Episode 22: Geek Discussion: Rape, Steam, & Responsibility

Geek Herring tackles a tough issue this week, looking at a new video game called Rape Day. Yep, you heard that right – someone has created a game with the sole purpose of rape… and zombies. Because zombies are always fun, right? Trigger warning: We do talk quite in depth about rape, rape statistics, and murder – if this is likely to cause you distress, please don’t listen and join us again next week <3

Rape Day has thankfully been banned by Steam, the gaming platform it was submitted to. But this leads us to the question of Steam’s responsibility. They currently have a policy whereby so long as a game doesn’t depict illegal or obvious trolling, it’s open for submission to the platform.

The creator of Rape Day still intends release the game, and from the looks of comments and threads about it, there’s a large number of potential purchasers. However, Visa and PayPal are currently saying they won’t process any payments to the sale of this game, so the creator is having trouble finding a way to actually sell it.

What do you think about Rape Day or other games with a morally questionable premise? Do you think it’s Steam or other platform’s responsibility to make sure abusive games stay off their systems? How do you think Steam should improve their vetting process?

In this episode:

• What’s the problem with Rape Day?!
• Why games about rape are bad
• How a game about rape is different from a game like GTA or Call of Duty
• Check out Steam’s policy on what games they accept
• Steam’s response and reasoning for removing Rape Day from their platform
• What we think Steam can do to be a more responsible indie gaming platform

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please check out some of our others!

• Geek Girl in the News: February 2019
• Geek Discussion: All Those Video Game Boobs
• Geek Discussion: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Cast Them

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Geekily yours,
Amanda & Monika