Q: "Which is more offensive - rape or execution?"
I've gotta answer two ways with this.
In the media's/public's view (at least in my country), it's got to be sexual violence, because everyone (including a lot of little kids) are way more desensitized now to the idea of fictional violence than they even are with normal sex, let alone rape. Evidenced by the government here recently banning many kinds of violent pornography, getting het up about Human Centipede 2 and so on. It's obvious even though there might still be controversy over a brutal or hard hitting execution scene in a game or movie, some violence or murder in is par for the course in Hollywood action films, thrillers, books, etc. and we all know that stuff shown on TV can be violent or insinuate violence, but God forbid someone shows a tit before 9 p.m. ...
What do I personally think - I think it's all just violence, and while fictional or pretend violence and rape doesn't offend me, real violence and real rape does. I'm with the guy in this video. If you know it's a game and you can handle it, fine.
But the context the violence is performed in matters (which is why Manhunt 2 got banned here). It's annoying for people like me who like games and don't have much beef with the violence in them, that we have to censor because there are idiots out there, but you have to draw a line somewhere - between 'good' violence like heroic bloodshed, revenge, etc. and 'bad' violence in context - it is after all what makes the difference between 'good guys' and 'bad guys' in peoples' minds. Taste isn't something you can account for, but most people probably don't enjoy murder and death without an appropriate context. A LOT of people appreciate violence & death in their entertainment, whether it's chainsawing aliens' faces or watching TV shows about serial killers or reading books about old women who solve murder cases, but there has to be a 'decent' reason for a hero to go around killing other people or characters. What Duke said - doesn't offend me because I always thought DN was trying to be tongue in cheek offensive and misogynist - but as a hero character, it's a pretty ****ty thing for him to say, even if they are doomed. Overall it's just crass in DN and I kinda expect that 'sort' of stuff in it, because it's not trying to be highbrow. In DmC, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about - you're a demon killer and she's a demon. I assume it's because she looks humanoid people feel sorry for her, and if she looked like a big bloated louse or something, I figure almost nobody would have issue with her being slaughtered. The closer something looks to a human the more offended people get, and she does look like a woman, and it seems a lot of people don't like seeing women get shot (why should they be happier that men are being shot??). As someone who advocates equality, I've got no problem with seeing her shot, I'm not going to be upset she was just because of her sex.
I play Devil May Cry games to kill the demons, so I don't have much issue with it. I'm confused by the scene in a sense - is it trying to get us to care about her or show the world in more than black and white? I suppose old Dante had compassion for some demons because of what they looked like too - but generally he lives to murder demons for revenge, and if you have a problem with a demon getting killed in a game which is all about killing demons, then wtf I don't even.
It is the unwritten 'hero' character rule not to kill someone who is defenseless, or has already been defeated and learned their lesson, or to literally stab someone in the back, etc. and to me the scene just serves to show that Vergil is totally obviously not the 'hero' type.
