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Rockstar Games has taken some measures for the updated version of GTA V to become a lot less controversial in a certain area.
To fully enjoy the games in the Grand Theft Auto series, you have to be able to take a beating. There is a lot of violence at the center and you can let your character commit the most brutal crimes. Besides a whole lot of things that at least sometimes hit some holy houses. The latter has been handled well in a certain area.
Transfobie in GTA V
In the latest ‘remastered’ version of GTA V, some things have been removed under pressure from criticism of transphobia in the game. The best-known example of this is a nightclub specifically aimed at transgenders and transvestites, which also includes NPCs (Non Playable Characters). As with any NPC, you can attack them and therefore kill them, but there is an increasing group of people who think that this is no longer possible in 2022.
Somehow you would say that it is a good step for the LGBTQIA+ community that transgender people are represented in a game, but the opposite happens. The characters would be too ‘over the top’ transgender and look too ridiculous: as if Rockstar Games are making fun of these transgender people (which is not inconceivable given the nature of GTA). A writer on my box already pointed out that there are streamers and YouTubers who deliberately attack and kill these transgender NPCs to make a statement against transgender people. The motto from this piece on Kotaku was therefore: cut that nonsense.
Rockstar Games helps
That is what happened. For the remastered version, the transgender NPCs have been removed. They still exist in the game files, but you won’t come across them randomly on the street anymore. An advertising poster would also have been removed showing a ‘transgender’ action figure with the text ‘with removable genitalia’. These are all steps Rockstar Games has taken to reduce transphobia in GTA V. Everyone should of course feel welcome in the game.
Rockstar Games keeps GTA V a bit current in terms of stereotypes and representation. Where transphobia was not tackled as violently during the release of GTA V in 2013 as it was in 2022, you sometimes have to switch. In any case, you won’t find any more transphobia-inducing symbols and characters in the game. (through ARS Technica)
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