BioWare - David Gaider Leaves

GameRant has the story that David Gaider leaves Bioware. According to an email to
Polygon (via GameRant) it was Gaider's own decision to leave:

It was indeed my decision [to leave], one not made easily since BioWare's been very good to me, and the parting is amicable…it's simply time to move onto a new challenge."

Gaider announced, according to GameRant, that he would be leaving Bioware on
his Twitter account:

Unfortunately, Gaider took to Twitter to announce today that he would be leaving his position at BioWare after seventeen years: "Some news: I must sadly announce that, after 17 years, today is my last day at BioWare. I'll miss my team, and wish everyone here the best."

Gaiders legacy, in writing for crpgs, will probably be this:

Perhaps David Gaider's biggest contribution to gaming, however, was his decision to design a fully gay party member for the first time in video gaming history. Gaider, who is openly gay himself, wrote Dorian in Dragon Age: Inquisition as part of a personal effort on his part to make games a much more inclusive environment for fans of different backgrounds, beliefs, and sexualities.

More information.

I started a forum thread earlier that has more replies.

Link - http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32302

Thank you Couch. Didn't see this one. Thanks again

I seriously think I'll need to get a twitter account and a better cell phone, maybe even a smartphone. Seems to be the only way to know what is happening today

Inclusivity? Sorry, I thought it's called partiality when someone pushes his personal sexual agenda.

Originally Posted by mazur49
Inclusivity? Sorry, I thought it's called partiality when someone pushes his personal sexual agenda.

Then you are most likely an ignorant twit.

It was indeed my decision [to leave], one not made easily since BioWare's been very good to me, and the parting is amicable…it's simply time to move onto a new challenge."

back to running a hotel I guess

He seemed to revel in surfing the wave of controversy. That approach brought the spotlight to him personally and to his provocative fictional characters. In the end I suspect that same love for controversy also undercut at least a few of his considerable accomplishments.

__

Perhaps David was a little inspired by Chris Avellone's somewhat similar decision back in June last year to leave the somewhat cozy confines of one's "parent" company in seeking new and fresh horizons.

The potential for freelance work with a resume like David's must be great indeed and his creative direction outside the realms of the greater EA juggernaut will be interesting to see.

Whilst he was a quasi-polarising figure in some circles, I'm certainly thankful for his design work on Baldur's Gate II and persistent writing efforts in role-playing games over the years. I wish him all the best for the future; hopefully he'll get to work on something personally fulfilling and invigorating.

I'm thinking that creatively David will find much more scope working outside EA than within it if the last few Dragon Age games are anything to go by. Choice and consequence have been pared down to the absolute minimum compared to his earlier games.

Originally Posted by mazur49
Inclusivity? Sorry, I thought it's called partiality when someone pushes his personal sexual agenda.

True but at the same time, I don't believe a video game designer or any creator of art has an obligation to be impartial. They are free to create what they feel is best. We as consumers can either take it or leave it. That said, I leave it in the case of Bioware and especially David Gaider (DAO was their last game I really loved).

David Gaider's work was getting worse with each successive release and it probably is time for a change for him. Hopefully good for both parties.

Blunt to say that, but I believe his leave is for the better -- for two reasons:

1. Me and many of us don't really like his writing and the direction it implies (FYI, I don't care about gayness and stuff, I am against his over-bombastic Messiah complex style), so a fresh approach might help Bioware redefining its own glorious self again.

2. The man received quite a lot of flak from nitpicky bastards like me.
I am in the Industry as well, and I know this is definitely not for the faint heart.
I have seen many people crumbled, got sick, one even got near suicide.
Yeeaaaa, fun industry, eh? Think again <Tim Curry-style satanic laughter>
So, for his own personal sake, I do wish him best of luck and go as far from game development as he could. Healthier this way.

Yeah good luck to him. I'm never sure how much he was responsible for what - these games are clearly team efforts - but I loved the lightness of touch of the writing in BG2 and Hordes of the Underdark. I enjoyed DAO as well, and I thought it was pretty cool that they included a playable old person in it - can't remember her name now, but you rarely see well developed old folk like that. I thought DA2 had some good ideas but was poorly executed. A story set in a city over ten years that included real choice and consequence would be ace though. I can't comment on DA I, I've tried it several times but got bored in the Hinterlands, and my tolerance for cut-scenes has dived over the last couple of years.

So yeah, good luck to him. If he brings a project to Kickstarter I'd seriously consider it.

Has he been working on ME:A?

BG2, NWN, including the Hordes of the Underdark expansion, and DAO were all memorable games for me, DA 2 was entertaining despite its design limitations, and I spend many hours completing DA I, though even there the design was flawed in parts. Thinking of that: the concept of having to press V constantly to scan every square inch of it for relevant items is ludicrous, really. Who thought of that? It made playing DA I feel like a chore considerably more often than it should.

That said, all of these games I played for the immersion, the story and the characters (let's be honest: combat in any RPG quickly gets repetitive, and dressing up character dolls is not nearly as exciting as people at Bioware seemed to think given their focus on that in DA I).

So yeah, David Gaider most likely contributed to my enjoyment of these games. If he was provocative in his writing, even more so, given that provocative stories often are the ones that give some new insight. Best of luck in his future endeavours!

Not a fan, the best I can say is Dragon Age Origins was a pretty good game, but it was standard fantasy stuff, really. And definitely not a fan of his so-called "legacy" of injecting sexuality as such a major focus and theme of rpgs. No thank you. Instead of putting so much effort into that nonsense, which caters to a small minority, I say instead, put it into more fantasy areas in the game, or more monster variety, or another cool and deep dungeon to explore, or more lore development, etc etc. But I'm old school like that. *shrug*

Dragon Age: Origins was great, but not because it was great itself. Rather, it's because it was a competent RPG that got released smack dab in the middle of a nearly 10 year period of RPG god-fucking-awfulness. Like an oasis in the desert.

Originally Posted by Silver
I'm thinking that creatively David will find much more scope working outside EA than within it if the last few Dragon Age games are anything to go by. Choice and consequence have been pared down to the absolute minimum compared to his earlier games.

Except that he barely had anything to do with that. The job of lead writer is to managing the writing team and assign work load on top of writing stuff. The Creative director and the producer have the final say on the stories.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
Has he been working on ME:A?

He never worked on the Mass Effect Franchise, so no. He was on the new secret IP (that might have Beyond in its name).

Originally Posted by duerer
Blunt to say that, but I believe his leave is for the better -- for two reasons:

1. Me and many of us don't really like his writing and the direction it implies (FYI, I don't care about gayness and stuff, I am against his over-bombastic Messiah complex style), so a fresh approach might help Bioware redefining its own glorious self again.

2. The man received quite a lot of flak from nitpicky bastards like me.
I am in the Industry as well, and I know this is definitely not for the faint heart.
I have seen many people crumbled, got sick, one even got near suicide.
Yeeaaaa, fun industry, eh? Think again <Tim Curry-style satanic laughter>
So, for his own personal sake, I do wish him best of luck and go as far from game development as he could. Healthier this way.

Get yersen down t' pit lad!

This is good news. I hope bioware can now start making rpgs again.