Jimquisition: I'm Going To Murder Your Children

[Church185]

One small correction though, her quitting Bioware wasn't a direct result of the harassment she received, she quit because she is going to be making a text book about narrative design and doing other game related freelance work. Game news outlets have kind of run away with the story out of context.

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

Actually, he acknowledged that with a text blurb at 1:48.

Regardless of the reason why she left, it's still utterly ridiculous that she and her family received death threats over this. People that resort to such things are complete scum.

Whoops, I don't generally watch Jim's videos, I listen to them while I do other things so I totally missed that. I did agree that she shouldn't receive death threats for any reason, but the threats that everyone is talking about happened years ago and aren't the reason she left.

 

[Urh]

.

 

[templar1138a]

Speaking as one of the few people who actually loved Dragon Age II, learning about this appalling behavior (while not surprising) reduces the validity of any arguments made against the game now. It's like how the threats and abuse against Sarkeesian reduced the validity of anyone who wanted to argue against Tropes vs. Women in Video Games (which I haven't watched), even if they were approaching it objectively and were making well-constructed arguments.

 

[LetalisK]

I didn't know this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QLz0CqtMVc] still had to be passed around.

No, you're right, it doesn't need to be passed around, but because it's trite bullshit from a pseudo-intellectual asswipe.

 

[Simple Bluff]

That first paragraph is still true, and Jim himself actually sort of proves my point with his mention of all the men that have gotten death threats but haven't inadvertantly caused a massive stink or gotten extra special attention or quit their jobs. Where was his backing of those guys?

He made a bonus episode in defense of Phil Fish a couple of weeks (or so) ago. I won't link it though, I'm sure you can find it yourself if you take five seconds to check.

Anyway, in response to the video, I agree with most of the other posters who are saying that Jim is preaching to the choir. Except for the Phil Fish thing maybe. There's a lot of harsh things said on this site, but none of it personal. Perhaps a video about the perils of faux intellectualism would be more suitable?

EDIT:

I love Bad Dragon.com

I don't use their products... I don't want to give you that impression, but they are impressive and it is a mindblowing experience to even know a site like that can exist. The way they show scale is by putting coke cans next to their dildos... Coke cans!

I can't wait for next week.

I know there was more said in this episode, but I still haven't processed it yet...
They said they would murder her children...Because she likes writing more than playing videogames...
THAT'S A GOOD THING! SHE'S A WRITER! You want her to like writing.

So yeah... Dragon Tongue Dildo... Can't wait.

Ha, I read the first paragraph of your post and genuinely believed you were a spambot. I have nothing to add to your comment or anything, I just found it kinda funny.

 

[Necris Omega]

Wait, we're wailing on Dragon Age 2 here again? ... did I wake up like... what, a couple years ago somehow? And the writer? ... We're going to attack the one thing Bioware does better than any other company? ...

And... and blaming the actual development team and not the artless suits or soulless marketing robots who demanded they produce a worthy sequel to a game that all but spawned religions in a development time shorter than what some amateur game mods get? ...

And her children, her defenseless, unaffiliated children no less...

What in the food processor fucking hell is this?

How emotionally immature and unrestrained do you have to be to make these kinds of statements? It's one thing to take after a writer's work - get me started on Richard Knaak and I'll give you litany of insults and criticisms to eclipse War and Peace - but to outright say that their children should die because of it is beyond intolerable.

If the community of gamers is to ever get better we have to hold these assholes responsible. Shit like this cannot go unanswered and people should be held accountable. If the response the gaming community has to this is "well she should just suck it up and grow a pair" then every derogatory stereotype and foul, overblown negative fiction the world at large has of us becomes that much more justified.

I don't care whether or not you think her writing was worthy or not - when you take after a woman's children you make the rest of us look like sociopaths. It's apathy towards this shit that enables this shit, and I thank God that Jim's not willing to let it go.

 

[glider4]

I didn't know this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QLz0CqtMVc] still had to be passed around.

I was thinking of posting that actually. If anybody should be on this website, it's Instig8iveJournalism

 

[Playful Pony]

Ah, the Bad Dragon website, high up on my bookmarks list... Lots of really fun products that perfectly resonate with my bad girl fantasies X3.

I shall continue being a beacon of human kindness and perfection in the hopes of seing which one he has. I'm curious!

 

[K12]

A woman is threatened on the internet in a grossly disproportionate manner. I was wondering when we'd have a brouhaha about how some stupid people doing stupid people shit and one/some woman/women taking it all too seriously means that gaming is sexist and we're sexist.

BRB, gotta flaggelate.

And in case you're wondering, no I didn't watch past the first minute or so, there really isn't a need to at this point.

Lady Victim, evil sexists, misogyny, gaming needs to change, THE ISSUE, etc.

Edit: Well blow me down, I've since been convinced to watch the video and while the basis of the whole thing has only happened because someone thought it was acceptable to lay into a woman, the content itself managed to subvert expectations. Good work Jim I guess.

Too bad you didn't feel the pressing need to stand up and be the hero we apparently needed when all the men you mentioned were getting threatened with death, but better late than never I guess.

I can't believe that the main thing you took from this video is that the victim was a woman.

Have you not heard any of his stuff about how horribly Phil Fish was treated (including in this video). How can you square the idea that the feminist critics of games are reactionary when you act like this?

Turning a message of "threats like this are unquestionably unjustifiable" into an issue about gender and "poor me the feminists are being mean" purely because the victim is a woman is just ridiculous.

 

[MichaelMaverick]

"Hepler was a terrible writer for games that people waited for anxiously and put a lot of hope into."
"Phil Fish is an asshole who explicitly said he likes to provoke people and asked for everything he got."
"Some reviews are inherently more or less acceptable based on how objectively analytical and intellectually honest their writers were, and some of those writers should not have their jobs."

These are all positions that someone could hold (and they'd hold them correctly). It's understandable to get emotional over them as they pertain to things that people care about, plus they sometimes have very legitimate reasons for believing these things that can't be dismissed as simple idiocy/immaturity/biggotry etc. I wish Jim and others who oppose these movements would try more to understand these reasons instead of immediately jumping to fighting fire with fire at all cost. Speaking pragmatically, I don't think Jim has accomplished much with this episode at all, only made more people pissed off even more intensely. Despite what he said, this episode didn't NEED to be done.

There. With that said, I completely AGREE that death threats, insults and childish rage are despicable, distasteful and don't belong in a discussion between adults. THAT'S the part of the video I agree with. I just wish Jim didn't use it as a strawman to attack legitimate opinions, didn't twist the truth and tried to understand the opposition just a LITTLE bit better.

 

[Raika]

When Jim winked at the end, I kind of came a little. This is probably not the best episode of the show to say this, but he's never looked directly at me and winked before.

 

[Reeve]

No, we really didn't have to do an episode about that. What the fuck is there to say on this topic? Jim, I am always looking forward your show to hear something insightful about the game industry. These pointless fillers about internet rage are well, completely pointless.

Maybe next time.

You miss the point: It's easy pickings. Why do a detailed analysis of the game industry when you can make a video saying "FUCK YOU TROLLS. STOP TROLLING!" and get paid exactly the same?

 

[Ishal]

Fair points all around, but I wish you wouldn't have cast such a wide net Jim. It's not gamers... its some gamers. A tiny vocal minority on the /v/ boards and elsewhere. The audience is not going to make these creative individuals' lives harder... some of the audience will, but certainly not all and not even close to the majority. This no excuse for their behavior, its reprehensible. But to imply that nothing will fill the void in the wake of someone like Hepler leaving is hyperbole. Tons of people go to school to learn this stuff and are chomping at the bits to get into the industry. Gaming as medium is at the best its ever been right now for a plethora of reasons.

Sometimes the community sucks, and steps need to be taken to stop the nonsense. But when asked about a hobby I partake in I'm still going to call myself a gamer. I'm not going to let a tiny angry minority make me ashamed of the rest of the good gaming can and does do.

 

[ChrowX]

Wasn't it revealed that she quit for family reasons and to do some freelance work and write a book on narrative design?

I know there was some initial sensationalism going on here and that Jennifer Hepler did get a lot of shit.. a LOT of shit for her hand in Dragon Age 2 and her hand in BioWare's writing process, but wasn't that years ago? The whole issue has been done and dead for a while now. I see no reason why anyone would suddenly dredge up this particular hate campaign.

 

[Lilani]

I didn't know this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QLz0CqtMVc] still had to be passed around.

Which Jim addresses in the video, explaining that while she may not have quit for that specific reason, that does not make this behavior in any way okay. Not in her case, not in anyone's case.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

This episode is really kind of pointless, everybody with a brain already knows that this kind of behavior is bad and the rest are too stupid to ever understand that.

It's not entirely useless; the gaming culture has had to live with its purported immaturity for a long time, but the thing is I'm not an awkward teen any longer. Being an adult, I have to behave as such, even in the confines of a pastime of mine. Those of us who can reason need to speak out, for fear that the media will consistently portray us as immature. Those idiots who threaten CoD devs over weapon rebalances have deeper issues to work through than I will ever have - and they have the gall of being in my age range or to hold down jobs that require social interactions - something which I wouldn't recommend to any confirmed rager or rage-quitter.

The medium itself has matured, but the players haven't. Life doesn't revolve around sweet 360 noscope shots or trick grenade tosses. No employer will ever care if someone mentions they've Prestiged in Black Ops II for a straight month. The MLG circuit can't be counted on as a serious breadwinner if you're going to be unsportsmanlike about your wins or losses.

I could go on like this for quite a while. It's not so much the ragers who need to be reformed as the general public that needs to understand that gaming is like coffee: you can enjoy your daily two or three cups, or you can go freaking Honoré de Balzac over your java and land yourself an A-grade cardiac arrest that cuts your career woefully short. Let's all learn to ignore the dipshits, gamers and non-gamers alike.

 

[Brian Tams]

And yet Gamers throw a hissy fit when the media brands us as psychotic mass-murderers waiting to happen.

Gee, I wonder why. Can't possibly be all the death threats we tend to throw at developers we hate, now can it?