Most people – you included I'd wager – have no idea the conditions and grind that people suffer under for the vast majority of the products we buy.
On the full scale of exploitation, this controversy isn't even at the halfway point.
Now, it's shitty and I agree it needs to change but boycotting the product will accomplish absolutely nothing and might actually be detrimental to the very people you claim to care about.
By contrast, becoming politically active, informed and voting for those who support fair labor practices and the promotion of unions can actually do a great deal to temper this kind of nonsense if not outright nullify it.
And to be clear, I respect your decision not to buy this game but I find it incredibly offensive that you would assert that those of us who choose to lack empathy, especially when I have no doubt that you and the rest of the people in here asserting this boycotting argument readily frequent establishments and purchase products that support far worse labor practices than this.
There is always something worse, I agree. The game industry is completely optional and unnecessary outside of demand for entertainment and escapism, and it means very little in the grand scheme of the world. Your wager would come up short, however, as you and I both know that most products are manufactured without a thought put towards the well-being of workers. That obviously goes beyond the US and other industries as well.
Boycotting the product may mean very little to Rockstar and the rest of upper management, but to me personally, I know I will not be contributing money towards a company in which those practices are not only common, but defended. That alone is worth it to me, and I do what I can to stay involved in terms of voting opportunities to suppress these ideologies at a local level, if possible.
I mean no offense, and in the past year or so I have tried my absolute best to avoid more "problematic" establishments, if that makes any sense. I don't purchase from Amazon or Wal-Mart, but plenty of my friends do. I try and buy locally as much as possible, and in truth many of those local businesses could also treat their employees like shit. However, putting your mind to people first, focusing on that possibility of breaking habits of convenience, isn't something that occurs overnight. It takes time to inform yourself and those around you regarding practices that are deemed (such as this case) as inhumane, and it will take even more work for the majority of people to be able to walk away from products and companies like this.
Again, you personally may have empathy towards those employees, and I don't doubt that, but that has to be set aside to purchase a piece of entertainment that will inevitably only make CEOs and shareholders happy, especially given the conditions it was created in. There are so many other wonderful pieces of entertainment and means of escapism that exist, avoiding one like this isn't that difficult of a decision to make.
