SERIOUSLY? We Actually Need to Say This?

[satyrblade]

Dear fellow Game Masters, especially* those of the male persuasion:

RAPE IS NOT YOUR PLOT DEVICE.

No matter how edgy, cool or hardcore you may think you are, there are places in a game you really should not go - most especially without the prior consent of your players. Sexual assault is one of them.

While there may be exceptions made with the

Comments

[opalmirror]

Definitely time to vote with one's feet from that particular gaming session, perhaps GM or group. When someone commits taboo and clears the room, they need to think about why their friends and their creative contributors have gone away. I appreciate you sharing the point on this more widely... that's what writing is for.

Grrr.....

[stone_bitch]

Reminds me of an idiot GM who was making his own game system. Not only did the female PC's have to roll up their bust size, but after a certain degree of you had to be shrouded head to toe. In his mind the more attractive the female was, the more likely her chances were of being raped. By any male in the game.

I was a play tester until he told me that part. There was a big fight that followed and I walked, mad as hell. He just couldn't understand why I was making such a big deal out of this. It was, as he kept reminding me, his game so it was his rules. That was really the only answer he had back to fall on.

Funny enough how none of the other female gamers in our community at that time would play either. Thankfully it didn't get past the paper stage theory. He blamed me for poisoning the well.

And yes, this kind of thing still needs to be said. Over and over and over. Applied with a mace in some cases.

Re: Grrr.....

[satyrblade]

Geeze, was he the designer of FATAL or something?

Re: Grrr.....

[stone_bitch]

You'd think so, but no. The name of his game system was Theoside. And he wondered why he couldn't ever seem to land a relationship.

Totally unrelated (was: Re: Grrr.....)

[unkyrich]

I know two people who were involved in "play-testing" Theoside. Both of them had nothing kind to say about the game, the developer, or his closest cronies.

Somehow, I'm not surprised about what you posted above, based on what they said.

[zydee]

Well said

[tzaddi_93]

All that, plus I'm hardly a spun-glass blossom that can be destroyed with a stray glance.

Neither are the people who are triggered by things that remind them of life-altering trauma that they have suffered.

[zydee]

There is definitely a wide spectrum of people who have suffered trauma. I wasn't saying that all people who are affected by rape/torture RP are over-delicate; I know that's not the case, since I'm not and I was still affected in an unpleasant way. I probably could've worded it better than I did. Hope that helps?

[tzaddi_93]

Yes, much. Thank you. The suggestion that people who are triggered by something are overly delicate or too sensitive is frequently used to silence them when they object to the triggering material, which is why I felt the need to point it out. I'm glad that's not how you meant it.

Re: Long comment is, well, you know the internet... it's long.

[zydee]

A dear friend of mine said it thusly, with regard to a Mount & Blade game mod that treated women very poorly: "Players like that don't want realism. They want permission."

[misslynx]

This is ironic timing for me, because I, er, actually did have a player character almost get raped in my last Deliria session. *blush

[tzaddi_93]

in which the NPC in question is using some kind of mind-affecting magic to generate that feeling

This is also rape roleplay--the magical equivalent of slipping someone a roofie so that you can have sex with them without their consent, and I think it should fall under the guidelines that satyrblade laid out. (Especially considering that most real-life rapes happen through the perp either plying the victim with alcohol or drugs or targeting people who have gotten too drunk or high to consent.)

[misslynx]

Good point. I guess I was thinking just that that was the one circumstance where it would at least be somewhat logical, plot-wise, to tell someone they're attracted to someone whether they want to be or not, but logical doesn't mean ethical.