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[bitbydeath]

This concerns me greatly as it is the impure things in GTA that sell the game.

Maybe the puritans will only add ugly women and remove some of the non-essentials such as prostitutes from the game but they are a staple of the franchise. It’s the details no matter how challenging that make GTA, GTA.

With these changes GTAV may be the last true GTA game we ever see. RIP

Since the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar has made several major management changes. Last spring, Dan Houser went on a sabbatical that later turned into his departure from the company. Throughout the year, Rockstar replaced studio heads at its San Diego, California and Lincoln, UK offices. The company also booted directors and managers who were said to contribute to cultural issues. Rockstar held meetings about conduct and sexual harassment, and made plans to bring in a coaching organisation called Mindful Talent for management training.

It’s been a slow process, Rockstar developers say, but it’s led to improvements to some people’s lives. “It’s like there’s an operation to get rid of bad eggs,” said one Rockstar employee. “There are still bad eggs around, don’t get me wrong, but it feels like their days are numbered.”

18 Months After Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar Has Made Big Cultural Changes

Last autumn, nearly a year after the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, top Rockstar executive Jennifer Kolbe sent out an email to staff with a list of bullet-pointed initiatives to improve Rockstar’s culture. Rockstar, the game developer behind Grand Theft Auto and many other highly selling...

www.kotaku.com.au

 

[oagboghi2]

So the next GTA will not only be smaller, it will also lack the crude humour and over the top presentation that gave it so much charm, just to be replaced by PC bullshit.

 

[Clear]

Probably necessary to be honest, Rockstar has had a rep of being a shitty place to work for a long time now. People would put up with it to get it on their CV and then get the fuck out of dodge at the first convenient moment.

The rest is just general corporate bullshit. See back in the day it was considered a bonus if you boss ran jollies to strip-clubs and hosted coke-fuelled pool parties BECAUSE it was more rock'n'roll and less corporate culture. But of course these days its fiscally wiser to play it as safe and businesslike (i,e. joyless) as possible, with so many career prudes and scolds ready to point their piggy little fingers.

 

[kiphalfton]

Cancel culture in full swing.

This quote specifically is concerning:

"It’s like there’s an operation to get rid of bad eggs,” said one Rockstar employee. “There are still bad eggs around, don’t get me wrong, but it feels like their days are numbered.”

 

[LemmingWithaParachute]

The writing was on the wall with Dan Housers departure. He either saw what was happening or new it would start after his leaving.

This series has been woked.

Strong female main protag in bound.

 

[GHG]

Never thought I'd see the day where GTA goes "woke". Good luck with that.

Crazy times we live in.

 

[nush]

See back in the day it was considered a bonus if you boss ran jollies to strip-clubs and hosted coke-fuelled pool parties BECAUSE it was more rock'n'roll and less corporate culture.

Good times!

 

[Joe T.]

You were my last hope in the AAA space, Rockstar.

 

[30yearsofhurt]

Sounds like you people have never held a job in your lives.

 

[Tripolygon]

I'm sorry but how is removing employees who are contributing to a toxic culture amongst their development community bad for gamers?

You can write a dead hooker joke without being a total piece of shit to the people you work with.

 

[shaddam]

I started GTA3 a few days ago after platinumed Vice City. I really like the humor in those games. Started RDR2 on day one, but I think I only played 4 hours. I prefer the old arcade feel of the games I guess. BTW I think rockstar is more focused on gta and rdr online. It prints money

 

[Clear]

Good times!

Surely was. Being honest I wouldn't want to be young in this current culture, Gen X forever.

 

[LemmingWithaParachute]

I'm sorry but how is removing employees who are contributing to a toxic culture amongst their development community bad for gamers?

You can write a dead hooker joke without being a total piece of shit to the people you work with.

Dont be coy. You know theyre referring to straight (probably white) males who dont jive with the woke folk.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Toxic how?

 

[Grinchy]

You can finally identify as the attack helicopter that you steal from the army base.

 

[LemmingWithaParachute]

Toxic how?

When they dont give details its a bit like when the MSN doesnt give a description of the perp.


BTW, I wonder if Dan Houser is off to join his mate:

PUBLISHED: 23:29 AEST, 7 January 2019

A video game pioneer who worked on the landmark Grand Theft Auto series has been taken to court accused of poaching former colleagues to start a rival business.

Leslie Benzies was the former president of Rockstar North, the Edinburgh developer responsible for the best-selling Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series.

The 47-year-old BAFTA award-winning developer, who was born in Aberdeen, took the lead on the GTA series but now faces legal action from his former employers, which he left in 2016.

Ex-Grand Theft Auto game boss accused of poaching former colleagues

Leslie Benzies (pictured), from Aberdeen, has been accused of wilfully infringing the intellectual property and soliciting the staff of New York-based Take Two Interactive Software Inc.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[ruvikx]

I'm sorry but how is removing employees who are contributing to a toxic culture amongst their development community bad for gamers?

Because you only have their "word" & their definition of who is or isn't "toxic"?

Come on man, we've had years & years of absolute nonsense whereby normal people get labelled toxic by creeps & self-serving careerists using the political correct diktats to their own advantage. Quite beyond whatever issues people might have with the GTA series (mine all relate to the actual gameplay), it's insane of Rockstar to flaunt the removal of key personnel as a "positive" considering the success those people created for the company.

 

[Fuz]

GTA is dead.

 

[Bladed Thesis]

Somebody better throw the checkbook at Houser and let him set up his own studio. Preferably not Sony or MS as I'd like his games to continue to be multiplatform.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

So the next GTA will not only be smaller, it will also lack the crude humour and over the top presentation that gave it so much charm, just to be replaced by PC bullshit.

You take a rumor from schrieirier and an article talking about how the company is trying to improve its work culture and extrapolate it into "rockstar is going pc and their games will now forever lack charm and crude humor"?

 

[GHG]

Somebody better throw the checkbook at Houser and let him set up his own studio. Preferably not Sony or MS as I'd like his games to continue to be multiplatform.

Doubt either of them would touch him anyway since they are both starting to pander to the woke crowd.

That leaves epic...

 

[Barakov]

I was hoping cancel culture was dying but seems like it's still full swing. You take the GTA out of GTA and you get another boring open world game.

When they dont give details its a bit like when the MSN doesnt give a description of the perp.


BTW, I wonder if Dan Houser is off to join his mate:

Ex-Grand Theft Auto game boss accused of poaching former colleagues

Leslie Benzies (pictured), from Aberdeen, has been accused of wilfully infringing the intellectual property and soliciting the staff of New York-based Take Two Interactive Software Inc.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The Benz out here doing work.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Dan Houser and his key team developers are more manly than those people's dads so Rockstar Games.

 

[hyperbertha]

So I'm guessing GTA 6's hookers are going to be strong and independent.

 

[kiphalfton]

I'm sorry but how is removing employees who are contributing to a toxic culture amongst their development community bad for gamers?

You can write a dead hooker joke without being a total piece of shit to the people you work with.

The people who complain the most at work are generally the most difficult. Everybody has to deal with assholes at work, but most people suck it up and just deal with it. Not worth rocking the boat. Then there's sensitive Susie/Shawn who is somehow always the victim/never at fault, doesn't really contribute to the company/does crappy work as they're more concerned what other people are doing, and are the real problem.

 

[Hendrick's]

Just imagine a woke GTA. End of a fucking era.

 

[LemmingWithaParachute]

Just imagine a woke GTA. End of a fucking era.

Arent there snippets of that showing in RDR2?

 

[makaveli60]

RIP GTA and Rockstar
Welcome Grand Theft Sanity

 

[Gargus]

I'm guessing we will get a mediocre crime game with a chick as the main character and the game will mostly just stick with what works. But the single player will just be a vehicle for the next gta online.

It will be mature with violence and cursing but it won't be risqué. It will play it safe, it won't push any boundaries or offend anyone. It will be a gta game intended for the masses.

Getting rid of toxic people in the sense of sex abusers, people who promote hate in the office and such is fine. But I hope they don't pussify their staff and take the teeth out of gta. If nothing else right now we need a big name game willing to have the balls to not be pc and not take anyone's feelings into consideration.

Like Dave Chapelle said "I make it a rule that I don't ever feel bad for the jokes I tell".

 

[Soleil rouge]

Ugly white female protagonist incoming.

 

[ZehDon]

I’d sure like to get a definition of “toxic” in this situation. It’s a vague term. They didn’t use “problematic”, so I’m not gonna jump to conclusions.

 

[Fbh]

damn, now I half expect the next GTA will have some masculine looking "strong" female character, and the world and story will switch from being a satire of american culture in general to being a satire of them evil mysoginistic white men

 

[Arkam]

Hope for RockStar's sake this is just the fan fiction of a disgruntled employee. Cuz whats the popular phrase.... Get Woke, Go Broke?

 

[Tripolygon]

Dont be coy. You know theyre referring to straight (probably white) males who dont jive with the woke folk.

No i don't know that and that's in your head.

Because you only have their "word" & their definition of who is or isn't "toxic"?

Come on man, we've had years & years of absolute nonsense whereby normal people get labelled toxic by creeps & self-serving careerists using the political correct diktats to their own advantage. Quite beyond whatever issues people might have with the GTA series (mine all relate to the actual gameplay), it's insane of Rockstar to flaunt the removal of key personnel as a "positive" considering the success those people created for the company.

Years and years where? I've had many jobs and worked with people of different shapes and sizes from all over the world. I've seen various office drama play out and i find for the most part if you're a decent person you're not getting fired because someone made false accusation against you. I'm not saying it doesn't happen because as we all know innocent people get arrested too but the percentage tends to be smaller.

The people who complain the most at work are generally the most difficult. Everybody has to deal with assholes at work, but most people suck it up and just deal with it. Not worth rocking the boat. Then there's sensitive Susie/Shawn who is somehow always the victim/never at fault, doesn't really contribute to the company/does crappy work as they're more concerned what other people are doing, and are the real problem.

Yea i will rock the shit out that boat if someone at my job is making my life miserable. I can put up with a lot of things but when i start feeling like not going to work because of someone then its time to talk to HR. I encourage you to do the same too. I've seen people get fired for rocking the boat and that sucks but i would sooner get fired than put up with things like sexual harassment. I've seen a lot of men put up with inappropriate sexual harassment from women at my job, usually because of peer pressure from other men who think its a complement to be harassed by women.

 

[Optimistic Gamer]

ITT lot's of bait. Nobody is this stupid.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Never thought I'd see the day where GTA goes "woke". Good luck with that.

Crazy times we live in.

Instead of sticking up bodegas and liquor stores for money well get paid for delivering couscous and khale to vegan shops. Instead of riding suped up, pollution inducing cars well be able to buy the latest electric Mac wheels and shoot eachother with old school nerf guns that don't cause death

These fucking snowflakes are taking over the world and forcing everyone to turn to pussies. If you don't go with the flow "you will be assimilated" these weirdos are worse than the borg.

OH and no shorties with fat asses and camel toes lol instead chicks with beards and muscles. You want to see nips look at the guys who might be bare chested and looking like emasculated men.

Look at what thy did to my beloved Thundercats

Cartoon Network's 'Thundercats' Remake Will Combine Action And Silliness

The new Thundercats will launch in 2019.

www.cartoonbrew.com

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Probably necessary to be honest, Rockstar has had a rep of being a shitty place to work for a long time now.

Yep. That was known.

Honestly, having had a lil peek behind the curtain over there, I'm glad these changes are happening.

 

[pr0cs]

Personally with Houser gone Rockstar and everything they produce going forward will be much weaker.
If they're now removing people that don't tow the sjw line you can bet gta6 will be terrible

 

[Saber]

If that means taking the devs who they consider bad for the games and not actually bad people, then you can expect a magical barrier protecting female npcs on the next GTA games.

 

[buizel]

 

[009EspadaSageJay]

I guess rockstar wants to make a watch dogs 2 full of unfunny jokes and memes, a whole lot PC politics and everything else that makes it look like a game made by tumblr and REEEEEEEEEEEera.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Lol all these dweebs saying you have to be a asshole to put crude humor in your games. Like people give a f. People buy GTA to run over people and blow shit up. I hope the next GTA game is full of “sjw” stuff. Cause it doesnt matter. Like people play for the story.

 

[nush]

Surely was. Being honest I wouldn't want to be young in this current culture, Gen X forever.

Truly the best gen, entering the job market especially in tech at just the right time for peak boys club behaviour before recessions, shareholder profits and wokeness sucked all the fun out of life.

 

[bitbydeath]

Like people play for the story.

GTA is all about the story.

 

[buizel]

GTA is all about the story.

Eh GTA 1 for me was about piling up traffic so cops couldnt get me.

GTA V was where the story took MASSIVE strides and I'd argue it ended up being one of the best written games ever IMO

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Getting rid of bullies and sex abusers is all good, but what I expect that will happen anyway is that if some manager or high ranking developer goes on to harass or bully someone who is less important to the company... well it will be just like before.

What I expect is that this kind of rules may end up doing is creating a group of untouchables, and another group who says how high when they tell them to jump... and promotions based on representation ratios. I worked at a place like that, the IT manager was self pleasuring himself in his office, all female employees knew and well, they knew he was not going anywhere since he was the bosse's brother. So the company's HR department started to offer training about work relations, etc. As some girl said when we were a group having drinks one day after well [company name] is harassment! .. nothing changed, so my guess is that this policy was used to get rid of low level employees who did not behave.

 

[Woopah]

I think people need to read the full article. Lots of good stuff in there about changing the culture to remove crunch and stress and improve communication with employees, so not sure why the reaction here is so negative. It doesn't talk about changing the story in the games.

 

[Chittagong]

I have an uncle who works at Rockstar on voice recordings and he said GTA6 is going to be nuts, one crazy character even says “gosh darnit” in a particularly intense scene

 

[LemmingWithaParachute]

I have an uncle who works at Rockstar on voice recordings and he said GTA6 is going to be nuts, one crazy character even says “gosh darnit” in a particularly intense scene

Followed by self flagellation for cursing.

 

[spawn]

It's been rumored GTA 6 will have a female protagonist so this makes sense it will be woke as fuck