Rockstar Uses Actual Gang Members for GTA V Voice Acting

[maddawg IAJI]

Plenty of my family is/was poor.

As was mine, tends to be the case when you're parents are new immigrants. [/quote]

I'm talking eat a single meal a day if you're lucky. Or eat out of the garbage.

"They're poor" will suffice. Thank you for going into detail while I eat my dinner though...I wasn't planning on enjoying my Chinese food anyways.

Don't tell me there's no other options.

Did I say they had no other options? I do believe I said that they had limited options, many of which involve taking a minimum wage job and even then, there is still the safety risk I mentioned earlier.

Also, don't even pretend for a second that this voice acting gig will or could get anyone in a gang, out of a gang.

Actually, it probably would since its a very lucrative career. I mean, on average, they make about $800 a session (Or 4 hours) in laymans terms, that's what I make in 2 weeks in my cashier position in retail. Assuming they did 2 or 3 sessions, they now have enough money for a down payment on a car. Now they have a car, and that alone opens doors that were previously closed. Now they're no longer dependent on the public transit system, which means they can apply to or even work greater distances from their home for greater pay or for more hours. You're right, it may not be the golden road out of the "Thug life", but you do not have the right to assume it doesn't open doors to a better life.

That they are in a gang, means they want to be. These aren't former gang members. Throwing your voice down on a track isn't converting this cowardly assholes.

Who said it did? This isn't about conversion or rehabilitation, this is about employing a person for a realistic persona. And again, just because they're gang members does not mean they don't want a better life and that they don't want to work for one. You think everyone wants to sell drugs for a living and risk rotting in jail?

What does people letting developers get away with racism and sexism have to do with me?

I'm trying to politely say that you're getting worked up over a small thing while other other developers are getting away with much worse. To put it into a metaphor, I really hate it when people complain about the fly when their is an elephant in the room.

Perhaps you assume I support those video games. Which would be wrong. Like most assumptions.

Do you even know what game I'm talking about? Don't even answer that. Just stop fucking twisting my words. I never assumed you supported those games. I merely provided you with something you can actually look into and actually have a reason to despise what goes on in the video game medium instead of this petty bullshit about a handful of VOs.

Again, this isn't going to get anyone "out of the hood." If you want to, you will.

Okay, I make 15,500 a year. I can't afford college, I can barely afford my own rent, I have no trade ( Which is the case of a lot of people who don't have access to a trade school) and I have, on avergae, at least 2 non working family members to support. How do you get out? Can you at least see how it would drive someone to crime? Its not a matter of it being easy, its a matter of you lacking empathy. Who cares if they're in a gang. It is better they are making money by legitimate means.

EDIT: my mum grew up in a household that boiled water over a fire for a bath. No plumbing. No 3 meals a day. Electricity was a luxurious rarity. Education was whatever she could get before joining the military at minimum age. She's never broken the law. She's never stolen. She's never bludged off the government.

My dad is the exact same case, only he joined and became a nurse, not a sigs. like Mum. Also, he grew up around neo-Nazi skinheads. Guess who didn't join a gang for money? Yeah. Him.

Minus the neo-nazi experience, my folks did the exact same fucking thing. My father dropped out of school at 4th grade (Heck, school was a luxery he had because he lived in the mainland of Portugal.) My mother, who lived in the Madeira Islands didn't attend a public school until the 5th grade. They had no power lines. The nearest market was at least 20 miles away and they had no car. They worked on a farm their entire childhood. Such was the life in Rural Portugal. Then they moved to America, they adapted, they worked in factories, got an education and grew up in a harsh crime ridden environment. Are you understanding what I'm trying to say here? The experience of your parents isn't anything unique. Millions of people are going through that exact same process today. Live in poverty, work hard their entire life, maybe join the military, settle down and raise a family, but what is the biggest difference between your parents, my parents and those currently in poverty in ghettos across the country? When our parents dropped out of school, they could get a job that could support their family. Your mother joined the military, my mother worked as a factory worker, where the wage was low, but large enough that she could buy food and vegetables for her family, provided she walked to work every day instead of taking the bus in the town into the city. The average person today can't. You cannot make a big enough salary to feed a family of 4 while working in a entry position. Even the U.S. army doesn't pay nearly well enough to do that (Average pay for a 1st rank private is 18,000 dollars a year. or in layman terms, about 2,000 more then you would make as a cashier for Walmart.) You do not the right to assume that these people are just lazy. They have been dealt a really shitty hand and honestly, as a person who is the offspring of people who were dealt a shitty hand, you really should use that background to envoke sympathy for these people rather then using it like a goddamn lecturing ruler. Volunteer for a non-profit school. Donate to a food pantry. Donate suits you don't use to the salvation army to help these individuals look professional. And most importantly learn not to complain about people actually getting legitimate work and...

Gang members are weak cowards.

Stop sounding so goddamn PO'd all the time. Seriously, its not a very attractive personality.

 

[RicoADF]

I actually don't want to buy the game now.

Wow, well done Rockstar, you found a way to fornicate the canine. I just can't support giving money to gang members, and though I can't quite believe I'm saying this - I won't buy GTA V as a direct result of this.

So offering people a legitimate job and an opportunity to change is a bad thing? Do you think once someone's a gang member their a write off or something?

 

[maddawg IAJI]

You do a lot of crime sympathizing and not much else. If for some reason you can't find any work at all, you eat out of the bin, beg for money and find home where you can. What you don't do is steal, sell drugs and murder people. You act like it's suddenly not so bad that these people are gang members because they might have it rough. No. Living on a dollar or less a day is entirely possible (and done by many millions of people). It's difficult and as close to rock bottom as it probably gets. But it's 100% possible. If you turn to crime, you are a weak coward.

I'm not sympathizing with crime, but I understand human nature enough to know that humans always want to lead a more comfortable life and doing so requires money. Ergo, Humans without access to a supportable income will turn to crime. You don't stop it by telling to beg. You don't stop it by telling them to knock it off and not do crime. Calling them cowards also does nothing and telling them how much you dislike their lifestyle and those who would employ them for that life style also does nothing. Long story short, I don't sympathize with criminals, I merely understand why a majority of them do what they do and solutions that can prevent the next group of people from falling down the same paths.

No idea why you decide to tell me my personality isn't attractive to you. I wasn't trying to attract you or befriend you. Why I would care if you dislike me, I don't know.

Because its incredibly hostile for no reason. Calling gangsters cowards adds nothing to a conversation. It sounds like you're listing a series of arguments and it looks like this:

1) Gangsters are cowards
2) *Insert argument*
3) Gangsters are cowards
....
7) Gangsters are cowards.

What I'm trying to say here is that "WE GOT IT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PERSONAL OPINION ON GANGSTERS! Now can you kindly return to your arguments on why it is immoral to hire criminals for a legal and legitimate job so that one can create a quality product?

 

[thenoblitt]

cool im glad, authenticity is important

 

[Strazdas]

Argument 1 agasint this:
remmeber what happened when rockstar went for realism? GTA4. yeah, i dredd this.
Argument 2 agasint this:
They may put the dialogue thats authentic there, but it would be like listening to gang members in The Wire - your hoping they shut up ASAP.
Argument 3 against this:
They are basically giving money to known criminals.
Argument 4 against this:
they are not voice actors and yet they voice act. we will have silent hill voice acting problems in a GTA game now.

Capcha: smellnig salt.
really? were throwing cocaine references already?

 

[Simple Bluff]

The way I see it, these people are doing honest work. And I've heard the voice acting in the gameplay vids so (assuming that was them) they put a lot of effort into it. So yeah, they have every right to be paid. What they intend to do after all this isn't really my concern - they earned that money fair and square. Good on them, I say.

As for Rockstar actively seeking criminals... that made me scratch my head a bit. That must be tough right? Even if they hired a specialist? I don't think they could really just put out an ad seeking professional gangsters. And it's not really going to lend any authenticity to the game any more so than a good voice actor would. It might even be worse (having authentic scripts, in my opinion, isn't a reasonable sacrifice for bad voice acting). I have a lot of faith in Rockstar though, GTA IV was a mis-step but other than that they've released nothing but top-tier quality. Those guys know what they're doing, and they do it best.

Can't wait to play this.

 

[Iron Criterion]

This thread is hilarious. Hold on, I'm off to make some popcorn.

 

[Dragonbums]

This is really excessive.

For one, does it matter? Aside from a few gang terms I don't think actual gang members have some sort of authentic accent that separates them from the common people.

Secondly, gang members are just that. Gang members. You are putting the staff at risk by not only getting in contact with said people, but by paying them and having them in your studio. All it takes is the wrong member with the malicious intentions to have it blow up in your face.

Thirdly, contracts.

No way in hell would any gang member willingly do something so public like a GTA game, with out some sort of guaranteed protection from the police. Pretty sure some of them have done some pretty hefty crimes.

EDIT: For those defending Rockstar in providing legal employment, there is nothing WRONG with that notion.

However some of you people are seriously underestimating the damage gang members do to people in the local area. The people they are hiring can range from some petty store thief to someone who has actually taken the life of someone else and/or sold drugs that in turn ruined the lives of many.

 

[Dragonbums]

Is that...is that even legal? I'm not sure.

It's one thing to have authentic delivery and feeling for people that have lived the life, but why not reformed gang members as mentioned previously?

Of all the things the non-gaming public can get pissed off at games about, this is one of the more valid ones (if it's true in the way I'm thinking). The violence and actions in this and all other games is fake. Fantasy. But this kinda steps passed that line and has a more direct impact on real life. GTA4 didn't force that kid or anyone else to shoot people, but where are the dollars from Rockstar going to after they pay these dudes?

I'm with the sentiment of the other posters. I hope this is a joke, lie, reformed gang members, some elaborate stunt, or something else that isn't being told in this story. Not like I was going to buy GTA5 anyways, but I don't think I'm ok with this.

Of course its legal, why the hell wouldnt it be? As far as I know, voice acting is a legal job.

He meant in terms of hiring suspect criminals of varying degrees of law breaking for video game voice acting.

 

[Dragonbums]

As a game developer I don't think it a great idea/ethical to support criminal gangs. Reformed gang members I would probably be ok with, but taking actual criminals is another.

Wouldn't this apply to anyone who wants to give gang members a job?

Hey you know that guy who played Machete? The big Mexican guy who's been in a bunch of movies (he was the bartender in Anchorman). Well he's an ex-con and now he's an actor.

Yes. He was a former con man. He turned his life around. Now he is an actor.

However based on this article these people aren't "ex" anything. They are still gang members, and chances are, most of them will still be gang members after the fact. The only difference now is that they are thugs with money.

 

[Dragonbums]

I doubt they're active gang members. Otherwise the police will be looking very eagerly at the credits. Also funny how easily some Rockstar researcher can find gang members but the police can't.

Being in a gang doesn't automatically make you a criminal.
However people in gangs tend to do crimes. Finding those gang members are the problem.
You can be in a gang and miraculously not do any sort of illegal crime, and it ends up being more of a brotherhood then a "hey let's beat that fucker up" kind of deal.

 

[BernardoOne]

Is that...is that even legal? I'm not sure.

It's one thing to have authentic delivery and feeling for people that have lived the life, but why not reformed gang members as mentioned previously?

Of all the things the non-gaming public can get pissed off at games about, this is one of the more valid ones (if it's true in the way I'm thinking). The violence and actions in this and all other games is fake. Fantasy. But this kinda steps passed that line and has a more direct impact on real life. GTA4 didn't force that kid or anyone else to shoot people, but where are the dollars from Rockstar going to after they pay these dudes?

I'm with the sentiment of the other posters. I hope this is a joke, lie, reformed gang members, some elaborate stunt, or something else that isn't being told in this story. Not like I was going to buy GTA5 anyways, but I don't think I'm ok with this.

Of course its legal, why the hell wouldnt it be? As far as I know, voice acting is a legal job.

He meant in terms of hiring suspect criminals of varying degrees of law breaking for video game voice acting.

Again...yes. Its not illegal to employ criminals.(well, as long as they are doing non-criminal things, of course)

 

[yundex]

Argument 1 agasint this:
remmeber what happened when rockstar went for realism? GTA4. yeah, i dredd this.
Argument 2 agasint this:
They may put the dialogue thats authentic there, but it would be like listening to gang members in The Wire - your hoping they shut up ASAP.
Argument 3 against this:
They are basically giving money to known criminals.
Argument 4 against this:
they are not voice actors and yet they voice act. we will have silent hill voice acting problems in a GTA game now.

Capcha: smellnig salt.
really? were throwing cocaine references already?

I know I should read the entire thread, but did some jackass really insult The Wire? That's sacrilege.

 

[gargantual]

Boo friggin hoo. After reading Jacked: The Outlaw story of Grand Theft Auto, and finding out about their previous casting sessions, this is nothing. You could raise more issues about criminal Bloods ties with Death Row records, and those who were in the LAPD at the time, that's an actual entertainment based conflict of interest that you can measure the dangerous impact of. Business influence that inspired hits and killings of hip hop artists and locals or family of rivals.

Filmmakers and documentary filmers on topic have no qualms about speaking with gang members if they want the data for their works, and the houser bros cast Jenna Jameson in Vice City. This is not some major blip on the ethics radar.

 

[Strazdas]

Argument 1 agasint this:
remmeber what happened when rockstar went for realism? GTA4. yeah, i dredd this.
Argument 2 agasint this:
They may put the dialogue thats authentic there, but it would be like listening to gang members in The Wire - your hoping they shut up ASAP.
Argument 3 against this:
They are basically giving money to known criminals.
Argument 4 against this:
they are not voice actors and yet they voice act. we will have silent hill voice acting problems in a GTA game now.

Capcha: smellnig salt.
really? were throwing cocaine references already?

I know I should read the entire thread, but did some jackass really insult The Wire? That's sacrilege.

Your puny TV gods does not amuse me. The wire has one thing and one thing only going for it - realism. and since i dont care much for drug dealers realism, the first two seasons were quite a bore. didnt bother watching further.

 

[yundex]

Argument 1 agasint this:
remmeber what happened when rockstar went for realism? GTA4. yeah, i dredd this.
Argument 2 agasint this:
They may put the dialogue thats authentic there, but it would be like listening to gang members in The Wire - your hoping they shut up ASAP.
Argument 3 against this:
They are basically giving money to known criminals.
Argument 4 against this:
they are not voice actors and yet they voice act. we will have silent hill voice acting problems in a GTA game now.

Capcha: smellnig salt.
really? were throwing cocaine references already?

I know I should read the entire thread, but did some jackass really insult The Wire? That's sacrilege.

Your puny TV gods does not amuse me. The wire has one thing and one thing only going for it - realism. and since i dont care much for drug dealers realism, the first two seasons were quite a bore. didnt bother watching further.

The first two seasons probably were the "boring" parts for those who aren't familiar with the subject matter. But what makes the authenticity matter to me in a sea of shit "gangster flicks", is probably the fact that I grew up in Baltimore and around that culture, haha.