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Jennifer Helper (Bioware Writer) Vs the Internet
This is a discussion on Jennifer Helper (Bioware Writer) Vs the Internet within the General PS3 Discussion forum, part of the Everything PlayStation; BioWare writer's vagina versus the Internet -Destructoid Jennifer Hepler is hated by people on the Internet, as Destructoid reader Ben ...
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02-20-2012 #1
Jennifer Helper (Bioware Writer) Vs the Internet
BioWare writer's vagina versus the Internet -Destructoid
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.
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 ****." 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.
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.
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.
You know what, though? Having a vagina and an industry job is a pretty sweet two-punch. I'm pretty jealous myself.
bioware PR nightmare
and i'm lovin it
The best part is that Reddit is being blamed for it even though 4chan is the one doing all this hilarious shit.
Jennifer helper deserves all the shit she gets though.
once again let me post a comparison pic of why she is hated so people don't scream "LOL SEXISM":
http://i.imgur.com/ZiIDV.jpg
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02-20-2012 #2
You keep calling her Jennifer Helper, it is Hepler.
Anyways if she doesn't like the gaming aspect of...games...then why doesn't she write for film or television. That way all that pesky gameplay wouldn't get in the way. Also it is a shame that people are attacking her, but the way she chose to handle it was in bad taste (because it reflects bad on her as well as the company). Personally I think a lot of people need to get over themselves. I know there are a lot of Bioware fans out there, but to be perfectly honest the writing is never very good. It is incredible as far as gaming stories go, but that isn't saying a lot.
Also once again if you want to hurt a company don't buy their games. Have everyone on Reddit and 4chan cancel their order for Mass Effect 3, have them cancel their subscriptions to Star Wars until Hepler is gone. Bioware doesn't care about tweets, they care about money.
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02-20-2012 #3
She wrote her own book once called M.I.T.H
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2139643.M_I_T_H_
Here's the first two sentences They used to describe it:
"What if magic is real? And what if the CIA Only knew about it?"
If that isn't horrible writing i don't know what is.
Not to mention during a FUCKING APOCOLYPSE the characters make out.
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02-20-2012 #4
Yeah she is bad, but so are a lot of game writers (and journalists, novelist, screenwriters etc.) I just don't get the hate towards her in particular. I found ME2 to have a very "ehh" story and it was nothing to cream myself over. If I want to get excited over dialog I will watch a Preston Sturges' film. The problem is in gaming there are very few stories that aren't complete drivel so when one comes around that is decent, fans jump all over it saying it is the best thing ever.
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02-20-2012 #5
Well, I do believe she should get fired. DA2's story was so horrible and moronic I can't even put the disc and play it on my acc due to the fear of it getting killed out of sheer shityness.
Thank god she didn't write ME's story.
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02-20-2012 #6
The story was ok but the characters made up for it imo.
Legion, Mordin, Jack, and the original character's development like Garrus, Liara and tali is awesome.
i hate the rest of the characters though.
i'm glad i killed off all the charcters i hated in me2 (I accidentally killed mordin)
this basically sums it up for me
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02-20-2012 #7
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02-20-2012 #8
me
she's a terrible character. She's only there to give male players sex appeal.Last edited by Ps360; 02-20-2012 at 06:11 PM.
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02-20-2012 #9The One and Only

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Total Awards: 16This is the first time I've heard of either women, but based on the image PS360 linked (don't have time to read through the article) Hepler isn't very impressive. :/
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02-20-2012 #10
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02-20-2012 #11
This article alone, pretty much uses up 47,89% of the amount of facepalms, you can do in a lifetime.
First of all, if she hates video games, why the hell did she begin working in the game industry?
Second of all, Skipping combat? Why? Doesn't she realize that, she pretty much removes the whole point of games. Do we play video games for the story? To some extent, but that is definitely not the biggest reason. It's the goddamn gameplay. Take CoD for example. If games got sold purely based on story, CoD wouldn't be one of the worlds biggest selling video game franchises. And even the fact, some games gets succes by focusing on story (Heavy Rain for example), those games had still unskippable interaction sections.
Third of all, That's your response? That you take it as sexism? No! Lady, we just disagree with you. We do not envy your gender, your job or your overall lifestyle. We don't care about you.
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02-20-2012 #12
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02-20-2012 #13
I've not played DA2 yet since I've not finished Origins. I don't really care what others think about the story. Its the internet, people will bitch and complain no matter what.
I think her idea of skipping combat is interesting and shouldn't be entirely dismissed. In theory Metal Gear lets you do this. You can beat the game without killing anyone. LA Noire also lets you do it by letting you skip the whole combat scene if you keep dying. I think thats a cool idea for the people who want more story than action.
I don't think this is a PR nightmare for Bioware. I think this actually helps them and her because who knew anything about her? I didn't until now. Now you've given her lots of free press, and also links to her other work.
If you really want to hurt her, don't talk about her. No one will know who she is or what her work is. For a writer any press is good press.
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02-20-2012 #14
when the GM of Bioware starts calling people "fucking morons" you know it's a nightmare

also her idea is terrible because it ruins the whole entire point of a fucking video game.
a video game is INTERACTIVE. Go watch a movie if you don't want to do anything to get to the story.
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02-20-2012 #15
In theory, Metal Gear has nothing to do with that. You are still playing the game, but instead of focusing on combat, you are focusing on stealth. What this woman wants is to skip any part where you control the character and his/her actions. In other words, she wants to take out the Gameplay, which is what makes a game, a game.
Like Ps360, if there's no gameplay, there's no interaction. If there is no interaction, you are just paying $60 to watch a movie with high-res graphics.
It is one for BioWare, since they make games and this is completely contradictory with what they do. It isn't for her, though.
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02-20-2012 #16
Bioware will be fine. Its not going to affect them. Its going to give them more press, and give them more exposure. Good for the GM calling people morons when they are morons. If they don't like her writing, write a letter/email to the company and don't buy the game. If a person is going to call someone names over twitter, don't be a bitch and complain when someone calls you out back.
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02-20-2012 #17
the one on the left not only looks better but she has better credentials
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02-20-2012 #18illegal in 9 countries

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Total Awards: 16The mere fact that dialogue contains a skip button and combat doesn't should indicate what gamers care more about.
I've always disliked the dialogue-heavy aspect of Bioware games and will skip through it as quickly as possible...I really don't want to read through pages and pages of crap, just let me play the game!
Cutscenes have alleviated that in more recent games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect and I'll happily sit through the story...at least the interesting bits.
But in older games like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR and Jade Empire, i'm not going to sit there and read every line of boring, meaningless dialogue just to find out I need to travel to location X to kill baddy Y...get to the bloody point!
Having not played the game, I can't comment on the quality of Dragon Age II's story or dialogue. But what I can be sure of is i'm there to kill shit, collect loot and get the gist of what's happening as fast as possible so I can finish the game. I don't care about the dialogue, I won't remember any of it.
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02-21-2012 #19
thats touching sacred before-bioware-went-to-shit ground there.
guessing you'll hate planescape torment, the ultimate RPG.
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/planescape_tormentLast edited by Ps360; 02-21-2012 at 12:26 AM.
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02-21-2012 #20Crocodile Hunter

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Total Awards: 15this chick is a moron and ugly......nuff said
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