't make stupid comments on the internet.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take my own advice.

You really don't want or need to it's just so wrong and now I'm going to have bad dreams tonight. hell maybe all week

Heh Heh. I believe you doth protest too much, PM. First, I posted two contributions here. In one of them I took the U.S. just as much to task as Japan. Second, this article is about Japanese games, not American games. By your reasoning, I would be required to do some kind of global survey to determine which countries are better and which are worse than Japan in terms of purveying themes of this nature to children.

The idea that these books do not sell by the millions is so ludicrously funny that it hardly bears addressing. My daughter is an American Manga artist. She brings home Japanese catalogs so full of this kind of shit that if every title sold only ONE COPY it would amount to millions of copies.

I am not saying that you turn to channel seven on Japanese television and see some tentacled monster having his way with Japanese schoolgirls. I am saying that this kind of pornography is just as mainstream in Japan as magazines like Playboy are mainstream in the U.S.

But by all means if you want to go away -- go away. Your rhetoric is simply unfortunate evidence of mindless nationalism of the kind that nearly destroyed Japan a little over a half century ago. I am well aware of my country's many weaknesses. Hopefully when you mature a little (OK, if), you will be able to see the many, many weaknesses of Japanese society. Hell, one of the most evil and corrupt politicians in postwar Japan has a legitimate shot at becoming its next prime minister very soon. Forgive me if I don't allow Japan the moral high ground.

You're completely missing my point, as expected. Unfortunately, your issues with your daughter's hobbies do not justify your obvious math and common sense problem. You're proving that it's more of a personal issue and has no place in a public forum.

Let's end this here, sir.

NORMAL manga sells by the millions, yes. Not the fringe garbage we are discussing. Stay on topic. The normal, "American copy" porn industry is so much larger than the fringe fetish market this and yes, is at equal level with America. We're talking a minor percentage.

My ISSUE is the representation. I don't want hentai representing Japan any more than you don't want a gun-toting maniac representing America. This has nothing to do with "nationalist pride". Your poor history lesson has no basis on the original argument. I'm American, but I will defend any country against such because I'm tired of the American additude of ignorance. I won't allow your stupid comment to continue to support such negative stereotypes because you "feel" that's how it is. Don't talk about what you truly know nothing of. Must be those silly emotions speaking.

And you want to talk maturity? Don't make me laugh. Or maybe I'll start using that image of Sarah Palin in a bikini and a rifle with the words "AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!" to represent YOUR country. Because that's how most other countries see it.

That was my point. I'm done.

In my opinion, no. violent games are less than palatable as well.

Heh. You keep SAYING you're done, but you are proving pretty tenacious. I have been a business executive and attorney for 20 years -- I will try to do a better job of marshaling my evidence and presenting it in a dispassionate manner.

As to the issue of using the image of Sarah Palin toting guns to depict America, I really don't have any problem with that. First, we have been called worse by better people. Second, I can't very well disavow the fact that Palin IS a gun-toting American who enjoys a certain popularity among the uni-brow set in this country. Third, one of the best things about America is the freedom of expression granted by First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Whether you use Sarah Palin, Mickey Mouse, or Forrest Gump to depict America is both legal and of no consequence to me.

But the issue I was under the impression we were discussing was whether the kind of sexually explicit content discussed in this article is actually as rare as you depicted it to be in your initial post. Based on my observations, I simply don't believe that such material is at all uncommon in Japan.

The portion of the Japanese manga industry devoted to sexually explicit books and magazines (according to Tokyo Reports) enjoys annual sales of 277.3 Billion yen. That is about $3 billion U.S. dollars. That is a pretty big number in and of itself. But if memory serves, Japan has a significantly smaller population than the U.S. has. So if we broke those sales down to a per-person basis, I would submit a similarly popular offering in the U.S. would create a $5-10 billion dollar industry.

But of course these numbers are only for paper-based materials. They don't even include the enormous sales of sexually explicit movies and video games such as Rapelay.

Look, I am not saying that Japanese society is any more sick and perverted than any other society. But if women in the U.S. still have a long way to go to reach true parity of rights with men, the problem is much worse in Japan. I simply think that the way women and girls are depicted in these kinds of materials is a reflection of that larger societal problem. Minimizing these issues by dismissing these materials as being rare -- when they clearly are not -- simply serves to perpetuate those completely unacceptable attitudes toward women.

Please get your observations meter checked. It is faulty.

LOL!!!!

... soccer moms demanded the government to do it first.

+^d