Bioware writer Jennifer Hepler should've watched her mouth

[Godzilla 2000]

So recently I got banned from the BioWare social network for daring to criticize Jennifer Hepler, one of their "talented" writers (she wrote Anders for DA2. That about covers it).

Why did I criticize her? Well for one, I wasnt the only one, or even the most offensive, and its actually a big story. In short, read this snippet from an interview.

>Q: What is your least favorite thing about working in the industry?

>A: Playing the games. This is probably a terrible thing to admit, but it has definitely been the single most difficult thing for me. I came into the job out of a love of writing, not a love of playing games… I’m really terrible at so many things which most games use incessantly — I have awful hand-eye coordination, I don’t like tactics, I don’t like fighting, I don’t like keeping track of inventory, and I can’t read a game map to save my life.

>Q: If you could tell developers of games to make sure to put one thing in games to appeal to a broader audience which includes women, what would that one thing be?

>A: A fast-forward button. 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.

Oh yes. The dumb bitch actually said that. With a straight face. And the internet, as it always does, responded in the most tactful ways it could (I'm being sarcastic of course).

So what did Hepler say in response to these trolls?

"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."

She basically poured gasoline onto a bonfire. And boy, did she get burned. This chick even got phonecall death threats! DEATH THREATS!

And BioWare jumped to her defense on every front. And so they should have, but how they did it is where people had a problem.

This is but just a sample of how the folks at BW decided to handle this situation.





So like I said, I criticized her in one of the many "omg plz support hepler" topics, saying that I thought her writing was bad and that what she said was pretty stupid, BUT that the way the fans responded was way out of line. So I was banned from the forums and the topic was deleted. Butthurt much, BioWare? LOL. It seems BW acts as tactful and mature as its fanbase does.




There's a bit more to this story, but thats the meat of it.

[hammysammy59]

I don't know, I think she has a point. If you can skip dialogue and cutscenes, why can't you skip other stuff? Granted, skipping the "other stuff" would require it become a completely different game (more like a point and click or text adventure), but the option to play the game in that completely different way WOULD bring in players who are turned off by fast-paced combat and strategy. The fact that fanboys shit their pants over that simple statement is sad. The fact that Bioware is responding in kind is also sad. This is why more than a few people think gamers are antisocial, misogynistic, racist, homophobic man-child retards... because all too often the gamers are more than happy to go out and prove it. Bummer.

[Hedorah]

I don't know, I think she has a point. If you can skip dialogue and cutscenes, why can't you skip other stuff?

> Pays 50-60 dollars for video game
> Skips gameplay and listens to dialogue

Wtf kind of logic is that anyway? I personally found it moronic.

[GreenAiden555]

What a moron.

Another reason to not like Bioware FTW!

[hammysammy59]

I don't know, I think she has a point. If you can skip dialogue and cutscenes, why can't you skip other stuff?

> Pays 50-60 dollars for video game
> Skips gameplay and listens to dialogue

Wtf kind of logic is that anyway? I personally found it moronic.

Granted, skipping the "other stuff" would require it become a completely different game (more like a point and click or text adventure),

Believe it or not, some people do like these type of games. Shocking, I know. I guess I don't understand why her initial statement, which basically amounted to "We could reach a different/broader audience if there was some way to skip fast-paced combat and deep strategy set-pieces, I am one of the people who would enjoy this" made so many people so FURIOUS. Everything she and Bioware said after that is tacky and defensive bullshit, albeit inspired by "righteous" nerdrage.

[Godzilla 2000]

Believe it or not, some people do like these type of games. Shocking, I know. I guess I don't understand why her initial statement, which basically amounted to "We could reach a different/broader audience if there was some way to skip fast-paced combat and deep strategy set-pieces, I am one of the people who would enjoy this" made so many people so FURIOUS.

Because the point of playing a game is to PLAY the game.

And because she's a LEAD WRITER AT BIOWARE WHO OBVIOUSLY HAS A LOT OF LOVE AND INFLUENCE, this could mean some of her asinine ideas would be implemented into BW's games, further dumbing them down for "broader audiences."

They already tried reaching for "broader audiences" and what did we get?

Dragon Age 2.

Thats what is so damning about all this. This post on kotaku explains it better than I can:

"Hepler also seemed to anger some gamers with her suggestion to add a fast-forward button to skip combat in games, similar to the skip button for dialogue and in-game cinematics."

Yes, and this is why people call her a cancer.

You have to understand: games are about gameplay. Games with stories should be games that tell these stories through, among other things, gameplay. Someone who works in the industry and DOESN'T care about gameplay, and would rather have you skip it, is objectively harmful to the industry, much the same way cancer is objectively harmful to the human body.

That she was the lead writer of the worst part of Dragon Age Origins (the roads), and the chief story editor of the much-maligned (and deservedly so) Dragon Age 2, is further evidence that she has contributed greatly to Bioware's fall from grace.

So, um, yeah. She's one of the cancers that is killing Bioware. So are the doctors and their greed, which enabled people who don't care about the games they play (according to Brent Knowles, who posted a fascinating retrospective on Bioware's decline after he left Bioware) or make to be hired.

Bioware's increasingly turning into a company that thinks its stories are the bees knees and doesn't care about gameplay. Instead, they force you to experience their substandard stories and remove all the cool things about their games--like choices that really mattered--so that you'll have to ride their ride the way they want you to.

She may be a writer, but she's definitely a bad games writer, and her presence at Bioware has brought about more bad than good.

[SuperSaiyan4Godzilla]

Someone obviously doesn't understand how the game industry works. Nor business.

[Grayshot954]

You do realize someone modified the original interview, rearranged it and made public what everyone is flaming about.

Look don't criticize someone for their opinion that is not even up to date. First off this interview was from YEARS ago. Secondly you got banned because you were adding to the flames. She has recieved death threats, telephone calls I believe and other various intimidation. You adding to the flames got you kicked off the forum.

By the way I gotta say that comback she made was hilarious. lol. But if you want another side of the story, the one I heard from agaisnt Godzilla 2000's point, here is the link to a video. I forget which portion they talk about it... http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episo ... lls/727325

[Gyaos]

I never liked either Dragon Age or Mass Effect anyway, both are terrible games imo.

[GreenAiden555]

Bioware has shit forums, anyway. Pic related.

[Crocodile]

She has recieved death threats, telephone calls I believe and other various intimidation

Wow she recieed death threats over THAT?
Damn, one more reason to be a misanthrope.

[Godzilla 2000]

You do realize someone modified the original interview, rearranged it and made public what everyone is flaming about.

Obviously. Thats why we're hearing about it now, and not back in '06.

But the point is that this was a snippet of that interview, and it was the cause of the uproar.

As I said, there's a bit more to this whole thing, so if you want to track down the entire interview, go ahead.

Look don't criticize someone for their opinion that is not even up to date. First off this interview was from YEARS ago.

That doesnt make it any less retarded. Besides, all these twitter responses are recent, (including the one that implied that the trolls were all jealous virgins), and so far I havent seen a statement where she actually came out and said "yeah I've changed my mind since then" just to quell all the hate, so I'm fairly confident she still holds that same opinion.

Secondly you got banned because you were adding to the flames. She has recieved death threats, telephone calls I believe and other various intimidation. You adding to the flames got you kicked off the forum.

I still hold to the idea that BW were just being butthurt white knights.

By the way I gotta say that comback she made was hilarious. lol. But if you want another side of the story, the one I heard from agaisnt Godzilla 2000's point, here is the link to a video. I forget which portion they talk about it... http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episo ... lls/727325

You forgot which part of an hour long video they discuss this magical viewpoint against my own? Oh yeah, thats useful.

Well, its at the 34:50 mark for those who dont want to waste their time.

So I watched and listened to what they said and...they didnt really say anything against my side.

All they said was "yeah, those people sending death threats and such are crossing the line."

[Grayshot954]

^ Yeah I have a bad memory

But hey I just hate group mentality. You want to insult someone for their opinion go right ahead. She will probably love Asura's Wrath if she hates combat. But she is not a cancer and she deserves the right for her own opinion. You want to act like a flamer on a forum go right ahead. Me, well I will respect her opinion and will move on because I can.

[GojiFan]

You know what modern convenience allows someone to look up scenes and story elements of a game without having to go through that oh-so-infuriating thing called gameplay? The internet. Games with the ability to skip the gameplay aren't games anymore. This idiot should go make an interactive movie, which is what she really wants.

[Proofpoochie]

Wow. What she said was stupid but, she doesn't deserve death threats over something like that.

[miguelnuva]

So what's the problem with her voicing her opinion, she's just saying some people what to skip game play just like some skip cutscenes sure it's not a true video game anymore but no one has the right to call some stupid just because that's what they want.

If a no gamer wanted to by a video game just for the story/cutscenes I say let it will get the company more money for the people that due play for the gameplay.

[HeiseiGodzilla117]

but no one has the right to call some stupid just because that's what they want.

I do. And she is stupid.

But, that doesn't justify death threats and flaming. I like having a good story in a game, but story doesn't MAKE a game. Gameplay makes a game. Otherwise you've got a movie, cartoon, or tv show. Games are about interacting with the events in the game.

[hammysammy59]

She specifically mentions wanting to skip specific gameplay elements: "I don’t like tactics, I don’t like fighting, I don’t like keeping track of inventory, and I can’t read a game map to save my life" granted, that's a lot of gameplay elements, but it's not ALL of them either. It still leaves things like puzzle-solving, character building/interaction, and maybe Bioware games' biggest draw, choices that matter (which that Kotaku article specifically claims she's out to destroy?). I don't think she's trying to abolish video games, she's just working in the wrong game genre... or a quote about her personal game preference got blown out of proportion.

Not only that, but the option to skip tough gameplay elements already exists in other games: enter Nintendo's "Super Guide" which has been around since New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It's there for gamers who need it, everybody else can ignore it. The existence of the Super Guide didn't destroy New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns or Super Mario Galaxy 2, it just provided an option for younger, less experienced, or frustrated players.

Also, the title of this thread makes my skreeonk skin crawl. "PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE WITH ME ABOUT VIDEO GAMES BETTER BE CAREFUL OR BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN TO THEM OR PEOPLE THEY CARE ABOUT" Yuck.

[GojiFan]

I think she is working in the wrong industry. She is more interested in the story than the gameplay. If that is the case, she should go work in another industry that loves stories as much as her... like the movie or television industries.

[Legionmaster]

ITT: People who don't know how businesses work and how writers make money.