Rape Worth 10 Points, Kill Shot Worth 20

Our most recent reading discussed the connection between the military and entertainment technology. The most notable connection seemed to be with video games. The article presented some interesting ideas on how the military, or law enforcement, evolvement in these games serves as a form of recruitment. Since this country's young adult's eyes seem to be focused on some form of technology, I take no major issue with this. There is nothing wrong with being inspired to serve your country. My concern is that with all of these virtual worlds, are we loosing sight of the real one?

In another class, we recently discussed a controversial issue about a video game in Japan. The game is called RapeLay, and it allows you take the role of a sexual assaulter. You can elect to harass a young girl at a train station in multiple ways with out anyone stopping you. It even goes as far as letting you impregnate the girl and then forcing her to get an abortion. More information on this game can be found at the link below.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/japan.video.game.rape/index.html

I am not for the policing of video games, because it is a form of art. They have their own award ceremonies, because these designers and writers deserve to have their work recognized. They create worlds for us to live out our fantasies. I have yet to find a better place to be Batman than with my XB OX 360, and I was pretty close when I was seven in my basement with my lime green blanket as a cape.

So I guess you could say that I am fine with the violent fantasies such as this, because it usually depicts the battle of good vs. evil. Sure there is the Grand Theft Auto exception, but even with that game you could still do some good. The Godfather came out in 1972, so it is not like society just all of sudden started rooting for the bad guy.

I think we could stand to show some moral ethics in these fantasy worlds. Would we consider and eighteen year old joining the army to just kill the "bad" guys the right reason? Is harassing and raping some girl at a train stop in a virtual world a reasonable outlet? I would think that it would not inspire the virtual sexual assaulter to perform the act in real life. We should be able to satisfy our visual pleasures with an unwritten ethical code in mind.