GW 2 Devs/Playerbase Twitter Discussion

[Sarrs.4831]

This's been an interesting few days, and I'm sure it was a very difficult decision to make. I'm very glad that a swift resolution was made, though, and this can be put to bed.

[Manasa Devi.7958]

I find it rather insulting to suggest Mo caved under some kind of pressure as opposed to him being genuine about his position.

[LionHeart.2804]

@Mike O Brien.4613 said:Recently two of our employees failed to uphold our standards of communicating with players. Their attacks on the community were unacceptable.

Mo

Thank you, sweet Angel.

I am not sure how employees truly felt about all this, and it's best not to go there, but you guys have done the right thing, despite any controversy you may all have felt making the decision to end their contracts. I know freedom of expression on both sides is important, but if I made any backlash to my own customers, I'd sure be feeling it, whether I was right or wrong.

[Bluebird.1890]

@Mike O Brien.4613 said: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

I resubbed and bought Path of Fire because of the way you guys handled this.

It's nice to see a game company handle one of these situations correctly. Thank you.

[LucianDK.8615]

Theres nothing to be proud of here.

[Raptor.9863]

@Harrik of Avalone.1867 said:sexist mobYou're joking right?

[Windu The Forbidden One.60]

@Nabuko Darayon.9645 said:I mean you just created a new precedent

The only precedent they created is that toxic and sexist behavior will not be accepted, and nor should it.

[Treadstone.2564]

I'm proud of Arenanet for being brave enough to take action against an employee that is insulting and attacking the company's customers.

All employees should be held to the same standard. And it's incredibly cowardly to hide behind real gender issues in an attempt to get a free pass for misconduct.

[Salgat.8163]

People need to remember that she attacked and called sexist one of Guild War's largest affiliates. You do this at any company and you'll get fired.

[Skyroar.2974]

@Laivine.9308 said:Very disappointed in your decision Mo. When mob gets these type of victories it resembles the darkest times of history.

We're talking about developers who started to insult their community out of nowhere.

[michelada.2947]

i'm afraid that anet devs will be even more silent after this incident, communication need to be on both sides

[Oneiroid.9245]

I have to say I do not agree with the firing of Peter Fries and I feel anet has caved TOO far to community demands, as what Peter did didn't warrant such a severe reaction. He has been a long-standing employee at your company who has been nothing but nice and may have made a singular foolish choice. Surely he may have needed to be reprimanded but to go so far as to fire him is extremely rash and giving in to the 'bandwagon' of anger, and in my eyes is shameful. I'm not going to touch the topic of Jessica Price-- for Peter alone, I feel this was too severe and I feel you did not make the right decision in his case. This whole incident is already such a disaster on BOTH sides of the topic and this just makes things worse. I suppose if this is anet's choice, it cannot be undone, but to any employees reading this who have had a say in this manner, I hope that in the future you consider these things way more carefully as whatever crowd was crying for Peter to be fired really did not actually represent your whole community and was merely the loudest, not the most rational. There were better and less extreme solutions for his behavior.

[Mahjling.6458]

Thank you so much for your prompt response, and for being willing to defend your playerbase. You're a wonderful company, Anet, and I appreciate the work each and every one of you do. I look forward to my next paycheck so I can buy some goodies from the gem store! Your reaction is to be applauded, and I'm glad to continue my support of you in every way possible.

[cnyranger.9074]

The situation has been resolved in a timely and appropriate manner. I hope we can all return to enjoying the game.

[Skyroar.2974]

@michelada.2947 said:i'm afraid that anet devs will be even more silent after this incident, communication need to be on both sides

I'm afraid of that too. I actually loved J. Price's detailed insight on reddit's AMA. It's sad that she reacted so poorly to criticism, because otherwise she would have been a very interesting dev to follow.

I hope other devs do not shy away from posting their thoughts on game/ story design because of this.

[ArbiterLibera.3152]

@michelada.2947 said:i'm afraid that anet devs will be even more silent after this incident, communication need to be on both sides

There is absolutely no reason to believe this. Abrasive stance towards your customer base is the problem here, not freedom of speech or getting baited somehow.

[Valefar.9362]

I never thought to post into the forum but that post drawn my attention.

Not a real point, some may even hate that post.

I'm sorry but i do like to talk and sometime when i kind of see something there's a switch that flips on and i have to say all i have in my mind.

• The only remark i have to do is to Mike, he done the hardest choice he could make like i said in the previous section of the post, and we as community are betraying the trust he put'd on us in taking that decision by "being happy" from it. We should be "Right". She did wrong and lost her job for this. There's nothing to be happy about a person losing her job. Rubbing salt in the wound will be exactly what gonna prevent her and us to "grow" since most of you stated, that we should grow. Being immature child that finds joys into others being penalized is literally by definition the contrary of growing up. She did gone to a level, very low one, to point out and attack the community. But then? She got penalized, end. But no, for some of you there's the need to go down to her level and attack her back. Yes sorry that's not how you grow up. That's actually being worst than her.

• About Peter, if its true that he lost his job as well i would suggest a revision of this case. I'd have do the same, no matter how wrong the case is, in the surface i'd have pull out my co-worker but would've told her where she did wrong in private. Despite JP literally has been killing part of the trust the customer puts on anet since quite a bit, not her first tweet of that nature, i don't feel defending her without pointing out names or blocklisting people would be enough to lose the job. Especially for someone that has ben inside anet for ten years.

Sorry, english its my fourth language and i tried my best to make myself understandable.

[Pyroen.2086]

I don't believe They needed to be fired. To be clear, I Believe what they said was horrendous and needed to be examined. Jessica was clearly out of touch with the community. I believe helping marginalized groups is important and I also believe overreacting and claiming sexism was irresponsible not just as an arena net dev but as an advocate for equality. It would have helped if they had been given an opportunity to correct themselves. That being said I'm sorry that Mo had to make this decision and I'm sorry that Deroir and Inks were met with confrontation when they are some of the biggest and helpful members of our community. At the end of the day Anet has the right to do what they believe is best for the company. I hope the 2 devs have success on their future pursuits.

[asgarv.4635]

I doubt she'll learn from this incident (and it's clear from the many posts in this thread that the blame is already shifting), but thank you nonetheless for standing up for your customers.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@"Rezzet.3614" said:man that sucks , i'd rather people learn from their mistakes and such , we all deserve second chances, but it is understood the situation was pretty ballistic and generated an over abundance of : https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Vial_of_Salt .

How many mistakes does she need to make before learning. This is not an isolated incident this is a just another example of her poor form.

[tannhauser.4693]

@Mike O Brien.4613 said: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

Thanks Mike.

While I understand everyone is entitled to their opinion, I was really shocked (and somewhat angered) when I saw how Deroir and INKS were attacked by JP.

It affected me because people like INKS and Dreoir (or Wooden Potatoes and the like) have had an immense impact in my enjoyment of the game, and in a way I felt like I was being attacked as well by her comments.

Glad you took swift action.

F

[Glasperle.9526]

All things considered I'm glad that the matter was taken care of. A bad shade was thrown on you and women alike by the unrelated discussion (dare I say argument) that was opened up at such a large scale. Exchanging opinions should be possible to be done freely and you took a step into the right direction with this decision. Kudos.

[Ranor.5261]

Well done. Their behaviour was childish, unprofessional and incredibly toxic. I was worried this would be glossed over but I am very glad to see that swift, decisive action was taken.

[TheNecrosanct.4028]

If PF is indeed the other one fired (and I assume he is, since his description on Twitter now only says "Amateur husband & dad" and no longer has the "professional game developer" part mentioned, which was still there an hour or 2 ago), let me just say that the problem wasn't that he supported JP. He is perfectly entitled to support her position and ANet could not have fired him for that. He made a mistake, though, by entering the public discussion. If he had just told her in the office and left it at that, he probably still would've had his job right now. But the problem with these public incidents is that you can't measure by 2 standards. People have to be treated equally and while PF didn't come off nearly as strong or irrational as JP, he did "join her position" officially and for the world to see. Also, when the incident involves sexism towards a woman (even though only perceived and not intended) it is also bad PR to fire the woman and not the man when both put their faces to the incident. Even when there is no sexism involved in that decision, it is childishly easy to put that spin on it and create a whole new drama for ANet to deal with. I regret that he had to go too, but all choices have consequences, even when made with the best intentions.

Also, don't forget that this is not just a case of "Our community is angry. We need to do as they suggest". Ultimately this was a business decision. And while the public outcry will definitely have moved this to the top of the to-do list at ANet, I do firmly believe they themselves also do not condone such behavior. I would make a guess and say they maybe need to give another look at their vetting process when hiring new people, because JP's behavior certainly was nothing new. Or perhaps they took a chance with her (an admirable position, in my honest opinion) but see now that it just won't work. There might also be more in play, things we don't know about, like incidents at the office, things that don't go public. My impression of JP is that she's not someone to keep her mouth shut when she perceives something wrong. Even online she has quite the in-your-face, unapologetic persona. So I wouldn't be surprised if she has clashed with people at the office. This kind of personality often clashes with others.

[Edgy McEdgelord.4790]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@"Rezzet.3614" said:man that sucks , i'd rather people learn from their mistakes and such , we all deserve second chances, but it is understood the situation was pretty ballistic and generated an over abundance of :

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Vial_of_Salt

.

How many mistakes does she need to make before learning. This is not an isolated incident this is a just another example of her poor form.

^this

If you believe in gender equality so hard, you should accept that it means you get punished for misbehaving equally too. Boom, dream bubble gone.