ArenaNet/Guild Wars
ArenaNet is a video game developer that produces the massive multiplayer online (MMO) series, Guild Wars. Originally founded by former Blizzard Entertainment employees, ArenaNet began in 2000 when it was briefly called Triforge. In September 2002, NCsoft, a South Korean video game developer, acquired ArenaNet. ArenaNet has only produced one series of video game: Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. After the release of these initial games, ArenaNet has produced subsequent chapters or releases to these core game titles.
Guild Wars 2 Firing Two Employees Post Twitter Conflict with Guild Wars Community:
In July 2018, two Guild Wars employee’s, Jessica Price and Peter Fries, were fired after a twitter argument/conflict with a Guild Wars 2 youtuber/twitch streamer, Deroir. Deroir replied with disagreement to Jessica Pride’s series of tweets explaining character development in an MMO environment. In response, Jessica commented on Deroir’s opinion, citing how Deroir was explaining her job to her. Peter, a 12-year veteran of the Guild Wars team, came to the defence of Jessica over twitter. While the tweets have since been deleted, Peter apparently stated that Jessica was not requesting for community feedback and developers reserved the right to have a personal social media account. After this exchange, the community has had mixed reactions to whether Jessica and Peter had crossed the line with Deroir. This culminated in ArenaNet’s decision to fire Jessica and Peter from ArenaNet in July of 2018.
Original Posts/Media Coverage:
Mike O’Brien, ArenaNet’s president, makes official forum post condemning the actions of their former employees
Jessica Pride response to Deroir: https://twitter.com/delafina777/status/1014554296107483136?lang=en
Original Series of tweets where Deroir comments on Jessica Pride/Arena Net’s story-telling:
Game Workers United: July 10, 2018: Statement on the ArenaNet Firings