7 ms·

Gamers Launch Harassment Campaign Against BioWare Writer

45 points by Lazare 15y ago

f4stjack 15y ago
Wow... I am astounded. In an age where computer games nearly rival, or surpass, movies in terms of storytelling; a game developer gets harassed because she prefers storytelling aspect over combat. But seriously, we deserve it. For some people gameplay = combat; not the experience lived with it and at the core of this problem lies fps-ification of everything. Gone the days of Monkey Island and Beneath a Steel Sky. We need oodles of guns and/or breasts in our games. No need to think or read, we need blamming! If it's medieval we need badass swords and breasts; if it's modern we need guns and ammo and breasts! Story? What do you mean "story"? Who needs story when you have enemies to turn into offal. It is sad to see this train of thought is dominant in gamers nowadays.
- kevingadd 15y ago
  It's unfair to say it's dominant. The problem is that EA management forces BioWare to aim for the (admittedly, quite large) segment of the gaming population that loves playing a big burly man who shoots other big burly men, because those games make an absolute truckload of money. It may be true that Modern Warfare and Gears of War are absurdly profitable franchises - that's why BioWare is slowly turning Mass Effect into those games - but that doesn't mean that other types of games aren't popular, or that the average gamer only wants to play those games. You need only look at the most popular games on Steam to see evidence otherwise. An important thing to consider, though, is whether Hepler's agenda - admirable though it may be - is actually right for Mass Effect or any of BioWare's games. If BioWare's customers want games that are heavy on gameplay and not story, trying to build a pure story game is probably unwise, unless your goal is to drive away all your existing customers and try to find new ones. You can do that, but it's usually not a good business strategy, and my wager is that EA shareholders wouldn't approve of it. If you look at the trajectory of BioWare's games, over time, they've shed their gameplay sophistication, branching paths, and depth in favor of accessibility, action, and high production values. The emphasis on shooting men with guns (or, in the case of Dragon Age, stabbing men with swords) came along with that because those themes are wildly successful in modern sci-fi/fantasy films and test well with focus groups. When BioWare's remaining fans (not to mention former fans who were driven away by the new focus) hear a BioWare staffer calling for the games to have less gameplay, they're going to see that as someone driving their games further away from the classics that many people remember BioWare for - like Baldur's Gate. And it's no surprise to see a negative response for that. As far as the content of the actual community response, I don't think it even bears mentioning that the sexism is unacceptable. Unfortunately, the community as a whole will likely never move past this, because games are popular with youth and the emotionally immature instead of just with adults.
  - scott_s 15y ago
    You're assuming that BioWare's change of direction is because of EA. That is, you're assuming it's not what BioWare wants to do of their own accord. Is that your assumption, or have you heard either EA or BioWare say that is the case?
- bmuon 15y ago
  A lot of people think playability = gameplay = fun (more precisely _their_ concept of fun). Games are very personal. People take them personally, for some reason think their way of having fun is the only way, and are very vocal about it.
electromagnetic 15y ago
Personally, being a writer, I can see where she's coming from. Bioware is lauded for its story telling and despite being an avid FPS player, I'm not playing Mass Effect or Dragon Age solely for the combat. If I was forced to choose I'd take a story only game for these, because brain-dead "these are bad guys, shoot them" are a dime a dozen. I bought Mass Effect 2 almost six months before it got into my list of games I was playing, because I love the story. I play the Halo series over any other FPS because I love the story. I don't play CoD anymore because it voided the use of story almost a decade ago. What I hate is seeing moronic, misogynistic, homophobic, redditards do this to a woman who's likely being part of the driving force for making Biowares female characters "real".
- true_religion 15y ago
  For that matter, she's probably the driving force in making Biowares male characters seem "real".
- DanBC 15y ago
  You're not alone. [strike]We've recently seen Doublefine raise millions of dollars by offering to create a story-driven game.[/strike] Edit: I agree with kevingadd below.
  - kevingadd 15y ago
    Point and click adventure games aren't story-driven, they're puzzle-driven (or to be more general, gameplay-driven). If you watch the discussion between Tim and Ron that's a part of the Kickstarter, they discuss this exact topic.
- Argorak 15y ago
  * WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER * I loved Mass Effect I & II as well, but lets name their problem: they are padded with boring gameplay. Most of the fights are utterly forgettable (corridor, enemies, your gun, their gun, repeat, end dialogue), the Mako was the worst vehicle ever driven in a game and firing probes on planets - no word about that. When the gameplay actually worked and was interweaved with the storytelling (for example the possibility to skip parts of the boss fight by Mass Effect I by convincing Saren of his evil), it was truly great. I think its time that Bioware managed to cut back on meaningless fights and only allowed interesting battle situations (for example, the ascend to the final fight in Mass Effect I - it was quick, great layout and it had a story to tell: our heroes climbing the final mountain). I wouldn't want to skip them, but often it felt like "and now kill 20 enemies, because its a shooter we play, here!". Especially in Mass Effect 2, where sidestories all followed the same scheme. Oh, about the female/male stuff: I think Mass Effect and Dragon Age are the only franchises that take relationships and gender seriously. I never played the romances in Mass Effect II because I didn't want to break my promise from the first game and the game took note of it - now, thats decision making.
voidr 15y ago
If you don't have to actually play a game like Dragon Age(by being able to skip combat), it just becomes an interactive movie. I think having really low difficulty levels is lot better than taking the gameplay out of the game, of course you can do that too but you can't really call it a game then. I really love Dragon Age Origins for it's synergy between interesting gameplay and story telling.
- dagw 15y ago
  If you don't have to actually play a game like Dragon Age(by being able to skip combat), it just becomes an interactive movie. And why would that be a bad thing? No one would be forcing you to skip combat. Personally I'd love a feature like that. I obviously wouldn't use it on every level, but being able to skip that dull, tedious level I just can't get past, so that I can get on with the rest of the game (and story) would be great.
- danso 15y ago
  iIRC, Bioware games have dialogue trees. Choosing your path seems to qualify as gameplay, just as clicking "Attack" in a turn based RPG counts as gameplay
- f4stjack 15y ago
  Combat mechanics are not gameplay but a smoke-and-mirrors thing, you think you are in control but seriously the games are nothing but interactive movies IMHO: they follow a fixed script; if you die on a combat sequence you will return to a near save point, go into the same combat again, do the required keyboard/button tapping magic and as a well done you are awarded with more control time where you spend it to go to the next objective, there you will meet another combat instance and rinse repeat until you see the ending cinematic. few games break this and offer you true sandboxy play, which I believe is a total break from an interactive movie-type play. you only know yourself and you have no objectives set apart from you set for yourself.
- SideburnsOfDoom 15y ago
  > If you don't have to actually play a game like Dragon Age(by being able to skip combat), it just becomes an interactive movie. ... can't really call it a game then. You can call it what you like, but the important point is this: will people pay money to play it? Interact with it. Watch it. Whatever. I don’t know the answer, but TFA makes a good case that this is about "making games more accessible and inclusive" i.e. making experiences that more people will pay for. I think the combat in Skyrim is too easy, but from a social point of view it's interesting for this reason: It's over 100 hours of entertainment for less then the price of 2 movies.
true_religion 15y ago
Granted what the players are doing to harass her in her personal life is ridiculous and ought to be stopped, but lets consider what she said. We have a writer with a high degree of influence on a game development staff, claiming that she does not enjoy playing games. This to me is a PR failure. Some industries can get away with being indifferent to their work (e.g. no one cares if you love making widgets so long as they're good widgets), but entertainment products such as books, movies, and games are naturally expected to be "labors of love". Can you imagine a studio director coming out to say that he doesn't watch movies? If she or anyone else on her team doesn't like their product, they ought to keep it to themselves for PR value alone.
- danso 15y ago
  Do you have the actual quote and context at hand? Because this seems to be a statement with a high degree of nuance. I'm pretty sure that at some point, Steve Jobs said statements that made it sound like he hated the way computers were designed. Doesn't mean he should've been fired from Apple.
  - true_religion 15y ago
    The interview is supposed to say this: > "What is your least favorite thing about working in the industry? > 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. While I enjoy the interactive aspects of gaming, if a game doesn't have a good story, it's very hard for me to get interested in playing it. Similarly, 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. This makes it very difficult for me to play to the myriad games I really should be keeping up on as our competition." However the link to the real interview is dead[1]. The only posting available is a copy from the BioWare forum 12 months ago[2]. I'll admit that the long-form really softens up the impact. It give her nuance and personality, and its hard to shamelessly hate someone you understand unless ofcourse, you willfully choose to selectively remember the worst of what they say. [1] http://killerbetties.com/killer_women_jennifer_hepler/?page=0%2C0 http://killerbetties.com/killer_women_jennifer_hepler/?page=... [2]http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6605174/ http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6605174/
upthedale 15y ago
A more in-depth article was previously posted on HN: http://www.themarysue.com/inclusion-what-jennifer-heplers-story-is-all-about/ http://www.themarysue.com/inclusion-what-jennifer-heplers-st... HN discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3618301 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3618301
koningrobot 15y ago
From the "About Us" blurb: The Border House is a blog for gamers. It's a blog for those who are feminist, queer, disabled, people of color, transgender, poor, gay, lesbian, and others who belong to marginalized groups, as well as allies. From the article: But more importantly, she’s talking about making games more inclusive and suggesting that people play games for different reasons and in different ways. This is at the heart of why the misogynerds are so angry: the industry is changing, it’s been changing for a long time, and it’s no longer the sole domain of misogynist nerds like them.
- rmc 15y ago
  … and? I don't understand what you're trying to say?
  - orangecat 15y ago
    The article starts out reasonably, but by the end it's making the same sort of baseless and hostile stereotypes that it was justifiably attacking. If you do like combat in games you're an "arsehole", and if you don't like the trend of skill-free "social" time sinks, you're a misogynist.
  - koningrobot 15y ago
    That first they get on the high horse of respecting everyone, and then they slam a particular minority. They even came up with a condescending word for it: misogynerds.
    - rmc 15y ago
      The "minority" you're talking about is not a minority in gaming. They are the majority.
    - ugh 15y ago
      Those people are not a minority. They are the clear majority and until a few years ago dominated everything.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- pantaloons 15y ago
  This is complete rubbish. You've managed turn something that has absolutely nothing to do with gender into a gender issue, replete with ad hominem attacks, gross over generalizations, bad faith assumptions, and a vague anecdotal psychoanalysis. Anybody familiar with the circumstances of Bioware, in particular their perceived decline post-acquisition should be able to see through this. We have a woman who works on the writing staff for a game company in decline, saying that she does not enjoy playing games. Done, finished. Fans of said company would blame the orator regardless of gender, the smoke, mirrors, and shouts of sexism merely serve to enrage people further.
  - ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
    Oh but... do you know what she did! She did this and that and so and so and you don't understand ! Those poor men had a very legitimate reason to send threatening calls and emails to her over a video game interview! And somehow like the others you're justifying her getting calls and emails and threats and having a whole community gang up on her because of a video game comment she made years ago. Amazing. You still don't get it. Not one bit of it. But I don't blame you, nor do I look down on you. Testosterone is one hell of a hormone.
    - mattmanser 15y ago
      Neither do you. It's not testosterone. It's a bunch of fans expressing their dismay, much like Phantom Menace was savaged. And then a tiny few being completely disgusting. And that's who you're focusing on and then saying that's what all of reddit is like. Totally ignoring subreddits like 2XChromosome. It's disturbing that you're painting with such a broad brush and then calling it insightful.
      - ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
        You are right. I'm painting with a brush MUCH too broad. And a LOT of this is personal. Being a feminine little guy my whole life, I had a LOT of friends that were girls, had I been gay I think they wouldn't have pulled away from me when they got boyfriends and we still would have been friends. So I began to have more friends that were guys and this allowed me to get a good look at both the female and male worlds. And after seeing both sides of the gender spectrum and seeing how men treat and talk about women behind their backs and how women treat and talk about men. I have to say there is an INSANE amount of sexism on the part of the men. Not the blatant "go to the kitchen and make me a sandwich" kind. But a more subtle kind that has to do with blame, anger direction, and superiority. And every single male I know is just completely oblivious to it. They just don't see it. They can't. "It's a bunch of fans expressing their dismay". From my personal life experiences, dismay expressed towards a girl is much worse than a guy. The girl won't get up and kick your ass, the guy might. So when women mess up, it's much easier to go bat shit crazy on them. There's lots of examples of it happening the other way around but for me, my particular life experiences have shown heavily that females just get yelled the fuck out for things that men would get a slap on the wrist for. Look I'm not trying to be a "oh the poor women victims, look at me on my white horse coming in to save them" and all that bullshit. I just wish just once, every man in the world could be aware of his male privilege and inadvertent sexism. I see it so often, I see it in my friends, in my FATHER, in my neighbors. I'm so sick of this thick headed male I didn't do anything wrong / I don't know what you're talking about crap. Seeing it a few times and it annoys you, a few years and it bothers you, seeing it from a young age to an adult and it drives you absolutely insane. And that's what it's doing to me now.
hengli 15y ago
I haven't played video games in a long time. Exactly as that writer says I find combat dreadfully dull. I wouldn't play any bioware games unless a no-combat mode is possible. But there is a genre of entertainment that's perfect for me. It's called Visual Novels. It combines all the best parts of multiple media with the interactivity of gaming. A popular visual novel you might've heard of is Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney. There's a ton more in that genre. Here's a HTML5 example: http://visualnoveldai.com/visualnovels/narcissu http://visualnoveldai.com/visualnovels/narcissu
cabalamat 15y ago
If people don't like BioWare, they should simply play other games. There are different games that appeal to people with different tastes, and that's a good thing. Their attitude seems to be like someone who complains that a particular novel or TV program doesn't appeal to them, as if the writers had some sort of moral obligation to appeal to that particular person.

45 points by Lazare 15y ago

Wow... I am astounded. In an age where computer games nearly rival, or surpass, movies in terms of storytelling; a game developer gets harassed because she prefers storytelling aspect over combat. But seriously, we deserve it. For some people gameplay = combat; not the experience lived with it and at the core of this problem lies fps-ification of everything. Gone the days of Monkey Island and Beneath a Steel Sky. We need oodles of guns and/or breasts in our games. No need to think or read, we need blamming! If it's medieval we need badass swords and breasts; if it's modern we need guns and ammo and breasts! Story? What do you mean "story"? Who needs story when you have enemies to turn into offal. It is sad to see this train of thought is dominant in gamers nowadays.

kevingadd 15y ago
It's unfair to say it's dominant. The problem is that EA management forces BioWare to aim for the (admittedly, quite large) segment of the gaming population that loves playing a big burly man who shoots other big burly men, because those games make an absolute truckload of money. It may be true that Modern Warfare and Gears of War are absurdly profitable franchises - that's why BioWare is slowly turning Mass Effect into those games - but that doesn't mean that other types of games aren't popular, or that the average gamer only wants to play those games. You need only look at the most popular games on Steam to see evidence otherwise. An important thing to consider, though, is whether Hepler's agenda - admirable though it may be - is actually right for Mass Effect or any of BioWare's games. If BioWare's customers want games that are heavy on gameplay and not story, trying to build a pure story game is probably unwise, unless your goal is to drive away all your existing customers and try to find new ones. You can do that, but it's usually not a good business strategy, and my wager is that EA shareholders wouldn't approve of it. If you look at the trajectory of BioWare's games, over time, they've shed their gameplay sophistication, branching paths, and depth in favor of accessibility, action, and high production values. The emphasis on shooting men with guns (or, in the case of Dragon Age, stabbing men with swords) came along with that because those themes are wildly successful in modern sci-fi/fantasy films and test well with focus groups. When BioWare's remaining fans (not to mention former fans who were driven away by the new focus) hear a BioWare staffer calling for the games to have less gameplay, they're going to see that as someone driving their games further away from the classics that many people remember BioWare for - like Baldur's Gate. And it's no surprise to see a negative response for that. As far as the content of the actual community response, I don't think it even bears mentioning that the sexism is unacceptable. Unfortunately, the community as a whole will likely never move past this, because games are popular with youth and the emotionally immature instead of just with adults.
- scott_s 15y ago
  You're assuming that BioWare's change of direction is because of EA. That is, you're assuming it's not what BioWare wants to do of their own accord. Is that your assumption, or have you heard either EA or BioWare say that is the case?
bmuon 15y ago
A lot of people think playability = gameplay = fun (more precisely _their_ concept of fun). Games are very personal. People take them personally, for some reason think their way of having fun is the only way, and are very vocal about it.

electromagnetic 15y ago

Personally, being a writer, I can see where she's coming from. Bioware is lauded for its story telling and despite being an avid FPS player, I'm not playing Mass Effect or Dragon Age solely for the combat. If I was forced to choose I'd take a story only game for these, because brain-dead "these are bad guys, shoot them" are a dime a dozen. I bought Mass Effect 2 almost six months before it got into my list of games I was playing, because I love the story. I play the Halo series over any other FPS because I love the story. I don't play CoD anymore because it voided the use of story almost a decade ago. What I hate is seeing moronic, misogynistic, homophobic, redditards do this to a woman who's likely being part of the driving force for making Biowares female characters "real".

true_religion 15y ago
For that matter, she's probably the driving force in making Biowares male characters seem "real".
DanBC 15y ago
You're not alone. [strike]We've recently seen Doublefine raise millions of dollars by offering to create a story-driven game.[/strike] Edit: I agree with kevingadd below.
- kevingadd 15y ago
  Point and click adventure games aren't story-driven, they're puzzle-driven (or to be more general, gameplay-driven). If you watch the discussion between Tim and Ron that's a part of the Kickstarter, they discuss this exact topic.
Argorak 15y ago
* WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER * I loved Mass Effect I & II as well, but lets name their problem: they are padded with boring gameplay. Most of the fights are utterly forgettable (corridor, enemies, your gun, their gun, repeat, end dialogue), the Mako was the worst vehicle ever driven in a game and firing probes on planets - no word about that. When the gameplay actually worked and was interweaved with the storytelling (for example the possibility to skip parts of the boss fight by Mass Effect I by convincing Saren of his evil), it was truly great. I think its time that Bioware managed to cut back on meaningless fights and only allowed interesting battle situations (for example, the ascend to the final fight in Mass Effect I - it was quick, great layout and it had a story to tell: our heroes climbing the final mountain). I wouldn't want to skip them, but often it felt like "and now kill 20 enemies, because its a shooter we play, here!". Especially in Mass Effect 2, where sidestories all followed the same scheme. Oh, about the female/male stuff: I think Mass Effect and Dragon Age are the only franchises that take relationships and gender seriously. I never played the romances in Mass Effect II because I didn't want to break my promise from the first game and the game took note of it - now, thats decision making.

voidr 15y ago

If you don't have to actually play a game like Dragon Age(by being able to skip combat), it just becomes an interactive movie. I think having really low difficulty levels is lot better than taking the gameplay out of the game, of course you can do that too but you can't really call it a game then. I really love Dragon Age Origins for it's synergy between interesting gameplay and story telling.

dagw 15y ago
If you don't have to actually play a game like Dragon Age(by being able to skip combat), it just becomes an interactive movie. And why would that be a bad thing? No one would be forcing you to skip combat. Personally I'd love a feature like that. I obviously wouldn't use it on every level, but being able to skip that dull, tedious level I just can't get past, so that I can get on with the rest of the game (and story) would be great.
danso 15y ago
iIRC, Bioware games have dialogue trees. Choosing your path seems to qualify as gameplay, just as clicking "Attack" in a turn based RPG counts as gameplay
f4stjack 15y ago
Combat mechanics are not gameplay but a smoke-and-mirrors thing, you think you are in control but seriously the games are nothing but interactive movies IMHO: they follow a fixed script; if you die on a combat sequence you will return to a near save point, go into the same combat again, do the required keyboard/button tapping magic and as a well done you are awarded with more control time where you spend it to go to the next objective, there you will meet another combat instance and rinse repeat until you see the ending cinematic. few games break this and offer you true sandboxy play, which I believe is a total break from an interactive movie-type play. you only know yourself and you have no objectives set apart from you set for yourself.
SideburnsOfDoom 15y ago
> If you don't have to actually play a game like Dragon Age(by being able to skip combat), it just becomes an interactive movie. ... can't really call it a game then. You can call it what you like, but the important point is this: will people pay money to play it? Interact with it. Watch it. Whatever. I don’t know the answer, but TFA makes a good case that this is about "making games more accessible and inclusive" i.e. making experiences that more people will pay for. I think the combat in Skyrim is too easy, but from a social point of view it's interesting for this reason: It's over 100 hours of entertainment for less then the price of 2 movies.

true_religion 15y ago

Granted what the players are doing to harass her in her personal life is ridiculous and ought to be stopped, but lets consider what she said. We have a writer with a high degree of influence on a game development staff, claiming that she does not enjoy playing games. This to me is a PR failure. Some industries can get away with being indifferent to their work (e.g. no one cares if you love making widgets so long as they're good widgets), but entertainment products such as books, movies, and games are naturally expected to be "labors of love". Can you imagine a studio director coming out to say that he doesn't watch movies? If she or anyone else on her team doesn't like their product, they ought to keep it to themselves for PR value alone.

danso 15y ago
Do you have the actual quote and context at hand? Because this seems to be a statement with a high degree of nuance. I'm pretty sure that at some point, Steve Jobs said statements that made it sound like he hated the way computers were designed. Doesn't mean he should've been fired from Apple.
- true_religion 15y ago
  The interview is supposed to say this: > "What is your least favorite thing about working in the industry? > 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. While I enjoy the interactive aspects of gaming, if a game doesn't have a good story, it's very hard for me to get interested in playing it. Similarly, 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. This makes it very difficult for me to play to the myriad games I really should be keeping up on as our competition." However the link to the real interview is dead[1]. The only posting available is a copy from the BioWare forum 12 months ago[2]. I'll admit that the long-form really softens up the impact. It give her nuance and personality, and its hard to shamelessly hate someone you understand unless ofcourse, you willfully choose to selectively remember the worst of what they say. [1] http://killerbetties.com/killer_women_jennifer_hepler/?page=0%2C0 http://killerbetties.com/killer_women_jennifer_hepler/?page=... [2]http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6605174/ http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6605174/

upthedale 15y ago

A more in-depth article was previously posted on HN: http://www.themarysue.com/inclusion-what-jennifer-heplers-story-is-all-about/ http://www.themarysue.com/inclusion-what-jennifer-heplers-st... HN discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3618301 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3618301

koningrobot 15y ago

From the "About Us" blurb: The Border House is a blog for gamers. It's a blog for those who are feminist, queer, disabled, people of color, transgender, poor, gay, lesbian, and others who belong to marginalized groups, as well as allies. From the article: But more importantly, she’s talking about making games more inclusive and suggesting that people play games for different reasons and in different ways. This is at the heart of why the misogynerds are so angry: the industry is changing, it’s been changing for a long time, and it’s no longer the sole domain of misogynist nerds like them.

rmc 15y ago
… and? I don't understand what you're trying to say?
- orangecat 15y ago
  The article starts out reasonably, but by the end it's making the same sort of baseless and hostile stereotypes that it was justifiably attacking. If you do like combat in games you're an "arsehole", and if you don't like the trend of skill-free "social" time sinks, you're a misogynist.
- koningrobot 15y ago
  That first they get on the high horse of respecting everyone, and then they slam a particular minority. They even came up with a condescending word for it: misogynerds.
  - rmc 15y ago
    The "minority" you're talking about is not a minority in gaming. They are the majority.
  - ugh 15y ago
    Those people are not a minority. They are the clear majority and until a few years ago dominated everything.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

pantaloons 15y ago
This is complete rubbish. You've managed turn something that has absolutely nothing to do with gender into a gender issue, replete with ad hominem attacks, gross over generalizations, bad faith assumptions, and a vague anecdotal psychoanalysis. Anybody familiar with the circumstances of Bioware, in particular their perceived decline post-acquisition should be able to see through this. We have a woman who works on the writing staff for a game company in decline, saying that she does not enjoy playing games. Done, finished. Fans of said company would blame the orator regardless of gender, the smoke, mirrors, and shouts of sexism merely serve to enrage people further.
- ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
  Oh but... do you know what she did! She did this and that and so and so and you don't understand ! Those poor men had a very legitimate reason to send threatening calls and emails to her over a video game interview! And somehow like the others you're justifying her getting calls and emails and threats and having a whole community gang up on her because of a video game comment she made years ago. Amazing. You still don't get it. Not one bit of it. But I don't blame you, nor do I look down on you. Testosterone is one hell of a hormone.
  - mattmanser 15y ago
    Neither do you. It's not testosterone. It's a bunch of fans expressing their dismay, much like Phantom Menace was savaged. And then a tiny few being completely disgusting. And that's who you're focusing on and then saying that's what all of reddit is like. Totally ignoring subreddits like 2XChromosome. It's disturbing that you're painting with such a broad brush and then calling it insightful.
    - ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
      You are right. I'm painting with a brush MUCH too broad. And a LOT of this is personal. Being a feminine little guy my whole life, I had a LOT of friends that were girls, had I been gay I think they wouldn't have pulled away from me when they got boyfriends and we still would have been friends. So I began to have more friends that were guys and this allowed me to get a good look at both the female and male worlds. And after seeing both sides of the gender spectrum and seeing how men treat and talk about women behind their backs and how women treat and talk about men. I have to say there is an INSANE amount of sexism on the part of the men. Not the blatant "go to the kitchen and make me a sandwich" kind. But a more subtle kind that has to do with blame, anger direction, and superiority. And every single male I know is just completely oblivious to it. They just don't see it. They can't. "It's a bunch of fans expressing their dismay". From my personal life experiences, dismay expressed towards a girl is much worse than a guy. The girl won't get up and kick your ass, the guy might. So when women mess up, it's much easier to go bat shit crazy on them. There's lots of examples of it happening the other way around but for me, my particular life experiences have shown heavily that females just get yelled the fuck out for things that men would get a slap on the wrist for. Look I'm not trying to be a "oh the poor women victims, look at me on my white horse coming in to save them" and all that bullshit. I just wish just once, every man in the world could be aware of his male privilege and inadvertent sexism. I see it so often, I see it in my friends, in my FATHER, in my neighbors. I'm so sick of this thick headed male I didn't do anything wrong / I don't know what you're talking about crap. Seeing it a few times and it annoys you, a few years and it bothers you, seeing it from a young age to an adult and it drives you absolutely insane. And that's what it's doing to me now.

hengli 15y ago

I haven't played video games in a long time. Exactly as that writer says I find combat dreadfully dull. I wouldn't play any bioware games unless a no-combat mode is possible. But there is a genre of entertainment that's perfect for me. It's called Visual Novels. It combines all the best parts of multiple media with the interactivity of gaming. A popular visual novel you might've heard of is Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney. There's a ton more in that genre. Here's a HTML5 example: http://visualnoveldai.com/visualnovels/narcissu http://visualnoveldai.com/visualnovels/narcissu

cabalamat 15y ago

If people don't like BioWare, they should simply play other games. There are different games that appeal to people with different tastes, and that's a good thing. Their attitude seems to be like someone who complains that a particular novel or TV program doesn't appeal to them, as if the writers had some sort of moral obligation to appeal to that particular person.