‘Rapelay’: It’s A Repugnant Video Game, But It’s Also Rare

"RapeLay" is a PC video game where gamers portray a guy in Japan who revenge-rapes a female, who had turned him in for groping her on a subway, and other females in her family. Yep, sounds gross. I haven't played it. I've watched bits of non-sexual video of the game to get a feel for it. It looks poorly designed and stupid.

"RapeLay" came out three years ago, but is now suddenly getting some press, as a New York politician denounced the game and called for its banning -- thus making it more widely known, so don't be surprised if sales start upticking. Controversy sells.

I don't want to go into all the nitty gritty details. And frankly, the details don't take up much ink. The game was made by a company that previously made "Battle Raper." "RapeLay" was for some time available for purchase on Amazon, until someone alerted Amazon to what "RapeLay" was, then the site stopped selling it.

A writer for Slate points out that this game comes not from the United States but from Japan: "It's an old cliché that the more repressed a society, the more extreme its pornography."

But there is something far more important to consider, I suggest. While "RapeLay" does sound repugnant and beyond, I would like to strongly urge everyone to realize this: "Rapelay" is a very rare -- unique in fact -- video game, in that games hardly ever deal with soft sexual themes, let alone rape. So please, parents and politicians, feel free to dog "RapeLay" but leave regular gaming out of it.

I have reviewed hundreds upon hundreds of video games in the 2000s. I can count on one hand the number of those games that included even naked breasts. I can count three (if you count the "God of War" series as one title) where you actually control a male main character in a quest to bed a woman consensually. And those three games were not graphic about it.

The reason I bring this up is that parents and politicians often hear of one thing about one insanely rare video game and wish a pox on the whole house of video games. But that is an ignorant point of view. Games just aren't sexual. Period. They are violent, yes, quite often. But sexual, never.

OK, you say, then what about this "RapeLay?" Well, "RapeLay" is a PC game available from Japan, just as "Faces of Death" was not a mainstream movie that you would ever find at a Blockbuster. Do you see what I'm saying? Game companies just don't make games like this, except apparently for the maker of "RapeLay" in Japan.

PC games aren't what they used to be. Everyone started buying console game systems. This includes the Xbox 360, the PS 3, the Wii, the handheld DS and the handheld PSP. Not one of those systems has ever greenlighted a game with a rape, as far as I know, and I've been reviewing games for all five of those platforms since they hit the market years ago.

Two of those three game series with consensual sex that I mentioned are not available for those systems. The one game with concensual sex I can think of, for PlayStation consoles, are "God of War" titles, and in those "God of War" games, you don't see anything sexual.

In "God of War" games, in one scene only, you see some topless women trying to get your attention, then you press some buttons on your hand controller, the viewpoint changes to a side table next to the sex, you hear a few moans, and it's all over much much quicker than any woman would want, consensually. After that brief bit of consensual sex, you in "God of War" go on to do hours and hours of non-sexual killing.

So what I'm saying is, ban or not for "Rapelay," which sounds pretty awful, don't confuse its rareness for general gaming at large. I'm not playing it. Kids very, very likely are not playing it. Clearly some pervs somewhere are playing it on their PCs. And that sucks. But if you're worried about your kid, if he or she already plays a console, you don't have to worry they'll see it there, because the makers of consoles -- Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo -- won't even greenlight happy relationship sex games. They certainly don't want any part of "RapeLay" or forced-sex scenes.