Guild Wars 2 writers fired after a row on Twitter with community streamer.
ArenaNet, the developers behind Guild Wars 2, recently announced that they have parted ways with Jessica Price and Peter Fries, two former writers of the popular MMO title, after a heated exchange on Twitter, with an ArenaNet partnered streamer that goes by the handle, Deroir.
The incident began after Price posted a substantial Twitter story regarding her opinions on writing for games, more specifically, Guild Wars 2. Price outlined the balance writers need to strive for when writing for a player character in an MMORPG, considering the balance between uniqueness and the individualism of the player themselves.
Price’s piece garnered the attention of Deroir, a Guild Wars 2 Streamer, who argued that options such as a branching dialogue tree within MMORPG titles have the potential to give player characters more personality, besting several of the constraints made by Price, in her original Twitter thread.
This, unfortunately, lead Price to passive-aggressively attack Deroir through Twitter, not mentioning him by name, but strongly alluding to his comments on her post, suggesting that Deroir was condescending and ill-informed on the matter, even resorting to the fact that Price is a female, making it a point of contention against Derior. Price’s tweets got worse, prompting Peter Fries to step in, a fellow writer for ArenaNet. Fries called out Deroir, stating that Price “never asked for Deroir’s feedback.”
Today in being a female game dev:
“Allow me–a person who does not work with you–explain to you how you do your job.” https://t.co/lmK0yJWqGB
— Jessica Price (@Delafina777) July 4, 2018
Deroir commented on the matter, stating that he “meant no disrespect,” and instead, just wanted to encourage, “dialogue and discussion” with Price, regarding her piece on writing for player characters. Derior ended his response with an apology.
You getting mad at my obvious attempt at creating dialogue and discussion with you, instead of just replying that I am wrong or otherwise correct me in my false assumptions, is really just disheartening for me. You do you though. I’m sorry if it offended. I’ll leave you to it.
— Deroir (@DeroirGaming) July 4, 2018
ArenaNet President, Mike O’Brien made a thread regarding Price and Fries on the Guild Wars 2 forum, addressing that the two former writers have been let go. O’Brien framed Price and Fries’ tweets as, ” attacks on the community,” adding, “two of our employees failed to uphold our standards of communicating with players,” finishing with, “the statements they made do not reflect the views of ArenaNet at all.”
Want to see more videos? Subscribe to our YouTube channel and check out the First 15: Fe, Monster Hunter World Beta: the Insatiable Nergigante, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, Star Wars Battlefront II, Sonic Forces + Episode Shadow, and Super Mario Odyssey!
Don’t forget to tune in every Friday the Pixels & Ink Podcast to hear the latest news, previews, and in-depth game discussions!
Never miss when new CGM articles go out by following us on Twitter and Facebook!
CGMagazine is Canada’s premiere comics and gaming magazine. Subscribe today to get the best of CGM delivered right to your door!
