A PC game that allows players to gang rape virtual women – and then force them to have an abortion – has been banned from Amazon
ekkert mikið en hér er um leikin
In Rapelay, gamers direct a character to sexually assault a mother and her two young daughters at an underground station, before raping any of a selection female characters.
The game was intended for release just in Japan, but was on offer to British buyers through Amazon Marketplace, the section of the online store's website open to third-party sellers.
But Amazon has now withdrawn the game after complaints from users, deeming it to be inappropriate. “We determined that we did not want to be selling this particular item,” a spokeswoman said.
Rapelay was developed by the Japanese production house Illusion, which makes a number of sexually violent games for the domestic market. Their other titles include “Battle Raper” and “Artificial Girl”.
A spokesman for the company said: “We believe there is no problem with the software, which has cleared the domestic ratings of an ethics watchdog body.”
Keith Vaz, the Labour MP for Leicester East who has previously spoken out against computer games that promote violence, condemned the game.
“It is intolerable that anyone would purchase a game that simulates the criminal offence of rape,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.
Rapelay, which was released in 2006, encourages players to force the virtual woman they rape to have an abortion. If they are allowed to give birth the woman throws the player's character under a train, according to reviews of the game. It also has a feature allowing several players to team up against individual women.
“It's a wonder that humankind has constructed any kind of civilization with this monumental distraction at hand” - Youth In Revolt