“Red Dead Redemption 2” YouTube video shows suffragette being beat up

“Red Dead Redemption 2” is set in 1899, right around
the time when women’s groups fighting for equal rights began to
form.
Rockstar
Games

• The latest open-world game from the folks behind “Grand
  Theft Auto” is “Red Dead Redemption 2.” It’s available now on
  Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
• The game is set in 1899 America, albeit a fictionalized
  version. As such, there are period-appropriate characters
  filling its world: Cowboys and Pinkerton detectives and women’s
  rights activists.
• Due to the nature of “Red Dead Redemption 2” as an
  open-world game, players can interact with those characters in
  both passive and — as one viral video demonstrates — extremely
  violent ways.

The folks behind “Grand Theft Auto” are once again embroiled in
controversy over their latest game.

This time, the game is “Red Dead Redemption 2,” and the
controversy isn’t related to a secret bit of
code. Instead, the controversy surrounds a YouTube video that
exploded in popularity named, “Red Dead Redemption 2 – Beating Up
Annoying Feminist.” 

In the video, YouTube creator Shirrako’s character briefly speaks
with a women’s rights activist — then he punches her in the face.

The video is just one minute and thirty seconds long. It has over
1.6 million views as of this writing:

YouTube

Just like “Grand Theft Auto” before it, “Red Dead Redemption 2”
allows players to interact with any characters in its vast,
open-world environment. 

Thus, when you encounter the women’s rights activist above in the
streets of Saint Denis — the game’s approximation of New Orleans
circa 1899 — you’re able to speak with her, or to trample her
with your horse, or, as this player did, punch her in the face.

Read
more

: 

A
horrific glitch in ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ is turning one road
into a mass horse grave

The game doesn’t encourage this behavior; in fact, it discourages
that behavior actively with its “Wanted” system. The more illegal
stuff you do — like accosting a stranger in the street of a major
city — the more hostile the world is to you. Bounty hunters will
chase you down, and shop owners may not interact with you. Being
a maniac in “Red Dead Redemption 2” isn’t very rewarding.

That of course isn’t stopping players from doing it anyway, and
it certainly isn’t stopping YouTube video makers from capturing
footage of that stuff for salaciously-titled videos like,
“Beating Up Annoying Feminist” or “Annoying Feminist Fed To
Alligator” — another popular video on this particular YouTube
creator’s channel.

Rockstar
Games

What counts as ‘gratuitous violence’?

In a surprising twist, YouTube took down the videos in question —
and then reinstated the videos hours later.

According to YouTube, the video and the channel where it was
hosted were violating community guidelines. 

“After review, we’ve determined that activity in your account
violated our Community Guidelines, which state that the promotion
or display of gratuitous violence is not acceptable on our site,”
a letter from YouTube to the channel’s owner said,
according to Motherboard.

But, as the YouTube creator points out, his channel is full of
videos depicting gratuitous violence in video games. Indeed, any
video depicting gameplay from games like “God of War” or “Mortal
Kombat” is, by its nature, full of gratuitous violence.

“You literally rip characters apart in ‘Mortal Kombat,'” he told
Motherboard. “Why are those videos allowed and what I made is ban
worthy?”

That said, there’s obviously a difference between content
intended to provoke a response — like a video tailored
specifically around violently attacking a women’s rights activist
— and the kind of violence depicted in games like “God of War.”

Business Insider reached out to YouTube for clarification, but
have yet to hear back as of publishing.