Hello my fellow escapists. I've recently added a video to my YouTube channel discussing the topic covered in the thread title. Of course I am not allowed to link to my own channel nor am I allowed to indicate you towards my profile page where a link to said video can be found. (cough cough)
Anyway I digress. I have pasted most of my notes below into a semi-articulate manner:
I spoke with a friend of mine who had just beaten the game and I asked him what he thought about the first case, as far as I can remember anyway, of male rape in a video game. He gave me a funny look until I explained the scene in question and then he was rather shocked to find out that he hadn't actually thought about it in this way. Strange isn't it?
I'll give you the details: in one of the games story missions, a mission that must be completed in order to advance the plot and thus complete the game, the protagonist Jason Brody is given a "magic potion" by Citra, the leader of the Rakyat Tribe. Upon consuming the potion Brody experiences hallucinations and after a trip-like gameplay segment Brody awakes during a non -consensual sex act with Citra.
I was shocked to find out that this had not been mentioned in any review or in any article that I have read about Far Cry 3. Especially when one considers the uproar over the Tomb Raider trailer where one of Lara Croft's captors touches her hip inappropriately, before being disarmed by Miss Croft and having his brains blown out. Cause and effect Lara Croft style there, don't mess with that lady!
Imagine this ladies and gentlemen, imagine if the gender roles in the Far Cry 3 scenario had been reversed. Imagine if it was Liza who was the player character out to rescue her friends and in return for a male tribal leader's assistance in completing her quest she had to visit his private chambers, drink a hallucinogenic cocktail and the wake up from these hallucinations during a non-consensual sex act. Pretty creepy that isn't it? There's not enough bleach in the world to clean the grime off of that story line.
How far do you think this plot point would have got? It wouldn't have even made it in to the first draft of a script never mind in to the finished product. They would probably have the writer sectioned for God's sake.
So why does this scene appear to have gone unnoticed? Well there may be a couple of reasons for this:
1) Playing to a male fantasy
Some males may find the allure of the exotic and attractive Citra so powerful that they are willing to be dominated by her in such a way. She is an attractive and powerful woman after all. Maybe some men are so easily distracted by the naked flesh of an attractive woman that they are not even aware that they are in fact being taken advantage of. Or because her beauty they are subconsciously willing to be taken advantage of. I would like to think that most guys out there wouldn't be that thick, but I'm going to leave that one open for debate.
2) Balance
I may be over thinking this somewhat here, but maybe this scenario of Brody and the player being dominated by Citra is the 'ying' to the 'yang' of the powertrip kill crazy rampage that the rest of the game is. Now don't kid yourself, the first time you took down a pirate camp by executing each pirate without being spotted felt pretty damn good right? Maybe this is Citra's way of showing you that you are not the all-conquering force that you believe you are and that she has complete power over you. This would also tie in to the 'bad' ending as it were, and that Brody and the player are happy to submit to Citra.
So what do you think? Why has this act gone unnoticed by many players and the gaming media? What do you think of the scene itself?