Jennifer Hepler leaves Bioware due to threats by fans

[Delerien]

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/16/bioware-writer-quits-after-death-threats-to-family-3925970/

The senior writer on Dragon Age II has decided to leave developer BioWare after ?graphic threats? were made to kill her children.

Jennifer Hepler was working on sequel Dragon Age: Inquisition but is quitting BioWare this week to go freelance, in large part thanks to threats she and others of the team received in the wake of Dragon Age II?s release.

"I was shown a sample of the forum posts by EA security", says Hepler "And it included graphic threats to kill my children on their way out of school to show them that they should have been aborted at birth rather than have to have me as a mother."

Edit: Ahhh sorry, they got her Name wrong and I just copied it. It should of course be Jennifer Hepler.
Edit 2:

Update:

Jennifer Helper has contacted us to make it clear that she did not leave BioWare as a direct result of the harassment she received at the hands of gamers.

'BioWare was tremendously supportive of me during that time, and I have experienced nothing like it since, due to the excellent policing of the BioWare Forums and new policies on the BioWare Social Network,' she told us in an email.

'I am moving on from BioWare now to pursue other opportunities that let me return to be closer to family in the United States after a wonderful eight years in Canada. I have no intentions to leave the game industry.

 

[Dectomax]

What the flippity fuck is wrong with some people? Is there any information on WHY they were sending death-threats, or is this just a case of crazy people being crazy?

 

[Delerien]

What the flippity fuck is wrong with some people? Is there any information on WHY they were sending death-threats, or is this just a case of crazy people being crazy?

I haven't found anything anywhere, but from what i gathered it was most likely (take that with a grain of salt though, as I said nothing official anywhere as far as I can tell) because people blamed mostly her for DA2 being shitty. Also this Interview has not gone over well:

Q: What is your least favorite thing about working in the industry?

A: Playing the games. This is probably a terrible thing to admit, but it has definitely been the single most difficult thing for me. I came into the job out of a love of writing, not a love of playing games... I'm really terrible at so many things which most games use incessantly -- I have awful hand-eye coordination, I don't like tactics, I don't like fighting, I don't like keeping track of inventory, and I can't read a game map to save my life.

Q: If you could tell developers of games to make sure to put one thing in games to appeal to a broader audience which includes women, what would that one thing be?

A: A fast-forward button. Games almost always include a way to "button through" dialogue without paying attention, because they understand that some players don't enjoy listening to dialogue and they don't want to stop their fun. Yet they persist in practically coming into your living room and forcing you to play through the combats even if you're a player who only enjoys the dialogue.

So all in all it seems like it's just people being crazy.

 

[CloudAtlas]

Our peers never fail to disappoint. How sad.

 

[Darks63]

Some people don't know how to take disappointment well, although it could have been people trolling too.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Just goes to show that you don't have to be a CoD fan to be complete scum (apologies to CoD fans that are decent human beings).

Interesting video on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0QLz0CqtMVc

Yeah, no. Regardless of how you feel about the direction Bioware's games have taken, that's no excuse for death threats.

Also, the guy comes across as a pretentious douchebag, one of those insufferable "wake up, sheeple" types.

 

[endtherapture]

Just goes to show that you don't have to be a CoD fan to be complete scum (apologies to CoD fans that are decent human beings).

Interesting video on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0QLz0CqtMVc

Yeah, no. Regardless of how you feel about the direction Bioware's games have taken, that's no excuse for death threats.

Also, the guy comes across as a pretentious douchebag, one of those insufferable "wake up, sheeple" types.

Everyone gets death threats on the internet. It's a sad state, but literally everyone from Taylor Swift to Jim Carrey has probably received one through the internet at some point.

 

[Lieju]

Everyone gets death threats on the internet. It's a sad state, but literally everyone from Taylor Swift to Jim Carrey has probably received one through the internet at some point.

Doesn't make it okay.

Not to mention this isn't even just a random threat thrown at her way, it specifically references her children and that they are going to stalk them on their way to school.

That threat was made by someone who cared enough to find out she had school-age-children.

She should've just asked EA for private bodyguards.

You really think EA would have paid for that?

It's not just the matter of getting a death threat, I'm betting she has been getting sick of all of the shit flung at her way for a while now.

 

[Anachronism]

Christ, this is disgusting. Get some fucking perspective, people: she wrote a video game that you didn't like. It's not the end of the world. If's stuff like this that makes the general public think all gamers are whiny, immature, entitled little shitheads, and as long as we keep using the anonymity of the internet as an excuse to be assholes, no one is ever going to take us seriously.

There's no excuse for this sort of thing. Not ever.

 

[Eleima]

This is absolutely appalling. A real shame. BioWare's writing team is the poorer for it.
No one deserves the kind of treatment she's been given.

 

[Smeatza]

And how does it make it good, okay or even excuseable?

It doesn't, it makes it ordinary.

OT: I struggle to find the will to care. I've never been a fan of her writing, she probably shouldn't have been at the company in the first place, and she decided to try and beat the trolls at their own game when she clearly wasn't prepared to do so.

Yeah it's unfortunate, nobody should have to receive abuse just for doing their job, even if they're doing it poorly.

Unless it's Casey Hudson, perhaps now Hepler's left the company he'll receive the brunt of the abuse.

 

[endtherapture]

Everyone gets death threats on the internet. It's a sad state, but literally everyone from Taylor Swift to Jim Carrey has probably received one through the internet at some point.

And how does it make it good, okay or even excuseable?

/v/ is apparently celebrating the occasion: http://archive.foolz.us/v/thread/205238974/

Spoiler

Big surprise, 4chan is again the biggest pile of shit there is. If someone killed her they would celebrate.

And I really don't get the majority of the faces.

It doesn't. Its just ordinary now, and unless government regulate the internet, which everyone is highly opposed to, then it's not going to change any time soon.

 

[shrekfan246]

Everyone knows that "They made a video game I didn't really enjoy" is a perfectly reasonable excuse for slinging death and rape and murder threats over the internet. Jeez, get some perspective guys!

The next time somebody questions why I don't like to associate myself with the greater "gaming community", I can just point them here and to all of the people 'celebrating' that another person has been driven out of working in the industry that keeps their hobby alive. -_-

 

[endtherapture]

And how does it make it good, okay or even excuseable?

It doesn't, it makes it ordinary.

Sorry, I don't follow the reasoning to even point out that others receive such threats as well. It implies acceptance of the status quo we're in and refusal to change anything about it - in my eyes the reason why this BS is so prevelant. And the statement that it is 'ordinary' implies that as well. It is okay by your very own phrasing. Because it is normal. It is unchallenged. And by pointing out that it is normal chance of challenge of it disappears.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/15/4622252/plague-of-game-dev-harassment-erodes-industry-spurs-support-groups

There is also quite a big difference between public figures (Taylor Swift, Jim Carrey and such) receiving this kind of abuse and game developer. Those people went into the spotlight with the sole idea of getting attention - they either have experience dealing with it or have people sorting that shit out. A person in the gaming industry has in most cases neither of the above.

I'm not defending the trolls behaviour but when she makes a Twitter account and appears in promotional videos talking about the game, she becomes a media figure similar to actors, film directors, authors, musicians in bands etc.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Now while I won't particularly miss her specifically, it is ridiculous that this sort of shit is happening.

The fact that some people are celebrating that the abuse she received managed to "remove her" is fucking shameful.