Jimquisition: DA 2 woman writer's children get death threats

@brodehouse: you're absolutely not wrong. Part of me loves the idea of cops showing up at some kids house, I think the only thing that will work on some of these people regardless of age is to scare the shit out of them and show them there's consequences. On the other hand you're right it's a huge waste of resources that's the last thing cops should be spending time doing. I think what happened to that LoL player who ended up in jail after his comment online is insane and upsets me as much if not more the idiots making death threats online. I don't know what the solution is.

@thesoutherndandy: I don't think anyone would have been offended if that LoL kid spent a single night in jail and/or had a stiff fine that would cover the police expense; the problem with the LoL guy was how long it went on for, is that guy even out yet?

I agree with those that say you can't really waste valuable police resources on what will almost always amount to some horrible child screaming for attention from the comfort of his fucking computer chair. It's up to the website, video game, console, or wherever the threat was made to just ban the user and move on, not giving them another thought. I realize banning means they can just make another account, but I don't really find it wise to waste more time on them. You know, "don't feed the trolls" and all that.

That being said, anyone who criticizes Helper for quitting simply doesn't have kids. You don't know what its like to have the ache inside you to that will do anything to protect them.

I would.

It goes way beyond just an issue of wasting police resources. That kid was jailed because people couldn't interpret his sarcasm. It wasn't a case of him telling a real person that he was going to kill their kids. He make a sarcastic joke in poor taste, and went to fucking jail.

We should all be offended by that.

Agreed.

This is sick. Just sick...

I get the argument of "just stupid kids doing stupid things...", but everything has a limit. This was not a sarcastic comment aimed at stirring the waters, or someone too young to know the difference between humorous and crude; this was just plainly threatening someone and her family, and I am honestly appalled at the amount of "blame the victim" attitude I see in the comments.

Sometimes, I think online anonymity is a bad thing. Sometimes, I wish people that act like that get a visit from the FBI and are forced into community service or something, with his parents, his classmates and everyone involved knowing exactly what they wrote. I am tired of people acting like we live in a world free of consequences.

Then again, this is not really the same case, is it?

There is some difference between being sarcastic and using black humor, and threatening that he is going to stalk her children after school and kill them to teach her a lesson. If that is his definition of humor, he has some serious issues beyond poor taste, and should go to rehab, at least.

Part of the answer is that responsible internet communities need to do a better job policing themselves and setting standards. This anything-goes attitude that pervades gaming forums is unsustainable if the industry is going to continue to expand.

@mtcantor: This is probably the most pragmatic approach.....

You're right, it's not. He and I were talking specifically about the kid jailed for making a comment on facebook.

If that is his definition of humor, he has some serious issues beyond poor taste, and should go to rehab, at least.

I know your intentions are good here, but I want you to really stop and think if the government arresting people for saying shitty things on the internet or enforcing "rehab" because of that is in any way a good idea. Most real world assessments of threats include analysis of intent, and for anyone who understands the internet, it's clear that the intent here is not homicide. It's people trying to get a rise out of somebody to grow their own ego.

Upsetting asshole behavior, undoubtedly. But not in any conceivable way illegal.

Man, people are still pissed about DA2 haha

Yeah I feel like he's a little different from the death threat situation in that he was clearly making a joke. A bad joke, but it wasn't directed at anybody. Someone talking to him would have been enough, what's happened to him has been such an insane unjust farce everyone involved should be ashamed.

I don't even think the people behind the death threats should spend any time in jail, but facing fines or serious warnings I have no problem with. Again though, who's responsible for making those decisions? Who's monitoring what and how? Finding an actual solution is such a mess and is such a slippery slope I don't even know where you start. In the case of places like Twitter or Facebook they should absolutely be banned but that doesn't really solve anything, the trash just makes a new profile.

While it is totally unacceptable to get death threats for writing video games, I'm kinda glad she is leaving after the embarrassment that was DA2 and ME3.

Was this really a "threat?" I've been on the internet a long time, and often I've seen posts and messages like this go completely over-the-top for the sake of humor, or as the facetious exaggerations of the feelings of certain fandoms, etc. The message was not sent to her, and I have no indication that she was ever even meant to read it. She didn't even know it existed until someone from EA security showed her as she was walking out the door.

Obviously I'm not condoning this kind of thing. I just want some kind of context. Some people on the internet have a really tasteless sense of humor (myself included), that can be taken too seriously sometimes.

Either way, I'm loathe to diagnose death threats as some "widespread plague" that's corrupting modern gaming culture. I feel like most adults are reasonable people that wouldn't do things like this, as evidenced by this thread and community, and other communities that I'm a part of. It's just something that public figures have to put up with, unfortunately. Doesn't help that a lot of people who play video games are dumb kids.

I believe in freedom of speech and the right to say what you want but people also need to accept the punishment that comes with spewing garbage like that. I really think people like them should be prosecuted or the internet should adopt a real name policy on forums. That kind of shit is just disgusting.

hmm,i made a post in this thread but i guess it didn't go through.

I don't see how anybody can sit and defend death threats against somebody's kids in any capacity. It's crazy that some LOL player got thrown in jail from an off handed non serious comment, and these kids basically threaten peoples lives don't even get looked into.

This lady has absolutely no obligation to take any kind of death threats or any threats lightly, she's just a damn writer who i doubt asked for any of the publicity on herself. Not to mention she pretty much stated it wasn't the threats anyway (If you've been paying attention they've been happening for the past few years now) she just decided it was time to move on to another company

I'm pretty sure when it comes to Dragon Age 2, everyone lost.

It doesn't matter "the context". What has happened is that a lot of people have lost their sense of manners and believe that using "its the internet, lolz" makes saying anything and everything okay when it turns out it is completely tasteless, humor less, and doesn't make a god damn bit of sense.

I am unclear how or why someone threatening a developer's family is for fun or funny. There is a First Amendment here and no one should go to jail for it but we have to remember they said they wanted to threaten someone's kids because of a video game. Seriously? Did someone really just write that and think I can do it because it was just a joke? This is the kind of crap some people who hate video games need to show how video games are a bad influence because here is an example of how someone is influenced by a video game to say something really dumb.

Oh, you're offended. Congratulations. Here's a medal of recognition.

Nothing more threatening than someone who gets that butthurt about Dragon Age 2. I can only imagine them sitting there sharpening their knives while thinking of a way to leave the house that doesn't involve changing out of these sweatpants or showering.

I liked DA2 by the way as dumb as it was in most parts (which is every part pretty much).

yeah this is completely not OK behavior and cannot be tolerated. Take the matter to the police. Threatening someone's life, over the internet, over the phone, whatever is actually a crime and you can be prosecuted.

People say dumb shit but they need to be made to understand you cannot threaten someone's life and expect no consequences.

Jennifer Helper has contacted us to make it clear that she did not leave BioWare as a direct result of the harassment she received at the hands of gamers.

Games journalism!

The death threats are still pretty messed up, but those headlines... Also, I thought this happened a long time ago?

Well this is just inexcusably terrible. And people who just write this as kids will be kids aren't helping. Kids may be young and immature, but they don't have the right to youngfuck up other people's lives just because they are ignorant and young.

If the source of all these death threats are really teens, then maybe it's time we consider limiting internet access to young adults. You have to get a license to drive a car, You have to be 18 to vote, 21 to drink, maybe you should prove similar ability and maturity to be able to post online. Why should we assume 14 year olds can handle such a powerful tool responsibly when we don't in other aspects of life?

Putting kids in jail like LoL kid is a terrible waste of resources and certainly not justice, but people like Jennifer Hepler should not have to suffer to harassment like this either. The difference is that the ease of communicating on the interent make hate memes intensely powerful for whoever is on the receiving end of it in a way that was never previously possible.

If it's adults, then well they should suffer some consequences for this. It's crossing a major line to threaten someone's children even if they were just being dicks.

You know what? It doesn't matter who you are, if someone threatens your kids (or any loved one), you take that shit seriously.

I guarantee any of you saying "hurr internet" would be screaming blue bloody murder if it was someone you cared about being threatened, regardless of whether logic was telling you they probably (PROBABLY) were in no actual danger.