Not a single GTA release went by without some people trying to force a controversy in order to boost their brand.
Remember Jack Thompson?
That tale is as old as GTA itself
What is the point of your post?
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Engadget - 'GTA V' brings transphobia to the next console generation
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What is the point of your post?
Not a single GTA release went by without some people trying to force a controversy in order to boost their brand.
Remember Jack Thompson?
That tale is as old as GTA itself
You are really comparing the plight of trans folk to Jack Thompson? Really?
valid points in the op. sadly, R* won't give a shit as long as they still get a shit ton of money.
Not a single GTA release went by without some people trying to force a controversy in order to boost their brand.
Remember Jack Thompson?
That tale is as old as GTA itself
Yeah man trans people are exactly like a disgraced lawyer grifter.
Christ
This is blatantly untrue, as evidenced in the thread. I'm honestly baffled that you'd expect anyone to read this and suddenly detect the nuanced satire against transphobia portrayed by a sign that reads "TRANNIES WELCOME" at a gay bar. Like, what are you even doing?
Yeah, gonna call bullshit on this one.
"It's satire" has become one of the most lazily deployed defences of offensive comedy when most of the time it isn't satirical.
The examples posted in this thread are not satirical, they're tired stereotypes and offensive puns.
There's not even any plausible deniability there. Even with something like the blackface in Tropic Thunder which has a veneer of "satire", on some level you're just putting blackface front and centre in a Hollywood film for laughs. Very interesting how white frat boys suddenly became ardent defenders and scholars of satire after that came out.
Been missing the news in the past few weeks? One certain JK Rowling.
I've only played a little bit of RDR2 but from what I've heard it treats its minority characters well. Arthur fuckin marches as a suffragette at one point. I get that GTA is supposed to be "edgier" but this is so gross it almost feels like a different studio.
Also @ the cishets in here saying "it's satire", fuck off and get some goddamn empathy.
Also @ the cishets in here saying "it's satire", fuck off and get some goddamn empathy.
Everyone's progressive on this forum until they like something or someone and then it's "let me tell you why it's the exception"
GTAV's humor is honestly boring, it's like they're still crass teenage boys repeating whatever joke South Park or Family Guy made the previous week. It was arguably groundbreaking back in the 2000s but to peddle the same old crap now is just sad.
I sold it within days of getting it back in the day and I've never really felt any urge to go back.
I sold it within days of getting it back in the day and I've never really felt any urge to go back.
GTA V has terrible satire. It's sometimes kinda fun but I never once though "oh this is really clever and funny".
It's mostly overused jokes and cliche. And GTA V is one of my favorite game of all time, but definitely not because of its writing.
Exactly.
It's mostly overused jokes and cliche. And GTA V is one of my favorite game of all time, but definitely not because of its writing.
Exactly.
Hey maybe it's satire.
Some people have been talking about GTA5's transphobic parts since it was first released. Then it got rereleased and nothing changed. I'm not expecting anything to change during this re-release. This is not about using the game as an opportunity to "boost their brand".Not a single GTA release went by without some people trying to force a controversy in order to boost their brand.
Remember Jack Thompson?
That tale is as old as GTA itself
This is something Rockstar could have changed during the last 7 years.
It sure is. When all your depictions of trans folks are these fake and hurtful stereotypes then that's just fucked up.
Look at the shitshow that is the controversy around The last of us 2 for some real life examples of how this transphobia that permeates all kinds of media manifests in such horrible ways.
Look at the shitshow that is the controversy around The last of us 2 for some real life examples of how this transphobia that permeates all kinds of media manifests in such horrible ways.
I'm pretty sure that post was sarcasm.
And for the person comparing trans people to Jack Thompson - fuck off, dude. Fuck off back to 4chan.
nothing about GTA is left-leaning, it is as centrist as possible. it doesn't take a position on anything. it's the south park of videogames.
also, satire doesn't punch down.
LISTEN TO TRANS PEOPLE WHEN WE TELL YOU SHIT IS TRANSPHOBIC.
This shouldn't be fucking hard for a place that claims to be progressive
"Satire" is such a lazy platitude to excuse naked bigotry. I don't know what's worse, that these creators are so shit that they think it's a good idea or that people are comfortable enough to lap it up and go online defend it.
I live in the US so I wouldn't know. To me, America is the strongest example of a country full of stupid, anti-intellectual, racist, homophobic, transphobic, and sexist people. England doesn't seem to have as strong of a cultural ignorance problem as here.
Ok.
Red Dead Redemption 2's Redface Proves How Far Games Haven't Come
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Yep. This. It's no the same as having fun with your mates.
haha
Also, in response to the people saying that the transphobic shit in GTA V is "satire" (it's not) - even if that were true, do you really think the 14 year old boys playing this game are going to see this content, these transphobic jokes, and think "ah, what a clever satire of America's transphobic culture?" No, they're going to think "Haha trans people are gross and it's funny to belittle and murder them."
There's no excuse for this stuff.
There's no excuse for this stuff.
Well, I certainly hope this stuff is taken out of the next gen version as it seems easy enough to do so. Have my doubts about them doing anything though.
That's pretty lame. I'm a big fan of Rockstar and GTA games are one of the few games I buy on Day 1 these days, but I'd somehow managed to miss these jokes during my 2 or 3 playthroughts of GTA5. They're pretty gross and offensive, and I hope Rockstar removes them upon re-release. They need to mature and get with the times.
While I never noticed the misogynistic humor so much due to all the characters in the game being fucking assholes in their own right, I think these transphobic jokes should be excised. Especially since the punchline in all of these cases is "These transwomen are really just dudes."
While I never noticed the misogynistic humor so much due to all the characters in the game being fucking assholes in their own right, I think these transphobic jokes should be excised. Especially since the punchline in all of these cases is "These transwomen are really just dudes."
I haven't played the series past San Andres, but the PS2 trilogy made fun of the right wing a lot, but didn't really mock the left that much.
Like I said:
It seems the satire has become more dark and "shock-satire" as the games have gone by, Sarah Silverman-esque.
It used to be more absurdist and mocking in presentation like The Onion.
I prefer the PS2 trilogy style of satire.
you know judging by your post i think you might be on to something
You have zero idea of what you're talking about. You don't understand how trans people are treated throughout the world. You don't understand what satire is. You don't understand what transphobia is. You don't even understand how jokes are meant to make fun of bigoted people instead of minorities.
Are these real or mods developed for PC? I don't remember this at all but I also haven't played since 2013 nor did I pay close attention to detail to the world in that game.It's not that the pro(or an)tagonists are transphobic.
The argument being made is that the game is transphobic - in a way where transpeople are added as throwaway side-characters used for a cheap joke.
Grand Theft Auto V Is Just As Transphobic As You'd Expect
<b>The video game's awful depiction of women is notorious, but that doesn't make the latest installment's transphobic jokes any less unsettling.</b> Trigger warning.www.buzzfeed.com
This is a piss poor excuse to cover their ass. Everyone is portrayed poorly in Grand Theft Auto, but that portrayal reflects negatively in real life where not everyone is looked at equally. It doesn't matter that the game treats everyone the same, when that causes different kinds of damage to real people in real life.
GTA.
Is not.
Satire.
Satire doesn't punch down, it punches up. It mocks the system, not the oppressed. GTA just reproduced shitty transphobic jokes for edgy shock factor. If it was ever satire, it sure as shit hasn't been for a long time. Not 4, and definitely not 5. It's written by a bunch of old white dudes.
Is not.
Satire.
Satire doesn't punch down, it punches up. It mocks the system, not the oppressed. GTA just reproduced shitty transphobic jokes for edgy shock factor. If it was ever satire, it sure as shit hasn't been for a long time. Not 4, and definitely not 5. It's written by a bunch of old white dudes.
It's interesting what a unique situation games occupy.
I'm sure there are countless films released in 2013 that have varying degrees of transphobia, but they are consumed and forgotten.
GTAV being continually ported and re-released in one aspect or another, keeps those egregious scenes in the forefront.
I'm sure there are countless films released in 2013 that have varying degrees of transphobia, but they are consumed and forgotten.
GTAV being continually ported and re-released in one aspect or another, keeps those egregious scenes in the forefront.
We're going to temp lock this while we review reports. The thread will be reopened as soon as possible.
OFFICIAL STAFF COMMUNICATION
Official Staff Communication
GTA's pretensions to satire have nothing to do with their treatment of trans people, which is almost uniformly awful. There are plenty of examples in the thread that thoroughly demonstrate that. No, pointing it out is not suppressing speech or demonstrating fragility, it's calling out a piece of media for shitting on an extremely marginalized group of people for the sake of a "joke." Failure to respect that fact will result in a hefty ban.
I started writing this before the lock in response to a post that was rightly banned. But I'm going to post it anyway because I think it's valuable for people to keep in mind.
People asking to have their feelings acknowledged in spaces where they are historically ignored is not "forcing controversy." Things you like are going to be examined in different ways as people who previously were not part of the conversation finally get the opportunity to speak. Your favorite popular thing is not immune to criticism. Something you don't care about can still matter. Something you never thought about before can have been on other people's minds for years. And just because your favorite popular thing has endured other criticism before does not make new criticism against it invalid.
Dismissive posts about this are especially absurd considering we already live in a gaming environment where rereleases of old games make an effort to address their social failings, including other high-profile crime games like Yakuza. There is nothing sensational or disingenuous in raising a concern like this. This is an exceptionally mundane article that uncombatively discusses an underdiscussed element to a popular game series. This is far from a bitter pill to swallow. I don't understand why anybody has a knee-jerk instinct to try to discredit criticism as basic as "I wish a game as enduringly popular as GTAV took its impending re-release as an opportunity to address problems with the material."
I don't even understand the compulsion to argue. You don't have to say anything. You don't have to take the microphone to let everyone know you don't care. Sometimes you can just let other people talk. You can learn a lot that way, especially from perspectives you don't usually think about.
GTAV is a longterm service title in the perfect position to see this kind of content addressed. This is something everyone, especially fans of the game, should be for.
People asking to have their feelings acknowledged in spaces where they are historically ignored is not "forcing controversy." Things you like are going to be examined in different ways as people who previously were not part of the conversation finally get the opportunity to speak. Your favorite popular thing is not immune to criticism. Something you don't care about can still matter. Something you never thought about before can have been on other people's minds for years. And just because your favorite popular thing has endured other criticism before does not make new criticism against it invalid.
Dismissive posts about this are especially absurd considering we already live in a gaming environment where rereleases of old games make an effort to address their social failings, including other high-profile crime games like Yakuza. There is nothing sensational or disingenuous in raising a concern like this. This is an exceptionally mundane article that uncombatively discusses an underdiscussed element to a popular game series. This is far from a bitter pill to swallow. I don't understand why anybody has a knee-jerk instinct to try to discredit criticism as basic as "I wish a game as enduringly popular as GTAV took its impending re-release as an opportunity to address problems with the material."
I don't even understand the compulsion to argue. You don't have to say anything. You don't have to take the microphone to let everyone know you don't care. Sometimes you can just let other people talk. You can learn a lot that way, especially from perspectives you don't usually think about.
GTAV is a longterm service title in the perfect position to see this kind of content addressed. This is something everyone, especially fans of the game, should be for.
GTA just disgusts me. The fact that so people go "but it's satire" just highlights how Satire is just a fancy word they learnt that they think gives Rockstar a free pass for the disgusting rhetoric that the game spews.
Like let's take the definition of satire from Wikipedia:
Where is the criticism? It's just a mean spirited game, that takes pleasure in it's cruelty.
Like let's take the definition of satire from Wikipedia:
Where is the criticism? It's just a mean spirited game, that takes pleasure in it's cruelty.
It's not that the pro(or an)tagonists are transphobic.
The argument being made is that the game is transphobic - in a way where transpeople are added as throwaway side-characters used for a cheap joke.
Grand Theft Auto V Is Just As Transphobic As You'd Expect
<b>The video game's awful depiction of women is notorious, but that doesn't make the latest installment's transphobic jokes any less unsettling.</b> Trigger warning.
Wowzers. I didn't even catch those when I played the game recently as it became free on EGS. I always disliked how the whole world of GTA was one whole big poorly executed satire while it wants me to take the story seriously but that's pretty tasteless.
It's not exactly a stretch to to think that trans portrayals in gta V that were already suspect in 2013 have aged terribly for 2020
As a straight white male I have to say i'm becoming tired of gay and trans people being the butt of the joke in every peace of media. I really can't imagine what it's like to be dealing with accepting yourself for who you are and being reminded daily that a majority of people thinks you're a freak.
It being satire is just an excuse for continuing making fun of them while having none of the responsibility for this POS behaviour.
Edit: and how hard is it to actually look yourself in the mirror and accept that you entertained yourself at the expense of others and maybe it's time to grow out of it
It being satire is just an excuse for continuing making fun of them while having none of the responsibility for this POS behaviour.
Edit: and how hard is it to actually look yourself in the mirror and accept that you entertained yourself at the expense of others and maybe it's time to grow out of it
Yep, and it's not that hard to put yourself into someone else's shoes and see why it would be hurtful.
We gotta do better. We gotta be better people. No one here isn't human. Everyone deserves their rights and their right to be heard. Their dignity. We all deserve equality. This shit has gotta stop and R* needs to address it. Games have always been political and made statements and GTA V is making the wrong one. Devs need to do better.