Okay, I understand what you’re saying, but we still end up back at a disagreement about whether this was handled professionally, so this is just going to hinge on that.
I think the firing was communicated professionally. If that’s the case, the timing and the potential for this to dominate the discussion in the wider media are obviously not what they wanted, but that’s not their fault.
If you think the firing was unprofessional, it’s logical we wouldn’t agree on who’s fault the media response is either.
Nesrie
1776
To be clear, I don’t think anyone handled this properly, not Price, not ArenaNet, or I guess just Mr. O’Brien, not the gaming press, the gamers and certainly not the GW2 fandom, and not one of them, including Price, seems to be open to hear how this could have been handled better. Everyone has drawn their lines and they’re not crossing over them.
As far as Price is concerned, I would have afforded her the mistake, like not try to time warp and tell her to be cool all the time and never lose her cool, but she should have apologized to Drerior<sp?>. Maybe he would have listened. And that guy seems to have vanished which really sucks too. He might be laying low and being wise… but he shouldn’t have to.
LMN8R
1777
They literally fired her 12 hours after they became aware of the situation - and they became aware of the situation on July 4th when the studio was closed. They then fired her first thing in the morning on July 5th, before giving her any chance to explain herself.
The studio decided immediately that firing her - and the person who defended her - in under a day, because they were reacting to a mob mentality and satiating and justifying that mob.
There are a thousand better ways that they could have handled this which all could include acknowleding that she shouldn’t have acted the way she did on Twitter.
The one specific way that ArenaNet chose to handle this is by far the worst. It’s the worst way to tell remaining employees that they’re safe. It’s the worst way to appeal to the ugliest side of the gaming. And now that terrible decision is resulting in other women at other studios being explicitly targeted by that mob in the exact same way.
That’s not what she said, she said she “was given no opportunity to argue [her] case”. Maybe she meant that to mean the same thing, maybe not, but since we don’t know, saying she had no opportunity to explain herself is speculative and conveys a different tone.
Miguk
1779
Where was the mob? On the GW2 reddit, all I saw were reasonable people asking that the company make some kind of statement. They weren’t out with pitchforks demanding that she be fired.
It’s not that hard. 1) Don’t engage with your customers and, 2) Don’t talk shop in a public place.
Most companies of any size nowadays have someone dedicated to social media. Let those people do their job and choose when to engage on social media. If you absolutely must talk shop, do so in a blog and turn off comments. Just post some reminder on the blog that you don’t respond to email, etc.
I don’t see how anyone can defend Ms. Price here.
LMN8R
1782
They literally were all over Twitter. That’s the entire reason why this happened.
Who is defending her?
Scuzz
1783
Price has showed no willingness to admit that in this case, perhaps in only this case, she over reacted.
Neither side says this but I can’t help, as others have mentioned above, that there is more to this (and the firing of Fries) than is mentioned in public. You don’t fire a valuable member of your company because she misinterpreted a guy on a twitter account.
Or maybe you do?
The scale of the handwringing though far outpaces any “crime” she may have committed in her sub-optimal response. And nobody at all, for or against, seem to be interested in the guy. Frankly his firing seems even more “unjust” as far as these things go.
This discussion seems gendered because for some reason everyone for and against, suddenly becomes extremely interested when it’s a woman.
They absolutely fired her at a drop of a hat because she engaged the person on twitter as a representative of the company talking about company things. They fired him apparently for the same reason but with an even weaker case (though i understand the instant reaction). Had she been talking about twitter stuff or even political stuff, it’s unlikely anyone would care (or had cared before). That’s the tricky part of the everything is everything worldview of twitter and why social media gives people a false sense of empowerment.
Increased communication and socialization and community building are great. But the castle on the hill with a thousand knights is going to use the dull swords when they come down, whether you unfollow them or “cancel” them or they respect or disrespect your social media credentials.
It’s sort of like Tesla. You get Elon Musk tweets all day long - what a country! You don’t get Elon Musk employee tweets all day long. Indeed he’s currently sicking the wolves on an employee he accuses of theft.
From the tweets that got her fired to her non-apology in the Polygon piece, Price seems determined to make it a gendered topic. The discussion seems to flow from that.
Let me know when we can start our own glorious revolution and bring back the guillotine!
We better do it soon before AI gives the control combat robots that will obey without question.
Yes, this. The other guy isn’t being as discussed because he never played the gender card. Or the victim card.
Nesrie
1788
Well except this isn’t actually true. He’s been discussed here, multiple times. both guys actually.
I think you missed the tiny little “as” right in front of “discussed”.
Didn’t I bring him up? So, there is that.
Nesrie
1791
I think he’s been discussed and brought up multiple times here almost by everyone in this discussion. What else are you looking for? He defended her. She is still the primary person in the original twitter topic so of course there will be more discussions about her. Like are you looking for a post by post count?
You’re reading things where there’s nothing. Please don’t.
He’s not getting as much attention as Price is, but it’s hard to say if that’s merely because Price is the one out there giving interviews, or if it’s as specific as the things Price is saying about gender.
