Entertainment/argument ratio, re the topic of rape.

Started by Callan S., April 03, 2014, 08:21:11 PM

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Callan S.

From here. I started posting in the consequences thread, but I felt I was going off topic so I decided to make a seperate thread.
QuoteAlso, 30 pages as of this posting: RPGnet thread: A conversation between Anna Kreider and Ron Edwards.

In regards to the first responce to that thread the poster treats gaming as just pure entertainment.

Is this game supposed to be pure, 100% entertainment?

If so, I'd say they make a good point. But if not, entertainment is the carrier wave to deliver arguments to a genuinely dissenting audience, rather than just those who echo the same sentiment.

Though it raises the question of when the audience demands it be 100% entertainment (possibly using rape merely as a means to that end rather than an issue in itself), but authors decide to ignore that. That always ends up indelicate.

I suspect this little differentiation informs alot of argument on the topic. You're not going to really get through on an argument about depiction when the underlying motive of the other person is that they only want to be entertained and you happen to not want to 100% entertain them. It's not even about rape or whatever other troubling subject you were talking about, anymore.

I have no hard conclusions to present about that - that's one reason why people might not make a seperate thread. It's just a 'ball is in the air' statement and doesn't conform to a threads story like begining, argument, conclusion structure. But I would like to put that ball into the air - I think it's important somehow.