Jennifer Hepler leaves Bioware due to threats by fans

[BlackMageBob]

People are absolutely fucking nuts. "Jennifer Hepler, I did not enjoy the story of Dragon Age 2. I felt that it lacked cohesion and direction, and would not be interested in your future projects." See that sentence? That is definitive criticism, where you make known how you feel about a product. You don't say you're going to kill someone's children because they made up a story that you did not like. Some fucking people...

She had a huge influence on a game series people liked, and by her comments, was part of the reason the quality of the sequel was so terrible. This is standard internet behavior, even if you don't agree with it. I really don't get how people are surprised by this.

Five down, six to go. Sarkeesian is likely the next failure up to bat, with EA giving her enough rope to hang herself in Mirror's Edge 2, and we'll be over the hump. Females in games don't need a Third-Wave gender feminist to represent them. WTB actual feminists in the gaming industry.

Edit: No threats implied here, I'm just fairly certain Sarkeesian is completely incapable of making something that won't be a failure.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

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

Spoiler

Thats quite the list /v/ has compiled.

I can't say I'm unhappy about the departure as Bioware has fallen long ago in my eyes but hey, at least she didn't pull a Fish on them.

 

[Angelblaze]

While I'm one of the first people to stand up and say that, from what I know of the woman, I would prefer it if she stayed as far as humanly possible away from making any games or gaming franchises I might happen to enjoy. She was a large part of DA2 and DA2 was a complete and total train wreck from top to bottom. Suffice to say the woman should probably just go start her own slash fiction website in some dark corner of the internet and leave gaming all together and gaming would be better for it.

Now that being said death threats aren't cool. People shouldn't be threatening this woman, or her children or anyone else for that matter. It's taking things over the line. They aren't doing anyone any favors by acting in such a manner. It's wrong and these people making the threats are wrong. There are countless far better ways to express your displeasure than threatening violence on somebody.

If you want to go that far, you're part of humanity.

Humanity is a horrendous train wreck from top to bottom as well *insert witty sarcastic repeat of what you said here*.
Seriously though, that entire last sentence on the first paragraph, not cool bro. You only speak out of what you know of her - for all you know she may very well soon create one of the world's best video game telling stories and we just haven't seen it yet. Don't start making pre-predictions about how things would be better without this or that person.

 

[Redd the Sock]

Not condoning the comments, but I fail to see how quitting does anything less than give the assholes exactly what they wanted: her gone, and a lot of attention for it.

So good job Jennifer. You may have just taken a step that will increase harassment to females and any unpopular developer by other douchbags.

 

[Legion]

OT: The Bioware fanbase is one of the most polarizing groups I've ever been apart of.

Agreed wholeheartedly. It is a very, very bizarre collective based upon the forums. Hell, they even chose to close down the Mass effect 3 character discussion forum because of how heated it got. You'd get fans of one character go into a thread about another just to troll the fans of them.

I am not sure "fans" is really the correct word for people such as this though. It makes it sound "better" than they are. If I worked for Bioware I'd be encouraging them not to buy the games just so they weren't associated any way with the company.

A persons life must be very sad if this qualifies as entertainment or something worth doing.

That said, this did happen a while ago. I am not sure why it's been brought up as recent news.

 

[tardcore]

Well sadly this kind of stalking behavior has been a problem with other forms of media for decades. Look at all the musicians and actors who have been targeted by it.

As to the whole 4chan flash mob hate scene, all I have to say is the best way to lose the privilege of free speech is to abuse the privilege of free speech.

 

[RJ 17]

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.

Yeah, I remember that interview, and I remember my reaction to it being "Well it seems like you shouldn't have gotten into the gaming business in the first place." Clearly this was someone who "settled" on their career rather than going with something they actually enjoyed. She said she enjoyed writing? Then she should have stuck to writing books...or at least writing for a different medium than one that you specifically dislike. "What's your least favorite thing about working in the gaming industry?" "The games." That'd be like asking Brad Pitt "What's your least favorite thing about working in the movie industry?" and having him say "Acting." Gee, maybe if she doesn't want people to just skip over the story that she worked hard on writing she should write stories for a medium where people CAN'T skip them? I dunno, just seemed to me like she was setting herself up for failure from the very start.

That said, the "nastier" side of the gaming community still pisses me off like nothing else. I mean seriously? You don't like a game so you start writing death threats? Or what about the guys sending death threats because a patch in CoD increased the reload time of their favorite gun from 1.03 seconds to 1.05? Who the hell ARE these people? It makes me feel like sending THEM death threats...or at the very least "You deserve a swift smack in the mouth" threats.

 

[Fappy]

OT: The Bioware fanbase is one of the most polarizing groups I've ever been apart of.

Agreed wholeheartedly. It is a very, very bizarre collective based upon the forums. Hell, they even chose to close down the Mass effect 3 character discussion forum because of how heated it got. You'd get fans of one character go into a thread about another just to troll the fans of them.

I am not sure "fans" is really the correct word for people such as this though. It makes it sound "better" than they are. If I worked for Bioware I'd be encouraging them not to buy the games just so they weren't associated any way with the company.

A persons life must be very sad if this qualifies as entertainment or something worth doing.

That said, this did happen a while ago. I am not sure why it's been brought up as recent news.

I used to post in the Mass Effect forums before the BSN existed (before ME2 came out I believe). It was a MUCH better place back then. I don't know when it happened, but the Bioware "fanbase" is somehow more insane than all the MOBA communities combined.

 

[EternallyBored]

So, from what it sounds like reading further into it, she claims that the threats had nothing to do with her leaving Bioware, so are the stories contradictory of what? This story is also old and seems to just be getting picked up on, as much as I don't like to call foul on things like this, the story seems to be deceptive for sensationalist purposes. Doesn't really excuse threatening someones kids though, that's just poor form.

Really with how hyperbolic the internet is just saying "death threats" has become kind of meaningless almost everybody of any note receives them and nearly none of them are ever acted upon even. This deluge unfortunately tends to blind people when an actual threat comes along, its like crying wolf enough and we start to overlook the actually dangerous threats as part of this internet background noise. I can't say I'm a fan of her writing, but it seems like she became the scapegoat for the entire DA2 story and even parts of the ME 3 story that didn't involve the ending (since that all got placed on Hudson). Her statements on not liking video games were the focusing lens that brought these crazies out of the woodwork, and (to them at least) gave them the perfect rallying cry to focus their hatred upon.

It's a problem of people taking things to extreme lengths, hyperbolic statements have been a part of the internet since it's birth. I imagine it's a function of its text based nature, it's hard to properly convey subtle emotions and plays on words so people take the route of least resistance and opt to use a literary sledgehammer with all their statements instead of learning to use subtler methods.

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to the problem, the best thing most individuals can do is to use their own text as an example to how others should behave, and to advocate for positive change when the opportunity arises; the moderators here do a pretty good job of banning people that make these types of threats, but 4chan is likely never going to take any systemic moderator action, so change there will have to come from its individual posters.

 

[RJ 17]

OT: The Bioware fanbase is one of the most polarizing hate-filled/disgruntled groups I've ever been apart of.

There, went ahead and fixed that up for you.

Seriously, at this point DA3 could have the most spectacular, awe-inspiring ending that will be talked about in gaming history books for years to come, held as a shining example of "THIS is how you end an RPG!" and I promise you there will still be people wanting to set the world on fire, murder babies in their sleep, and butcher puppies to make sandwiches for the annual "BURN BIOWARE BURN" BBQ because the ending was "OMFG SO FUCKING TERRIBLE I'M INSULTED ON A MENTAL, PHYSICAL, AND SPIRITUAL LEVEL!"

 

[Smeatza]

Isn't it exactly what I wrote? Getting attention has many facettes. If Jim Carrey wanted to entertain people, make them laugh then he went into the spotlight. His success just magnified the result.

Would you say that an amateur comedian at your local comedy club is a public figure?

Becoming a musician is also more often than not tied to having an audience. What the media made out of it is not the point I tried to make but that they willingly put themselfs up as potential targets for others.

Having an audience is not the same as being a public figure. If that were the case then members of school orchestras are public figures.
They did not "put themselves up" as public figures, but just did so well at their jobs (which involved audiences) that the media made public figures out of them.
Take Mike Skinner (The Streets) or Vin Diesel as examples, they both have jobs which involve massive audiences, but they also both do their best to avoid any kind of media contact, they stay out of the spotlight and avoid being public (or wholly public) figures.

Overall I agree with you. There was a lot that could have been done to prevent or at least limit the reactions. And I don't expect change to come instantly. I would just like to see any signs of change. And no matter how I try, whenever I look into gaming affairs I just don't see it. At all. Everything is the same shit it was years ago. In the end it just makes me sad.

I can certainly empathise. Sometimes it feels like a "one step forward two steps back" kind of deal.
I think the main failing here (aside from the fact that human nature can be really nasty sometimes) is on Bioware's side.

After all, Hepler made her twitter page private and couldn't just prevent publication of the interview. So she did all she could to cut herself off from the public eye, leaving the Bioware forums as the only remaining avenue.

Not only did they not (visibly) provide their employee with the necessary amount of support (if I'm not mistaken only a fraction of the accounts that gave abuse to Ms. Hepler had action taken against them). But they missed a prime opportunity to stand up to this kind of behaviour and make a statement to their legions of fans.

In spite of this Hepler kept calm and carried on, denying the abusers what they wanted. One step forward.
But one persistent abuser's focus on her children has caused her to feel she needs to leave to company (probably for her children's safety), giving the trolls what they were after. Two steps back.

 

[Eve Charm]

Really no one is exempt from this stupidity. I'd post the chat log I got yesterday on a game if it wouldn't get me warned or banned. Basically someone I didn't like because they have an attitude and way to demanding on a roleplaying game basically demanded I friend them, and to keep this PR friendly after politely declining and saying not exactly going to play with you it goes off the deep end with "[insult nationally here] say [bad person] was right about you people and should [ insert religion here ] to not go to [ said religion bad place with the rest of nationally]

Did that run me out of town? no did I sit and cry about it, no, Told them they got hit by the crazy train and I'm glad there is a block button.

People say crap, and people are all talk. We don't really need another Teenager in jail on watch because of crap people said on the internet tho either http://rt.com/usa/teen-facebook-arrested-prison-628/

 

[deathbydeath]

Am I the only person who realized that the Internet was the one making these threats? And that death threats on the Internet are essentially the common cold (ignore it for a few days and it goes away)? Hepler's just validating the trolls here, unless she wanted a different job and finally got an excuse.

 

[McMarbles]

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.

Facebook is proof you don't even need anonymity as part of the equation. There's just something about the Internet that turns people into assholes... and assholes into pulsating, maggot-infested mounds of living feces.

 

[shrekfan246]

But "I settled for this job" is how I took the interview as well. She's a writer, but wants people to "fast-forward" through her writing? Didn't sound like she took a whole lot of pride or interest in her work.

Except she said she wanted to skip through the combat to focus more heavily on the writing and dialogue.

OT: The Bioware fanbase is one of the most polarizing hate-filled/disgruntled groups I've ever been apart of.

There, went ahead and fixed that up for you.

Seriously, at this point DA3 could have the most spectacular, awe-inspiring ending that will be talked about in gaming history books for years to come, held as a shining example of "THIS is how you end an RPG!" and I promise you there will still be people wanting to set the world on fire, murder babies in their sleep, and butcher puppies to make sandwiches for the annual "BURN BIOWARE BURN" BBQ because the ending was "OMFG SO FUCKING TERRIBLE I'M INSULTED ON A MENTAL, PHYSICAL, AND SPIRITUAL LEVEL!"

Say nothing about the ending, it doesn't matter what the overall quality of Dragon Age Inquisition is as a whole, people are already claiming it's going to be terrible and that they won't buy it because of completely arbitrary reasons that, for some reason, make Bioware "stupid" and it's only going to get worse as the release date gets closer and closer.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

Okay so, yeah threats against your family are not pleasant.
But it's also the internet. These things have to be taken with a grain of salt. Sorry, but in the video game culture, trolling and outlandish statements derived from the benefit of anonymity are things you have to be thick skinned about. Chances are these people have no idea where you live, how to get to you, or anything else.

My biggest question is the timing of this.

Dragon Age II was what? THree years ago? Four? Sure, a new dragon age is rearing its head, but people have known this game is coming for a long time. Why is she NOW expressing concern enough to quit? What does she know (or think) about the game that we don't? And honestly, considering her past interview, I'm not sure she was ever in the right field to begin with.

My problem is that what good does it serve to quit NOW? The game is virtually complete in this stage, whatever damage that might have been wrought by her contribution to it is done now. If the game sucks, she is STILL going to get the blame and those same irate fans are just still going to blame/target her. In fact, now that she's culled herself from the heard in such a fashion, she is poised to be the focus of the MAJORITY of blame and conspiracy theories such as "SHE QUIT CAUSE SHE RUINED THE GAME AND SHE KNEW IT LOLZ!"

Not condoning anything. Just saying, imagine Cliffy B or B. Kotick's inboxes and the fact that both of them are still alive is a testament to the hot air empty threats of 99% of the game-o-sphere.

 

[RJ 17]

Yeah, I remember that interview, and I remember my reaction to it being "Well it seems like you shouldn't have gotten into the gaming business in the first place."

It's a pity about the threats against her kids, and I understand Hepler's reaction. Death threats are serious, illegal, and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

But "I settled for this job" is how I took the interview as well. She's a writer, but wants people to "fast-forward" through her writing? Didn't sound like she took a whole lot of pride or interest in her work.

Actually she said she wanted people to be able to fast-forward through the game just so they could get to the writing. "Games have a way to button-through dialogue so people who aren't interested in it can get back to the fun of the game. There should be a way to skip the combat so people who like the dialogue can just enjoy that." or something along those lines, too lazy to scroll back up and read the actual quote. xD

Still, that statement PROVES that she just settled on gaming. She's a writer and wants people to enjoy her stories, I completely understand that. Sooooooooo why is she writing in an industry where the story is, for the most part, entirely optional and can just be "buttoned-through"? Shouldn't she be writing, oh I don't know....BOOKS? Or at least something where the story CAN'T be skipped through? Maybe she did try writing stuff like that and no one was interested in publishing it. If that's the case, then maybe she shouldn't be a writer in the first place. I honestly don't know if that's the situation she was in - that the gaming industry being the only place she could get a job writing, having tried and not been accepted in other areas - but I do know this: you might love to cook, but if all you can cook is Macaroni & Cheese, no restaurant is going to hire you.

 

[RJ 17]

OT: The Bioware fanbase is one of the most polarizing hate-filled/disgruntled groups I've ever been apart of.

There, went ahead and fixed that up for you.

Seriously, at this point DA3 could have the most spectacular, awe-inspiring ending that will be talked about in gaming history books for years to come, held as a shining example of "THIS is how you end an RPG!" and I promise you there will still be people wanting to set the world on fire, murder babies in their sleep, and butcher puppies to make sandwiches for the annual "BURN BIOWARE BURN" BBQ because the ending was "OMFG SO FUCKING TERRIBLE I'M INSULTED ON A MENTAL, PHYSICAL, AND SPIRITUAL LEVEL!"

Say nothing about the ending, it doesn't matter what the overall quality of Dragon Age Inquisition is as a whole, people are already claiming it's going to be terrible and that they won't buy it because of completely arbitrary reasons that, for some reason, make Bioware "stupid" and it's only going to get worse as the release date gets closer and closer.

It really is a shame too. I'm a Bioware fan. I liked DA2, never had a HUGE problem with the ending to ME3, and yet I cringe at the thought of them releasing more games specifically because I know that there's a shitstorm on the horizon. Not from the game, which I fully expect I'll enjoy, but from the reaction to the game...be it warranted or not.

It really amazes me that these Bioware haters even play Bioware games. According to them, they've been getting kicked in the balls over and over again since Knights of the Old Republic I...soooooooo why do they keep buying their product if, apparently, they're just gonna get kicked in the balls again? Hate Mongers will monger hate, I suppose, even if doing so means they'll have to spend $60 just to have something new to hate.

 

[Jenny Jones]

I keep seeing things like this popping up and all of a sudden we get calls to police the internet, restrict this, restrict that and worst of all Mr Cameron (British PM) actively trying to filter out the internet through ignorance and laziness.

Now that doesn't mean I support the bullying and abuse, I don't support abuse or bullying, what I think is we need to stop reaching for the sledge hammer to fix something when we haven't applied our already robust laws on bullying, abuse and in-sighting public hatred to the problem.

I think what needs to be done is take a step back, figure out why people are doing douché things like that, name and shame them in their community and then see about prosecution under the current laws. If you say you can't find out who some of these people are then you're not trying. You could probably find out the actual identities of 90% of the people making these short sighted vile remarks.