‘Ready Or Not’ disappears from Steam after adding tasteless nightclub massacre level on anniversary of Pulse club shooting (UPDATE: trademark dispute)

[Leafshield]

I don't even get why players want to roleplay as this stuff in computer games, or why developers think that it's even possible to gamify a scenario with the right level of empathy and horror, or how they can miss that it's going to inevitably have idiots rushing through it blazing away at civilians for a laugh. There's plenty of ways to create a tactical combat game without having a development strategy of leaning on massacres of kids and minorities for extra edginess.

 

[Bufbaf]

I don't even get why players want to roleplay as this stuff in computer games, or why developers think that it's even possible to gamify a scenario with the right level of empathy and horror, or how they can miss that it's going to inevitably have idiots rushing through it blazing away at civilians for a laugh. There's plenty of ways to create a tactical combat game without having a development strategy of leaning on massacres of kids and minorities for extra edginess.

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Sure. And no one would buy a sim completely based on some artificial training room with 2D cardboard cutouts, despite it being realistic. The whole point of this is "play what you saw in the news". Which is an entirely other beast on itself.

 

[Deleted member 93841]

Like looking at all the facts, even considering their other debacles, this seems rather circumstantial and speculative at best.

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How many "circumstancial and speculative" incidents does a dev need to have before it's time to start asking whether it's no longer just circumstancial, though?

This is the third incident that can just conveniently be explained away as "oopsie :)))))". If it was a single incident, maybe. But it was the horrible school shooting comment, then the Redpill/Jogger thing (which I unfortunately only learned about today) and now it's releasing a map on the anniversary of a mass shooting that targeted a queer nightclub. Even if it's just for supporters, they chose to release that map to them on that date. If coincidences keep happening, then chances are high that they're not coincidences.

The Alt-Right and 4chan has for years been doing this kind of shit and then pulling the "you're looking for things to be offended by. It's just a coincidence!" card to gaslight the people who call them out on it. I no longer have any doubt that this is the kind of people the devs are.

 

[Leafshield]

How many "circumstancial and speculative" incidents does a dev need to have before it's time to start asking whether it's no longer just circumstancial, though?

This is the third incident that can just conveniently be explained away as "oopsie :)))))". If it was a single incident, maybe. But it was the horrible school shooting comment, then the Redpill/Jogger thing (which I unfortunately only learned about today) and now it's releasing a map on the anniversary of a mass shooting that targeted a queer nightclub. Even if it's just for supporters, they chose to release that map to them on that date. If coincidences keep happening, then chances are high that they're not coincidences.

The Alt-Right and 4chan has for years been doing this kind of shit and then pulling the "you're looking for things to be offended by. It's just a coincidence!" card to gaslight the people who call them out on it. I no longer have any doubt that this is the kind of people the devs are.

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Yeah, I don't buy the Jogger thing. This dev team is based in Ireland, and it's true that 'noggin' is slang for your head all over RoI and the UK. BUT, if you're a dev team making a game about police shooting people in the US, for an international audience, and the rest of the game clearly isn't leaning on slang from these isles and more current affairs in the US, and you don't get the racist connotation of then sticking it next to 'jogger', then you're incredibly, dangerously naive at best. It's a defence that kinda seems plausible to some at first glance but then just 'technically correct' gaslighting after that. Combined with the 'nobody noticed our asset in our shooter had red pill on it, and if they did they thought it was referencing The Matrix, and if they didn't it slipped in from a third party supplier'. I mean, at this point, if your studio is making a business out of exploiting mass shootings, something ethically sus at best, and you don't even have the sense to go over everything with a fine tooth comb to make sure you aren't continually winking at the alt right, then it's just indefensible.

development team was not aware of any hateful connotations

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At the point they have to say that multiple times, while making games about this subject matter, it seems like they should probably stop making them.

 

[EvilBoris]

I'd never heard of the pulse nightclub shooting until now.
But I guess every other day is the anniversary of a mass shooting in the US.

 

[Deleted member 93841]

I'd never heard of the pulse nightclub shooting until now.
But I guess every other day is the anniversary of a mass shooting in the US.

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It was one of the more well known mass shootings in the last decade. Can't fault the average person for missing or forgetting this specific shooting among the slew of other mass shootings that take place in the US, but in this case I'd expect the developers of a SWAT game to do their due dilligence. If this was any other map, I'd write it up as coincidence, but with their history, the fact that out of 365 days of the year they just so happen to release their mass-shooting nightclub level on the anniversary of a mass shooting at a queer nightclub is just too suspect.

 

[Leafshield]

It was one of the more well known mass shootings in the last decade. Can't fault the average person for missing or forgetting this specific shooting among the slew of other mass shootings that take place in the US, but in this case I'd expect the developers of a SWAT game to do their due dilligence. If this was any other map, I'd write it up as coincidence, but with their history, the fact that out of 365 days of the year they just so happen to release their mass-shooting nightclub level on the anniversary of a mass shooting at a queer nightclub is just too suspect.

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I think that's just it. This developer wants to claim a defence of exploring a highly-charged topic in a different country in good faith (which is something I'm sure some developers have managed to do, but an example doesn't spring to mind). But, they are both ignorant and media-illiterate on said topic at best. So it just comes across as either them not giving a shit about the sensitive topic they want to profit from or actively dogwhistling.

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

As someone that was interested in this game as the SWAT spiritual sequel many of us wanted, every bad or outright shitty thing that comes out of the developer makes me less and less interested. It's just done a complete 180 for me in terms of hype.

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It's just a pretty bland version of SWAT 4 anyway.
There are barely any gameplay changes. Remember how atmospheric and well designed the maps in SWAT 4 were? Where even a map with only one potential suspect felt creepy and tense? Or the basement in that cult hideout? This has none of it. This is basically "what if SWAT 4 was set on a counter strike map" in terms of map design. It's not a terrible game, it plays fine but that's because the SWAT formula still works.

Even if you ignore all the shitty stuff like female hostages flirting with you as you arrest them (that might have been changed since I played it) it's just a boring version of SWAT 4

 

[Deleted member 93841]

I think that's just it. This developer wants to claim a defence of exploring a highly-charged topic in a different country in good faith (which is something I'm sure some developers have managed to do, but an example doesn't spring to mind). But, they are both ignorant and media-illiterate on said topic at best. So it just comes across as either them not giving a shit about the sensitive topic they want to profit from or actively dogwhistling.

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Yeah, that's how I see it as well. "Best" case scenario, they're just very ignorant, worst case scenario they're typical chuds.

 

[EvilBoris]

It was one of the more well known mass shootings in the last decade. Can't fault the average person for missing or forgetting this specific shooting among the slew of other mass shootings that take place in the US, but in this case I'd expect the developers of a SWAT game to do their due dilligence. If this was any other map, I'd write it up as coincidence, but with their history, the fact that out of 365 days of the year they just so happen to release their mass-shooting nightclub level on the anniversary of a mass shooting at a queer nightclub is just too suspect.

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Yeah , not a good look.

 

[MJPIA]

Funny how the devs original statement was that there was an issue with steams backend which led to the game being taken down "for some reason" when it sounds like it was neither a backend issue nor some reason but rather a really specific one.

 

[Loudninja]

Funny how the devs original statement was that there was an issue with steams backend which led to the game being taken down "for some reason" when it sounds like it was neither a backend issue nor some reason but rather a really specific one.

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Clown show

 

[Loudninja]

Game already back on steam pretty shitty but what can you do