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Why is there a rape tag?

A topic by Teophilo created Jun 11, 2022 Views: 3,068 Replies: 21

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Teophilo2 years ago(+5)

I'm concerned about how quickly adult games are escalating on Itch.io, becoming more popular and more extreme in their content.

If rape and sexual abuse are illegal, shouldn't the glorification of sexual violence portrayed in videogames be illegal too? Some people may argue it's only fiction, there are no real people getting raped / abused, it's only a game. But think about it, racism is illegal in real life, is it then appropriate to create a videogame that glorifies racism? Of course not. Then why the double standard?

I would like to request that games that openly advertise themselves as containing sexual violence (rape, assault, sex abuse, humiliation...) for the sexual gratification of the viewer be reported and considered for elimination from this platform.

There is even a rape tag to search for those games, come on. I'm not going to post an image here, but you can follow this link to a post in Twitter.

Please, don't turn a blind eye on this issue. I know adult games are top-seller and profitable, but they shouldn't be given a free pass to glorify sex abuse.

mid2 years ago(+7)

Consensual non-consent is a kink that exists. Whether you and I like it or not, Itch’s goal is to be an open marketplace, and that (ideally) would mean adhering at most to the law of the land.

Teophilo2 years ago(+2)

Thanks for your comment. You are right, that is a thing, unfortunately. However, there are certain instances in which a person cannot give consent. For example, if someone gives consent because of coercion (blackmail, external pressure...) it is not a valid consent. Legally, if a person is not conscious cannot give consent either (for example, when sleeping or drunk), even to a spouse. Besides, even BDSM has its legal limitations: nobody can't consent to get seriously injured. Here is an interesting article about that. How many sex games actually depict affirmative ongoing consent? Most of them don't, showing some kind of coercion, threat, abuse of power... to get the victim's "consent".

No Time To PlayModerator2 years ago(+3)

All of the above. Plus, if you have reasons to believe a game has outright illegal content, please report it so our staff can investigate. Thanks.

Neru2 years ago

why not list it under CNC instead then?

Teophilo2 years ago(+1)

Thanks, I have already reported a game possibly containing child pornography, based on the comments and images. I look forward to hearing from the staff about the course of the investigation. Hopefully, we can make this platform a safer place.

Eldwood2 years ago(+4)

You say: If rape and sexual abuse are illegal, shouldn't the glorification of sexual violence portrayed in videogames be illegal too?

By the same reasoning, should we also ban rpgs that glorify walking into people's houses and taking all their stuff? Superhero games that glorify vigilantism? Racing games that glorify reckless driving?

If I never see another rape game in my life it'll be too soon, but let's not confuse the artistic representation of a thing with the thing itself.

Teophilo2 years ago(+1)

You make a good point, Eldwood. If a particular activity is deemed illegal (whether it is sexual assault, or murder or drug trafficking...) then anything that glorifies it / promotes it should be considered at least morally questionable.

And you are right. There is indeed a fine line between the legal artistic representation of an activity (like violence in movies, comics...) and the illegal incitement (instigation to violence, Incitement to genocide or hate speech, which are considered crimes). Many videogames take advantage of the grey areas in the law. Fine. But from a moral point of view, there isn't a grey area: if a game promotes an activity that in real life is illegal, then that's plainly wrong.

Perhaps many believe that what they see on TV, or the games they play don't affect them at all. But is it maybe possible that there are people (even older than 18) more impressionable that can be shaped in their way of thinking by the violence / abuse that they consume on a regular basis? If that is the case, could it be that some of them would act on those acquired thoughts? To deny that would be like denying the power of advertising.

I believe the question to consider should be: what do we gain vs what do we risk? By assessing the risk we would answer the question: is it worth allowing media to glorify illegal activities? At what cost? What are the potential risks? And how do we benefit from it... what do we get in exchange? Is it really worth it? Well, that's open for debate.

Rafster2 years ago(+2)

I think the main problem here is that Itch needs a proper exclusion feature. I believe it can be done by editing the URL, but that's far from usable. Excluding certain tags like rape could help.

Teophilo2 years ago(+1)

Hi Rafster, you are right, there is a url exclusion feature which was added 4 years ago, and is not useful when trying to combine tags. Hopefully exclusion filters will be added in the near future.

However, I don't completely agree that this is the main problem. Granted that excluding certain adult tags would help... but this approach alone would be similar to burying one's head in the sand, or sweeping dirt under the rug so that you don't see it. The problem is still there, is not going anywhere.

I believe the solution is not hiding potentially abusive adult content from some viewers, but examining scrupulously such games and actually enforcing the rules whenever illegal / questionable content is found. Not closing your eyes, but opening them wide. It's not a blindfold what we need, it's a magnifying glass ;)

leafoAdmin2 years ago(+3)

Just to answer your question from the title directly, tags are user-provided. You can type in any tag name in the URL and there will be a page for it. At the moment we don’t block the use of any words within tags. (With the exception of some tag aliases which remap, eg. zombie -> zombies)

Teophilo2 years ago (1 edit) (+2)

Thanks for the clarification. That makes sense. So users are the ones that create new tags, without any restrictions for now.

However, my original question goes a bit deeper than just addressing the technicality of how tags are created. Rather, I meant to emphasize the why certain games under certain tags are allowed.

Just to be clear, on itch.io's Terms of Service, specifically under section 3 (Acceptable Use) it states that "Prohibited actions include but are not limited to: posting content that promotes or participates in racial intolerance, sexism..." (among others). If one looks up the definition of sexism (Wikipedia link), it is quite clear that << objectifying women and portraying them in submissive roles reduces women to mere tools, and is a form of sex discrimination>>. By allowing certain games to promote sexual abuse (rape included) and sexual objectification as their main content, are we not allowing sexism and thus violating the Terms of Service?

If that is not the case, I would like to know what constitutes sexism and sexual discrimination according to Itch.io. Just so that I know if I'm only wasting my time by trying to report here games that are inappropriate.

I think we can agree that rules only have meaning if they are enforced. Otherwise, they are useless.

Mango Scribble2 years ago(+3)

I want to offer a counterpoint, the overzealous enforcement of the stated terms will result in excessive censorship that will cause more harm than good. For example in this case, if you strictly follow the rule that prohibits "content that participates in racial intolerance" then this applies to games that portray racism to tell a story or to educate (such as a visual novel about the life of a minority in a very hostile, racist environment). And "content that participates in sexism" will also ban all games that do contain such events but is no way centered around it. Such as an LGBTQ Visual Novel depicting how a trans person is treated in society. So you are saying by strictly enforcing this rule, let's ban even educational content or just games that use such elements to show a point/tell a story.

Teophilo2 years ago(+1)

I see your point and I agree with you. Perhaps I didn’t explain myself. I believe the rules prohibit content that “promotes or participate” in sexism or racism. By “participate” I think it means “take part”, actively involving for a cause, not just mentioning a topic for educational purposes (that is something different, it’s not actually advocating or promoting discrimination, it’s the opposite: educating to not discriminate).

It’s clear when a game is just depicting discrimination to tell a personal story, and when a game is presenting sexual abuse for the gratification of the viewers. We all know the difference when we see it, right?

Mango Scribble2 years ago (2 edits) (+2)

> By “participate” I think it means “take part”, actively involving for a cause, not just mentioning a topic for educational purposes

I had the same definition in mind for the term "participate". I'm not talking about works that only mention sexism or racism from an offhand remark, there are works that go extensively into detail. To sufficiently tell its story, a game may need to "get down and dirty" with its imagery and scenes. To Kill a Mockingbird had many openly racist quotes and violence stemming from racism. If we strictly enforce the rule that prohibits content that takes part in openly showing racism then we are also banning works like To Kill a Mockingbird.

> It’s clear when a game is just depicting discrimination to tell a personal story, and when a game is presenting sexual abuse for the gratification of the viewers.

You are right that it is clear, but currently, the rule you quoted only prohibits the games from participating in sexism and racism, the rule makes no distinction between depicting this content for the gratification of the viewer and for a different purpose so enforcing it strictly will result in excessive censorship.

I recommend the proposed change to an extensive revision of the rules rather than excessive censorship.

Teophilo2 years ago

I couldn’t agree more with you. I for sure support your suggestion that a revision of the rules is needed. That is probably the best solution that avoids the two extremes (either excessive censorship like you mentioned or not enforcing the rules at all, both equally bad I’d say).

So, moving forward, how can we ask for a revision of the rules?

Mango Scribble2 years ago (1 edit) (+1)

We could make a thread on the feedback forum section to propose the change to the Itch.io ToS (and also better enforcement). Hopefully, we can form a constructive discussion around this issue with the mods and also other Itch.io users on how to modify the rules to properly single out problematic submissions.

Teophilo2 years ago

That sounds good to me. Thank you.

Would you like to start the thread? I feel I tend to sound a bit more leaning towards censorship whereas the way you expressed your opinion seemed balanced to me.

If you prefer I take the initiative I’ll create the post tomorrow morning.

Mango Scribble2 years ago

I'm sorry but I procrastinated too much and have a ton of work to catch up for the next few days :(

Teophilo2 years ago

No worries! I just created the thread. You can find the link here.

Eldwood2 years ago

Two problems with this.

One is that rape only looks misogynistic if you're only considering male-on-female rape. However there's also male-on-male, female-on-male, and female-on-female rape, both in real life and in fiction. The assumption that all rapists are male and all victims are female is itself sexist.

The other one is that for people who actively fantasize about rape, as opposed to opportunistic rapists in the real world, dominating and humiliating a real person is very much part of the fantasy. It's not that these people don't see their victims as human, it's that they get their jollies by sexually dominating another human being. And frankly I'd rather that they play out their fantasies in a game than in real life.

Teophilo2 years ago

You are right. Sexual abuse should be condemned regardless of the sex / gender of the abuser and the victim. That is a good point. I gave you credit for it in the new post.

I would appreciate if you participate in the discussion in the forum. Thank you!

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