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CNN Dusts Off Ancient Moral Panic Over Out Of Print Game That Was Banned A While Back
from the oh-come-on dept
Recently, we started receiving a whole bunch of submissions about a CNN story on the Japanese videogame Rapelay (in which part of the gameplay involves raping women). We ignored it because it's an old, old, old story, and we couldn't figure out why CNN suddenly took an interest in it. The game itself was released back in 2006 and has long been out of print. It got some headlines back in February of 2009 (over a year ago), when a UK publication noticed that some people were selling the game via Amazon. It was never Amazon itself selling the game, but some of the people who set up their own stores on the site. Either way, once the press reports came out, Amazon quickly pulled the game.
Still, as usually happens, there was a big moral panic, politicians made comments and threats and eventually Japanese officials banned the game, even though it was already out of print.
Story over, right? For no clear reason, CNN suddenly decided to bring it up as if it were a big deal again -- leading to all those submissions. However, as reader Chris Mikaitis, points out, the story keeps escalating to new levels of cluelessness. Days after the "original" late story, even after lots of people wondered why the hell CNN was bringing up such a dead story, CNN decided to do a second story on the game by the same reporter. At least, in that case, one of the people quoted scolds CNN for making a big story out of nothing:
"One of my concerns," begins Dr. Olson, "is that kids generally never hear about this stuff unless it gets this kind of publicity."In other words, this was a dead game and a dead story, until CNN started fearmongering about it, making ridiculous statements like:
"Parents, we've got to warn you about this video game because your kids could get their hands on it."CNN, we know that your ratings are in freefall, but manufacturing a totally ridiculous moral panic over an old game that is not in print any more, has been banned in the only country where it was released, and which was discussed way too much well over a year ago, isn't exactly the way to build either credibility or interest in your reporting.
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lol
It's a vicious circle indeed.
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A correction
I wouldn't call a 10 year old girl and a 16 year old girl "women". And yes, you rape both, along with their mother.
Never played the game, never would, but I'd suggest a better moral panic would be about the pre-teen content, not because children might get their hands on it. Thanks anyway though, CNN, Saviours of the World.
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Re:
See Ireland voting on the Lisbon Treaty, and the way Denmark is going to hold a second poll on joining the Euro - just as soon as they can get enough support for a yes. (And of course after the French and Dutch voters got the result "wrong", they weren't even trusted with a second attempt)
Still waiting to hear of a country offering a new poll where the previous answer was yes.
But maybe I'm just bitter at not getting to vote on the Lisbon treaty here in the UK ...
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And when it's dead and forgotten, they can release it again and pretend it's new.
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japanese author reply
http://www.tsurupeta.info/content/open-letter-to-cnn-by-nogami-takeshi
that was his reply...it was actually on CNN originally before he put it back on his own site. He basically explained the rapelay thing in quite reasonable terms.
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How the hell to you make a digital good out of print? I thought the advocated of infinite goods would know better.
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Sweet Jesus
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Yellow Journalism
Makes me wonder what the real (invisible in the mass media) political conversation is about to be..,
Every untold story of consequence has its O.J. Simpson counterpart.
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A slow day maybe?
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Re:A slow day maybe?
OK, try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyoLON4sevo
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A news agency has five possibilities to get stories.
1. Find stories through research. (Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein)
2. Find stories already published. (Huffington Post)
3. Create situations which will give rise to stories. (Dateline's pedophile pieces.)
4. Make up stories. (Jayson Blair)
5. And last, but not least... dig up old stories and present them as new.
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Re: A correction
I wouldn't call them people. They're characters in a game. How does one rape a damn cartoon character, anyway? Wouldn't the monitor glass alone stop the ability to touch the characters?
Don't be stupid.
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Hey!
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Why didn't it work!?
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Unsettleing coninquesnces...
This sword does go both ways.
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Re: Hey!
At least that's what I heard on Fox News. I ended up buying it and while I wasn't completely disappointed with the game there was a tiny part of me that was.
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Re: Re: Hey!
Only people who don't play videogames make no distinction between gaming and reality.
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CNN Buisness issues?
I want *accountability*, both from news outlets to the public, AND for the news outlets to do their *job* and actually hold politicians, lobbyists, corporations, and even people accountable for their actions or lack there of.
I want *depth*, don't just report that something happened, tell us why it happened, what impact it has on others, and what sorts of reactions others can and are taking.
I want *discussion*, not 140 character twit-headed sound-bytes, but real comments and summaries of comments compiled in to bin-counts that reflect actual public opinion.
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ur mom
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