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[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

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

I'm too young for Gen X but Gen X had the coolest stuff ngl. And people seemed more chill and authentic, especially in the '90s, in pop culture and underground scenes.

Granted there was BS back then, too, but the media didn't blow it out of proportion or push propaganda (mainly because it was illegal, unlike today), and people just seemed to handle their issues better. The '00s weren't necessarily a bad time, either, looking back tbh.

Second half of the '10s was just a disaster for Western media and social maturity/authenticity/individualism, and it's only going to keep getting worst this decade. Sucks :/

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.

You're asking for slim pickings at that point. Who else would be left? Google? They can't even get a virtual game console right and they've butchered the shit out of Youtube with ridiculous censorship policies. Amazon? We don't even know what they're doing and (just my opinion) Twitch is one of the worst coded websites I've ever used in my life, doesn't give me hope for their gaming platform initiative from a tech stability POV.

Nintendo? Lol; Bayonetta's one thing; GTA is a whole different beast and they can't tame that from an image POV. Apple? Nah I don't want to pay $1000 for a mandatory controller stand. That's an exaggeration but I just dislike Apple's ego when it comes to their products and culture in general, and they censor a good lot on their own platform too (they're the reason Tumblr basically killed themselves, tho tbf Tumblr kind of deserved it). Tencent? Hell no.

I guess Ubisoft or Activision could give him a pick-up, but I doubt Ubisoft would create a competitor to Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs has its own style that it's know for which is a bit different from GTA, enough so to be noticeable. Figure maybe Activision would be a best-case, but that's debatable. EA? Dunno, maybe?!? They kinda do nothing in terms of genuine new IP these days but if Houser pitched them a GTA killer they'd earmark the shit outta that, just throw money at the guy to make it happen.

 

[Wandering Leopard]

If someone, no matter their beliefs, can't conduct themselves professionally in the workplace they deserve to go.

 

[abcdrstuv]

Yeah idk, I assumed they'd gotten rid of people who were overworking their employees.. Not much in GTA V was "offensive" , the only controversial thing left in the brand is that there are prostitutes and that you can kill them, and police, and any other character.. but it's not foregrounded at all

 

[Papa]

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.

So then isn’t a better solution to get the piggy-fingered prudes and scolds out of the business rather than the creative types who are actually generating the income?

 

[bitbydeath]

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

True, ever since GTAIII it became all about the story. Vice City is my favourite with a classic mobster storyline.

 

[oagboghi2]

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"?

When has toxic ever meant " worked long hours"?

It's a bullshit code word.

By the way, Red Dead 2 was supposed to be crunchfree. How did that work out?

 

[nush]

Second half of the '10s was just a disaster for Western media and social maturity/authenticity/individualism, and it's only going to keep getting worst this decade. Sucks :/

That's when it was only noticed, it started to happen before the press stuck a flag in it at the turn of the decade. It sucks because for some reason the joyless entitled failures in life have been given the open mic right now. The light on the horizon is that they are starting, very slowly to get boo'ed offstage.

Get broke, go woke. Wokness quite clearly does not pay the damn bills.

 

[Fake]

They're removing folks behind GTAV? For real?

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Ugly white female protagonist incoming.

Impossible. Rockstar HATES women!

 

[RPSleon]

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

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

I read this and took it as they are getting rid of the shitty people in the company.

I dont consider myself a shit person, im not a racist or sexist or whatever else. But that wouldnt stop me writing in the darker parts of gta games. Its like comedians who write jokes about difficult subjects. Joking about the bad thing isnt DOING or endorsing the bad thing.

Getting rid of the real life biggots shouldnt mean the games will be affected.

 

[bitbydeath]

I read this and took it as they are getting rid of the shitty people in the company.

I dont consider myself a shit person, im not a racist or sexist or whatever else. But that wouldnt stop me writing in the darker parts of gta games. Its like comedians who write jokes about difficult subjects. Joking about the bad thing isnt DOING or endorsing the bad thing.

Getting rid of the real life biggots shouldnt mean the games will be affected.

You haven’t heard about comedians being scared to tell certain jokes in the current climate?

They aren’t allowed either or risk cancelling.

 

[Shady_PL]

I read this and took it as they are getting rid of the shitty people in the company.

I dont consider myself a shit person, im not a racist or sexist or whatever else. But that wouldnt stop me writing in the darker parts of gta games. Its like comedians who write jokes about difficult subjects. Joking about the bad thing isnt DOING or endorsing the bad thing.

Getting rid of the real life biggots shouldnt mean the games will be affected.

You are so naive.

 

[Virex]

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

 

[RPSleon]

You are so naive.

Hopeful* lol.

 

[RPSleon]

You haven’t heard about comedians being scared to tell certain jokes in the current climate?

They aren’t allowed either or risk cancelling.

Really? No. Id be interested to see any info on that.

Comedians have always faced critisism, but most never seem to care or get affected.

 

[Psykodad]

How do people come to the conclusion that GTA is going to become a haven for SJWs?
Seems all they do is create a better workenvironment for themselves. Seems reasonable.

Gaf overreacting much?

 

[Stiflers Mom]

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

Yeah, Gen X forever...

 

[Psykodad]

Yeah, Gen X forever...

Millenials born in the early/mid 80s are the best.
Too old to be snowflakes, too young to be conservative fossils.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

Millenials born in the early/mid 80s are the best.
Too old to be snowflakes, too young to be conservative fossils.

You missed out on all of the good shit in the eighties, but pretend you were part of it cause of watching it on TV later.
Plus you were too young to have been into the crazy clubbing scene in the early 90ies.

 

[Deleted member 775630]

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 don't have to be a sexual harasser to write crude humour...

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

When has toxic ever meant " worked long hours"?

It's a bullshit code word.

By the way, Red Dead 2 was supposed to be crunchfree. How did that work out?

 

[Psykodad]

You missed out on all of the good shit in the eighties, but pretend you were part of it cause of watching it on TV later.
Plus you were too young to have been into the crazy clubbing scene in the early 90ies.

On the flip-side, we can go outside and hug people right now without having to be scared of covid-19.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

On the flip-side, we can go outside and hug people right now without having to be scared of covid-19.

A friend of mine who is 28 years old, super sporty (low body fat, rock climbing) and almost died from it thought that as well.

 

[Psykodad]

Double post.

 

[Psykodad]

A friend of mine who is 28 years old, super sporty (low body fat, rock climbing) and almost died from it thought that as well.

That's not saying anything at all, especially since he survived.
There will always be a chance of being a victim, so moot point.

90% recovers in 3 days with mild symptoms at most.
Probably seemed like a cold to the vast majority of people.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

That's not saying anything at all, especially since he survived.
There will always be a chance of being a victim, so moot point.

Nope, but if you act like you are 100% immune just because you are 30 years old you can be in for a nasty surprise, my friend.
(and that's not even taking into account what an asshole you'd be by doing that)

 

[Psykodad]

Nope, but if you act like you are 100% immune just because you are 30 years old you can be in for a nasty surprise, my friend.

Quoted the wrong post:

90% recovers in 3 days with mild symptoms at most.
Probably seemed like a cold to the vast majority of people

Up to 40yo, it's just a flu that might cause problems if you already have underlying illness.

Besides, I'm not scared to die.

Edit:
Just noticed your edit.
I take precautious because of other people. I'm just not worried at all myself.

People die every day anyway.

 

[Eimran]

Black disabled non-binary pansexual protagonist incoming.

Seriously if GTA goes woke they can fuck themselves and kiss my money goodbye. Haven't bought anything EA-related, can do the same to them. Rockstar or not.
There's still thousands of awesome games who don't give in to a bunch of sjw who never even played the game.

 

[tassletine]

With us all going into global recession, this sort of thing will fade away pretty quickly.
Everyone will be doing whatever it takes to get by and no one will really have time for being nice or companies that try and enforce that.
There will be a lot of people who have never faced this sort of hardship before and they are going to be in for a big shock as their usual complaints won't cut muster -- I feel for them actually, despite thinking that they are usually a bunch of whiny pricks.

 

[Hypereides]

Well, that marks Rockstar as we know it to be gone. The dog got neutered.

 

[Solarstrike]

Not even sure what the hell they are talking about. Improper focus, i think here. Lack of oversight. The games they make are fine. Brilliant in fact. It's the gameplay/controls which are terrible. If RDR2 had the same (or somewhat) play control as for example a Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Shadow of Mordor, games with decent 3rd person game-play response and animation, it would be better overall. Let's face it. The play control in GTA V and RDR 2 (especially online mode) are horrendous. Stiff, input lag, "janky". They need better character play control animators|programmers. Get that fixed and things will be golden.

 

[Kadayi]

I dare say that R* might be doing some restructuring post RDR2, but I very much suspect it's motivated by cost-saving/efficiency versus any notions of 'wokeness'.

 

[Alexios]

So much projecting, it says nothing about removing people whose ideas are what made the games what they are and everything about removing people that contribute to a bad work environment. Who the fuck are you to say what they should put up with? They're gonna keep bullies and assholes who make everybody else miserable because their redeeming quality is they can talk about titties, rape, murder and lol? They may not even be doing any good work ffs. I dunno why anybody associates fun "impure" stuff as the OP callis it in freaking video games with unprofessional dicks in real life. As for the other shifts in direction, we'll see if they pan out or not, but criticism was already starting to pile on their past lackluster efforts despite crazy sales, perhaps they feel they need to do more than sell on legacy and brand recognition, perhaps they're wrong, it's a separate issue.

Yeah, because a GTA work environment in which an employee fears getting fired for being toxic if they suggest a mission in which you drive a prostitute around to kill a ho she thinks is competition is good for creative GTA ideas.

It isn't projection to understand how self-censorship through fear works.

More projecting, dicks in professional life who should be having talks with HR at the very least if not getting fired aren't necessarily the people who made those suggestions in the previous games. Idk why you're so adamant there's a correlation between "impure" fun game stuff and people being jerks and toxic for their colleagues and studio in real life. What evidence do you have of such? You know video games aren't reality, right? You know the people who made GTA don't necessarily go around harassing and beating up and killing folks, right? You know it would be bad if they did, right?

Edit: other people are talking about their games being safer and worse the past DECADE yet they will pin it all on this all-new development, lol. If anything maybe it's the assholes that caused the games to get worse because they don't cut it, and the next one could be better because of this, lol.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Now this is a big OOF.

 

[autoduelist]

CuckStar?

 

[autoduelist]

So much projecting, it says nothing about removing people whose ideas are what made the games what they are and everything about removing people that contribute to a bad work environment. Dunno why you associate fun "impure" stuff in games with unprofessional dicks in real life. As for the other shifts in direction, we'll see if they pan out or not, but criticism was already starting to pile on their past lackluster efforts despite crazy sales, perhaps they feel they need to do more than sell on legacy and brand recognition, perhaps they're wrong, but these are separate issues.

Yeah, because a GTA work environment in which an employee fears getting fired for being toxic if they suggest a mission in which you drive a prostitute around to kill a ho she thinks is competition is good for creative GTA ideas.

It isn't projection to understand how self-censorship through fear works.

 

[Cutty Flam]

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.

Not necessarily. The entire point of a team is to be productive. They’re getting rid of employees who aren’t taking their productivity level seriously. There’s always room for more more talent and more hardworking people in a team. It makes everything run a lot more smoothly, a lot less stress, overall win win. Toxic employees with bad attitudes are such a strain to even be around, even if you’re cool with them, their attitudes are extremely annoying

 

[jts]

You guys are going nuts with overreaction and speculation. Removing toxic workers has nothing to do with the direction they give to a game, it won't go """woke""" and it definitely won't go broke either as y'all be lining up to buy whatever GTA game they put out lol.

 

[DoctorEkkoUK]

GTA died the moment people started buying Shark Cards

 

[MORJDK]

Being able to select 57+ genders on the character screen, is gonna be so lit.

/s

 

[bitbydeath]

Really? No. Id be interested to see any info on that.

Comedians have always faced critisism, but most never seem to care or get affected.

Not just Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld either, a number of famous comics have mentioned troubles performing due to the PC scene.

Two of the most respected American comedians, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld, have discussed the unique problems that comics face on college campuses. In November, Rock told Frank Rich in an interview for New York magazine that he no longer plays colleges, because they’re “too conservative.” He didn’t necessarily mean that the students were Republican; he meant that they were far too eager “not to offend anybody.” In college gigs, he said, “you can’t even be offensive on your way to being inoffensive.” Then, in June, Seinfeld reopened the debate—and set off a frenzied round of op-eds—when he said in a radio interview that comics warn him not to “go near colleges—they’re so PC.”

The Censorship of Stand-Up Comedy on College Campuses

Today’s students can’t seem to take a joke.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[GymWolf]

did any REAL sjw person ever bought a gta game??

good move to alienate 99% of people who make you rich during these years just to favours people who never was interested in your mysoginistic games to begin with...

 

[bad guy]

What if the "woke" employees are the ones who are considered toxic?

 

[CrysisFreak]

Rockstar if you fuck GTA VI single player up, even a little bit, we're done.
Also you know what with all due respect shove your SharkCard money up your arse lol

 

[nush]

What if the "woke" employees are the ones who are considered toxic?

 

[Thirty7ven]

Bad managers don't make the process of making great games easier, they make it harder.

 

[joe_zazen]

GTA died the moment people started buying Shark Cards

QTF. Atom Shop is killing Fallout and coins ES. C’est la vie.

With us all going into global recession, this sort of thing will fade away pretty quickly.
Everyone will be doing whatever it takes to get by and no one will really have time for being nice or companies that try and enforce that.
There will be a lot of people who have never faced this sort of hardship before and they are going to be in for a big shock as their usual complaints won't cut muster -- I feel for them actually, despite thinking that they are usually a bunch of whiny pricks.

ive read a few folks saying this is an opportunity to make a more fair, just, and green society.

I doubt as it will be the middle classes that have to pay for everything. When, for example, in Ontario electrical bills doubled to pay for green energy, the liberal party lost 99% of their seats in the legislature. Not many people want to lose their homes to pay for progressive promises, no matter how noble. I know I am not.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Black characters won't say the N word anymore. The gamer word has been taken from us boys.

 

[Shakka43]

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 thing is, who gets to decide what "toxic" is? You can't deny that certain phrases have been completely highjacked and ridden into the ground by the cancel culture people(toxic, bigot, racist...), what they may consider toxic in the real world could be no more than a simple difference in political views.

 

[VertigoOA]

Troubling comments. Worked for Star Wars right?




Welp... rockstar has just been murdered. End of an era for sure.