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Two Guild Wars 2 devs fired for attacking community members on Twitter

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Lord Arcadio

Lord Arcadio

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,171
Jessica Price was until today a part of the narrative team. She was a relatively recent hire and was formerly an editor for Pathfinder. She posted on her twitter about the problems of creating an interesting player character in an MMORPG. It's actually a pretty good read, but that's besides the point for this thread. If you want to read it, here:
https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1014234740772126720

A popular GW2 content creator on Youtube and Twitch who goes by Deroir saw what she said and gave his opinion:
https://twitter.com/DeroirGaming/status/1014280605599748096

His comments were respectful and he even thanked her for an insightful thread.

And this was her reaction:


https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1014581433937981445 (I can't show more than two tweets in a post so I'll just quote this one)
Since we've got a lot of hurt manfeels today, lemme make something clear: this is my feed. I'm not on the clock here. I'm not your emotional courtesan just because I'm a dev. Don't expect me to pretend to like you here.
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This has exploded on the GW2 subreddit and the official forums as well as other subreddits. The first thread on this became one of the most upvoted threads in the subreddits history. Much of the front page right now is about it. The community was not happy at her overreaction to what almost no one thinks is mansplaining. It has since come out that she has responded in a hostile manner to other GW2 community members who also engaged with her respectfully.

Another GW2 dev, Peter Fries, came to her defense and also attacked the community but he has since deleted the tweet.

Just recently the president and co-founder of ArenaNet posted this on the forums:
https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/586426#Comment_586426
Recently two of our employees failed to uphold our standards of communicating with players. Their attacks on the community were unacceptable. As a result, they're no longer with the company.

I want to be clear that the statements they made do not reflect the views of ArenaNet at all. As a company we always strive to have a collaborative relationship with the Guild Wars community. We value your input. We make this game for you.

Mo
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JusticeServesMe

JusticeServesMe

Member
Oct 31, 2017
54
I don't mean to blame anybody by this comment, but it surprises me that people continue to get punished for saying things while flying their work in their bio for social media as a flag.
You're better off either rolling with a pseudonym or just staying away from social media as a whole.
 
TailorDKS

TailorDKS

Member
Apr 18, 2018
402
Why does she even add "todays as female dev"?

Why the female? Its not as if the user said that because she is woman or did I miss something?
 
Hamchan

Hamchan

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,964
Wow they actually got fired. They were totally in the wrong for their overblown reaction to the fan but still pretty nuts.
 
man0fbass

man0fbass

Member
Nov 9, 2017
6
GW2 player here. This was probably a really hard decision for MO and their HR to make. Peter has been with Anet since the original Guild Wars. Jessica, in spite of her Twitter page, has been doing a fantastic job on the Living World story updates.

I'm both excited and nervous to see who replaces them.
 
Stiler

Stiler

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
6,659
How did anything he say have to do with "mansplaining?"

He just posted a constructive and respectful opinion on what she talked about publicly, he didn't come off as mean or anything in what I read and she totally twisted it to be mansplaining and hate...
 
sredgrin

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
"attacked" is pretty strong words for most of that.
 
30yearsofhurt

30yearsofhurt

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,246
JusticeServesMe said:
I don't mean to blame anybody by this comment, but it surprises me that people continue to get punished for saying things while flying their work in their bio for social media as a flag.
You're better off either rolling with a pseudonym or just staying away from social media as a whole.
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Yeah plenty of people get fired for shit they say on Twitter but I've never heard of anyone getting a job through twitter. Just leave it alone people. Other peoples opinions you don't care for anyway aren't worth ruining your livelihood.
 

The Deep End

Banned
May 24, 2018
66
There was no need to play gender/sexism card and lash out to a thoughtful response
Her firing was well deserved. It sucks it has to be this way but that's the name of the game on twitter these days. What you say has massive consequences. Also she tweeted about how happy she was the day TotalBiscuit died which is totally fucked up. She had it coming.
 
electricblue

electricblue

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,991
That's an awful thing to get fired over and why I'd never use my real name on Twitter. All it takes is one bad interaction, one time you didn't assume good intentions and you're done.
 
Frostman

Frostman

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,187
Great Britain
She tried spinning that hard, when Deroir was only giving his view on design. She shouldn't put it out into the public if she doesn't want responses.

Still..... pretty crazy to get fired over that. Twitter is a nightmare.
 
Kyoufu

Kyoufu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,582
I'm not seeing anything wrong with what the rando twitter dude tweeted with. I mean, he wasn't rude or toxic and put forward his take on what could be done with dialogue in the genre. Her reaction seems unnecessary. I mean, if you're just going to overreact and block people on Twitter for having a debate or discussion with you (in a non-toxic manner) then why are you on Twitter?
 
Mezoly

Mezoly

Jimbo Replacement
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,398
Well her response sucked but she doesn't deserve to get fired over this.

*Edit: Just checked more of her tweets and yeah now I think the firing was warranted.
 
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Apollo

Apollo

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
8,087
BS that they were fired over that. Like I'll even admit that the reaction to the reply was overblown, but I wouldn't be surprised if said overreaction was fueled by a lot of legitimate bad experiences. Everybody has a bad day every now and then and that was tame all things considered.
 
Lunar15

Lunar15

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,647
On one hand, I 100% get complaints about mansplaining, and even beyond that, having a bunch of fans tell you stuff you already know can be outrageously exhausting.

On the other, I'm not quite sure why you'd put out a thread on these issues if you didn't expect some kind of feedback, criticism or otherwise?

Either way, firing seems extreme to me. This is how Kamiya acts on twitter, but that ain't turning people away from his games. I don't think she said anything over the line, tbh.
 
Hektor

Hektor

Community Resettler
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,884
Deutschland
Firing her seems like far too much going by the tweets she posted, but her reaction was definitely unjustified and rude af
 
Masterspeed

Masterspeed

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,825
England
This is why I never talk about my work via Social Media or bring it into conversation.

Never bring that shit to social media, regardless of what the context is because you can go from having a full time steady income to being fucked within 24 hours.
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,890
The guy's comment was harmless and thoughtful. There was no reason to respond as forcefully as she did. If you didn't want people to comment on your post then why did you post it to your personal Twitter? I don't know if she deserved to be fired over it, but it was definitely an unnecessary and excessively hostile reaction
 
Heckler456

Heckler456

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,256
Belgium
Apollo said:
BS that they were fired over that. Like I'll even admit that the reaction to the reply was overblown, but I wouldn't be surprised if said overreaction was fueled by a lot of legitimate bad experiences. Everybody has a bad day every now and then and that was tame all things considered.
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Pretty sure this must not have been about this single incident. If that thing about Totalbiscuit is true, then I can understand it a lot more.
 
TheSaddestSort

TheSaddestSort

Member
Oct 27, 2017
704
Not sure why social media causes people to lose their brain to mouth (thumbs?) filter, but it struck again here. Her response to the initial comment seemed pretty disproportionate.
 
TheYanger

TheYanger

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,133
Hektor said:
Firing her seems like far too much going by the tweets she posted, but her reaction was definitely unjustified and rude af
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Seems about how I feel reading through these things. Like, no, dude didn't mansplain anything, you undermine the very notion of mansplaining when you use it as a shield from any male criticism or discussion. If you don't want to discuss something with people on twitter, my hot take is to not put it on twitter in the first place, or to just ignore anyone that responds to you (Not that hard to do).

That said, being fired over what she said also seems pretty outlandish, she overreacted, but she didn't go scorched earth or anything.

It IS possible that they had a little HR intervention or discussion with the studio heads and THAT didn't go well, however.
 
Interficium

Interficium

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Oct 30, 2017
1,569
Apollo said:
BS that they were fired over that. Like I'll even admit that the reaction to the reply was overblown, but I wouldn't be surprised if said overreaction was fueled by a lot of legitimate bad experiences. Everybody has a bad day every now and then and that was tame all things considered.
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Harassing a developer until they finally clap back then using that to try and get them fired is definitely part of the playbook for these trolls, and don't be surprised to see it get worse now, in fact it's already happening in that very thread where the firings were announced on Arenanet; a bunch of people asking for additional firings for such crimes as "talking back to gamergaters."
 

Alcibiades

Banned
Feb 3, 2018
630
Apollo said:
BS that they were fired over that. Like I'll even admit that the reaction to the reply was overblown, but I wouldn't be surprised if said overreaction was fueled by a lot of legitimate bad experiences. Everybody has a bad day every now and then and that was tame all things considered.
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She has a rich history of doing stuff like this. She was happy the day TotalBiscuit died, do you really need to know more?
 
Lunar15

Lunar15

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,647
Interficium said:
Harassing a developer until they finally clap back then using that to try and get them fired is definitely part of the playbook for these trolls, and don't be surprised to see it get worse now, in fact it's already happening in that very thread where the firings were announced on Arenanet; a bunch of people asking for additional firings for such crimes as "talking back to gamergaters."
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Yeah, that's what makes me so hesitant to comment on situations like these, since these tactics are really well known. What's worse is that this now *feeds into* a lot of GG narratives about women in the industry.
 

tsumineko

Member
Oct 28, 2017
55
If she's like that on Twitter, what's to say she's any more pleasant in the work place. Horrible stuff.
 
TemplaerDude

TemplaerDude

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,204
If you want to exist in a vacuum chamber, maybe don't post on social media.

And I have to cringe every time someone says "I've done this for X time! I know better!" Like, come on, be humble. Listen.
 
Baleoce

Baleoce

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,179
What was wrong with HR just asking her to apologise? Seems like a harsh decision. This is someones livelyhood we're talking about, even if the response was over the top and unjustified (which it was). Social media is scary man.
 
Rikucrafter

Rikucrafter

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 28, 2017
900
Australia
"I don't have to pretend to like you on here"

She's not working a shit retail job where you have to pretend to like people for a few hours each week. Working on a game like this should be a work of passion where you care about the playerbase you're working for. Rant on a private Twitter if you need to blow off steam. Constructive criticism should always be welcome. Instead she's passed off (very valid and well thought out) criticism as an attack on her for being female, when it wasn't unsolicited and came about as a response to her own post
 
Wanderer5

Wanderer5

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
10,982
Somewhere.
Maybe there was something more with their firing. Still, that was damn rude, and you really need to be careful of what you say on social media.
 
Yukinari

Yukinari

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,538
The Danger Zone
The Deep End said:
There was no need to play gender/sexism card and lash out to a thoughtful response
Her firing was well deserved. It sucks it has to be this way but that's the name of the game on twitter these days. What you say has massive consequences. Also she tweeted about how happy she was the day TotalBiscuit died which is totally fucked up. She had it coming.
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Considering the Bioware dev who belittled TB's death was fired, then she should be fired just for saying that. Extremely unprofessional.
 

Pog

Banned
May 19, 2018
248
I wonder if Japanese developers hate their fans as much as Western developers. I don't see posts like these too often in comparison.
 
Dennis8K

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
I don't know about firings but her reaction was bizarre, over the top and extremely rude.
 
Riderz1337

Riderz1337

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,913
The funny part is she was doing an AMA on twitter, and when someone responds with a question/criticism she gets so defensive.

Like... What?
 
Giever

Giever

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,756
Seems like a pretty crazy response to, like, nothing? I don't think she deserved to get fired over it though, but it's not like I know all the internal details or whatever.
 
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