So, I saw this a week ago and was baffled as to why Era wasn't talking about this more.
https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-writers-fired-for-calling-out-fan-on-twitt-1827401422
My thoughts changed on this story as I read further down:
So, yeah. ArenaNet bowed to alt-reich pigs.
EDIT: Beaten
https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-writers-fired-for-calling-out-fan-on-twitt-1827401422
After a Twitter spat erupted into a mob of fans going after a narrative designer for Guild Wars 2 studio ArenaNet, the developer said that it has fired two employees: Jessica Price and Peter Fries.
On July 3, Price, a writer on Guild Wars 2, published a Twitter thread on the challenges of creating a personality for an MMO player character and how ArenaNet's narrative team approaches things internally. She explained that if ArenaNet gave the player character too much personality, it might clash with players' understanding of who their character is. In response, a fan and YouTuber going by Deroir spoke up, saying that while he appreciated the "insightful thread," he disagreed with her assessment of the situation. He said he felt like the problem could be addressed with more dialogue options that let players choose how to express themselves.
Price felt like Deroir overstepped his bounds. "Today in being a female game dev: 'Allow me—a person who does not work with you—explain to you how you do your job,'" she tweeted, adding that she'd been working in narrative for a decade and didn't need the concept of branching dialogue explained to her.
My thoughts changed on this story as I read further down:
Guild Wars 2 fans did not take this kindly. In the following days, the MMO's subreddit exploded with threads about the incident, with many calling for Price to be punished or fired. Some even threatened to stop spending money on the game until the situation was "resolved" in a way they found suitable. The issue also found its way onto Gamergate subreddit Kotaku In Action, a community that's gone after Price in the past. All the while, people rained down insults on Price, accusing her of being an "SJW screaming child," playing "the vagina card," and other nastiness of the like.
The mob also went after Peter Fries, a writer who stuck up for Price in a couple now-deleted tweets. "Here's a bit of insight that I legitimately hope he reflects on: she never asked for his feedback," Fries wrote.
Yesterday, ArenaNet fired both Price and Fries. "Recently two of our employees failed to uphold our standards of communicating with players," ArenaNet president Mike O'Brien said in a Guild Wars 2 forum post. "Their attacks on the community were unacceptable. As a result, they're no longer with the company." When reached by Kotaku, ArenaNet sent a follow-up statement that echoed what O'Brien wrote but would not comment further.
"9 out of 10 fans are fine, and that I've had a lot of genuinely beautiful interactions with individual fans in which the affection I expressed is genuine. But 10% of your fandom being toxic is still a really high percentage."
The Guild Wars 2 subreddit erupted again, this time in celebration. Some fans also encouraged people to give positive feedback to ArenaNet and hoped that developers won't be afraid of interacting with the community in the future. Other people, however, were surprised by ArenaNet's decision to fire developers instead of standing by them.
"Here I thought being indie meant I was on-the-clock 24/7, but apparently AAA means just that but also being forced to take whatever shit people fling at you because 'standards of communicating with our community' and 'we make the game for you (so feel free to give our devs shit),'" wrote Vlambeer's Rami Ismail on Twitter.
Others drew comparisons to Gamergate and the precedent it set with its use of mob tactics.
"The industry didn't condemn what goobergate was doing, because goobergate closed ranks around the industry and set their sights on critics and indie developers," said activist and streamer Casey Explosion on Twitter. "It is in this context that the actions of the company make the most sense, that they ultimately benefit from throwing their employees to the wolves in this manner."
So, yeah. ArenaNet bowed to alt-reich pigs.
EDIT: Beaten
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