ArenaNet Fires Two Devs Following Heated Twitter Exchange

A Twitter discussion caused two Guild Wars 2 devs to lose their jobs.

It’s not uncommon for video game developers to interact with the gaming community, even if that interaction can get unpleasant at times. After all, constructive feedback is a key element when it comes to designing and releasing a good game. When it comes to Guild Wars 2, it looks like two devs have taken things a bit too far, which eventually cost them their jobs at ArenaNet. The story starts off with Jessica Price, a narrative designer for Guild Wars 2. On Twitter, she complained about the difficulties of writing player characters in MMORPGs.

One of ArenaNet’s content creator program members, Deroir, has replied to her thread in a slightly disagreeing manner. This upset Price, as proven by her reaction:

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

One of Price’s co-workers stepped in to defend her.

No matter what side of the fence you’re on, it’s easy to see that Deroir had a more laid-back attitude. He even apologized, after all. However, Price took things to a whole new level when she brought gender issues into the mix.

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

Since we've got a lot of hurt manfeels today, lemme make something clear: this is my feed. I'm not on the clock here. I'm not your emotional courtesan just because I'm a dev. Don't expect me to pretend to like you here.

— Jessica Price (@Delafina777) July 4, 2018

Since her replies caused an outrage within the ArenaNet community, her co-worker Peter Fries stepped in and highlighted that she never asked for Deroir’s feedback. Putting a stop to the situation, ArenaNet has decided to fire them both, as they “failed to uphold our standards of communicating with players,” and “their attacks on the community were unacceptable.” While some people still side with Price after the incident, others see the decision as justified.

What’s your opinion on the matter?