And let's not forget, even way back in 2012, there were reviews like this:
The Dragon Age management team is misguided and they seem to be group-thinking their franchise off a cliff.
I heard the news that BioWare is closing the forums, so I dredged up my account to say a few things.
For those here who aren't ancient like me, my name is Chris Priestly (some used to call me "Evil Chris") and I worked at BioWare for over 12 years. Basically from the end of BG2 till the start of DA:I. I started at BioWare in the QA department and became a prolific poster on the old BioBoards helping people out on Neverwinter Nights, KotOR and Jade Empire. Remember, this was back when the only real way to dialog between studio and fans was message boards. There was no Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, etc. As DA:O and ME1 came closer, the CM at the time (Jay Watamaniuk who is still a writer at BioWare) asked me to join the Community team. Together, along with many staff posters, amazing volunteer moderators and excellent fans, we created a great community on the BioWare forums that ran for years. Not everything was always rosey and there were always bumps in the road when fans/customers would question BioWare decisions, but overall we had a great time. Sadly, DA2 and the endings of ME3 weren't enjoyed by everyone (I'm not bring this up more, you know what I'm talking about if you were here) and things turned much more negative than they had been in the past. Still BioWare and its fans worked to keep these forums going. It wasn't easy. There were people in the studio, some quite powerful, who wanted the forums closed. Yet, there were also those, like me, who wanted the boards to stay open and after much discussion, they remained. And BioWare continues strong with the excellent Dragon Age: Inquisition game restoring fan's faith in the series and the intriguing Mass Effect Andromeda on the horizon (more details on this ASAP BioWare please).
My time at BioWare ended, but I am pleased the forums remained and the community here continues to thrive and grow. I'll always be a huge BioWare fan myself, I loved DA:I and can't wait for Andromeda to come out, and I am sad that the forums will finally be closing. Yet, I have faith in Conal and the rest of BioWare to have a plan ready for what will come next. Remember, these forums were started because there was no other way to talk with fans. Now there are lots of ways and I know Conal and the teams will be talking full advantage of them in time. I know this won't stop fans from worrying because that is in our nature until we see proof, but that's my 2 cents on it.
One last thank you to all of the amazing fans and friends I made during my time at BioWare here on the forums. I was fortunate enough to travel the world for BioWare meeting people including some who met on the boards (more than a few couples who met on the boards only to fall in love and marry in real life) who told me of the strong friendships they have made via the forums over the years. I look forward to being a fan of BioWare in whatever comes next. And a thank you to BioWare for running these forums and they joy they brought me over the years. Cheers.
LOCKDOWN
All the Bioware employees looking at this thread and all our dirty, negative words we have to say about Bioware. All the negativity... the toxicity... all the vitriol pooling in this thread. Those Bioware people are probably like "See? SEE?"
Well guess what: this is not without reason. Look what you did. YOU did it. You said "bye Felicia." You mishandled all the exceptions. Don't use this as proof. Acknowledge the effects of the causes. It is consequence. *gestures*
Let's be real, no one from BioWare is reading this thread.
Their behaviour combined with letting so many people go is a redundancy thing. They are simply cleaning house and getting ready to shutter Bioware, (Even if a lot of people at BW don't know it yet.)
You may scoff but from it really looks like this when you add everything up.
And allow mature content!
I'm sold.
dat glassdoor though...omg,
And we're the toxic ones?
I don;t know how I feel right now. On one hand it's upsetting because that kind of creative environment is not good for my game. You need more Zen than that..and maybe Jesus and Buddha, too. A smudge stick wouldn't hurt, either. Clean those demons out. Wth?!
It's funny, too.
It's also confirmation of what so many picked up on already, yet still slightly shocking.
I'm sold.
That does not mean porn, just fyi.
That does not mean porn, just fyi.
Do you take me for some kind of deviant?!
Also according to glassdoor, BioWare seems to hire a lot of talent on a limited time basis and lets them go at the project's end. The toilet may be less clogged...but your point remains. Maybe it's like the Maxis remnant - off to make mobile games.Wouldn't this involve EA flushing a lot of money down the toilet? Namely, the last year or so of Bioware Edmonton salaries.
These Glassdoor reviews only confirm what most of us has long since suspected. It is now crystal clear why Bioware considered these Forums toxic. We had the temerity, the unmitigated gall to disagree with their "genius". We lowly ignorant plebeians have dared to question their artistic brilliance for far too long, as if their reaction to ME3s outcry didn't make this obvious enough. Bioware is dead, and it has been for years. The thing that has limped on with Biowares name is akin to a wounded animal that needs to be put down out of mercy. totallynot!Patrick Weeks made this clear years ago, but no one was willing to believe those words, and just accept the official story that his account was hacked. But I knew, I knew as soon as I saw that link the truth in those words. Caesy and Mac fully believed a single page doodle with the words "Speculations for Everyone!" underlined 3 times was artistic brilliance. That literally ripping off the ending to Deus Ex was ingenious. How this didn't give more people warning signs back then I will never know.
This only reaffirms what I said earlier in this thread. That I will never again buy a New copy of any future Bioware game, and might pass entirely if reviews from people whos opinions I respect are negative. I am more convinced than ever that MEA will be a total train wreck, and will be the final nail in the coffin of their own making. As much as I don't really want that to happen, it seems like an inevitable end to this story. I became emotionally divorced from this company after ME3, but I continued to foolishly hope they would realize their mistakes and right the ship. Oh what I fool I was for thinking that now. I emotionally said goodbye a long time ago, but now this is the physical goodbye Bioware, this is The Big Goodbye, to quote TNG.
Thank you for KOTOR, for Jade Empire, for NWN, for Baulder's Gate, for Mass Effect 1, for Dragon Age. Thank you for the many wonderful years of joy and entertainment. Now however those days are over, as is my relationship with you. Not that it matters anyway, since we were all apparently too dumb and childish to understand those epic masterpieces anyway, because we are but scum on your shoes compared to your obviously superior creative brilliance, like "The cave" and enemies dropping down from the sky for no reason, which you all defended far too vehemently to be taken seriously. My only hope is one day, you look back on these actions, and finally realize what childish nonsense your behavior was. Farewell Bioware, I wish I could say it's been good, but frankly, it hasn't been good for a long time now.
I go with L'Etoile, ya know the creator of all the science of ME 1, who left in 2008; to summarize:
I no longer felt comfortable with the direction the new lead (Mac) was taking the franchise...
I'm excessively bored, so here we go:
That's really odd that you would shift blame from a bunch of sociopathic miscreants who destroy and ruin people's lives (the trolls) to Bioware themselves for having the absolute gall to respond to that in any other way than "Yes Master" (Or Yes Mistress, as the case may be)
The only middle finger here was from them to Bioware the whole time.
We have had (to my knowledge) four confirmed psychopaths that have registered on this forum. Of that four, only one did something to result in a permanent ban (I believe he was protesting the shut down of Off Topic).
Ignoring that, I find the highlighted sentence to be quite confusing. Your parenthesis would indicate that these "sociopathic miscreants" only ruined the lives of the trolls. In fact, the entire post is rather nonsensical.
Besides, what about the Democratic Party, what about Barack Obama, what about all the people who actually deserve criticism?
Show me a single corporate office, corporate employer, of some standing (like NY, LA) where the abuse leveled at Bioware would be accepted and considered normal.
At the end of the day, you are just a hypocrite.
Or what about the US armed forces? Or other such things? I think I tittered slightly in the direction and it was like I had committed original sin, apply your made up rules about the world consistently at least and then we can have a discussion.
Challenge accepted:
Your point is now even more invalid than it already was.
Your not part of the problem here at all I see.
Also, projecting.
I get the feeling that you don't really comprehend that word...
LOCKDOWN
You know, when I think about the Glassdoor review that mentions how you were never allowed to question the creator's ideas, I think back to Priestly and Woo. They were still onboard with Bioware in an unofficial capacity, even after they were fired. Hell, he was busy shitposting people in the Facebook thread, despite not even being recognized as an employee anymore, but acting like he was. His post is the only one is this very thread that is marked as "Popular", despite posts with similar like counts not getting the same label.
It was clear that he could never hack it outside Bioware.
And let's not forget this little gem:
http://www.reddit.co...hen_evil_chris/
It's truly insulting to me when people declare as "fact" that BioWare sucks and point to Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age II and Inquisition as "evidence" for their declaration.
Guess what? I love those games. BioWare is one of my favorite developers. I guess I'm part of the problem. I'm an idiot for liking the modern BioWare.
The old cliche: "Why do you care what others think?" I care because perception is reality. If enough people believe something, then it might as well be "true". And the narrative that has persisted here for years is that BioWare is "dying" and their games "lack the soul" that they once had. This place has become more of an enemy than an ally. I don't object to torching the place, although I'd prefer to rebuild it afterward.
EDIT: And now that I think about it, this forum is considered a joke in many corners of the Internet. People laugh at this place. Some of you should think about why they laugh.
I just realised I have had an account here for 4 years. Damn that's a long time that's getting thrown away.
I just realised I have had an account here for 4 years. Damn that's a long time that's getting thrown away.
Pfft.
"Member since 13 Oct 2009"
Was also around for the Mass Effect forums before they got integrated into the BSN. I'm sure there are people around from the old Baldur's Gate and NWN days too.
You value our input and support? Well then let me say that this is a terrible decision. First you close down the character forums, then the redesign... What about the Bioware points that are tied to BSN accounts? Will it now be impossible to buy older DLC on PC? (You already screwed over PC users with this point system.) What about all the posts containing mods?
I've been here since Mass Effect 2. I was there when ME3's ending disappointed everyone and we helped get ME3 a better ending. The forum isn't hurting anyone by staying up and social media isn't a replacement! With forums everything is organized, with social media it's anything but - it's a goddamned mess, so don't pretend it's anything like a forum! Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit are way more toxic and hateful than anything that ever "allegedly" happened on BSN.
They don't care about fan feedback anymore, they just want praise for everything they do. And Bioware has made a lot of mistakes in recent years. I hope the closing of the legendary Bioware Social Network isn't just premeditive protection from backlash for Andromeda. Or, god help us, a sign of going the way of Maxis, Pandemic, Westwood, and so on. Bow to your EA overlords, indeed!
5 years.
After DA2 came out.
Grorious times.
Pfft.
"Member since 13 Oct 2009"
Was also around for the Mass Effect forums before they got integrated into the BSN. I'm sure there are people around from the old Baldur's Gate and NWN days too.
I posted regularly in the original Mass Effect forums, in 2008-2009. Well before the Social Network was a thing.
Despite its alleged toxicity I have always enjoyed visiting the Bioware Forums since I re-discovered them in the Summer of 2014 waiting for news of DA:I and trying to get into the keep after looking at the leaks. It was a good time despite a death in the family I've met many great People. Hungr, Biofan(offical), Natashina, Elitepinecone plus others including at least 3 people who messaged me offering a beta code for the keep when they were given out. I even managed to out Ninja Hrungr once for an update on the twitter feed.
I never really visited offtopic but I was sad when it went because it was a stupid decision. These forums convinced me that it was a good idea to buy one of the DA:I dlc (I got the other two via a giveaway). They helped me with a problem I had finding nathaniels sister in Awakening and gave us the idea of solas having made the veil before we found out he did in Trespasser. Despite the lack of moderation I never noticed any hostility or toxicity during all my visits (despite the idiotic Cassandra is a man thread and how Hetero guys were being discriminated against). I use reddit but its more fleeting with no big discussions about the colour of Cullens underwear or how Solas despite being a bald skinny elf was the sexiest person alive (I can't see that myself but each to their own).
This is a wonderful place and despite the odd duck here and there you are all great people (even if you do keep blathering on about how SJW are ruining or saving the world)
"Member Since 30 Nov 2009"
F
Member Since 18 Nov 2009, and I lurked for far longer than that.
You know, when I think about the Glassdoor review that mentions how you were never allowed to question the creator's ideas, I think back to Priestly and Woo. They were still onboard with Bioware in an unofficial capacity, even after they were fired. Hell, he was busy shitposting people in the Facebook thread, despite not even being recognized as an employee anymore, but acting like he was. His post is the only one is this very thread that is marked as "Popular", despite posts with similar like counts not getting the same label.
It was clear that he could never hack it outside Bioware.
And let's not forget this little gem:
To have a post marked popular, the likes have to be on it in a short amount of time. Not a steady growth.
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