Its too bad basically the only good writer left at BioWare is leaving.
I have to wonder if she was/felt pushed out by the other employees there. Veilguard has laughably bad writing, and the fact that the DA creator, and multiple writers either left or were fired before Veilguard went into production/ during its production feels suspicious.
There’s been a Dragon Age sequel in some form of development for a decade. It’s not that surprising, people are gonna churn. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t stuck around in a single job for 15 years ever.
I’m not her and I’m not there, but I’m not sure what “being pushed out by other employees” would even mean. That sounds like something that happens in a nature documentary about lions, not games studio.
By being pushed out, I mean when other employees either don’t like you, disagree with your personal views, or whatever else would cause them to view you negatively, begin to treat you badly. They might give meaningless tasks or make your work seem trivial, or they might leave you out of group activities you otherwise wanted to join, especially if they know that. Basically creating a hostile working environment in a way that isn’t likely to get HR to agree with you when you report it, and more likely that HR will think you are crazy.
Essentially, due to the way other employees treat them or make them feel, they can feel pushed out of the company. Forced into taking the option to leave because a previously enjoyable job is now insufferable because of the other employees.
Yeah, no, I got the intent, it just seems like… a random thought? Why would that be the case? You just think the other writers are jealous of someone who was there for fifteen years and just… mean girl’d them out of the company?
That’s not a plausible scenario. Or at least not the first think you’d leap to.
When it comes to the games industry, it’s a lot more common for that to happen, especially with writers and musicians so it’s not that weird to jump to that conclusion.
The whole industry is still fairly new and has a lot of… Lets say Immature and big ego people. This wouldn’t even be the third time this year I’ve heard of a big name or group in the games industry being bullied or harassed out of a position by jealous coworkers or managers with inflated egos.
Harrassment and bullying in the video game industry is a well known about issue especially over ego and creative decisions “pushing people out”. You can find articles about how common place it is or specific scandals spanning just about every studio or publisher going back years. It’s pretty ubiquitous in the industry second to Hollywood probably in how common it happens
Those pieces don’t say at all what you (or the OP, I suppose) are implying. The first one is about working conditions and harassment, the others are about management choices, not at all in-fighting or jealousy among writers. Incidentally, that last one sucks. Go find better games reporting, holy crap, I promise you it exists.
Honestly, it’s a neverending source of fascination to see what people who don’t work in the industry perceive as the internal logic of these things. I used to think it was a problem of transparency, the industry not doing enough to show things behind the scenes or explain how games are made. But man, that part has improved A LOT. There are lots more resources now to help you wrap your head around it, but the weird fantasy world people imagine is still exactly the same. It’s very frustrating.
Wow, that’s very rude how you came off and dismissive as well. I think you came into this just wanting to find something to argue about based on your tone here.
To the point though. They do support the idea put forward that the person could have been pushed out. Now whether that be from jealousy, ego, office politics no one knows for certain except them. But it IS a common issue in the games industry and my entire point was that it’s not that outlandish to assume it as a possibility.
The sources I provided paint a clear picture that over 50% of writers in the games industry are subject to or have seen work place Harrassment and bullying (that’s a shockingly high amount). Followed by an actual ex-bioware employee talking about how there was resentment towards the writers in the company.
The final source involves an interview with another bioware employee that brings up how there is a ““black-ball style environment,” where dissenting viewpoints are reportedly squashed and punished.” and how people in higher positions of the company prioritize a certain agenda and make moves to dissuade dissenting opinions of those agendas.
As well for that final source I have to say your reaction to it is childish and rude. How does it suck exactly? Please elaborate. You don’t get to just throw away a source I provide just cause you don’t like them. There were other games journalists sites covering that interview as well so if you don’t like that one then go find it on another site. If your issue is with the actual interview itself then articulate that and express why you dislike it.
Finally the issue I take most with your comment is your final paragraph. What is up with that? You make it sound like you’re either in the industry or that your opinion is better than everyone else’s, it’s insufferable.
You act like the idea of pushing someone out of a job in a creative industry is some fantasy land level plot. When in reality it is far too common in most creative driven industries and even in non-creative driven ones. It’s a common enough practice to be given a euphemism that we understand and know to be a potential part of office politics.
As well from sources provided, we can see that to not consider it is to skip over a logical through line where we even see this has happened previously in this same studio from a current and ex-employee where they outline the hallmarks of such type of treatment in an industry known for having high levels of co-worker Harrassment and work place bullying.
Explain your reasonings and back up your claims. So far the only thing you’ve provided in terms of a dissenting view point is the equivalent of “nuh-uh you’re stupid for thinking that” whilst you then philosophically wax with some weirdly placed smuggness over how much better you think you are than the common person. It reads like a mid-2000’s cringe r/atheist reddit comment
Its quite plausible. Veilguards writers were bad at their jobs, and her writing for Emmerich only served to make the other writers look even worse. I could absolutely see this happening, I have seen it happen at less creative jobs over way lower stakes than this.
No, it is not. Just isn’t. Not a thing in Bioware, to my knowledge. Not a thing in the industry at large, either. This is an extreme leap you’re making.
Displeased with management decisions? Absolutely. Frustrated by working conditions? Rarer than you’d think but it can happen. Abused and harassed by a manager or a coworker, particularly for a woman, and receiving insufficient protection from HR? Unfortunately possible, but definitely not my first or second guess when somebody announces they’re leaving a studio.
“My coworkers are jealous of my talent and are mean to me” is science fiction.
Its too bad basically the only good writer left at BioWare is leaving.
I have to wonder if she was/felt pushed out by the other employees there. Veilguard has laughably bad writing, and the fact that the DA creator, and multiple writers either left or were fired before Veilguard went into production/ during its production feels suspicious.
There’s been a Dragon Age sequel in some form of development for a decade. It’s not that surprising, people are gonna churn. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t stuck around in a single job for 15 years ever.
I’m not her and I’m not there, but I’m not sure what “being pushed out by other employees” would even mean. That sounds like something that happens in a nature documentary about lions, not games studio.
By being pushed out, I mean when other employees either don’t like you, disagree with your personal views, or whatever else would cause them to view you negatively, begin to treat you badly. They might give meaningless tasks or make your work seem trivial, or they might leave you out of group activities you otherwise wanted to join, especially if they know that. Basically creating a hostile working environment in a way that isn’t likely to get HR to agree with you when you report it, and more likely that HR will think you are crazy.
Essentially, due to the way other employees treat them or make them feel, they can feel pushed out of the company. Forced into taking the option to leave because a previously enjoyable job is now insufferable because of the other employees.
Yeah, no, I got the intent, it just seems like… a random thought? Why would that be the case? You just think the other writers are jealous of someone who was there for fifteen years and just… mean girl’d them out of the company?
That’s not a plausible scenario. Or at least not the first think you’d leap to.
When it comes to the games industry, it’s a lot more common for that to happen, especially with writers and musicians so it’s not that weird to jump to that conclusion.
The whole industry is still fairly new and has a lot of… Lets say Immature and big ego people. This wouldn’t even be the third time this year I’ve heard of a big name or group in the games industry being bullied or harassed out of a position by jealous coworkers or managers with inflated egos.
See above. Gonna need names and sources for that one.
I mean, you really only need one to understand just how bad it is and why it is not that hard to imagine being “pushed out” as a possibility
https://writersguild.org.uk/gameswriters/
Especially when bioware has already been accused of doing this in the past and has treated some of their writers with a view of resentment
https://filmstories.co.uk/news/writers-were-quietly-resented-at-bioware-says-lead-writer-of-dragon-age/
https://thatparkplace.com/toxic-echoes-and-unmet-expectations-bioware-whistleblowers-detail-veilguards-collapse/
Harrassment and bullying in the video game industry is a well known about issue especially over ego and creative decisions “pushing people out”. You can find articles about how common place it is or specific scandals spanning just about every studio or publisher going back years. It’s pretty ubiquitous in the industry second to Hollywood probably in how common it happens
Those pieces don’t say at all what you (or the OP, I suppose) are implying. The first one is about working conditions and harassment, the others are about management choices, not at all in-fighting or jealousy among writers. Incidentally, that last one sucks. Go find better games reporting, holy crap, I promise you it exists.
Honestly, it’s a neverending source of fascination to see what people who don’t work in the industry perceive as the internal logic of these things. I used to think it was a problem of transparency, the industry not doing enough to show things behind the scenes or explain how games are made. But man, that part has improved A LOT. There are lots more resources now to help you wrap your head around it, but the weird fantasy world people imagine is still exactly the same. It’s very frustrating.
Wow, that’s very rude how you came off and dismissive as well. I think you came into this just wanting to find something to argue about based on your tone here.
To the point though. They do support the idea put forward that the person could have been pushed out. Now whether that be from jealousy, ego, office politics no one knows for certain except them. But it IS a common issue in the games industry and my entire point was that it’s not that outlandish to assume it as a possibility.
The sources I provided paint a clear picture that over 50% of writers in the games industry are subject to or have seen work place Harrassment and bullying (that’s a shockingly high amount). Followed by an actual ex-bioware employee talking about how there was resentment towards the writers in the company.
The final source involves an interview with another bioware employee that brings up how there is a ““black-ball style environment,” where dissenting viewpoints are reportedly squashed and punished.” and how people in higher positions of the company prioritize a certain agenda and make moves to dissuade dissenting opinions of those agendas.
As well for that final source I have to say your reaction to it is childish and rude. How does it suck exactly? Please elaborate. You don’t get to just throw away a source I provide just cause you don’t like them. There were other games journalists sites covering that interview as well so if you don’t like that one then go find it on another site. If your issue is with the actual interview itself then articulate that and express why you dislike it.
Finally the issue I take most with your comment is your final paragraph. What is up with that? You make it sound like you’re either in the industry or that your opinion is better than everyone else’s, it’s insufferable.
You act like the idea of pushing someone out of a job in a creative industry is some fantasy land level plot. When in reality it is far too common in most creative driven industries and even in non-creative driven ones. It’s a common enough practice to be given a euphemism that we understand and know to be a potential part of office politics.
As well from sources provided, we can see that to not consider it is to skip over a logical through line where we even see this has happened previously in this same studio from a current and ex-employee where they outline the hallmarks of such type of treatment in an industry known for having high levels of co-worker Harrassment and work place bullying.
Explain your reasonings and back up your claims. So far the only thing you’ve provided in terms of a dissenting view point is the equivalent of “nuh-uh you’re stupid for thinking that” whilst you then philosophically wax with some weirdly placed smuggness over how much better you think you are than the common person. It reads like a mid-2000’s cringe r/atheist reddit comment
Its quite plausible. Veilguards writers were bad at their jobs, and her writing for Emmerich only served to make the other writers look even worse. I could absolutely see this happening, I have seen it happen at less creative jobs over way lower stakes than this.
No, it is not. Just isn’t. Not a thing in Bioware, to my knowledge. Not a thing in the industry at large, either. This is an extreme leap you’re making.
Displeased with management decisions? Absolutely. Frustrated by working conditions? Rarer than you’d think but it can happen. Abused and harassed by a manager or a coworker, particularly for a woman, and receiving insufficient protection from HR? Unfortunately possible, but definitely not my first or second guess when somebody announces they’re leaving a studio.
“My coworkers are jealous of my talent and are mean to me” is science fiction.