Little Things That Irk You VI: The Rage Awakens

[Colin]

Took this of him last week before taking him for a nail clipping. (He can't walk any distance without being short of breath so no wear) He's become quite the elderly statesman. Unfortunately he's a bit saggy and lumpy in his old age, and if you look at his rear legs his muscle mass has all gone. Still a beautiful dog though.



A bit of a world away the days from back when I was regularly walking him 20+ miles a day. I love this photo.

[Dogg Thang]

That’s a good dog.

[Colin]

He sure is.

[teddymeow]

[MENTION=9865]Colin[/MENTION] Is he expecting you to bring him his pipe and slippers in that first photo.

Proper regal looking.

[Blobcat]

He looks a lovely friend.

He was lucky to have you as family .

[fishbowlhead]

Streamer manages to get a 12 year veteran developer fired from ArenaNet over his opinion on story writing (which of course he’s never even done)

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/7/6/17541318/guild-wars-arenanet-jessica-price-peter-fries-fired-reddit

So that’s awesome. If your passing this guy on the street, feel free to nock his teeth out.

[Dogg Thang]

Ridiculous. And reddit is, yet again, a toilet.

[randombs]

I like Reddit. But I can see how Reddit communities can cause trouble.

Even so, companies are usually pussies when it comes to PR blunders like this and can't be relied on to do anything other than damage control.

[prinnysquad]

What a sorry tale to read. The inmates are truly in charge of the asylum.

[Asura]

Streamer manages to get a 12 year veteran developer fired from ArenaNet over his opinion on story writing (which of course he’s never even done)

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/7/6/17541318/guild-wars-arenanet-jessica-price-peter-fries-fired-reddit

So that’s awesome. If your passing this guy on the street, feel free to nock his teeth out.

Sorry man, but as a GW2 fan who has followed this since it started, I think their article is a bit more of an opinion piece than it really should be.

It started when a member of their staff (who lists their workplace on their Twitter profile) made a long series of tweets about how the main character in the game is written. A player replied, someone who is both a YouTuber and one of the developer's paid YouTube partners.

He made a suggestion saying that he disagreed.

The dev in question then got back to him, accused him of sexism (stating something which amounted to how he was only questioning her because she was a woman) and called him a bunch of stuff such as "rando asshat", and when people pointed it it wasn't an unreasonable suggestion, she made a big deal about he she "wasn't on the clock" and this was a "private" posting (though it wasn't; it was public, on the profile for which she has blue-tick status due to being a videogame developer).

Naturally a bunch of people said this wasn't the best way for her to respond, and this bloke who has worked there for 13 years waded in and said no-one had ever challenged him under these circumstances, suggesting it was because he wasn't a woman.

Obviously, some people weren't too impressed by what they said. Worse still, this happened on July 4th when most of ANet were on holiday, so the argument flared up until it hit the front page of Reddit.

Almost right away, the two developers were fired, presumably because ANet believed their status as named developers meant they had to accept they are the public faces of the company, and they shouldn't talk to their customers this way without expecting some kind of response.

Game developers, like anyone who has a job, do not have to list their job on their twitter profile. However, if they do, then they surely have to accept that the additional following and engagement they gain from that comes with the price of accepting they are now the public face of that company, and can't simply say what they want.

Now I accept this is an overreaction on ANet's part. I can only assume this is the end of a procedure - like the last straw that broke the camel's back. The female developer in question, for instance, made a tweet celebrating the death of YouTuber TotalBiscuit, which even if you didn't like the guy (I wasn't a fan), he died of cancer - I mean who does that?

The stuff which has followed, like Verge's article and those on Reddit saying gleefully they can fire people at ANet is all bandwagon-jumping which has come afterward. The original disagreement was much smaller, much more straightforward and should've been resolved with a simple apology.

I really feel for the guy who was caught up in this, but again, I'm not in their office so I don't know the full reasoning behind his firing. Also, I can't defend some of the terrible messages and tweets both of them have received in the aftermath. They've become victims in an ongoing culture war which goes far beyond GW2.

The only disheartening thing is that I'm a big GW2 fan and it's a shame to see THIS is what gets it to the front page of Reddit.

If I had wrote the article, I would've been just as gloomy, and just as critical of those people who have wrote those terrible things, but I would've definitely thrown in that there are two parts to this story - the original, small-scale bust-up and then how it was picked up by a bunch of keyboard-warriors who have an axe to grind.

[prinnysquad]

Cheers Asura. Interesting to hear another interpretation.

Bastard sun still isn’t letting up. This is tortuous.

What the hell is going on? This is England. It should be gloomy and raining, and we should have been knocked out a week ago.

[kryss]

My soon to be ex-work: The people who make big decisions and the people who stay with us.

[randombs]

Sorry man, but as a GW2 fan who has followed this since it started, I think their article is a bit more of an opinion piece than it really should be.

Thanks for that.

I didn't read into it beyond that article but even then I was thinking Twitter isn't the best place to rant if you're publicly associated with your company.

[Family Fry]

Sorry man, but as a GW2 fan who has followed this since it started, I think their article is a bit more of an opinion piece than it really should be.

It started when a member of their staff (who lists their workplace on their Twitter profile) made a long series of tweets about how the main character in the game is written. A player replied, someone who is both a YouTuber and one of the developer's paid YouTube partners.

He made a suggestion saying that he disagreed.

The dev in question then got back to him, accused him of sexism (stating something which amounted to how he was only questioning her because she was a woman) and called him a bunch of stuff such as "rando asshat", and when people pointed it it wasn't an unreasonable suggestion, she made a big deal about he she "wasn't on the clock" and this was a "private" posting (though it wasn't; it was public, on the profile for which she has blue-tick status due to being a videogame developer).

Naturally a bunch of people said this wasn't the best way for her to respond, and this bloke who has worked there for 13 years waded in and said no-one had ever challenged him under these circumstances, suggesting it was because he wasn't a woman.

Obviously, some people weren't too impressed by what they said. Worse still, this happened on July 4th when most of ANet were on holiday, so the argument flared up until it hit the front page of Reddit.

Almost right away, the two developers were fired, presumably because ANet believed their status as named developers meant they had to accept they are the public faces of the company, and they shouldn't talk to their customers this way without expecting some kind of response.

Game developers, like anyone who has a job, do not have to list their job on their twitter profile. However, if they do, then they surely have to accept that the additional following and engagement they gain from that comes with the price of accepting they are now the public face of that company, and can't simply say what they want.

Now I accept this is an overreaction on ANet's part. I can only assume this is the end of a procedure - like the last straw that broke the camel's back. The female developer in question, for instance, made a tweet celebrating the death of YouTuber TotalBiscuit, which even if you didn't like the guy (I wasn't a fan), he died of cancer - I mean who does that?

The stuff which has followed, like Verge's article and those on Reddit saying gleefully they can fire people at ANet is all bandwagon-jumping which has come afterward. The original disagreement was much smaller, much more straightforward and should've been resolved with a simple apology.

I really feel for the guy who was caught up in this, but again, I'm not in their office so I don't know the full reasoning behind his firing. Also, I can't defend some of the terrible messages and tweets both of them have received in the aftermath. They've become victims in an ongoing culture war which goes far beyond GW2.

The only disheartening thing is that I'm a big GW2 fan and it's a shame to see THIS is what gets it to the front page of Reddit.

If I had wrote the article, I would've been just as gloomy, and just as critical of those people who have wrote those terrible things, but I would've definitely thrown in that there are two parts to this story - the original, small-scale bust-up and then how it was picked up by a bunch of keyboard-warriors who have an axe to grind.

Their attacks on the community were unacceptable,” O’Brien’s forum statement reads. “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.”

Watch out guys here’s the head of a games studio who has no backbone.

The fact that two people lost their jobs over those tweets is incredible especially in 2018 the year of our orange overlord, you know the guy who calls mexicans rapists.

What I find funny though is even when she said this about total ***** death, last month.

The kindest thing I can say is “I’m glad he’s no longer around to keep doing harm”

THAT didn’t get her sacked.

[Brad]

The internet affords you anonymity if you want it. If you choose to forgo that and publicise your employer then you should realise you need to be a bit more professional about things. The publisher looks bad now IMO for not sacking her re: totalbiscuit and only sacking her when the company was publicly under fire.

I expect a bunch of game Devs felt the same way she did re: both incidents. I don't think she should have been fired for defending herself for the latter but I would have certainly issued a warning about the earlier indiscretion.