Ion's Folly - BioWare writer's vagina versus the Internet

BioWare writer's vagina versus the Internet | Destructoid
valkyrierisen:

Quoted for truth: ”I’m getting really tired of the “this is the internet” excuse that gets thrown up so often in these things. It is on par with “boys will be boys,” it does nothing to address the problem and gives people almost a free pass to be horrible. We will never be able to improve the internet culture so long as people are willing to excuse this sort of thing.”

There is no excuse. The gamers that are part of this problem need to get their faces beat in, of course metaphorically. Maybe.

karethdreams:

I wish I could say I was surprised, but sadly I’m not.

Jennifer Hepler is hated by people on the Internet, as Destructoid reader Ben recently informed us. That’s not unusual in itself, as there are few public figures who aren’t hated by a significant cross-section of the online population. However, when you consider what Hepler did — or didn’t do — it certainly is a puzzle as to why she’s despised with such pure, unfettered venom. She wrote for Dragon Age and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Hepler is a BioWare writer and woke up one day to discover the entire Internet hated her. A number of online communities recently started dogpiling on the lady, accusing her of “ruining” BioWare games with her writing. She’s also received a lot of heat for admitting that she doesn’t like to play games — certainly a requirement if your job is to craft narrative (sarcasm).

By far her greatest “crime” was suggesting that games should let the player skip combat, stating: “Games almost always include a way to “button through” dialogue without paying attention, because they understand that some players don’t enjoy listening to dialogue and they don’t want to stop their fun. Yet they persist in practically coming into your living room and forcing you to play through the combats even if you’re a player who only enjoys the dialogue.”
Whether you agree or disagree, it’s not like she cut a toddler’s achilles tendons with a rusty scalpel. Still, however, this is the Internet.

I’m getting really tired of the “this is the internet” excuse that gets thrown up so often in these things. It is on par with “boys will be boys,” it does nothing to address the problem and gives people almost a free pass to be horrible. We will never be able to improve the internet culture so long as people are willing to excuse this sort of thing.

Everything came to a head a few days ago. Hepler decided to join Twitter, but within fourteen Tweets she has already asked support if she can delete her account. It seems that gamers caught a whiff of her Twitter presence, and everything went to shit.

Hundreds of messages have been sent to Hepler, as a simple Twitter search shows. Many choose to attack her writing and ability to craft characters. A staggering number focus on her physical appearance, choosing to call her such delightful names as “fat bitch” and “obese cunt.” Some want to know why she’s “obsessed with shoehorning homosexual relationships down gamer’s throats.”

Poor Hepler did not exactly help her case, publicly stating: “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.” Unfortunately, that opened the doors for even more spiteful commentary, because everybody knows you can’t defend yourself on the Internet — especially if you mention that you have a vagina.

It seems like lately there is a certain subset of gamers, the douchebro/MRA/neckbeards/manchild set, who have their noses so out of joint because Bioware apologetically includes same sex character options in their games. They just can’t accept that they are options, if they don’t like them they don’t have to take them. However their mere existence seems to threaten their “manhood,” or rather their concept of it. They approach it all as if their preferences, and only their preferences, should dictate what a game is, or isn’t; woe unto anyone who is different from them saying what they’d like to see in a game because that will unleash the landslide of butthurt and privilege.

As I see it, they just need to fucking grow up already.

Everything seemed to come to a head with studio GM Aaryn Flynn getting involved. After one user called Hepler “the cancer that is killing BioWare,” Flynn retorted by calling him a “fucking moron.” So now BioWare is accused of treating customers disrespectfully, and the moron in question is going on a crusade and talking about his hurt feelings. Nevermind that he started the insulting tone of the conversation.

Because that’s what gamers do, if this behavior is to be believed. Attack individuals en masse, forgetting they are people, and then acting betrayed when their victims have the nerve to bite back. It’s all very well expecting “professional conduct” from a developer when a customer is angry, but when anybody’s being demolished by a rampant tsunami of abuse, I don’t think there’s any amount of professional expectation that makes it unacceptable to lose one’s cool and say something in return.

The calling card of the bully and the bigot; they hurl vitriol, hate and threats, and the moment that their target stands up, or someone stands up to defend their target, and calls them on it, or, heavens forbid, insult them in return suddenly they are the poor persecuted victim.

It is the height of entitlement to believe you can say whatever you want, as hurtful as you like, and expect not a word of a retort. Those gamers now acting butthurt because Flynn and Hepler responded to the abuse are as cretinous and pathetic as one can get. The fact that this surrounds BioWare — a studio known for making more adult games — makes it all the more sad.

Whether you like Hepler or not (I’ve not been a fan of most of BioWare’s stories, period), this level of treatment towards a single person is never warranted, and it should make the gaming community utterly ashamed of itself. This is the kind of behavior that justifies the FOX News stereotype of the basement dwelling, antisocial nerd. This is the kind of behavior that makes the Spike VGAs look like the perfect gamer show — because it’s crass, immature, and it sports the emotional depth of a wet paper towel. That’s how gamers look when something like this happens.

That’s one of the things that I’ve always liked about Bioware’s games, they are more adult. They at least try to deal with issues in interesting ways, and while their morality systems do still tend towards stark black or white choices over the years more and more grey has worked its way in, with even the “good” choices having unexpected consequences. I am glad to see that so often Bioware stands up to these entitled asshats, and I hope that the people who like what Bioware does and the options that they give their players will stand up and let their voices be heard in support of them as well. Because only together can we end the free reign the bigots and bullies have had for far too long and change internet culture for the better.

(Story found on twitter, via @52stations)

3 months ago Short URL 82 notes

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As someone who seeks to touch on some of the less than savory subjects in my work, I am appalled that my fellow gamers...
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Fucking this. Part of the reason why I’m actually afraid to join the industry. Not going to stop me from joining the...
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GUYS: stop being assholes and just play games. Seriously. *note: that “guys” was meant to be gender-neutral, even if it...
complexactions reblogged this from valkyrierisen and added:

Ugh. These types...gamers are a cancer on...gaming industry,...
syverce reblogged this from phoenike and added:

Mrs. Hepler can rub her vagina all over my stories if its so magical as to help produce the games she’s worked on. I’m...
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Siding with them shouldn’t be an option lol
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Jennifer Helper, you’re a genius. Everyone else can work on dislodging those sticks up his or her ass.
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