-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Body of assassinated Russian diplomat used in Telltale's Batman game.
- Thread starter Demoskinos
- Start date
StereoVsn
Member
Because he is Russian, has family there and the phrase "Russia doesn't give a fuck" is offensive?
benicillin
Banned
Most of Telltale's games have such a distinct art style that it would make real life assets stick out instantly. Like in photos and other background images they're usually hand-drawn and indistinct. The fact that this got through on a flat piece of background art is not a coincidence, it's something that probably no one even looked at.
The Dear Leader
Banned
This is messed up for sure but I dont think it was in any way intentional, the artist made a mistake, if they acknowledge it, remove it and apologize then thats all that should come of it, I dont think the person should lose their job, it was a mistake that anyone couldve made. Its really kinda sad how vicious some of you are getting over this, outrage towards everything must get old.
benicillin
Banned
I mean someone did not do their job and they didn't do it in a very high profile way, so I absolutely would not blame Telltale for not wanting to work with that person anymore.
If true, this ^.
The Dear Leader
Banned
Thats totally within their right to do and it thats what they feel is appropriate than more power to them, I just feel like throwing someone to the wolves and saying Fuck TellTale over a mistake is just an unhealthy and short sighted attitude to have.
Of course they will. No one in their right mind could think that this was done intentionally. As soon as they hear/ see this, they will patch it out ASAP. Something like this is a mistake, not malice.
PhilipDoesMatter
Member
My good lord. Putin will attack us!
Maintenance
Member
Hidden One
Member
World War Three over this 🤔
Demoskinos
Member
They are the Funko Pop of video games.
LightningXCE
Member
That legit looks like a stock photo.
No excuse though, period. If you are doing art and design, you KNOW what your sources are, and if you don't you either A) Don't use the artwork, or B) find out WHERE and WHAT it is.
No excuse though, period. If you are doing art and design, you KNOW what your sources are, and if you don't you either A) Don't use the artwork, or B) find out WHERE and WHAT it is.
D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
wipeout364
Member
If you guys had read further you would have seen that The Russians had used the batsignal and asked Batman to investigate the murder to discover what had happened. After all he is the worlds greatest detective.
HueyFreeman
Banned
I feel like youre young and trying to come off as a bad ass - or at least one of the two - and youre desensitized to violence, probably in large part by this medium, but this is a real human being who was shot and killed. Imagine your father or mother dying this way, and then their image is used as a fucking stock photo in a video game. And the Defense is: sorry it was just placeholder art.
Gimme a fucking break with this argument. Youre either obtuse, a bad person, or you should back pedal on this.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
This is obviously a forgotten placeholder fuckup, but the fact that it's a real photo of a real dead man makes this particularly fucked up. Real tacky.
As if I needed another reason to hate Telltale... >_<
As if I needed another reason to hate Telltale... >_<
GlamFM
Banned
I´m 40 so..... no.
Now let me try. I think you are young and very naive.
You have no experience in graphic design / game making / film making / content creation.
Because it´s not unusual at all to use an image like this as a place holder.
Sorry to say, but I´ve been working in a production company for almost 20 years now.
If you need an image of dead guy as a place holder - guess what!
YOU USE AN IMAGE OF A DEAD GUY.
Of course you have to replace it before you ship it, of course they have to apologize. But that´s about it.
bizzarewars
Banned
How...
How does this happen?
How does this happen?
I was a texture artist and my company would never have allowed this, placeholder or not. But different companies engage in different practices with varying amounts of supervision and discipline so who knows what Telltale was thinking (or not thinking)
GlamFM
Banned
It´s a fuck up - no question.
But it can happen and I can think of a million scenarios how something like this could slip through the cracks.
It even happened to ND once.
eyeball_kid
Member
Why don't you tell that to the family of the Russian ambassador then. A picture of their assassinated father / husband / loved one -- already a source of great pain for them I'm sure -- has been taken by a game studio and placed in a Batman game as a prop. I haven't seen anyone in this thread say "fuck Telltale" over this, but you sure seem ready to gloss this over.
This is not just a simple ooops mistake. It's illegal and the AP will not be as kind as game studios over asset theft, especially considering it's an award-winning photo. They'll probably get handed a nice lawsuit since Telltale has already distributed this image to users. And as for the Russian family of this poor man, there might be some legal recourse for them for using his likeness in a commercial way.
The fact that it even got there is beyond a mistake; it shows a complete lack of professionalism in their artist, and a big deficiency in whatever process vets assets for use in the game. This lack of professionalism and diligence led to something very tasteless; hopefully this will be a 'teachable moment' for the rest of the industry.
Okay, let's say it IS a stock photo pulled from google.
How come Telltale didn't contact the Rights holder of the picture to license it for use?
Because if they had they'd have found out this is an actual real dead body, even if this was a stock photo, TT used it without permission of the rights holder of the picture.
Even if that wasn't a real dead body, this is another "Uncharted uses AC concept art"
Using a picture of a recently dead person for your video game is tasteless, even if its never customer facing.
Allowing something this disrespectful to slip through the cracks just shows how nonexistent their quality control is.
GlamFM
Banned
So how long does a person have to be dead until you can use it as a placeholder?
I mean ideally you would use an actor or fake picture and not a corpse...
benicillin
Banned
No, the Tali photo was totally legal. It was a stock photo available to anyone with a Getty Images account that they altered. They paid for it.
To be fair what Telltale did could actually could be entirely legal too, if not in bad taste, if they got it off of Getty and they have a Getty premium account or something. The image is for sale on Getty after all. But we really have no idea until they comment.
NegativeCero
Banned
Jesus, what the fuck happened to lead to this dude's corpse making it in. That is beyond crazy.
Maybe that's what happened. Maybe someone at telltale bought the stock photo thinking it's actors?
GlamFM
Banned
I would google for "body floor" and take the picture with good enough resolution that has the right angle for my composition.
That´s of course still assuming that this was always meant to be replaced or painted over.
Looking at the pic I don´t find it entirely unrealistic that this was outsourced work actually.
Or maybe that was just a mood board and never meant to make it into the game what so ever, but someone thought it looked cool?
A lot of assumptions - I know.
TheProdigal
Member
I thought the same thing
The Albatross
Member
wwwwtttfff....
I imagine this is the case. It happens with website, magazines, ad agencies; whatever. Combination both of poor training and oversight on the part of companies and, perhaps, an association with the Internet as a place where you can find and use anything you wish.
eyeball_kid
Member
Yeah, I just found it (or a similar one) on Getty. The license is Standard Editorial, which "does not include commercial use rights", which use in a game would constitute. In other words, these photos are basically only for use in news stories (and rightly so, given the subject matter).
Oh, i wasn't aware the Tali pic was actually gotten through the right means.
Patterbits
Member
I feel like people's assumptions should not be that this is on purpose. Shit like this always ends up being an accident. The Uncharted 4 picture, the Kekistan thing in Destiny. Somebody probably went to Google image and left that placeholder there.
Walter White
Member
At first, I laughed. Then, upon a moment of reflection, realized you are so correct.
Demoncarnotaur
Member
They obviously need to make a comment on this and patch it out. They're probably running their response by legal first hence the silence.
Honestly though, I bet this was an accidental placeholder asset left in - and whomever used it initially was unaware of the photos actual subject matter.
Honestly though, I bet this was an accidental placeholder asset left in - and whomever used it initially was unaware of the photos actual subject matter.
Similar threads
- Locked