[LuCY sCoTT]

It's not at all surprising that she or anyone else occasionally bites back when relentlessly attacked by anonymous ranters - what's surprsing is that they and many others mostly refrain and rarely sink to the level of their attackers.

Not surprising, but also not smart. That's why they leave these kind of comments in the first place, to get a reaction.

[Damned_Queen]

Better yet, Oof, ignore Kotaku in general - http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2012/02/21/bioware-hepler-harassment/ But, nice to see that "DocSeuss" comment you referred to also completely missed the point of the articles and that her comments were taken out of context. It's always fun to perpetuate the stuff I guess.

Some are entirely missing the point as to drive the point home. Behaving badly, just because you are anonymous on the internet, is something a person should be ashamed of. When is it ever acceptable to personally attack someone because you don't like the company they work for, or you disagree with something they said. Is it SO hard to frame your comments to disagree with the argument, not attack the person? Or is it so easy to forget that these are real people? That someone's parent or child might be searching for information about someone they care about and get treated to ugly, crude, libelous, childish, attacks and images?

It's not at all surprising that she or anyone else occasionally bites back when relentlessly attacked by anonymous ranters - what's surprsing is that they and many others mostly refrain and rarely sink to the level of their attackers.

Just reading Forbes article, you serious this largely stems from that absurd thread about guy complaining about straight romances in DA2? Seriously, I went with Merril in my game, was a lisbian mind, but she can go both ways, she's also one of my fave characters.

Canne believe that this stemmed from that

However, this resentment has fused with another, altogether more familiar one. The clearest sign of this was in a complaint spammed across BioWare’s forum by “Bastal”, who from his forum picture appears to be a wizard. Titled “Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer“, this complained, essentially, that a) there were not enough “non-exotic” (which seems to mean white and not elvish) women available for wooing in the game Dragon Age 2 and there was no way to turn off the gay:

Its ridiculous that I even have to use a term like Straight Male Gamer, when in the past I would only have to say fans, but it is as if when the designers were deciding on how to use their limited resources [...] they went “We have straight males, straight females, gays and lisbians. How do we make all these groups happy?”

In every previous BioWare game, I always felt that almost every companion in the game was designed for the male gamer in mind. Every female love interest was always written as a male friend type support character.[...] It makes things very awkward when your male companions keep making passes at you. The fact that a “No Homosixuality” option, which could have been easily implemented, is omitted just proves my point. [...]

When I say BioWare neglected The Straight Male Gamer, I don’t mean that they ignored male gamers. The romance options, Isabella and Merrill, were clearly designed for the straight male gamers in mind. Unfortunately, those choices are what one would call “exotic” choices.

Seriously, you gotta be kidding me?

[Isabel Ruiz]

Better yet, Oof, ignore Kotaku in general - http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2012/02/21/bioware-hepler-harassment/

I did read that Forbes article yesterday, Leydenne. I'm not convinced the attacks are about that. It may have started off as that, but there are far too many people angry at Bioware/Hepler/the DA2 devs for it to be just about six. Go on Twitter and search for "Hepler". There are many reasons why people are angry at her. (None, or very, very few of them actually extant in reality, of course.) The Forbes article looks to me more like it's trying, unsuccessfully, to draw some parallels between quite disaparate things.

The weakest part of the Forbes article is that it assumes "gamers" are this homogenous lump. Bioware customers are international. What applies to Americans will not apply to Russians will not apply to Australians.

[joeK]

Oof, as I said I loved DA2, wanna know why rate it so highly, the political intrigue actually seems realistic and the outcome made me scream out in passion at Anders, I was so angry what he chose to do.

[Harry Hearing]

I'm not defending the attackers. There's no reason for that kind of behaviour. I was referring Narmy and Rulke to DocSeuss's anolysis about why non-gaming people in gaming is not a good idea, not as regards his assessment of the situation.

What is wrong with non gamers being part of the gaming industry? They are probably surrounded by people who will tell them when something is an absolutely atrocious idea and they may offer unique insight that is lost on gamers because we have played too many games and are just used to that [censored]. IMO non-gamers should be part of the process. They add differing perspective. Even if what they think of is bad they may get someone to think of something in a different way. Different perspectives are almost always good for any topic. Even if the perspective is considered a bad one.

[claire ley]

I did read that Forbes article yesterday, Leydenne. I'm not convinced the attacks are about that. It may have started off as that, but there are far too many people angry at Bioware/Hepler/the DA2 devs for it to be just about six. Go on Twitter and search for "Hepler". There are many reasons why people are angry at her. (None, or very, very few of them actually extant in reality, of course.) The Forbes article looks to me more like it's trying, unsuccessfully, to draw some parallels between quite disaparate things.

The weakest part of the Forbes article is that it assumes "gamers" are this homogenous lump. Bioware customers are international. What applies to Americans will not apply to Russians will not apply to Australians.

I won't string out this partiuclar discussion - I do feel you are missing the point of the OP article and the Forbes article - they are about behavior. You seem to want to continue to make the discussion about Ms. Hepler - that is not what we are talking about. She has every right to seek out any type of job she wants, as do you. For random unaffiliated people to make a determination of "who should or shouldn't" be working in an industry - whether it is gaming, movies, journalism... is simply not even worth discussing.

[Quick Draw III]

You guys should check out http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/23/escape-escape-embracing-skippable-combat/#more-95811. It's how I learned about this situation, and I think it's well written.

Basically, the guy who wrote it loves stories AND gameplay. He says, why not be able to skip gameplay? (By the way, I would never do that, this is what the article says.)
It says that you can skip cutscenes - and what if some games have boring filler gameplay and you just want to get to the story? They compare it to a book or a movie. In a movie you can always go to whatever chapter you want, and that a game should be similar - the same way you can flip to the end of a book.

It also says, and this seems true to me, that if anyone brings it up, people react as if they're being MADE to skip it. Why not give people the choice? You bought the game, do whatever you want with it. I don't see why people would be mad even if there was that option.

[Kristian Perez]

What is wrong with non gamers being part of the gaming industry? They are probably surrounded by people who will tell them when something is an absolutely atrocious idea and they may offer unique insight that is lost on gamers because we have played too many games and are just used to that [censored]. IMO non-gamers should be part of the process. They add differing perspective. Even if what they think of is bad they may get someone to think of something in a different way. Different perspectives are almost always good for any topic. Even if the perspective is considered a bad one.

Exactly. A company with only gamers is very likely to crumble in matters of months.

[Annick Charron]

I won't string out this partiuclar discussion - I do feel you are missing the point of the OP article and the Forbes article - they are about behavior. You seem to want to continue to make the discussion about Ms. Hepler - that is not what we are talking about.

What's the point? The fact that there are trolls on the internet, and are being lumped in with people who have genuine criticism?

It's rather silly to take the immature people throwing around insults and generalize it about how gamers are torturing this woman.

[kiss my weasel]

I won't string out this partiuclar discussion - I do feel you are missing the point of the OP article and the Forbes article - they are about behavior. You seem to want to continue to make the discussion about Ms. Hepler - that is not what we are talking about. She has every right to seek out any type of job she wants, as do you. For random unaffiliated people to make a determination of "who should or shouldn't" be working in an industry - whether it is gaming, movies, journalism... is simply not even worth discussing.

Ley, thank you the editorial from the site was largely about gamers behaviour as observed by people outside of gaming, one person shouldn't make up for a group acting like it did, gaming about fun and enjoyment, true getting more involved and being recognized as an art form, but this doesn't allow for this behaviour, it makes it abhorrent.

[Sophh]

Exactly. A company with only gamers is very likely to crumble in matters of months.

True statement is true. Authors often go to non-authors, family member or friends for criticism, does this make the people opinions any less of say a real author or editor?

Sorry double post, just realized too late .

[lilmissparty]

I won't string out this partiuclar discussion - I do feel you are missing the point of the OP article and the Forbes article - they are about behavior. You seem to want to continue to make the discussion about Ms. Hepler - that is not what we are talking about. She has every right to seek out any type of job she wants, as do you. For random unaffiliated people to make a determination of "who should or shouldn't" be working in an industry - whether it is gaming, movies, journalism... is simply not even worth discussing.

What? I never said she didn't have a right to seek employment in whatever industry she wants to. I think we're getting our lines crossed somewhere... She can seek employment wherever she wants to; there may be reasons why it's not a good idea for certain sectors to hire certain kinds of people, that's all. And if they do, well, okay? It's not like there's anything I can do about it, is there; and, like you said, it's not up to me to decide who applies where. Obviously.

What is wrong with non gamers being part of the gaming industry?

I don't have the time (or, really, the energy; this could get ugly) to go into the details. Click through on that Kotaku link and scroll down to DocSeuss's comments. Read all of them. He makes a valid argument.

[jessica robson]

You guys should check out http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/23/escape-escape-embracing-skippable-combat/#more-95811. It's how I learned about this situation, and I think it's well written.

Basically, the guy who wrote it loves stories AND gameplay. He says, why not be able to skip gameplay? (By the way, I would never do that, this is what the article says.)
It says that you can skip cutscenes - and what if some games have boring filler gameplay and you just want to get to the story? They compare it to a book or a movie. In a movie you can always go to whatever chapter you want, and that a game should be similar - the same way you can flip to the end of a book.

It also says, and this seems true to me, that if anyone brings it up, people react as if they're being MADE to skip it. Why not give people the choice? You bought the game, do whatever you want with it. I don't see why people would be mad even if there was that option.

A very informative article. I much agree with it. The only complaint I might have is if it somehow did interfere with those who wanted to play the game. Then I might be a little annoyed, but I honestly can't see how that would happen. I imagine it working like the chapter select of a dvd. So all you need to do is design the game. Then cut it up so you can play each part/watch each cinematic.

Edit
@rulke
I can't tell you how much your right with the writing anology. My book is a prime example. I go to the people who like to read books frequently, and even write some for advice on how it is. I get all this complicated stuff which is good, and told x, y, z needs to change. Then I go to the more mass market type of people who might not be so into it and get completely different advice. So I have to balance out all of it. It would be great if I could make the greatest insight into humanity ever through my book and it's 50k words long. And a real mind opener, but who's going to read it? Is it going to be any interesting? Do I even like what I'm writing. Ect.

Granted I'm writing a fantasy novel, but same idea. I need to know what works. Things a lot of people think of as problems might not really be problems.

[jasminε]

Narmy, Rulke, read the http://kotaku.com/5886674/bioware-writer-describes-her-gaming-tastes-angry-gamers-call-her-a-cancer, and especially DocSeuss's comments underneath. He goes into detail about why having someone like Hepler on a team, or in the video gaming industry in general, is detrimental.

I very much disagree with DocSeuss. He starts with saying that she's behind the worst stuff in DAO, and couldn't disagree any more. I think she's behind the best writing in DAO. The stuff in Orzammar had the most depth and was the most imaginative, the whole society made sense, and the caste system and the machiavellian plotting fleshed it out a great deal. The dwarfes also had the best Origin story as far as I'm concerned.

Can't comment on any DA2 stuff though, as I never played it.

[The Time Car]

I very much disagree with DocSeuss. He starts with saying that she's behind the worst stuff in DAO, and couldn't disagree any more. I think she's behind the best writing in DAO. The stuff in Orzammar had the most depth and was the most imaginative, the whole society made sense, and the caste system and the machiavellian plotting fleshed it out a great deal.

Can't comment on any DA2 stuff though, as I never played it.

I see I'm going to be misunderstood... Further down, he goes into why it's not a good idea to have non-gamers working for gaming companies, even if they're just writers. I mostly agree with him. (This does not mean I'm calling for Hepler's head on a plate.) I'm not talking about his DA2 comments, or his comments re: the harrassment. His later comments apply to the gaming industry generally (with Hepler used as an example, sometimes; whether you agree with the example or not, I think the general gist of his argument is valid).

[DAVId Bryant]

I very much disagree with DocSeuss. He starts with saying that she's behind the worst stuff in DAO, and couldn't disagree any more. I think she's behind the best writing in DAO. The stuff in Orzammar had the most depth and was the most imaginative, the whole society made sense, and the caste system and the machiavellian plotting fleshed it out a great deal. The dwarfes also had the best Origin story as far as I'm concerned.

Can't comment on any DA2 stuff though, as I never played it.

IMO the worse writing was for the Quanari in the first game, because I don't believe they knew direction they were going to go. In fact Orzammar gave you Flesh Golems and many creepy aspects, like how you found out Brood Mothers were made, totally unsettling and her dialogue, the one saying that chant, sent chills down my spine.

@rulke
I can't tell you how much your right with the writing anology. My book is a prime example. I go to the people who like to read books frequently, and even write some for advice on how it is. I get all this complicated stuff which is good, and told x, y, z needs to change. Then I go to the more mass market type of people who might not be so into it and get completely different advice. So I have to balance out all of it. It would be great if I could make the greatest insight into humanity ever through my book and it's 50k words long. And a real mind opener, but who's going to read it? Is it going to be any interesting? Do I even like what I'm writing. Ect.

Granted I'm writing a fantasy novel, but same idea. I need to know what works. Things a lot of people think of as problems might not really be problems.

Exactly, thanks for seeing my logic, games have come really far, and are reaching to bigger audience, I watch SpoonyExperiment and he talks about when Ultima first allowed you to go female, and how big a change this was, and how demographic of games used to be vastly marginalised and mostly nerdy boys. But as time has past, they've been reaching other demographic, thus logic would say you need to start getting other people in team, even non-gamers or the dreaded 'casual gamer' to answer whether they play game this way, or would they prefer it this way.

This is not to say, totally reliable, but it can provide fun for everyone in best case scenarios.

[Prue]

I don't agree with her because she seems more intent on the story than the gameplay. Its sounds like she wants a virtual choose your own story book or something.

Even though I enjoy a good story, it always comes second to actual gameplay when its a videogame media.

Thats why its a GAME.

But the venom and spite she is given isn't deserved. Sad to see immature people go out of their way to name call someone.

[Fam Mughal]

I don't agree with her because she seems more intent on the story than the gameplay. Its sounds like she wants a virtual choose your own story book or something.

Even though I enjoy a good story, it always comes second to actual gameplay when its a videogame media.

Thats why its a GAME.

But the venom and spite she is given isn't deserved. Sad to see immature people go out of their way to name call someone.

Adventure games are fun.

[yermom]

Uhh.. I hate it so much when people day the gaming community. Because usually they are talking about the loudest.

Anyways who is Jennifer Helper? Some dev working at bioware? I don't get it, one dev doesnt make or break a game. EA does or so I'm told.

[Karl harris]

Adventure games are fun.

Absolutely, some of my fave games, Monkey Islands, Broken Swords and Sanitarium were just plain fantastic and enjoyable, especially last one, as it made me think a lot in the end.

[Arrogant SId]

Adventure games are fun.

I do enjoy story and plenty of choices to influence it, but I need some meat game play to go along with it as well.

I prefer RPGs but a nice adventure game is always good.

[Tha King o Geekz]

Whatever Hepler's merits, it's strange that people seem to think that she, or even all the writers, is, or are, solely responsible for the story, dialogue and pacing. When a writer writes something, the coders and artists and editors must implement it. From what I can tell, that was a large chunk of DA2's problem: poor story implementation. (Yes, I know some of you disagree that the story was poor. That's not my point.) A game is a team effort. If the entire team doesn't work together synergistically, there will be problems with a game. So, some, even many, of the problems that DA2 has with narration are not to be blamed on the writers: they're to be blamed on the coders and artists and editors.

The converse (coverse? really, Oof?) inverse can also be true. The writer may adversely influence other aspects of the game, or the game generally, unless he or she knows what he or she is doing, and understands the medium. That's the crux of DocSeuss's argument, for those of you who don't want to read through all of the Kotaku comments.

[Darrell Fawcett]

Only sad [censored]s would make personal attacks like that about her appearance, bullying her like a child would on the playground. Im glad of her influence on the series anyway, it has had mediocre gameplay since the beginning and should just be a movie instead. Bioware makes ok games I suppose overall but there is much better out there.

[Kirsty Collins]

I do enjoy story and plenty of choices to influence it, but I need some meat game play to go along with it as well.

I prefer RPGs but a nice adventure game is always good.

Then what's the problem with making games more like adventure games? No one said all games would be converted over night. It would be an optional thing to skip stuff. I wouldn't use it, but I'm not going to be opposed to it.

[Evaa]

Whatever Hepler's merits, it's strange that people seem to think that she, or even all the writers, is, or are, solely responsible for the story, dialogue and pacing. When a writer writes something, the coders and artists and editors must implement it. From what I can tell, that was a large chunk of DA2's problem: poor story implementation. (Yes, I know some of you disagree that the story was poor. That's not my point.) A game is a team effort. If the entire team doesn't work together synergistically, there will be problems with a game. So, some, even many, of the problems that DA2 has with narration are not to be blamed on the writers: they're to be blamed on the coders and artists and editors.

The converse can also be true. The writer may adversely influence other aspects of the game, or the game generally, unless he or she knows what he or she is doing, and understands the medium. That's the crux of DocSeuss's argument, for those of you who don't want to read through all of the Kotaku comments.

This Oof, is absolutely accurate, coders and others are largely at fault here, the lore is amazing and shouldn't be criticized imo, but you can if you wish, but people biggest complaint of game were design and gameplay.