BioWare Supports Beleaguered Writer

[Chairman Miaow]

Anders. That is all.



Joking aside though, she took the whole thing way too personally. I know they are personal attacks, but it's the internet, these people know nothing about her. Anybody on the internet can say whatever the hell they like and it's so anonymous and impersonal that it just shouldn't get to you. Fighting back the way she did was exactly what they wanted, it's like bullying.

 

[sifffffff]

Ray Muzyka:

"Jennifer is a valued, talented employee who has been with BioWare for many years and we hope will be with us for many more. It is awful that a few people have decided to make her a target for hate and threats, going so far as fabricating forum posts and attributing them to her, and singling her out for projects to which she has not contributed (i.e., Jennifer is not even a part of the Mass Effect writing team). All of us at BioWare support and will continue to support Jennifer fully, and are happy to see so many people out there are also supporting her during this difficult time."

There Smash. Where's your source? Calling her "Hamburger Hepler" shows which camp you belong to by the way.

 

[Knight Templar]

She actually did a lot of writing to flesh out the background in the Mass Effect universe.

That is simply untrue, you made that up.

 

[Susurrus]

Given that what most people complain about in Bioware games is the dumbing-down of gameplay, how is it the fault of a writer who only like to write, rather than game, that there's a problem with what Bioware is producing? That doesn't even make sense.

 

[sifffffff]

She actually did a lot of writing to flesh out the background in the Mass Effect universe.

That is simply untrue, you made that up.

I'll just highlight a different part of Ray's comment:

"Jennifer is a valued, talented employee who has been with BioWare for many years and we hope will be with us for many more. It is awful that a few people have decided to make her a target for hate and threats, going so far as fabricating forum posts and attributing them to her, and singling her out for projects to which she has not contributed (i.e., Jennifer is not even a part of the Mass Effect writing team). All of us at BioWare support and will continue to support Jennifer fully, and are happy to see so many people out there are also supporting her during this difficult time."

 

[Flailing Escapist]

They call this bullying? *facepalm* Fucking really? I understand and support Bioware's decision even though I don't understand - can she not get a writing job somewhere else? I don't even. But insulting (over the internet even) someone is not bullying, dammit. Have you been bullied before? Cry me a river.

I have been the victim of bullying and I am also sure this harassment should count as bullying. This is the least of the hate I have seen directed her way.
Fake porn is the worst, would somebody creating fake porn of you, with a caption mocking your weight sent to your email or PM box be considered bullying?

Mocking you're weight, sure. Fake porn... Does it look real? If it's obviously fake I wouldn't give it two thoughts. Again I'm just pointing out that the name calling and the insults thrown her way are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to bullying.

 

[sifffffff]

"Hamburger Helper" because fat LOLOLOLOLOL.

I must be mistaken. You read it somewhere on the internet once. Is true.

 

[Frostbite3789]

You know what I wouldn't do?

Walk into the middle of the Harry Potter fandom and say "So, Harry Potter's gay then?"

Someone said something similar (except about Star Wars) in the original thread about all this hooplah, and it was ridiculous then. It's still ridiculous now.

Until this point, nobody can definitively say what Shepard is other than the guy/girl trying to stop Reapers. That's the only common thing between any one person's Shepard, since you know...you create your own. You choose if they get into a relationship. Hell, you chose whose loyalty you wanted in 2.

It's an inane detail that doesn't matter. The fact that people are throwing a huge shitfit over it blows my mind.

Then again these are the same people who threw a huge shitfit over the multiplayer, which is actually a lot of fun. So I guess I shouldn't expect much better.

"Boo hoo, they're adding more choice to my game, that doesn't affect me if I don't want it to! Waaaah!"

 

[FallenMessiah88]

Twats calling other twats twats. What else is new?

 

[Crazy Zaul]

Her comeback was an epic zing.

 

[Furism]

It's very hard to be under that kind of fire. As a former community manager for a MMORPG (not WoW or anything, but still a few thousands people's community) I can totally relate. Even if 1% complain, they do so a lot and it can give a feeling of helplessness and that nobody appreciates your work or just you. Before I was in that position I used to think that "who cares, do your job right and don't pay attention to them", but the fact is, you really can't. You have no other choice to take it personally and I wouldn't like to be in her shoes lately.

On the other hand, BioWare's writing HAS been going downhill since, well, always. They have this reputation of having good stories but they never did anything very good (for *stories* - their universes are pretty good and well thought out). Obsidian is better at writing stories. BioWare is always full of clichés and shortcuts. Didn't prevent me from playing DA:O almost 300 hours, ME:1 about 120 hours, and ME:2 more than 80 hours, mind you.

Instead of bashing one person these people should have just criticized BioWare as a whole, making a constructive argument - pointing out plot holes and such - like they did for that ME novel fiasco.

 

[Novander]

Okay, first of all Dragon Age 2 is, in my opinion, BioWare's worst game and it still has awesome writing with awesome characters. If she doesn't like playing games, I don't care, she's a writer and she's clearly still bringing her A game to the job.

Second - and I know she had nothing to do with Mass Effect, I'm just commenting on the other theme cropping up ocassionally in this thread - I'm sick of dumb macho space marines. I think a lot of people are. I am straight and male. I know what it's like to be straight and male. I play a straight female Shepard. If I played her male, I'd probably play him gay because BioWare are one of the only developers really giving me the option to tell stories differently. If there really is the ability to come out and deal with the consequences in ME3, that would be awesome. I'm not saying any of this would give me a real understanding of what it's like to be either female or gay, but it is an experience beyond my own and that's kinda what I play games for.

 

[I.Muir]

The internet wants her gone and oddly enough they are going about getting rid of her in the quickest way possible. When two people have strong opposing opinions, being reasonable and mature won't change either of their minds. I really don't care at the moment but I would say that it's odd that somebody that doesn't like video games works in the industry. Of course the forums of bio ware have also gone out of control too, with mods deleting even reasonable but still critical posts along with the mindless hatred. If there was a hierarchy in terms of the important aspects of gaming, game play would be greater than story otherwise your better off making an anime. I personally think that dragon age 2 was a horrible game and we would have been better off if it had never happened.

 

[Furism]

Ah, yes, I forgot to say this: I don't think that poor lady is a particularly (note the emphasis) good writer . She's no Terry Pratchet or R.R. Martin, but probably a much more decent one than most gaming writers.

Somebody has a similar position in the industry. I forgot her name, but she was Deus Ex 3's lead writer at Eidos Montreal. She only cares about the story, not the game, and I think that's what a decent writer should do - yes, even if writing for the game.

The story and the gameplay of a game are two different things. I'd go as far as saying they are somewhat disconnected. The story is an excuse to justify having people press buttons in a way that make sense; that is, play the game.