UBON'S PROFILE

author=Feldschlacht IV
Most population projections in the future have nations with a lower total fertility rate. World population is something to think about, but it's not a linear projection into critical mass, either. People are having less children.

this is important to note. birth rates are fairly low (but still sustainable) in first-world countries and higher in third-world countries, and tend to drop as a country grows more prosperous and access to birth control and other healthcare improves. 'overpopulation' is kind of a weird thing in general, because a lot of the time it's really just someone's code for 'there are middle-eastern people in the UK now and I'm a frightened racist'.

the earth cannot currently sustain this many people at a high standard of living under the current system, where vast amounts of global resources are wasted or misappropriated for the prosperity of a limited few, but if we adopted a global economy that didn't have such a high degree of waste built into it... well, who knows?

e: I will say, though, that 'we have little choice' isn't necessarily proof that we'll take steps to improve things. I have no doubt that many people would gladly run the world into the ground for the sake of enough gain to safely cash out and avoid the consequences.

I started getting worried about how this might be received around the time I read that this game chose to take the giggling-creepy-anime-girl approach to portraying mental illness (because yeah wow please don't do that if you're trying to portray actual human misery) but I've been impressed by how graciously you're taking this, SigmaKedavra. good on you!

author=urano23
But eitherway, what I think is not really related to that. I think that I don't see the problem of including rape in videogames because murder is included and completely natural so "rape is worse than murder" is not something that should be said, even in fiction. Again, I understand why most people and society in general think that way, I just don't agree with that.

Sometimes, there's nothing wrong with including rape in videogames if you are willing to accept other "wrong" themes. For example, games like Silent Hill 2 uses rape as a plot device because if you want to make a game(or a movie, or a novel or anything) with a deep psycological narrative, sex is most likely going to be a key element of the story(regardless it's explicit or just hinted like in SH2).

even if you yourself don't share these concerns, I'd encourage you to listen to people who do. as Penta's outlined in the review, this is a loaded subject, and the way it's depicted has significant effects both on laypersons and survivors themselves. the knowledge of whether to include themes of sexual violence at all is a vital part of using that tool, as is the knowledge of how to be respectful with it.

people seldom blame murder victims for their own death, and it's even rarer for someone to have to live day to day with the experience of having been murdered. even if they are equally terrible to you, understand that the cultural contexts surrounding these two Bad Things are enormously different.

(also SH2's use of rape in its story was hamfisted and completely unnecessary. 'this widely-revered game also made this mistake!' is not an effective way of defending a mistake.)

author=CashmereCat
I remember reading your review about Dreaming Mary and it was similar to this. Do you have any examples of games that treated the subject of rape sensitively?

I'd be interested in this too, but with a big caveat. more and more, I feel like making a game about traumatic circumstances should mainly be a field for people who've dealt with those circumstances on a personal basis. by all means, include abuse survivors and people coping with mental illness in your games -- but if you're trying to make a game about abuse, or about mental illness and you don't have that firsthand experience, you run a considerable risk of slipping into territory where you're just aestheticizing someone else's despair -- taking from them a story that they should be the one to tell if they want to, in order to boost your own credentials as an artist. I'm entirely uninterested in seeing people with these circumstances treated as magical inspiration machines or circus sideshows.

I guess what I'm saying here is that if the thing you're asking about exists, it was made by a survivor.

author=Dragol
Pentagon, can you write about ANYTHING else?

the entire rest of the site is full of the comfortable, uncontroversial, endlessly circular discussions about cliches and rpg conventions you're used to. let subjects like these be addressed where they can.

author=Alichains
Who knew raging all the time can make a person and the places they hang out unpleasant?

c/o jetgreguar

spot the young Hugh Laurie