One of the defining characteristics of the Borderlands series is its humor, which is often delivered through cleverly written lines of dialogue. However, some of the jokes that worked in 2009 with the first game, or even in 2012 with Borderlands 2, wouldn’t hold up in 2019. This is why Gearbox is being extra careful with the joke writing in Borderlands 3 and will be making sure to not be offensive.
The game’s producer, Chris Brock, explained that Borderlands 3 will have more thought put into its jokes, with the team spending more time to ensure jokes aren’t insensitive. In regards to the game’s jokes, Brock stated:
We talk about it and think about it a lot more. I think in the past, we’ve just kinda done stuff. But now we say ‘okay we have this joke and we want to run it by the studio.’ And the studio’s huge now–we have people 400 people in Dallas and 100 people in Quebec. So we go ‘how does this joke land with everybody?
We’ve all got a personal line, some of our lines will be crossed, but we have to as a team, understand that we’re putting our best foot forward. Be edgy, be funny, don’t be cruel, don’t be insensitive, be understanding, be sympathetic. We have a very diverse studio culture, and everybody wants to represent that.
While humor is essential to the series, it seems the developer will be making a conscious effort to be more mindful with its writing. And, with as vocal as the video game community is, making sure to be inoffensive may be a good idea.
Borderlands 3 has had its fair share of controversy leading up to its launch. When the game was officially revealed earlier in 2019, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford was in hot water for his misuse of the term “microtransaction” and whether Borderlands 3 would include in-game purchases.
Despite the game’s controversy, many are still excited for Borderlands 3. The wait for it is almost over, as it will release for PS4 on September 13, 2019. You can preorder through Amazon here.
What kind of humor are you expecting from Borderlands 3? Do you think it’s a good idea for the developers to be more conscious with the game’s writing? Let us know!
[Source: Game Rant]
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