(I use "him" here, because Lara, Alyx, Joanna, and Samus cannot always be the rebuttals to a male dominated gamescape.) For example, in Manhunt (a game which almost had its sequel banned due to excessive violence), the original plot is about a convict on death row who is made to participate in a murderous game in exchange for his freedom. In most games that rely on physical aggression in game play, there is some sort of survival narrative that makes the main character more sympathetic in order for us to want to act through him and see his story to completion. You are initiating a rape, and for the majority of the game, the female actors are powerless to stop you.
And while one could write a thesis on Niko's motives in Grand Theft Auto 4, there isn't any such flexibility here. There are no enemy combatants – instead of eliminating the threat, one is actually becoming the threat. And while it takes many forms – from blowing up enemy ships in Galaga to stomping on Goombas in Mario to shooting your way through the latest James Bond installment – shifting the focus from fighting takes us into a strange grey area to make rape a focus of a game. Murdering enemies is what we have been doing since game immermorial. While one could analyse this issue from a number of angles, I want to focus on a question that keeps popping up on conversation threads: Why is sexual violence considered worse or different than the non-sexual violence in other popular games such as Grand Theft Auto 4? A bundle of issues rose to the surface surrounding the recent controversy around Rapelay, a rape simulation game which allows you to stalk, rape, and abuse a family of three women.
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