BioWare writer Jennifer Hepler quits after death threats to her family.

[KentaRawr!]

Metro Article

The senior writer on Dragon Age II has decided to leave developer BioWare after ‘graphic threats’ were made to kill her children.

Jennifer Hepler was working on sequel Dragon Age: Inquisition but is quitting BioWare this week to go freelance, in large part thanks to threats she and others of the team received in the wake of Dragon Age II’s release.

The game was unpopular with many hardcore fans and although Hepler was able to ignore most of the threats and abuse on the BioWare forums and Twitter she also received emailed death threats and threats against her children, as well as abusive phone calls.

Hepler revealed the threats in a wider article on the subject of fan abuse on website Polygon. The story is also reminiscent of an incident last month, when fans threatened to murder a Call Of Duty developer because of minute changes to some of Black Ops II’s weapons.

The catalyst for Hepler’s abuse was a six-year-old interview in which she admitted she didn’t enjoy combat in games. This was enough for fans to blame her for unpopular changes in Dragon Age II, describing her as a ‘cancer’ that was destroying BioWare.

‘I was shown a sample of the forum posts by EA security,’ says Hepler ‘And it included graphic threats to kill my children on their way out of school to show them that they should have been aborted at birth rather than have to have me as a mother.’

The situation highlights both more general problems with cyberbullying and the targeting of women via Twitter, both of which are likely to see more strict legal sanctions in the future.

Another part of the problem for Hepler though was BioWare’s sympathetic portrayal of homosexual characters, which has not only been the catalyst for some of the abuse but also much of the positive support from fans.

‘The outpouring of support I received — large amounts from female and gay fans — was incredibly heartening,’ said Hepler. ‘Without the negativity, I’m not sure that I would ever have heard from all of these people confirming that there is a need for characters that tackle touchy social issues, for characters who are untraditional or even unlikeable.

I've honestly never played a BioWare RPG, but I was still pretty surprised to hear about this. It makes me sad that the gaming community could be that outrageous. What do you guys think of this?

Edit: Polygon Article Snippet

Jennifer Hepler left BioWare this week to begin work on a book about narrative design and do some freelance work. Her most recent job title was senior writer on Dragon Age: Inquisition. But it was Dragon Age 2 that led to the death threats, the threats against her family and children and the harassment.

When asked if the harassment led to her depature, Hepler told Polygon "No, leaving Bioware was for family reasons. I am going to be working on a text book on narrative design among other game-related freelance projects."

So, apparently it wasn't about the death threats after all. I should've read into it a little bit more before posting a thread on it. Woops.

[Bolivar]

It's what happens when you give pubescent adolescents internet access. Still inexcusable and embarrassing.

Is she only leaving now? The quote makes it sound like the threats were made after DA2.

[Shauna]

She has had an onslaught of abuse since the interview, which the article states is 6 years old. I applaud her for lasting this long.

[Jinx]

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS

[Slothy]

I think we should try and keep in mind that this sort of stuff isn't unique to the gaming community, and the majority of people don't do this, nor is it something new to the internet age, though it's much easier, and therefore more prevalent than in the past.

That said, smurf people.

[Madame Adequate]

She could try not being the cancer that's killing videogames.

[Del Murder]

How awful. I know death threats are not unheard of if you are a politician or someone else in the public eye, but I've never heard of a game developer getting them. People are so upset about the direction of their favorite game series that they would threaten somebody's children over it? Those people are seriously messed up.

[Slothy]

Game developers, actors, directors, you name it. Odds are if you're somewhat in the public eye you're going to get death threats eventually.

[NeoCracker]

BioWare Writer Leaves to Write Book

It seems likely the reason she left had nothing to do with the death threats.

[KentaRawr!]

BioWare Writer Leaves to Write Book

It seems likely the reason she left had nothing to do with the death threats.

That's what I said! Albeit a bit late and in an edit.

[Del Murder]

Well, that doesn't make the threats any less despicable!

[yukina]

Could be or could be not because of the death threats but the mere fact they get them on a regular basis (and sometimes warrants security detail) is pretty sick and sad.

[Madame Adequate]

If you are on the Internet you're going to get stupid bulltrout death threats. I mean, it sucks, but it's not exactly a surprise or anything.

[Del Murder]

I think if I was a game developer and somebody threatened my kids I would be pretty smurfing surprised.

[NeoCracker]

Well, that doesn't make the threats any less despicable!

Agreed, but I think it should be cleared up about why she left so people don't get the wrong Idea of her.

I think if I was a game developer and somebody threatened my kids I would be pretty smurfing surprised.

...Really?