Rockstar Games Cleaned Up Its Frat-Boy Culture – and Grand Theft Auto, Too

Can anyone entertain an examination of the fact that, in the current political environment, jokes about marginalized groups is what's considered problematic in a game whose premise is organized crime and murder ?

I can't.. let me be clear, I love violence in videogames, I love dark, unpleasant, gritty stuff, I love GTA5, so I'm not arguing against the idea of a GTA game..

But if we're going to take the content of the games seriously, it strikes me as impossible, without the conclusion being that.. If we can't include offensive _JOKES_ in a game, but can still allow murdering and criminal behavior.. That means that jokes are worse than murder and crime.. and so, wtf..

In contrast there are games that self-censor rational ways.. For instance FPS games that do not allow you to shoot children, well, that is consistent with drawing a line on a linear scale of what's worse.. They're saying "it's pretty deranged to shoot adults people, but it's WORSE to shoot children, and we're not having that in the game." In constrast, a game self-censoring on jokes is saying "it's pretty bad to shoot adults, but it's worse to joke about someones sexuality" which.. well, they're both bad things.. but in my opinion, murdering someone is worse than running the risk of hurting their feeling with a bad joke..

I am very upset about this. I always hoped that small firms outside of the US were immune to this sort of problems.

Rockstar Games has a relatively small team. RockStar North which based in Scotland and is the epicenter of the GTA saga development headcount is about 300.

That's very similar to a football franchise. In a football franchise coaches and players routinely taunt and tell each other off, but they always come back to each other and after winning games and championships they celebrate like nothing ever happened.

Why don't employees counter and insult back instead of quitting? Why don't managers take the heat back like men instead of firing that person?

This hypersensitivity has to end , for it is ruining everything that is cool. It has to start with managers, they need to be able to take insults and absorb them like men. Then employees have to do their part as well, not quitting and not suing, but hitting back like a WR when the coach gets too much his face

>> Rockstar employees described a workplace culture full of drinking, brawling and excursions to strip clubs.

Perhaps that's what made Rockstar Rockstar in the 1st place? Any by losing this you lose what made GTA special.

GTA: SJW

A gamedev team consisting fully of bro's might make an interesting game as they will be singulary focused.

A gamedev team consisting fully of feminists might make an interesting game as they will be singulary focused.

Buy you mix the two groups together and....

>> Can a kinder, gentler Rockstar still produce the chart-topping caliber of game the studio has become known for? Some employees aren’t sure.

>> Morale across the company is higher than it’s ever been, according to many staffers.

According to the new SJW staff? Or to the ones who actually made previous GTAs?

They did have crazy overtime though:

>> referred to as “death marches”—months of mandatory 14-hour days and weekends that took a toll on employees’ lives, mental health and sometimes marriages.