@Three-Eyed Crow
I would probably consider a 'We don't have rape plots just 'cause we don't' rule a good sign for my own personal enjoyment of a thing, for what it's worth.
An absence of rape related plots or roleplay would do the same for me, but as a rule I try not to consider very personal tastes and preferences (even my own) a basis for game policy about what other people can do in terms of roleplay.
@Cobaltasaurus
Because most places don't say "please don't RP murder"? The truth is most places do ask that. They ask that by not allowing antagonist spheres. They ask that by typically not approving PCs who only goal is to go after other PCs and force them to play being killed by another PC.
That's kind of a false equivalency. I don't think anybody (certainly not me) would object to staff putting a foot on the neck of someone who app'd a character as a self-described serial rapist and saying no.
It's especially false as a statement if you consider how often people on games, and on forums discussing those games, go out of their way to champion the idea that if you're going to PK someone you should roleplay through it. Games even sometimes give bennies if you murder them through a scene instead of telenuking.
None of which has any real bearing on roleplaying rape, but the quoted statement does not support its premise.
@Cobaltasaurus
I'm not entirely sure why it becomes "ZOMG HYPOCRITES! FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION!" when someone says "please don't RP rape".
It's never been anything about freedom of expression, but given that I've more than a few times seen people who decry rape RP, in particular people responsible for game policies about it, either engaging in pretty fucked up (but not rape so it's okay) RP or responding to complaints by people exposed to such RP by reading them the 'This is a WoD game that deals with adult themes, you're free to log off or excuse yourself or fade to black but these sort of things happen in the game you're playing.' line? Yeah, hypocrisy is a reasonable description.
Rape is not the only fucked up, traumatic thing that happens to people. It's not even the only fucked up, traumatic thing that happens to a significant number of people. It is, however, pretty much the only thing people seem generally comfortable banning from games as if they're doing a public service. That they do so without banning other fucked up, traumatic things that people take issue with, is usually hypocrisy.
@Ganymede
There's nothing hypocritical about finding one form of RP more disgusting, disturbing, and unacceptable than another, and therefore prohibiting it. It may be unreasonable in your opinion, but it's not hypocritical.
Most games are ultimately in the hands of one or two people, who are ultimately responsible for game policy. If said person(s) wanted to ban a particular line of roleplay because they personally had issues with it and didn't want to deal with it there's not much I could say. But to pretend that's not what it is, and act as if that very specific sort of subject matter deserves to be stepped on because it makes some nebulous percentage of the population too uncomfortable to allow while virtually every other subject matter that makes some nebulous percentage of the population uncomfortable is A_OK? Meh. You can say unreasonable, but I'm fine with calling it hypocrisy.
The truth is that if you started banning roleplay that even a significant portion of the game population found objectionable, distressing, or uncomfortable to deal with/be exposed to, the list would be entirely too long. The World of Darkness has included examples of violence and molestation against children, cannibalism, truly gruesome and inhuman torture, physical and emotional abuse of family and friends, bestiality, and worse.
Shit, there are people who won't play, or play with Vampires, because the descriptions of the central element of their survival have often been far too close to rape. Whether or not others feel that's the case, there are those who do and that discomfort keeps them away from an entire sphere. If a show of hands were to indicate that the number of people who felt that way was significant, would anyone who didn't feel that way think it reasonable to excise the vampire sphere from a game? Probably not. I mean, except me, because I'm always down with banning Vampire. It is such a shitty game.