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Gamers love rape.
Okay, maybe they don't love rape. But they certainly love the word. Gamers throw this word around like it's going out of style.
You headshot that guy, oh you "raped him"
TLO banshee rushed some poor guy, oh "that noob got raped."
And it's not just immature idiots and kids that seem so preoccupied with the word. I've heard MLG commentators almost say it.
I can tell that he doesn't mean to use it, but I have even caught Day9 using the word during casts. Always with a slight hesitation and barely noticeable "oops expression" afterwards. I don't mean to call him out here, but I think it illustrates my point.
When you call people on it the response is always the same, "well we're not talking about 'real' rape, it's just an expression."
I want every one to understand what that word means to people. To those who have had personal experience with rape (I am not such a person btw) it brings to mind horrid memories, horrific thoughts of powerlessness; intense agony and pain.
What's worse, when the word is used in passing by ignorant gamers it cheapens its meaning, it is as if you're saying, "oh this isn't a big deal at all."
I knew a girl (a rape victim) who used to become enraged when my gamer friends would talk about "raping each other."
And they would say "sorry, I didn't mean to; I meant to say I owned him"
And she would say "It makes me really sad that that means the same thing."
And we wonder why women don't want to join our communities and play us?
Now I know a lot of people will think they are being clever when they reply to this thread and say "yeah I hate rape let's rape rape." Or make some other idiotic comment which only reinforces my point. Please don't be one of those idiots.
Understand how it makes our community look from the outside, and how it makes gamers as a whole look to the rest of the world. We do not have to stoop so low just to have fun.
So this is just an open letter to TL and really all of gaming. Stop using this word, there are many substitutes which are much less abhorrent. Please understand that rape is a real problem, a real issue, and that it is an emotionally charged word that can cause real emotional damage to those who hear.
There is no justification and no excuse for the use of this word in the flippant way that it is thrown around. Just stop.
On August 14 2010 choboPEon wrote
I'm all for removing words like rape and faggot and have been for a while. There are so many good, colorful curse words to use that don't recall terrible things like that. But people seem quite set on raping faggots.
Rape is a specific, terrible act that a lot of women suffer silently from. Slaughter is something cows go through before we eat steak. In gaming, rape means to utterly and completely dominate, not unlike the sexual meaning at all.
Only tiny minority or people associate the word rape with sexual assault? Come on, man. Come the fuck on.
This is nothing like the word niggardly being called racist because thats fucking stupid but associating the word rape with sexual assault is so completely understandable that it boggles the mind that someone would deny it.
On August 14 2010 neohero9 wrote:
The amount of resistance to changing a single word in one's vocabulary to one which doesn't make people weep hysterically because of trauma, BECAUSE it makes people weep hysterically because of TRAUMA, is amazing.
It's not "something bad that happened to them". Being punched in the face in a barfight is something bad; dropping a hammer on your toe is something bad.
Having someone forcefully shove their cock inside of you AGAINST YOUR WILL is beyond "something bad".
Edit If you do not think that our community trivializes rape and equates the word with the real thing I ask you to reference this thread. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=29491
TO BE CLEAR (Since MANY TLers seem to have misunderstood): I am not saying you should be banned for using the word, I am not trying to police your use of the word, I am only asking that you be more mindful of your use of the word and perhaps think twice before you doing so because of the pain and suffering it can cause people and because it makes our community look like a bunch of IDIOTS. That is all.
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Hear, hear. Good OP with a good message. Especially the commentators and writers here on TL should refrain from using the term to set a good example. Other people can be warned - the same way as we have a pretty clean forum when it comes to proper language.
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Rape is not cool. I've removed the word from my gaming vernacular; it's just not a good word to use. I encourage all others to do the same.
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I'm sure your intentions are sincere and you bring up a totally valid argument.
But it won't make a difference, some words are just embedded in the social aspect of gaming.
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United States43448 Posts
Edit: Stealing a way better example made later in the topic. Beat clearly has a negative meaning in domestic violence. Wife beating and physical child abuse are more common than rape and are extremely damaging. That does not mean we should stop using beat as a synonym for win.
Words have meanings. In gaming to rape does not mean to sexually assault the unit or player in question. If anyone was in any way unclear about that then I can see why they might be shocked until the matter was cleared up. But I cannot understand why a word, which at this point is simply a homonym, should be banned because a tiny minority of people associate it with something other than the intended meaning.
In gaming culture rape is not an offensive word. I don't use it but this is almost as bad as people who claim the word niggardly is racist because it sounds kinda like nigger.
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It's kind of like "faggot" and that South Park episode. We define it differently, but we understand what we mean.
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I like using the word 'Rape' when someone gets completely owned, people shouldn't be so sensitive.
It's the internet afterall.
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On August 14 2010 04:01 Dance. wrote:
It's kind of like "faggot" and that South Park episode. We define it differently, but we understand what we mean.
awesome episode
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I understand where you're coming from. I have a handful of female friends who have been raped, and the word is a very sensitive word to them.
I think what drives gamers to use it is the fact that there is no more brutal monosyllabic word in the English language. The concept itself is the nullification of freedom and suppression of resistance, and it signifies a conquest over another person unmatched by any other act.
If this is to stop, there needs to be introduced a new word to use that's easy to use, just as brutal, but doesn't have the psychological scarring associated with it that "rape" does.
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I agree with your sentiment, and I really do think it will make a difference in a mature community like TL. Sadly, similar to "fag", "rape" will continue to be used by idiots on the internet hiding behind their veil of anonymity, basically until the end of time.
It's reasons like these that I wish Blizzard's realID feature had actually gone through. (I know, I'm one of the weird minority of people that actually liked it)
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"it brings to mind horrid memories, horrific thoughts of powerlessness; intense agony and pain."
^
This is exactly what I want the other player in game to feel
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On August 14 2010 04:01 KwarK wrote:
He's slaughtering those zealots could be offensive to victims of genocide.
Words have meanings. In gaming to rape does not mean to sexually assault the unit or player in question. If anyone was in any way unclear about that then I can see why they might be shocked until the matter was cleared up. But I cannot understand why a word, which at this point is simply a homonym, should be banned because a tiny minority of people associate it with something other than the intended meaning.
In gaming culture rape is not an offensive word. I don't use it but this is almost as bad as people who claim the word niggardly is racist because it sounds kinda like nigger.
The word niggardly isn't racist? -.-
*looks it up*
oh, haha
but anyways I absolutely agree with your post there
and very eloquently put I might add
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Well I hate to come off as callous and a complete asshole, but my personal philosophy is that language only has whatever meaning you assign to it. When people use the term "rape" as in to "utterly own their opponent", that is just them using language to communicate their apparent superiority. They are not saying they are actually forcibly raping them, and if they use rape in that sense then it would be a physical threat and then there is reason for concern. I feel the same about all words, including all racial slurs and use of language like "gay", or "retard".
Ultimately telling people not to use a word is not going to change a thing. It's the sentiment behind it that matters. Telling people to stop saying they're "raping" their opponent because it conjures up images of actual rape is if anything hurting the situation. You want to disassociate those meanings from one another, not intertwine them.
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IIRC western countries are democracies with laws regarding free speech.
If you don't like people saying the word rape that's your perogative and I respect that, but frankly everyone has a different opinion on everything (from swear words, racial slurs, and acts of violence). To attempt to impose your own viewpoint on a large community seems arrogant.
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Wow. A good point. It is a real strong word that is tossed around like a popcorn. I should be careful with that too, now.
Real good of you to post this to make us be more aware of our gamer image. If we wanted to make eSport happen here (everywhere else than Korea), stuff like this has to go. And we as individuals should contribute by watching our silly mouth. lol
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It's connotatively completely different. I understand it can upset some people, but there are certain points where I'm going to stop worrying about things for fear of hurting certain minority of peoples. Honestly, this is just another thread preaching political correctness. While I think it has its merits, I think we've all gone overboard on trying to prevent people from having to moderate everything they say because it might be offensive.
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I think I have to agree with what you are saying, the word 'rape' shouldn't be used when commenting on gaming. However it is, and while this thread may get a handful of people within the gaming community to think twice before doing it, the word will still be used casually by gamers. The best way to stop people from using it is to introduce another word that makes the old one go out of style until it were second nature for people to just use "owned" or something.
Even then, there are gamers, who when they get mad start being antisemitic and will try to use the most vulgar word choice possible.
It's a sad state but at least there aren't many female gamers so the percentage of people who have to cringe every time they hear the word is really low. Commentators especially, should try to use words like these as little as possible.
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I think you have a valid point and casters should do their best to avoid using it to give e-sports a better name. However having this battle over words will be futile for better or worse. People will continue to use it regardless.
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I don't have a problem with the word on the internet, but sometimes people tend to use the word without recognizing the audience they're speaking in front of. Even in school I've had situations where someone pissed off a teacher by saying "gay" or "rape" nonchalantly.
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Its too embbed to the gaming culture to be removed so its pointless.
Its like say "man dt rushes is so gay". I tried to stop but I couldn't stop using the word gay either. Everyone knows what the actual word means and what gamer definition means. Now if you got someone who is gay or who has been raped then don't use it in front of them. Also remember not to use retarded because that is a word that can affect the mentally challenged. We can keep going on. There is no end... Find this post's idea is right but pointless.
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EPT
