Content warning: discussions of sexual assault, nudity in itch.io link
We got a lot of shit to figure out as it pertains to cultural depictions of sex, and what qualifies as kinks and fetishes. I just came across this game called No Mercy, and it shook me to my core--I can't believe (or, better yet, I don't want to believe) that anyone would want this. While it may not be mainstream, it represents issues in our culture and cultural production that we need to uproot.
As of April 10th, No Mercy, a 3d pornographic visual novel created by Zerat Games, is no longer buyable on Steam, following backlash from UK official Peter Kyle and Collective Shout, a sex exploitation advocacy group.
No Mercy is a game that features incest and sexual assault among other acts the developers label as "kinks"/"fetishes". This is problematic for a multitude of reasons. However, the main one to highlight for our purposes is that there is nothing redeemable about uplifting ideations that support unequal/hierarchical power dynamics.
There is nothing to be gained by simulating one of the most violent things that can be done to someone. If our cultural products act as mirrors for our ideas of the world, what are we reflecting by uplifting things like this?
To change the landscape and create safe spaces for marginalized gender folks, we need to create a culture of accountability. Part of this is not allowing this shit to slide anymore. that means that we have to learn to center targets and victims of these abusive dynamics and cultures.
We can see that we're a long ways off from this. The game is still up on itch.io and SubscribeStar, and we can look at the comments on itch to see just how upstanding this game's fans are. Many commenters claim a fight against censorship (just ctrl+F the word on that page). Sigh.
There needs to be structures created by communities of creators and "consumers" to prevent this kind of shit from happening. There's no reason that this kind of game should exist.
This is not a call for authoritarian crackdowns on freedom of expression, or to say that we should have full restrictions on depicting certain deplorable acts (though I've never encountered a text where sexual assault did something more for the story than any other harmful act).
The fact is that we live under patriarchy, and as such, have to attend to power dynamics with a (trans)feminist lens. This means that our ideas (and the cultural products that we make based on them) are not "neutral"-- they are shaped by and shape society. Backing into narratives around "personal choice" conveniently forget that we exist within relation to the world around us, and that relation comes with dependencies and impacts.
Accountability is needed in these situations. We have to build communities of care that prevent people who, through isolation and individualism, create these reactionary projects in their little enclaves of the internet. I have a sneaking suspicion that, were Zerat Games in an abolitionist community of care, this game wouldn't exist.
Those communities of care and accountability could start with transformative justice pods that federate to encompass more people, along with the ability to respond to harm in ways that center victims. People should be able to choose restorative or retributive responses based on the needs and desires of those who are harmed.
I was horrified to see the fact that this game exists. I have such high hopes for the medium that I love, but as long as people are even able to think that they can get away with this shit, we will continue to be unbelievably cooked as a space. We have to do better, divest from the games industry, and take anti-(trans)feminist abuses seriously.
blood being frequently described as having a "coppery smell" in fiction is kind of funny considering that there is a metallic component to blood and it's not copper
in fact if your blood smells or tastes like copper you probably have more urgent things to worry about than it being outside your body. it's probably better that it's not inside you anymore actually.
story where blood is described as smelling or tasting "coppery" and it's actually early foreshadowing that all the characters are suffering from heavy metal poisoning
