BioWare - Of Jennifer Hepler, Trolls and Hate mail

[SpoonFULL]

It is indeed unacceptable, and she suffered because of her honesty and good intentions in interviews (which is not the best thing to do in current, commercially driven climate), and because she actually was responding to player comments. You don't see the big Drs in Bioware responding to player comments and even if they do respond, they respond in a same way a politician would respond (translated: without honesty, integrity, or self shame, and double faced .. etc.).

 

[Thrasher]

Yeah, it's very bad behavior, even if I don't agree with her.

 

[MasterKromm]

Well said, this whole thing stinks of scape-goat/angry co-worker, also bashing the fat kid.

Well said? I think her response was as juvenile as the attack on her person, and hopefully not an indication of her writing skills… If I were to respond to her assumption as a troll might, it would be that one should not mistake quantity for quality.

At least this nonsense opened up some interesting discourse.

But - do note that such writing can be perfectly appropriate in a game that doesn't deviate much from traditional linear writing. So, again, in the case of Bioware - I don't think it's a big problem. They tend to approach stories like you would in a book or a movie. They're not taking advantage of the interactive medium to the degree I would personally prefer.

Yet that is exactly what sets gaming apart from books or movies… Perhaps Bioware should work on creating a text adventure where the player chooses from various dialogue options and then gets to watch pre-rendered content(still images or animations) play out what they have previously selected.

Using the framework of what they tentatively call a game to solely facilitate story or narrative is akin to playing baseball because you like to run - however batting, catching, pitching and fielding are boring to you.

The problem with only enjoying the writing is the inherent compartmentalization, where things are divided into various categories never to interact again… Think low int responses in FO, skill/speech checks or different world interactions due to race/species/class/clan/ect. A good RPG is more than the sum of it's parts, and a good writer does not necessarily translate into a good game, even more so RPG, writer.

Long story short, I agree with Dart… IMO, linear games on rails with "tight narratives" fail to play to gaming's strength as a medium - (from an RPG perspective - other genres focus on other interactive aspects; twitch combat, ect)they fail to inspire any senese of player agency.

 

[vurt]

If she's a grown-up person, she should be able to handle what a few 14-15 year olds thinks, her response was really immature too. If she can't handle it without crying out in the media she should probably move on to something else instead.

 

[Dhruin]

Sorry? I missed where she went "crying to the media" - or did you just assume that part?

She comes from a pen-and-paper background, which seems a perfectly good background to me. She may - or may not - be a great cRPG writer (I wouldn't know) but as part of a team, her skill set is a good complement even if she doesn't like video games per se.

 

[vurt]

Well, Twitter then. Haters / kids are always going to judge people working in this industry.. Though phone calls to her home were indeed a wee bit over the top..

 

[Dez]

Its plain cruel to attack one person like that. Those people act like she was the bringer of end times, harbinger of doom or something silly like that. She has very little to say what kind of games bioware makes and if there is a guilty part, its the upper management.

I remember this interview though. It was discussed a few months ago in the official forums and it became quite a heated topic there. No surprise it got locked at some point. I do recall being somewhat puzzled by her answers. Writer who doesn't enjoy gameplay sounded so odd to me.

There are likely many people who work in the gaming industry and who aren't gamers themselves. I'm sure not every position requires gamer's heart and mind. Still when someone who has a very active part in game development says that gameplay bores her, it sounds just truly horrible.

I understand how tedious combat can turn off people, but I think she stated that even strategy, in-game maps, jumping, exploring, puzzles or any other form gameplay also cause her headaches. I symphatize her and admire her honesty coming out like that. Its very understandable that not everyone is even able to play videogames because cordinating character via controls can become an insurmountable obstacle to some. Its fine to enjoy just the story. Thats why we have difficulty levels and such.

Still I have to ask myself what is storytelling in games? Is it only pre-made cutscenes? My opinion is that the best games tell a story through gameplay, letting the player experience it himself, instead of just spectating it. Cutscenes etc are there just to reinforce that experience.

 

[DArtagnan]

Sadly, I think it's painfully obvious that the industry is shock-full of people with misplaced talent.

Great game designers, however, are extremely rare.

Suits have no use for them, really. Yes-men with a game designer badge are far more useful.

 

[Thrasher]

That's because it's all about shameless self-promotion rather than making better games.

 

[RPGFool]

This entire affair strikes me as downright bizarre.

Helper overreacted to trolls with "I just figure they're jealous that I get to have both a vagina AND a games industry job, and they can't get either.", thereby fueling the fire. Then BioWare's Studio GM, Aaryn Flynn, further fuels the flames with "Go fuck yourself". Now BioWare's co-founder, Dr. Ray Muzyka, gets involved with a public statement in Helper's defense and a donation to Bullying Canada.

All of this suggests a pressure cooker environment at the Bioware workplace. One overreaction followed by another and then things start going sufficiently crazy that top management has to jump into the fray to calm things down. It isn't normal. Instead it suggests super high stress levels with people ready to explode at the drop of a hat.

EA's most recent earnings report, a week or so ago, wasn't particularly stellar. EA lost 200 million in Q4. SWTOR is making a profit but not a substantial profit, (1.7 million players; number of subscribers unknown but estimated at 1.1 to 1.3 million; EA's CEO Riccitello said in earnings report teleconference that one-half million subscribers is the break even point, one million is profitable, but is "nothing to write home about"). EA's CFO resigned in the past couple of weeks. The ME3 launch is underway with BW trying to squeeze every penny possible from customers...

My guess is that BW sees itself at a make or break point, with employees anticipating a possible major shake up unless things start going much better. A high stress corporate environment with employees believing they have no control over their own future.

__

 

[Thrasher]

Could be. But that's the case just about everywhere now... Not unique to Bioware/EA.

 

[aries100]

From a post on GameBanshee I saw that the SW: TOR now has sold 2 million units or copies. And on the official forums, I've peaked at number saying subscribers range from 1,2-1,6 million subscriptions.

And I have to admit that I can't remember the interview with Jennifer Hepler; I do remember she was quoted as saying as she 'doesn't like combat very much' and 'would like a button to avoid combat'. (in a video game that is). Since she apparantly comes from a pen and paper background she must be used to tactical turnbased combat and to write stories for quests in the pen and paper games she played or still plays.

I have to say that if a I were a co-founder/leader/boss of a company and one of my employees got attacked that way I would do exactly the same as Ray did - make a public statement supporting my employee. Noone deserves to be called the thing Hepler did. However, some manager or boss (Gaider, Laidlaw or Darrah) should have told Hepler that the comment she made regarding her gender and that people just were jealous sounded like she was 5 and not an adult at all. They may, of course, have told her this as well...

As for Bioware's economy, I think (based on my spider sense) that it is very good. However, building an MMO like SW: TOR is really hard and difficult and EA/Bioware did probably use a lot of money to do so. In the current economic climate, people probably won't pay the extra 10 US dollars for DLC, and maybe Bioware even loses release sales because of it, since the Prothean team mate/mission etc. won't be free for those who bought the game new.

We do not know anything about the inner workings of the business/developer side of things at Bioware. Hence, it is difficult for us to see what's going on. However, I agree that the CFO (the treasurer, so to speak) resigning does bode well.... but let's see...

 

[The Nameless Zero]

I recall when RPG news was SSI releasing yet another damn Gold Box game. Now it's about an employee at some half-assed interactive fiction company having a verbal spat with a dick on the interwebnet. Wake me up when new XCOM is out.

 

[rune_74]

Some of you must be very scarey in person.

Hate bioware all you want but some of you think she deserves this. Gamers can be god damn frealy people.

 

[Thrasher]

Or at least realy poor typists.

 

[vurt]

Some of you must be very scarey in person.

Hate bioware all you want but some of you think she deserves this. Gamers can be god damn frealy people.

Who here said she deserved this?

 

[JemyM]

I do remember she was quoted as saying as she 'doesn't like combat very much' and 'would like a button to avoid combat'.

(Usually male) Adventure-gamers have argued for this since the 80'ies. When Sierra started to implement horrible action sequences in their games things started to get really sour.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

(Usually male) Adventure-gamers have argued for this since the 80'ies. When Sierra started to implement horrible action sequences in their games things started to get really sour.

The mechanism is like ... a vocal group of people (I consciously don't say "minority", because it could be a really big group as well) is invading any kind of games and game genres, wanting what *they* like to be implemented.

We see this mechanism work with the plea for Multiplayer, which is invading even the most anti-multiplayer game forums for the last decade. There are people out there who *want* multiplayer in non-action Adventure games !

And they have won. "Steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein", like a German proverb goes - "constant dripping wears away the stone". Nowadays almost *everything* contains multiplayer !

And so, the same mechanism is working for combat now, too : A vocal group is wanting action & combat in games. In ALL games. Even in those which are non-action games.

And the game industry responds to them : We have ONLY action games nowadays - adventure games (non-action ones) don't exist in some markets anymore, LucasArts did rather shooters than Adventure games in the past (think of Fracture and of RTX Red Rock, not to mention the "destruction game" of The Force Unleashed).

Non-action games rather come either from Europe, or from East Europe (HOMM reboot, King's Bounty, The Book Of Unwritten Tales etc.), with exceptions like Tell-Tale (Sam & Max, Wallace & Gromit).

The only place where non-action games exist world-wide are online games, like the infamous face book games.

 

[purpleblob]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Helper
I just figure they're jealous that I get to have both a vagina AND a games industry job, and they can't get either.

That one setence already proves that she's a moron. Forget writing story, she need to grow some brain cells first. Also, did she ever looked herself in the mirror?

In addition, if she doesn't like playing games, she should stay the f*ck away from gaming industry. There are something called books, you know.

I do feel a bit sorry for her recieving hate mails and all, but hey, she is partly responsible for that as well. Maybe think before talk?

 

[Arkadia7]

If she hates games, I think Bioware is a good fit for her. They don't seem to like games much today either if their recent trends are anything to go by. For me, Dragon Age 3 is their last chance to prove they can still make a good rpg.