Integrity matters

[JohnLakeside]

Well... I'd say its more akin to; "It’s not the real thing, so what's there to judge?" But yes, I would say the same when it comes to fiction depicting violence or other types of sexual taboos because none of it is real and does not indicate anything about the person ingesting that content. Otherwise killing people in video games (among other things) would also be "really bad" because of the implications of someone who "enjoys killing people" even though they're fake.

That said, while I think all those Joe Liberman types were idiots for thinking video games were going to turn people into mass shooters and such, they WERE correct that video games needed a rating system and it was ballsy for the industry to make the games they did without them. I mean, we had a literal rape simulator on the Atari 2600... and that's why I'm not against the idea of Final Fantasy 14 being given a higher rating if people feel like the game's content (official or fanmade) is too much for a Teen audience anymore, because I understand needing standards, guidelines, and filters so people can better curate what fictional content they're exposed to, doubly so when those people are minors. (Which I might add, 17 still counts as underage in a lot of states, just in case someone thinks "M for Mature" will push out all the kiddies in the NA version of the game.)

But outright criminalization of the fictional content its self, or of those who partake in it? That's rubbish, I won't do that, and wouldn't think highly of anyone who does.

No, you are wrong.

The fact that something is fictional can separate it from an actual crime, but I don’t think that makes it beyond criticism. People judge fictional media all the time for the kind of content it portrays and the way it presents that content.

I also don’t think the video game violence comparison really works here. Killing enemies in a game and consuming sexualized depictions of children are very different kinds of content, even if both involve fictional characters. The way people engage with those things is not really comparable.

And to be clear, I’m not saying that someone who consumes that kind of material is automatically going to commit a real-world offense. I don’t think you need to believe that in order to still find the material deeply disturbing, worthy of criticism, and just wrong.

If your argument is specifically that fictional material should not be criminalized because no real child was directly harmed in its creation, that’s a separate argument.

What I disagree with is the idea that fictional content somehow becomes morally neutral just because the characters aren’t real. I don’t think that follows at all.

[Carighan]

Bruh why the hell is this a csam thread

Because FFXIV players wanting desperately to get attention can't help themselves and have to make everything "won't somebody think of the children?!". Like a certain political ideology that's sadly en-vogue again in a fair few countries. Next they'll demand that female characters have no control over what they wear or how they look or where they go unless accompanied by a male character, I suspect.