BioWare - David Gaider Leaves

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Well seems another longtime BioWare employee has resigned.

This time it's writer David Gaider, and most of you are probably ecstatic right now given comments on this forum. He was with BioWare for over seventeen years.

BioWare lead producer Cameron Lee also posted his response on Twitter.
 
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...I'm stunned...

Absolutely stunned.

Imagining Bioware without him is like imagining EA without DRM. Their games will be very different from here on out, I think...
 
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…I'm stunned…

Absolutely stunned.

Imagining Bioware without him is like imagining EA without DRM. Their games will be very different from here on out, I think…
I agree and part of me thinks he left because of the so called old fans & critics. As the last I read he was working on a new secret RPG that BioWare was developing.
So a bit of news: I have decided leave Dragon Age and move onto a new, upcoming BioWare project (which I can't discuss).

While it's hard to leave Dragon Age behind, 10 years is a long time to work on any one project. I decided it was time for something new.

I am happy, however, to leave Dragon Age in good hands: @PatrickWeekes will be Lead Writer once I'm gone. I can't think of anyone better.
The again it could be that EA or BioWare themselves pushed him out.

Edit: He used to have a Tumblr blog where he answered questions, and vented about various issues that were brought up by the fan-base.

Link - http://the-gaider-archives.tumblr.com/

I loved his responses to a certain demographic of players.:biggrin:
 
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I never cared for Gaider so him gone for good doesn't sound either good or bad.
The planet won't stop spinning.

What Bioware and EA need desperately is removal of current decision making garniture.
 
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Sorry to see him go but not surprised really considering where Bioware has been going.
 
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Let the speculation begin!
Probably teamed up with Greg Zescuk to brew more beer. :p
 
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Everyone at Bioware seems so sad to see him go.

Going by his tweets from a few days ago, his father was brought to the hospital a few days ago (Jan 17). That might have something to do with his departure.
 
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Everyone at Bioware seems so sad to see him go.

Going by his tweets from a few days ago, his father was brought to the hospital a few days ago (Jan 17). That might have something to do with his departure.
Thanks for the info azarhal, but I still think it's more then that.
Let the speculation begin!
Probably teamed up with Greg Zescuk to brew more beer.
Greg Zescuk was smart as game development is a thankless job.;)
 
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He's been a great player for Bioware so let's not forget his good stuff by association with the likely EA driven dreck and some people's inability to cope with varied sexuality.

He was the guy who's first boss job it was to make Neverwinter Nights interesting, and we got Hordes of the Underdark, easily one of the best cRPGs in the history of gaming for many, including one of the most beloved companions of all time, one that even Obsidian couldn't ignore for the sequel, Deekin.

He was lead writer for Dragon Age: Origins as well, a game which had many flaws but shined in its narrative structure which, without, could have left DA a dead franchise from the get-go.

For some he's the easy target for hate if there's anything wrong with post-EA Bioware games, but in most likelihood it was likely the EA business model which caused problems with those games. I've no doubt Gaider would be perfectly happy for his game not to have respawning bears, for example.

For others he the guy who 'forced' embarrassing and unwanted homosexuality in our faces, but I think it's safe to say that these people are not people who really understand roleplaying games so well if they perceive variety such as this problematic, right from a very base mentality if any game should have this kind of choice content, it's RPGs.

The reason for him leaving could be many and varied and let us not forget that the commercial environment is very unforgiving of age and does tend to get twitchy with staff at around the 40-50 mark, particularly in the tech world. There's also personal considerations, such as maybe conflicting ideals with superiors, a desire to have a few years out to go fishing, burning out, a desire to go self employed/do your own thing, the desire to spend more time with children/grand parents who you've barely noticed grow up/get to old to do stuff. Middle age is often described as the second adolescence.

So I'm just going to wish him well and thank him for making HotU great and for making DA:O bearable (and respawning bearless). :w00t:
 
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Huh.

Whether you like or dislike his style, Gaider is one of the primary forces that pushed writing in RPGs from what it was in the 80s and early 90s to what it is today.

But I often think of a brief exchange I had with him on the Bioware forums many years ago, before Kickstarter and the resurgence of indie RPGs. I (along with many) had been grousing about budget-driven corner-cutting in the first expansion to Dragon Age Origins, and I asked him, since producing games with big publishers involved so many compromises, whether he thought RPGs with much smaller budgets could be viable -- games made cheaply, and hence with more creative freedom, for a niche audience.

And he said no. He thought that RPGs simply wouldn't be made if they weren't made on a big scale by companies like EA.

Proud as he must be of the triumphant DA: Inquisition, I sometimes wonder what he thought of the past bargains he'd made as he saw Divinity, PoE, Wasteland 2 and the other were made and did so well.
 
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An other large part of Bioware legacy is gone. Gaider had an huge role in creating one of my favourite rpgs (Dragon age orgins) and the whole universe, so hats off for that!

Hopefully he returns to Game writing in future. Maybe he could team up with some other ex bioware guys and go indie.
 
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Thanks for the info azarhal, but I still think it's more then that.

People always think there is more, but I doubt there is more than "I need change" and a sick family member is good catalyst to trigger those feelings.

Unless he leaves Edmonton, he probably won't work in the gaming industry in the near future. Hopefully, he didn't plan to move to the Albertan oil industry.
 
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People always think there is more, but I doubt there is more than "I need change" and a sick family member is good catalyst to trigger those feelings.
Not for me it isn't as I was in the same situation he is at one point. I decided to take a month off not leave my job permanently. Anyway good luck to him.:)

An other large part of Bioware legacy is gone. Gaider had an huge role in creating one of my favourite rpgs (Dragon age orgins) and the whole universe, so hats off for that!
I agree seems most old timers are gone now.

Though I think Lukas Kristjanson is still one of the older remaining writers left. Also Drew Karpyshyn (lead writer of Mass Effect 1&2) rejoined BioWare in mid 2015.
Proud as he must be of the triumphant DA: Inquisition, I sometimes wonder what he thought of the past bargains he'd made as he saw Divinity, PoE, Wasteland 2 and the other were made and did so well.
Good question Hexprone hopefully Gaider returns to the industry. I would love to see what he could do with an indie RPG like Original Sin, or Pillars of Eternity.
 
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Not for me it isn't as I was on the same situation he is at one point. I decided to take a month off not leave my job permanently. Anyway good luck to him.:)

and I know people who left their job over the same circumstances. Not everyone is the same.

Hell, I know someone who left her job one day and it was just to take time for herself. She didn't even have another job lined up and no sick family members.
 
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The company's only been churning out sub-par mediocrity for a while now anyway, so not sure if it'll make much difference.
 
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And he said no. He thought that RPGs simply wouldn't be made if they weren't made on a big scale by companies like EA.

Proud as he must be of the triumphant DA: Inquisition, I sometimes wonder what he thought of the past bargains he'd made as he saw Divinity, PoE, Wasteland 2 and the other were made and did so well.

The sales numbers of Divinity, PoE etc. would be considered a total failure by EA/BioWare, UbiSoft or Actiblizz and are a very far cry from the big scale mentioned by Gaider.
Those games did well for their respective studios but it's not something EA or any other big publisher would associate with an acceptable sales performance. Not even close.
 
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Any time I read about "a Bioware writer leaving" I must think at first, that to him the same might have happened as has happened to Jennifer Hapler.

In my mind, Gaider and Hepler are now connected, because botrh were writers, both were attacked heavily, and both probably left because of that, I … presume …
 
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Hepler, definitely...but I'd say he is one of the fan's favorites and...just how many of the old Bioware is left there?
 
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He will be joining larian Montreal and work on dos2
 
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