Players 'distressed' by gang-rape role-playing game

Bedrockgames · Jun 11, 2019

Gradine said:
It's not about distaste. It's about subjecting people to trauma that they hadn't signed up for. You don't know who's sitting down at your table. Sexualized violence is distressingly common in the real world, and springing a rape scenario on the character of a player who has been raped is exactly how you re-open those wounds and re-traumatize people.
\.

People experience all kinds of trauma in the real world that has lasting consequences and can be triggered. I am not particularly interested in seeing a rape scene played out in an RPG, but I think if you go down the road of saying we have to avoid anything that triggers the trauma of a rape survivor in our games and entertainment, then you must also say we have to avoid anything that triggers any kind of trauma survivor. That said, I wouldn't advise running a rape scenario at a con.

Gradine · Jun 11, 2019

Bedrockgames said:
but I think if you go down the road of saying we have to avoid anything that triggers the trauma of a rape survivor in our games and entertainment, then you must also say we have to avoid anything that triggers any kind of trauma survivor.

The problem is less the trigger (though in the case of rape it is still a huge problem) and more the lack of warning/consent.

MarkB · Jun 11, 2019

Bedrockgames said:
People experience all kinds of trauma in the real world that has lasting consequences and can be triggered. I am not particularly interested in seeing a rape scene played out in an RPG, but I think if you go down the road of saying we have to avoid anything that triggers the trauma of a rape survivor in our games and entertainment, then you must also say we have to avoid anything that triggers any kind of trauma survivor. That said, I wouldn't advise running a rape scenario at a con.

First, some traumas are a lot more commonplace than others. Second, you don't need to have experienced rape in order to find it highly disturbing when someone describes it happening to a character whose reactions you are portraying.

Seriously, is this really something you feel the need to downplay?

Satyrn · Jun 11, 2019

Bedrockgames said:
I am being well meaning. I am also being honest. I think a lot of people here might not be accustomed to honesty of opinion.

I'm reminded of my favorite line from a Taylor Swift song:

Hey you call me up again just to break me like a promise.
So casually cruel in the name of being honest.

You've been awfully insulting of your fellow forumites, calling us cruel earlier. Now, calling us dishonest. But you're just telling it like it is, right?

Gradine · Jun 11, 2019

Satyrn said:
But you're just telling it like it is, right?

Yes, that's the phrase I was looking for! I was having the hardest time remembering it...

Umbran · Jun 11, 2019

Bedrockgames said:
I am being well meaning. I am also being honest. I think a lot of people here might not be accustomed to honesty of opinion.

Oh, we are quite accustomed to honesty of opinion. We are also accustomed to rather unsavory rhetorical practices.

You are now at the point of leveling insinuations against people in order to bolster your position. People who claim there was crying are attention-seekers. Folks who react to your apparent lack of empathy are not used to honesty. You are resorting to ad hominem tactics.

This may be a critical juncture for your discussion. Rather often, once one dips into such approaches, things do not end well. How many other people will you say bad things about to hold up your position?

Gradine · Jun 11, 2019

I didn't know what to expect from Bedrock Games as a publisher, but seeing an (albeit fairly old) book they published written by the RPG Pundit proudly displayed on their front page was not nearly as surprising as it would have been this morning.

lowkey13 · Jun 11, 2019

*Deleted by user*

Guest 6801328 · Jun 11, 2019

Bedrockgames said:
I am not terribly concerned about character rape. I am very concerned about real world rape. But yes, a character being raped in a game concerns me less than a person's life in the hobby being affected forever.

Ok, let's unpack this: why are you "very concerned" about "real world rape"?

I'm hoping it's because you recognize that it's traumatizing. One of the most traumatizing things that can happen to a person.

So...assuming you're still with me here...how do you think it affects a survivor when they are immersed in a roleplaying game and not only is their character raped (whether on or off-screen) but it's also treated as if it's a joke?

If you're still ok with "character rape" then I have to wonder just how concerned your really are with 'real world rape'. If you realize both its frequency and its effects. Because if you're ok with making jokes about it, without having any idea at all about the backgrounds and experience of those at the table, then I don't think you really don't understand, and can't be very concerned about, 'real world rape'.

Bedrockgames · Jun 11, 2019

Elfcrusher said:
Ok, let's unpack this: why are you "very concerned" about "real world rape"?

I'm hoping it's because you recognize that it's traumatizing. One of the most traumatizing things that can happen to a person.

So...assuming you're still with me here...how do you think it affects a survivor when they are immersed in a roleplaying game and not only is their character raped (whether on or off-screen) but it's also treated as if it's a joke?

If you're still ok with "character rape" then I have to wonder just how concerned your really are with 'real world rape'. If you realize both its frequency and its effects. Because if you're ok with making jokes about it, without having any idea at all about the backgrounds and experience of those at the table, then I don't think you really don't understand, and can't be very concerned about, 'real world rape'.

Again, I never said I was in favor of character rape. I said I wasn't concerned about, that it concerned me less than things happening to people in the real world. I get people an have their trauma triggered. But I don't think you can structure everything in this world around the possibility that people might have trauma around something.