Video games have been catching a lot of headlines in recent weeks. THQ Nordic, the publisher responsible for Wreckfest, Satisfactory, Darksiders 3, and Several others hosted a Q and A session on a site called, 8 Chan. A site which is known for being a spin-off of an established site known for child pornography and other explicit and illegal material, claiming 4 Chan to be “too strict.” THQ Nordic has since released statements denouncing such a vile cesspit of humanity, claiming ignorance of the content of the site, and what users do on said site.

In the week following this damning indictment of video games and the culture surrounding them continued, as a prospect release called, “Rape Day,” was pulled from Steam. A game in which characters would: Verbally harass, kill, and rape women. Understandably many have condemned this shallow attempt at a game and the platform hosting it. This is not the first time something has gone onto the storefront with the content of a disturbing manner. Yohjo Simulator, a game released in 2015 to capitalize on Goat Simulator’s popularity from the previous year, launched with a reference to the rape of a little girl. This was later removed and the game was patched, removing the rape before it was re-released on Steam once again.

Now, years later, it seems that Rape Day has broken out of the confines of gaming, and into that of the political world. Current Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) member, former shadow SNP spokesperson for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and concurrent SNP spokesperson for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, Hannah Bardell, has spoken up about this release, and its subsequent removal. She described Rape Day as, “utterly abhorrent material,” calling for “…[political figures to] getting around the table and sorting this issue for good.”

One could not dispute this claim, Rape Day as a concept is despicable and as Hannah Bardell calls it, utterly abhorrent. However, this may not only be worrying for fans of explicate and sometimes graphic games (myself included) but also developers of these games. Some would say the Grand Theft Auto series is no better than, Rape Day, for its own content. People could (and many will) state that the goal of a game such as Grand Theft Auto is to amass a fortune of a criminal kingpin, the purpose of Rape Day is to commit a crime and get away with it. The difference comes with the intention and indeed the in-game reaction to such atrocities.

At #DCMS Q’s I raised the issue of the game ‘Rape Day’.

The content of this game is utterly sickening – it’s time for the UK government to undertake a full review into development and hosting of such abhorrent content.

Rape & sexual violence should never feature in ‘games’. pic.twitter.com/JMheJs1N8J

— Hannah Bardell 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈 (@HannahB4LiviMP) March 7, 2019

When speaking on the matters of Valve and other platforms selling and promoting this type of material, Bardell said, “The culture to seek forgiveness rather than permission is a stain on an industry that otherwise has the potential to be a real force for good,” continuing with, “full review into how tech companies and gaming platforms — specifically Steam — are able to get away with this kind of stupidity.” To then continue talking about and promoting discussion surrounding this she retweeted a series of comments made by the Twitter account of, Rape Crisis Scotland.

We have to ask ourselves what kind of society we want to live in. Games like this cannot be tolerated in any society that values fairness and equality. This normalisation of rape is incompatible with a society where women and girls can live free from fear and violence.

— Rape Crisis Scotland (@rapecrisisscot) March 7, 2019

Though, while I personally agree “rape culture” is disproportionately affecting women, and that this game without question is promoting said culture; I disagree that these topics should not be handled with care by video games. Hannah Bardell spoke on Twitter with several users below the video in the above tweet, decrying video games as inherently unable to handle these topics. Late last week after these comments were made, and Bardell spoke in the House of Commons, we got in contact with Hannah Bardell and her staff. Sadly, we haven’t gotten a response to our emails since Friday.

We asked if Ms. Bardell could clarify her statements made in the House of Commons wherein she states, when talking about Rape Day, “Its contents include violence, sexual assault, non-consensual sex, obscene language, necrophilia, and incest.” continuing with, “Mr. Speaker – a game of this nature has no place in our society.” We wanted to learn if this was content for all games that should not entertain the idea of violence and obscene language. We also posed a question – in the same email – what her thoughts are on the Grand Theft Auto series known for its violence and language. We asked this as this is the most profitable piece of entertainment in history and was created in Scotland: Ms. Bardell’s home nation.

We later had a response to this original email thanking us for reaching out to Ms. Bardell, informing us of a speech made that same day on the matter. They inquired about our deadline as well as any more questions we had. With this opportunity, we gave Bardell and her team until Tuesday afternoon with several other questions. These once again were about the game in question, Rape Day, the games industry, if there was a place for displaying scenes of rape in video games (even in a respectful, tasteful fashion,) and the interactivity of the medium, as well as further examples as reality tv and Black Mirror giving the viewer choice. We chose these questions as they seemed fair at the time.

The exact questions are as follows. What are the atonements you would like to see from companies such as Steam, if not Steam then the developer of these games? We then moved on to the genre of the game, Rape Day, as it is claimed this release would be a visual novel. We asked if this would change her statement that, “watching a film is one thing, enacting rape in a game is another.” We followed this question directly with the example of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider (2013) in the supposed rape scene. We also noted the justification behind this scene was to make the player sympathize for Lara Croft.

The final question was suggested by our Editor-in-Chief, Alexx, who reminded me that Black Mirror: Bandersnatch was all about the choices of the viewer. We denoted that this installment of the Psychological thriller gave the viewer choices, much like the choose your own adventure books R. A. Montgomery wrote long before Bandersnatch. We sought to find out if this was any different from those cases before, and if video games are allowed the same freedom TV and movies receive.

Editor’s Note: As Editor in Chief, I found myself curious about this topic in particular. Phenixx Gaming does not condone the content in Rape Day, and yet this topic leads to a larger discussion. As time passes, more and more games are incorporating techniques and ideas from other forms of media. In order to portray things accurately and respectfully, sometimes the dark realities of the world do need to be touched on. I am curious as to where the line is drawn in regards to when a game is considered “art” and no longer “mere entertainment.” Is it the content and topic itself? Or is the way it is handled at fault here?

We would like to thank Hannah Bardell and her Team, and while we reached out about a quote, their answer did not arrive in time for publication. We will update this article if any changes come soon.

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