This ban elicited positive comments on the Steam website among gamers. After significant fact-finding and discussion, we think ‘Rape Day’ poses unknown costs and risks and therefore won’t be on Steam.” We then have to make a judgement call about any risk it puts to Valve, our developer partners, or our customers. Steam, owned by a US private company Valve, released a statement on their decision to not distribute Rape Day, saying: “Much of our policy around what we distribute is, and must be, reactionary – we simply have to wait and see what comes to us via Steam Direct. Sexual violence has also led to national strategies to influence societal and individual attitudes, including engaging men in the process of changing gender norms and assumptions.Īnd we see this cultural shift reflected in the widespread public outrage against Rape Day. They used a collective voice to speak out against gendered violence, sharing their experiences of unacceptable masculine sexual domination, and continues to be empowering. The global #MeToo movement resulted in many victims of sexual harassment and violence coming forward. Video games like Rape Day contribute to rape culture, but it joins a raft of other cultural influences.īut we’re seeing a global, cultural shift.
It is important, however, not to fall into the trap of assuming a definitive cause-effect relationship.
Violent video games where sexual assault is the explicit goal should never be allowed.Īnd some studies found playing video games with sexually violent content was associated with rape myth acceptance: “she asked for it” and “no means yes”. It is a well-established fact that most incidences of sexual assault remain undetected, whereas homicides are commonly uncovered and perpetrators brought to the attention of the authorities.
Sexual violence is connected to a complex interplay of societal attitudes and inequality.įor too long, society’s reaction to sexual violence was to ignore the issue. Crossing the lineīut why do we consider depictions of rape in video games to cross the line, but not other forms of violence? Rape Day is a “visual novel” – players choose from a variety of sequences of still images that contain written dialogue options and prewritten story choices.Īnd the rape of women is encouraged to progress the plot. Watch the full story at SBS On Demand.Ī graphic new video game called Rape Day, set to launch in April, triggered a swift and widespread public outcry.Ĭreated by an independent developer, Rape Day is a set in a zombie apocalypse, where the player controls a protagonist described as a “menacing serial killer rapist”. Preview Above: Video game players, makers, regulators and parents come together to discuss when video gaming stops being fun.
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