Weekend Confirmed 101 - American Nightmare, Darkness 2, games that make us curse

I haven't had the chance to listen to episode 100 yet, so pardon me if the Jennifer Hepler situation was covered there. I was a little surprised that it wasn't covered in this episode. Maybe waiting for Andrea to sit at the table, since this is the kind of issue she loves to sink her teeth into?

Anyway, for those unaware of the Hepler situation, Kotaku has a pretty decent wrap-up of it:

http://kotaku.com/5886674/bioware-writer-describes-her-gaming-tastes-angry-gamers-call-her-a-cancer

In short, somebody amassed a bunch of quotes from this woman, both legit and forged, posted them on Reddit, and a tidal wave of anti-Bioware sentiment was unleashed, along with a TON of misogynist language directed at this woman in particular.

The quote at the heart of the matter was a legit one given years ago, where she basically said the worst part about writing videogames was, essentially, the videogame part. She thought it would be nice if you could just skip the whole playing part and cut right through to the story.

I, like many people, took to twitter in efforts of trying to support this woman and get people to understand that one writer doesn't have the influence they seem to think she does. That whatever they thought of her writing (which, I'll be frank, is NOT great and wouldn't fly in pretty much ANY other medium), she is not to blame for the changes from Dragon's Age to Dragon's Age 2, the three different play modes in Mass Effect 3, or any of the other shifts toward the mainstream seen in Bioware's games.

Then she lost me, when she posted this:

"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's where she lost my support, and I just stopped caring.


Ok, so here are my three thoughts on the situation. Feel free to respond or add your own.

1) The sheer volume and outright ferocity of the response was unwarranted and a little pathetic. There's no excuse for the language used and the levels of persecution performed (some called her house, etc).

2) Her suggestion that games ought scale back or cut out the interactive portions for the sake of story deserves to be ridiculed. The personal attacks on her were unfounded, but the criticisms of her position were not. Consider the following statements:

a) Writing novels would be much better if only readers were able to have live actors performing the work in front of them on-stage.

b) Writing plays would be much better if only we could put them on a screen and use editing to shape the scenes.

c) Writing for television would be much better if only we didn't have to worry about the episodic format.

d) Writing for movies would be much better if only we could work around the whole 2.5-3 hour time-limit.

In short, if you're unhappy with the INHERENT TRAITS of the medium you write for, find another medium.

3) Her response to the hatred was unacceptable. With one statement, she basically stated that the only reason anybody DARE take issue with her writing or philosophy was because we had some hatred of women or were jealous of her position. Could that be true of SOME, particularly those throwing out the most vitriol? Sure. But she single-handedly devalued any substantial arguments with a gender-politics smart bomb - "you only dislike my work cause you're a sad little lonely misogynist".

If you want to put your name and your work out into the public sphere and revel in the cheers and applause from those who love it, you better be prepared to hear the boos and hisses from people who hate it. Childish attacks against a diverse group of critics (most of which probably pay your bonuses) isn't the way to react.

/Fin