Defending the existence of games like RapeLay without defending the games themselves is a bit of a balancing act. How the hell am I supposed to oppose that? But then I made the mistake of thinking about it for a minute and it occurred to me that I was being asked to speak out against a ban on a game that was entirely about raping women. Still, it seemed simple enough at first blush: Censorship is bad, therefore I’m opposed, it’s Miller time. I’m no expert on eroge games, Japanese culture, rape, censorship or anything else related to the game. I have no idea how I got dragged into this. But dated or not, when a story is plastered across CNN’s front page it’s bound to attract attention, and so it was that I got an email a few days ago asking if I’d be interested in taking part in a discussion on the topic, opposing a ban on the game. This, as some folks like to say, is old news. It’s all bullshit, of course the game is four years old, it was never on store shelves anywhere but Japan and this whole OMG RAPELAY controversy flared up and blew over more than a year ago anyway. The infamous RapeLay is back in the news, thanks to a breathless report by CNN warning that the game had “gone viral” after being pulled from store shelves around the world.
