BioWare Supports Beleaguered Writer

[Andy Chalk]

so yes, there is room for a debate, and Ms Hepler's statement's about basically wanting to skip the gameplay in a GAME might be a good starting point.

But this isn't about that. This is about the torrent of abuse that's been hurled at her in lieu of a "debate." And before anything like that can happen, we have to separate the two, which a dismaying number of people seem entirely unwilling to do.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I would love to change my mind about this whole thing, but I have no reason to.

For a guy so determined to leave, you sure are having trouble finding the door.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Not being debatable is your opinion, and if you didn't wanted a debate I suggest to leave out your own poitns of view and opinions out of the opening post, when you wrote them, you turned this into an editorial column and made it TOTALLY debatable.

No. Heaping abuse on people, especially over something as ridiculous as this, is never acceptable. Never justifiable. Never excusable. That's not a debatable point.

"I prefer story to gameplay."

"YOU ARE A VERMINOUS FAT *****!"

Now explain to me how that's okay.

 

[Tanakh]

All of the article right up to the end is just giving a factual account of the events that occurred. So he gave us the news, then he gave us his opinion on the news.

And then he said that we can't discuss his opinion, that this is black and white and undebatable, that is what gets me.

 

[scotth266]

Half of the criticism being leveled at this woman is just a bunch of juveniles hopping on the Bioware hate train that showed up around the release of Dragon Age 2. I mean, seriously. How many of the negative replies in this thread mention how she ruined Mass Effect... when she never even worked on it?

The other half is a mix of excuses and stupidity. Some seem to be saying "well, she should expect this kind of shit, it's the internet." Maybe we should, you know, condemn that sort of dickish behavior... instead of accepting it? Saying "Hey, that's just how things work around here, suck it up soldier" is hardly an excuse for this woman's Twitter feed to be flooded with hundreds of retarded, bile-filled messages.

Another popular sentiment is "yeah, saying that you don't like to play video games when you work for a video game developer is dumb and deserves criticism". This tacitly implies that "FATTY RUINED SHITTY EFFECT 3" is valid criticism, but we'll ignore that for now. Let's examine her statement:

"I came into the job out of a love of writing, not a love of playing games. While I enjoy the interactive aspects of gaming, if a game doesn't have a good story, it's very hard for me to get interested in playing it." She even went so far as to suggest that it'd be nice if games had a "fast-forward feature" that would let her skip the vexing gameplay bits and just enjoy the writing and stories.

In other words, she likes playing games for the writing, and doesn't like games that lack narrative. Nowhere does she say that she hates video games. She's just saying that she likes telling and reading stories through games more than actually playing the game parts.

So, what's the problem again? [HEADING=2]So long as she plays games enough to know how to put stories in them effectively,[/HEADING]
[HEADING=2]why does it matter if she doesn't enjoy the gameplay in video games?[/HEADING]

EDIT: I mean, she isn't a game designer. She doesn't need to know dick about how gamesplay works. She's a WRITER, and so long as she understands how to write effectively in games, insulting her for not caring much about gameplay in games is akin to criticizing Will Wright because he considers his video games to be toys. It's utterly absurd.

 

[Tanakh]

No. Heaping abuse on people, especially over something as ridiculous as this, is never acceptable. Never justifiable. Never excusable. That's not a debatable point.

"I prefer story to gameplay."

"YOU ARE A VERMINOUS FAT *****!"

Now explain to me how that's okay.

"I prefer that videogames have no gameplay"

"YOU ARE A *****!"

"FU losers that can't get pussy"

"YOU ARE A VERMINOUS FAT *****!"

Not ok, but def not black and white, shows the internet anon users of forums to be rude and chidlish (OMG! rly?) and a decent if generic videogame story writer to be clueless about videogames and internet etiquete after years of working at that.

 

[Sabinfrost]

Kind of ironic, if you look at the Twitter page of that guy that got called a fucking moron he's the new most hated guy on the internet

 

[Sylveria]

As much as the hate being directed at her is unwarranted since being a decent writer and being a video game player couldn't be less related, it doesn't do much good for the image of females in the industry or the culture at large when she's sitting there saying that games would appeal more to girls if there weren't so many "game" parts in video games.

Honestly, lady, if you just want a good story, read a book. If you don't like the "game" part of video games, perhaps you're in the wrong industry.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Here's my blanket response to everyone who says that Hepler brought this on herself, at least in part, because she dared to respond to her attackers:

"I get to have both a vagina AND a games industry job, and they can't get either" is a fucking EPIC zing, and I suspect that many of you are angry that she was able to lay it down so easily and effectively with a single line of text.

 

[Sylveria]

Now reply to this post to 'prove me wrong' again and, in doing so, totally validate my own point. Go on...everyone loves to see you 'fight the good fight' for the 'back-in-the-day' Bioware (which, by the way, never existed because you missed the real strong point of their stories to begin with). Everyone loves to see you argue on forums after all...because you are a joke of the biggest kind. Especially when you resort to desperate primitivism, such as this, and completely prove the opposite point right - that Bioware's spirits, for whatever faults it does indeed have and has had since Baldur's Gate, still lives.

Hmm, so you want to spark a debate but, by your logic, anyone who attempts to retort to your points is passively endorsing them, thus defeating themselves?

I'm sorry, but that's not how discussion works and, frankly, you sound just as much as a flailing fanboy as the people who are attacking Bioware by taking a "I'm right and if you disagree you make me righter" standing. Going that road makes you sound more egotistical and entitled than even the most outspoken Bioware rage.

Not to mention, everything you've stated applies to you as well. You're arguing on a forum, you're resorting to desperate hooting, you're pretending to "fight the good fight" and saying that people just didn't understand "back-in-the-day" Bioware, and if there spirit is indeed strong, your assaults on detractors is utterly unnecessary and undermines your very point.

 

[Frankster]

Her last name is Hepler, Helper (Hamburguer Helper) is the name people give her to make fun of her... hehe.

My bad :S Guess I seen it spelt like that so many times in anti bioware threads I just took it as the norm ><

As much as the hate being directed at her is unwarranted since being a decent writer and being a video game player couldn't be less related, it doesn't do much good for the image of females in the industry or the culture at large when she's sitting there saying that games would appeal more to girls if there weren't so many "game" parts in video games.

Also this was what I was reffering to when I said that I know for a fact it ain't just male gamers who are throwing pot shots at Mrs Hepler. That comment about more girls would be playing games if they had time off from doing girly things really rubbed a few the wrong way.

Agreed, its quite enraging for the haters. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY IT WAS A BAD IDEA!

Especially when some of said haters also have vaginas. Just sayin'.

 

[FoolKiller]

a second lengthy, entirely unattributed and far more incendiary quote,

I hope that the idiots responsible for that nonsense are charged. It is defamation and quite a serious offence . I'm just hoping that some IT people can figure out who was responsible and have them prosecuted.

On the topic of the things that she did say, people need to lighten up. There are many people, in many professions doing things they don't necessarily like to do. That's perfectly fine. As long as she does her job well (as defined by her employer), it is nobody's place to judge her based on her own hobbies.

I, for one, disagree with her idea of having a 'skip playthrough' function. It is a video game. The whole point of it is the interactivity of it all. There are many forms of media more suited to her tastes, but not this one.

We have the ability (sometimes) to skip a cutscene. Not always, but sometimes. And even then the reason is (usually, not always) not because the story isn't important, but rather that a player who has died does not need to watch the video sequence over and over again. One of the most egregious design faux pas has to be the unskippable video right after a checkpoint. Yes, it may only be 30 seconds long but after the 20th time seeing it because I can't beat the boss, it's just unforgivably annoying, and a waste of 10 minutes of my life.