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On one hand, nobody should have the presumption of work-life independence on social media. If I go to a restaurant and act like a real jerk on Twitter and talk
by rm_-rf_slash 8y ago
On one hand, nobody should have the presumption of work-life independence on social media. If I go to a restaurant and act like a real jerk on Twitter and talk trash about the food and service without restraint or civility, I should not be surprised if my boss calls me in the next day to talk about how I am implicitly representing my employer’s institution, even though that has nothing to do with my job.
That being said, the response from ArenaNet was beyond disappointing. Any two-bit boss could have convinced the developer to write an “I’m Sorry, There Were Valid Criticisms from the Guild Wars Community” blog/Medium post, told the developer to keep quiet on social media for a while, and let the whole thing breeze by.
Instead, the boss decides to not only intensify the issue (and make the company look easily bullied by a loud minority of players), but hands ammunition to the online gaming rage mob to shut down or kick out anybody they don’t like.
And this is all well post-GamerGate. The implications of sexism are too obvious.
Bad move, ArenaNet.
- rellui 8y ago"The implications of sexism are too obvious." How do you see this? ArenaNet fired Peter Fries (male) for doing the exact same thing.
- rm_-rf_slash 8y agoIt’s naive to think that in a post-GamerGate world, an enraged internet hate mob wouldnt attack a female developer for the slightest provocation. It’s awful and it’s ugly but it happens far too often to deny the presence of toxic sexism, even if the instigators didn’t engage in sexism to begin with. The mob then in turns threatens the company and scares executives into using blunt maneuvers to avoid extended online hate campaigns that can hurt sales, which are particularly sensitive in gaming because the capital costs for games are so high. Price was fired for defending her from said mob.
- wolco 8y agoWould it matter if the reddit group was all female or if this person was a male? No the person still should be fired.
- rm_-rf_slash 8y agoI think you missed my original point. Nobody should believe in the existence of work-life social media independence. It’s a myth, like the Loch Ness Monster. But it was an angry internet mob that caused the situation to resolve with firing. If the developer and the streamer had their disagreements - even nasty disagreements - and nobody else paid attention, then the developers would not have lost their jobs.
- LyndsySimon 8y ago> That being said, the response from ArenaNet was beyond disappointing. Any two-bit boss could have convinced the developer to write an “I’m Sorry, There Were Valid Criticisms from the Guild Wars Community” blog/Medium post, told the developer to keep quiet on social media for a while, and let the whole thing breeze by. Do we know that wasn't the case? Is it not possible that Price refuse to issue such a statement or to change her behavior?