The Games people play

The number of gamers in the US has risen from about 50million in 2008 to over 130 million at the last count.   And, by all counts, one third of Americans have some degree of enjoyment from spankings, and another third are "tolerant" to "very tolerant" of the third that actively enjoy.   Which suggests some future tussles may lie ahead between the two populations.

The omen is a new Japanese video game called "Criminal Girls Invite Only".   The somewhat curious title is probably because of some robotic translation from the original Japanese, which may have had a much clearer semantic about it.  

A hugely popular "niche" game in Japan, a version aimed at American gamers reveals two distinct schisms:  the way Japanese view spankos, and the way American gamers view spankos.   Or to be fair, the way American reviewers of games view spankos.

In the game, the player has to find seven sinners - all portrayed as teenie-somthing barbie doll-types who have sinned.    As each one is found, a spanking is given.   The more spanks and the harder they are in the time limit set for this activity, the more powerful the resultant warrior princess who then goes off to do battle for the good guys in the standard style of martial art gaming fantasies.

The first point of interest is that the game has been modified for the American market.   Spankings on this side of the Pacific take place behind a purple veil, with the yell sound track turned off.   Puritanized, if you will.  While the Japanese are far more ambivalent about real life corporal punishment than Americans, they have been warned that American gamers are really turned off when it comes to spanking females.

American gamers may revel in doing very bad things when "playing" their games, there are limits.   Shooting a cop with an Ak-47 - wow, what a power rush:  but spanking for pleasure?  What do you think we are.

Well, the game reviewers are pretty much in accord when it comes to paddling a rump to power up a ninja:   "Almost sex exploitation"- "Shallow" - "A game for the pervert market".

Really?    Yes, really- those aer actual quotes.

We seem to have three alternatives:   The gamer population and the spanko population have virtually no over-lap:  but will have when both camps increase in numbers.   Japanese gamers find much more fun in having a spakning element in a game than the their American brethren.   USGamer reviewers are off their rockers, but carry sufficient sway to convince overseas developers to sanitize their products to meet the prudish morality of American gamers.

I suspect all three alternatives are wrong.   And when the American gamers find out what their game reiviewers have done to make a harmless foible into something to be hidden and/or reviled, those gamers are going to be very, very cross with the reviewers.