Rockstar Games has trolled Flat Earthers with the way they’ve designed the boundary on the Red Dead Redemption 2 map.
Don’t you just hate it when you’re enjoying a stroll through the fields and all of a sudden you fall off the edge of the earth?
Obviously that doesn’t actually happen in real life thanks to both our nice spherical earth and gravity, but according to Flat Earthers, that should be entirely possible.
Now, I’ve never played Red Dead Redemption, but I know that anyone who believes the Earth is flat shouldn’t be encouraged.
The Red Dead map gives a nod to people who think the earth comes to a sudden end, implying it could be possible as they’ve designed their intricate world in a way that would support the theory.
However, the map trolls the believers by showing them exactly what would happen if the Earth was shaped like a pancake.
Take a look at the fate of the player who found the edge of the map:
Yep, oblivion. And in real life you wouldn’t pop back up on Earth with a new life, either. You’d just keep falling through space for all of time.
The edge of the Red Dead map is a view of the world through the eyes of Flat Earthers, who actually believe the theory that the earth is round is all a big conspiracy.
The Flat Earth Society website attempts to explain:
The most commonly accepted explanation of [seeing a round Earth from space] is that the space agencies of the world are involved in a conspiracy faking space travel and exploration.
We are not suggesting that space agencies are aware that the earth is flat and actively covering the fact up. They depict the earth as being round simply because that is what they expect it to be.
Despite these theories, I have to say I’m with NASA on this one, who say:
Humans have known that Earth is round for more than 2,000 years! The ancient Greeks measured shadows during summer solstice and also calculated Earth’s circumference.
They could even see the planet’s round shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse. (We still can see this during lunar eclipses.)
If you want to see what jumping off the edge of the earth would be like then playing Red Dead Redemption 2 would be the way to go, because as I mentioned before, it’s not possible in real life.
Reddit users joked about how the abrupt ending to the map could be used to fuel the fight of flat earthers, with one person writing:
Don’t let flat earthers see this, it proves they’ve been right all along
Another responded, writing:
First thing I thought of. Bloody hell they’re gonna run with this.
A third mentioned how Rockstar Games seem to have trolled the believers, adding:
Yeah I feel this is an in joke about flat earth in the game studio.
Finding the edge of the earth on Red Dead shouldn’t take too long, as according to Twinfinite it only takes around 16 minutes to cross the entire map when sprinting (galloping? Cantering? Going fast?) on horseback.
I’d recommend dismounting your horse just before you reach the edge of the map though. Even if you want to experience tumbling through space, your horse probably doesn’t deserve the same fate.
In your venture to the end of the Earth, you could perhaps even take in some of the many other glorious details Rockstar have worked into the game, including a classic Rockstar easter egg and even an alien encounter.
Enjoy falling off the world!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.