Earlier this month, ArenaNet, the developer behind the Guild Wars series was thrown into the spotlight when it fired two of its writers over responding to a fan's response to an earlier tweet. The controversial decision over ArenaNet's recent firing has been a topic of great interest in the games industry. It has brought about discussions over gender equality, of developer treatment both on and offline, of toxic fandoms, of online policies, of fans, and of a lot more.
In a recent Kotaku article, writer Nathan Grayson spoke to developers including Hazel Monforton (Narrative Designer for Arkane Studios), Jennifer Scheurle (Game Design Lead at Opaque Space) about their experiences, and with studio representatives at Remedy, Hinterland, Double Fine, Obsidian, and Facepunch Studios, about how the recent incident has influenced their internal online policies.
Nathan spoke to Remedy representative, Vida Starčević (Associate Community Manager at the studio), about the steps the marketing team has taken to help and support the company's employees and how they spoke with the teams most visible on Twitter. Vida states, “I came to talk to Remedy’s narrative team. Their members are the most active on Twitter, and some of them have also had very negative experiences with harassment on social media in the past, so I reached out to them about their experiences and solicited questions, because I want to be aware what their main concerns are when it comes to using social media in a professional (and personal) capacity as employees of Remedy.”
She also expanded on the resources the studio has used to influence their social media policies, including IGDA's (International Game Developers Association) recent post "Game Devs on Social Media: Questions You Should Ask For Your Protection".
Click HERE to read the full Kotaku article.
In the wake of ArenaNet firings, game studios rethink their social media policies https://t.co/vTMHqWbCnT pic.twitter.com/84H4PPaH6i— Kotaku (@Kotaku) July 13, 2018
