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Lesbian Sadomasochistic Schoolgirls for PlayStation 2
A Times article today tells us about an ongoing scandal that surrounds a PlayStation game by the name of “Rule of Rose”. Apparently, European officials are so enraged by it that they can’t wait to ban it, because -
“the game puts the player in the shoes of a teenage girl who is repeatedly beaten and humiliated as she tries to break out of an orphanage.”
Moreover, it hasn’t even been released in the US, allegedly “for fears of an outcry, particularly over alleged overtones of lesbianism and sadomasochism”.
Quick, quick, buy it before it gets banned!
The situation underlines the absurdity of trying to ban anything. If not for the Times article about the scandal, I doubt I’d be aware this game existed. (I’m a gaming voyeur: I enjoy seeing other people play.) Now, though, I’ve made it my business to find out more about it. To save you the 0.5 minutes of googling, here are some links:
- Screenshots (Including the ones I used to illustrate this post)
- An interview with the creators of “Rule of Rose”
- A review of its quality as an actual computer game, rather than a pretty picture of a suffering teenager.
I don’t know if it is, in fact, of any value for a spankofile (for all we know it could truly be quite gross), but I think this bears investigating.
Lesbianism and sadomasochism indeed.
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12 Responses to “Lesbian Sadomasochistic Schoolgirls for PlayStation 2”
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Oh, my, I followed your links and found this utterly, utterly disturbing and just plain sad. I would ban that too. Not that I have any interest in computer games anyhow (we don’t even own a TV, for that matter), but I can’t stand the idea of kids playing this. It’s the public school thing, I guess.
See, Amber, it’s rated 16 anyway, so if parents are watching their kids, they won’t be playing it. I’m not sure this is any more disturbing than good ole Duke Nukem with his big gun.
I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve seen the game myself, though.
As an avid computer games player I finally got the kick up the backside I needed to de-lurk (a few days late!) and add a comment to your fantastic website. I’ve played just about every single game that’s caused controversy such as: Doom, the entire Grand Theft Auto series, Canis Canem Edit, Manhunt, Leisure Suit Larry, Postal, all the versions of Mortal Kombat, and countless others that I can’t think of right now, and all I can say is that the idea of censorship on these games is a joke (that list doesn’t even scratch the surface btw).
In these games I’ve tortured people, had sex with prostitutes and then killed them to get my money back, and killed countless people and beings in countless gory, violent and inventive ways, and yet I have never committed any crimes or been locked away for anything.
I find it very easy to seperate a computer game from the real world and games for me are purely played for enjoyment, not to give me ideas about how i’d do horrible things to people I don’t like in real life.
I’ve been playing these games since I was a kid and on top of that I’ve been watching banned films and just generally violent films since before I was even in double figures, and yet I am not a maladjusted person in any sense of the word.
I have never hit anyone (consensual spankings aside), never stolen anything, never got any type of fine, never got a speeding ticket, and I have a totally clean police record.
The only thing that I find banning something does is to make it more popular then it otherwise would have been, case in point Chuck Berry with the song My Ding-a-ling, a nothing much sort of song that got banned and went straight to number one as a result.
I’m not saying there shouldn’t be some sort of age restriction on some things, I’m just saying that censorship and banning don’t work.
Age and maturity are two very different things and i’m sure that even though I wasn’t influenced by things I have viewed and played at a young age, other people may be influenced by them at that age, yet still I believe in freedom of choice.
When it comes to kids playing and viewing these things a parents job is to use their judgement, and that’s where the problem lies. My parents let me play and watch these things on the conditions that I never repeat the language I hear used, and I don’t copy any of the violent and deplorable acts I witnessed, and the second I would have broken those conditions I would no longer have been allowed acces to those things.
My big point is that responsible parenting kept me on the straight and narrow, and instilled within me a set of morals and values which I keep with me for life.
Apologies for getting on my soapbox and ranting but I couldn’t keep it inside me.
p.s. I hadn’t really heard much until recently of Rule of Rose but I will now play it when it comes out specifically because it has caused controversy and got peoples knickers in a twist.
I must confess given my decadent nature, the second I started reading the post I was thinking I “must” have a copy of this game! ;) I am not into games anymore per se, however there is always the odd exception. I haven’t had time to look at the articles you’ve linked to, but I intend to.
I do understand your disquiet, Amber, but we shouldn’t all be forced to live in a censored world because irresponsible parents don’t control their children. This is exactly the kind of twisted storyline that could tempt me into the world of games! I realize I’m a bit obsessed with darkness, but I’m not the only one. Some of us just like being scared. Safely, I hasten to add.
I find it amazing that wanton violence and sadism in the name of religion is universally uncensored and considered free speech. However once sex is brought into it the topic becomes taboo and depraved.
Everything I have seen about this game (I have been following it since last year) is less blatant and disgusting than movies I saw in Lutheran prep school.
Not allowing something into your home because you do not want your children to see it is good parenting. Building a history of censoring anything that disturbs you slightly is a slippery slope and poor citizenship.
Thanks for the heads up about this Adele! I’d love to get a copy of it that I could play here in the US, though that sounds very unlikely.
One the banning / censoring issue… To me it makes no more sense to do so then it does to ban adult videos because we’re afraid someone’s kid might watch them. I’m not a parent, and I don’t feel I should have my viewing / play choices limited because someone else wants to make me responsible for saying “no” to their children when they’re not responsible enough to do it themselves. These games cost about $30-$50 — and the PS far more than that. How are the kids getting them unless parents are buying them and letting them play?
As sparkle once wrote in another context, “I’d like to try and protect my adult book store from a daycare center opening next door.”
I was interviewed once on Third Street about Grand Theft Auto. I realized they thought I was going to be condemning, but my response was that the game wasn’t even being marketed for kids. Those of us who grew up in the 1970s - 1980s grew up with the first generation of game consoles. I don’t think it’s surprising that some of us are still into playing them now that we’re in our 30s (and even sneaking peeks at our 40s). Games are being written now with the idea of targeting an adult market. That’s certainly true of the GTA series — even the music is all about 80s retro.
I think Rule of Rose was released last month in the U.S. by Atlus. At least, I’ve read reviews of it. The story is supposed to be dark and intriguing, but the game play tedious and the enviroments about as strikingly rendered as the sharply polygonal dungeons of the first Doom games. To be honest, I’m surprised that anything put out by Atlus, an oft overlooked third party distributer, would register with the censors. Unlike Rockstar North, a major developer whose games are advertised in most subway cars in my city, Atlus caters very much to a niche audience. Their best known for their work in translating (often very poorly) the cult favorite Shin Megami Tensei series- a series of innovative and well researched RPGs that drew their central themes from everything to world mythology to Jugian psychobabble. Point being, the Christian Right would have a field day with the SMT series if it weren’t barely marketed. Perhaps Rule of Rose had a better marketing campaign in the UK, but as far as I know here it was released (and I think it was, released that is) with about as little publicity and fanfare as Atlus’s other offerings.
-Kris
Thanks for the heads up Kris. :) Play action isn’t really very important to me (in fact, too much action ala GTA means I can’t do it at all). I may try and get my hands on it for next month when I’m going to need quiet diversion. Though of course there’s apparently going to be a new Final Fantasy.
The story is intriguing, but as mentioned above the game is tedious overall. Every plot crux has a boss fight and after 3 minor mistakes a fight you start at your last save. Good story and depth with hideous gameplay is a common aspect to Atlus games.
Rule of Rose isn’t even a realism based game. It is much like an unabridged Grimm tale with a halucinagenic twist. Classic school literature such as The Yellow Wallpaper are much more graphic and influential upon youth.
If you like dark and generally disturbing games the Fatal Frame series would be agood place to look. Here in the US there are censored and director’s cuts editions. I had to import a copy from Canada to get an uncensored edition (yes Canada, and no it doesn’t makes sense to me either).
The U.K. release has just been canceled.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=21258
Well, damn. I was quite hoping to get it after all.
(BTW, Doogster, I notice you had trouble submitting this comment for some reason; my spam bot was celebrating Day of Vigilate Justice, or something. Thanks for persisting.)