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[Dawg]

A preview build of the indie title Hotline Miami 2 has drawn criticisms due to a scene where the player is encouraged to rape a female character.

According to a hands-on preview from PC Gamer, the game depicts a scene where an unnamed female enemy is attacked before the words 'Finish Her' appear on the screen.

Cara Ellison, the writer of the preview article explained:

"I stroll up to finish the job. Instead, the control is taken from me by the game, and my character, the Pig Butcher, pins her down and drops his trousers.
It is understood that the rape is part of a fictional in-game movie scene between two digital actors. After the incident, a director apparently shouts "cut", though it is not known how clear this has been made.

The writer felt "resentment" after the scene, she said: 'This is it, I think. I am feeling betrayal. I feel betrayed by something I love".

Hotline Miami 2 is a highly anticipated sequel of the 2012 original, developed by the small indie team at the Sweden based Dennation Games. The original was extensively praised and its fictional exaggerated violence was one of the elements of the game that found favour among critics.

However, the rape scene appears to have crossed a line for some within the industry. Others have highlighted the importance of the preview write-up as the industry tries to balance creative freedom against issues of glamorising feared crimes.

Sean Duncan, an assistant professor researching games at Indiana University, wrote on his personal Twitter page: "this game disgusts me".

Ed Fear, a designer at London studio Mediatonic, said he hoped the developers would take a look at PC Gamer's article.

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/424642/anger-over-rape-scene-in-hotline-miami-2/

Mod edit:

The PC Gamer article by Cara Ellison is here: http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/hotline-miami-2-wrong-number/

Please read it in full before responding.

And the video of the scene in question is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beUrlDwf56w&t=1m5s

 

[LordJim]

I also feel the rape scene was a little forced

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Dunno if Fork Parker can make this happen.

 

[Flayer]

I'm outraged and indignant.

 

[lmpaler]

I also feel the rape scene was a little forced

Boom

 

[Pikma]

I'm outraged and indignant.

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

Wait... Hotline Miami 2 is out? Where have I been. I LOVED the first one.


I'm not trying to necessarily take sides on the issue - but I always find it weird that a fictionalized & digital rape is considered horrible; but fictionalized & digital hyper violence is okay.

 

[Skeff]

Wow...

 

[News Bot]

Pointless.

 

[Alienous]

I also feel the rape scene was a little forced

I'm pretty sure I've seen characters in this game with eyeballs hanging out of their face.

I don't care about a 'rape scene', especially in the context Hotline Miami 2 provides. It's supposed to make you say "What ... what the fuck?"

God damn. That went right over my head.

 

[PixyJunket]

And yet nary a cry about the brutality of the murders of humans in the game.

More fraudulence from people looking to push an agenda.

 

[Dictator93]

I also feel the rape scene was a little forced

oh my.

I would have to see this scene in person to judge its "tasteless-ness" to be honest.

edit: simulated movie in the game? Where the hell is the outrage coming from exactly? If it is expressly a movie in game.

 

[Haunted]

In Cactus we trust.

 

[GuardianE]

If it's not done well, then it shouldn't be in the game. If it is, then it stays. Same with the other violent acts. It's presence doesn't bother me, as long as it's done right.

 

[ced]

Give me a break, why do they not have an issue with the gratuitous violence that is the whole point in the game?

 

[Htown]

this thread will end well

I can feel it

 

[VanquishUK]

That's right, feed them that bad press.

 

[rexor0717]

So is rape worse than murder?

 

[Moobabe]

I thought the 'cut' made it pretty clear actually.

 

[Zemm]

This is a movie scene within the game right? As in the characters are filming a movie. Don't see a problem with it in that case.

 

[Interfectum]

The first game was full of horrid, crazy violence and had a ton of sexual references throughout. Now they think it's gone too far? lol

 

[Toxi]

I'm not quite sure why 'rape scene' is in half quotes in the title. It's pretty obvious that it's a rape scene.

Spoiler

Wonder how many people aren't going to get it.

 

[Router]

Should have put 'anger' in quotation marks in the title rather than 'rape scene'.

 

[phosphor112]

I'm not sure the exact context of the scene other than the slightly vague one in the OP, but this game has ridiculous murders, blood and gore everywhere.

EDIT: So... it's a part in the game where people are recording for a movie in which someone is raped?

Seems sort of blown out of proportion.

 

[Minion101]

So is rape worse than murder?

Apparently.

 

[velociraptor]

Considering the level of faux rage that was built up over the little incident in Tomb Raider and the controversy surrounding God Of War Ascension's 'Bros before Hoes' trophy, I think this is most likely a non issue.

 

[Jacksonlee]

So is rape worse than murder?

you didn't know that?

 

[FrontalMonk]

I think if Dennaton Games looked at the last game, so how everyone loved the ultra-violence ballet it offered, and asked "how far is too far for you to enjoy a game?" and played with that as a theme (since apparently the people you play as in HLM2 are copycats of Jacket who think he's a badass) it could work.

In a vacuum, it feels a little disgusting and "over the line". But maybe that's the whole point. Maybe the full game's supposed to disgust you and "un-hero" Jacket and his cult following, for lack of a better term. Either way I'll be along for the ride, and we'll see where we end up.

 

[badgenome]

The writer felt "resentment" after the scene, she said: 'This is it, I think. I am feeling betrayal. I feel betrayed by something I love".

But she didn't have any qualms about being scored on how efficiently she splattered the walls with dudes' brains? Sounds like she should check her privilege!

 

[ViviOggi]

Thank god the first game was only almost-tasteless.

 

[Moofers]

I also feel the rape scene was a little forced

Its already out? ***edit** nvm, I get the joke now.

Its hard to say without having played it and seen the scene in question, but I find it hard to imagine that a game exists that would encourage players to rape as if it were a thing to glorify. With the way some of the enthusiast press has been behaving lately, it wouldn't surprise me if this was a case of a mountain being made out of an anthill.

Really enjoyed Hotline Miami. I have faith the scene in question has a certain context to it and we're not getting the whole story here.

 

[So Many Bullets]

I hope the studio doesn't cave.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

Gather up the pitchforks, baby, we have ourselves some BEEVES!

 

[Killer]

So it's ok in movies, not ok in games?

 

[Darklord]

Brutally stab a guy to death? Fine.
Bash him head in while he crawls along the floor? Fine.
Rape scene? DISGUSTING. BETRAYAL. HOW DARE THEY?

This industry, man...I think it's sexist that developers have to tip toe around anything considered sexist like women are delicate little flowers. It's a dark, brutal game. If it was in a movie no one would care.

 

[dugdug]

I also feel the rape scene was a little forced

Damn.

 

[Zaventem]

This is a movie scene within the game right? As in the characters are filming a movie. Don't see a problem with it in that case.

That's what i got out of it. What's the problem?

 

[jiggles]

You're supposed to feel uncomfortable with the things HLM makes you do. That's its whole bit.

 

[Broken Joystick]

Wait... Hotline Miami 2 is out? Where have I been. I LOVED the first one.


I'm not trying to necessarily take sides on the issue - but I always find it weird that a fictionalized & digital rape is considered horrible; but fictionalized & digital hyper violence is okay.

Literally the first line in OP

A preview build of the indie title Hotline Miami 2

 

[LordJim]

Its already out?

Its hard to say without having played it and seen the scene in question, but I find it hard to imagine that a game exists that would encourage players to rape as if it were a thing to glorify. With the way some of the enthusiast press has been behaving lately, it wouldn't surprise me if this was a case of a mountain being made out of an anthill.

Really enjoyed Hotline Miami. I have faith the scene in question has a certain context to it and we're not getting the whole story here.

It's not.
In all seriousness, there is nothing wrong with games making people feel uncomfortable.

 

[Htown]

And yet nary a cry about the brutality of the murders of humans in the game.

More fraudulence from people looking to push an agenda.

Give me a break, why do they not have an issue with the gratuitous violence that is the whole point in the game?

Wait... Hotline Miami 2 is out? Where have I been. I LOVED the first one.


I'm not trying to necessarily take sides on the issue - but I always find it weird that a fictionalized & digital rape is considered horrible; but fictionalized & digital hyper violence is okay.

She goes into that in the actual PC Gamer article. (Not sure why CVG is linked instead of the PC Gamer page.)

Stay with me while I dissect these feelings, feelings I do not want: I certainly want someone to blame for this betrayal, because it hurts that something I enjoy so much would be this problematic, so upsetting. I’d like to blame Sarkeesian for making me aware that this happens in the games I like – but it isn’t her fault that I am aware. And it starts to make me feel incredibly hypocritical: you liked the violence, I think. You liked, as the game says, hurting people. Why do you feel ugly now, for playing a game where your character rapes a woman? It isn’t even graphic, but implied. These are pixels, Cara. Just pixels.

But it’s because I identify as a woman. The woman in this game was exoticised by her tokenism. No male character in this scenario was singled out for rape. It has made my safe space – where I am a powerful thug who isn’t accountable to anyone – no longer safe. I have been forced to identify with the one person the game has given no agency. My agency has been removed not only from Pig Butcher, but agency was never given to the woman I now identify with – not even AI.

 

[SmokyDave]

I wish we were allowed to explore adult themes in videogames.

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

Sean Duncan, an assistant professor researching games at Indiana University, wrote on his personal Twitter page: "this game disgusts me".

Good... gooooooood...

It's almost like people are forgetting what the purpose of Hotline Miami was. Also, isn't this outrage super LTTP? The fake movie rape scene was in the E3 build.

 

[Kuroyume]

You love blowing people to bits. Cutting them to pieces. Curb stopping them. But rape crosses a line. Okay.

 

[schwabdizzle]

Rape and Genocide exist in real life. As long as it not glorified, I have no offense to it.

 

[ezekial45]

People would likely be less pissed off if this character was violently beaten to death instead of raped.

Is no one else bothered by this?

 

[Sloane]

Glad there was no resentment over murdering a few hundred people in the game for no good reason.

 

[Stone Ocean]

So is rape worse than murder?

Violence is ok and sex is the devil, didn't you hear?

If this weren't rape but consensual sex we'd be having a sexism outcry instead.

Videogames.

 

[GuardianE]

Its already out?

Its hard to say without having played it and seen the scene in question, but I find it hard to imagine that a game exists that would encourage players to rape as if it were a thing to glorify. With the way some of the enthusiast press has been behaving lately, it wouldn't surprise me if this was a case of a mountain being made out of an anthill.

Really enjoyed Hotline Miami. I have faith the scene in question has a certain context to it and we're not getting the whole story here.

Pretty much. The violence in Hotline Miami was sadistic and over-the-top, but the way it was presented and the way that the levels ended always made you feel a little nauseating and sick. You had to tread back through the level and see what you had done.

Context is everything, and we don't have it.

And it starts to make me feel incredibly hypocritical: you liked the violence, I think. You liked, as the game says, hurting people.

At least she recognizes it's potentially hypocritical. I certainly didn't identify with that thug whose brains I splattered across the floor.

 

[Fox Mulder]

murdering hundreds of people is fine, but rape causes outrage.