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[Kacho]

Chapters:
0:00 See Title
0:20 You Can Be Critical
1:17 BUT
1:29 What Are You DOING?
2:20 You Don't Know Who's To Blame
6:29 Once Again
6:51 OK One Target
8:08 That's Me
10:00 Look Up Not Down
11:04 They're Listening

• Mark Darrah, who was at BioWare for 23 years, addresses the issue of toxicity directed at game devs.
• Darrah says that those who attack devs often don't know who is actually responsible for the thing they didn't like in a game.
• Many of his comments appear to be in reference to Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Longtime BioWare developer Mark Darrah has called out toxicity in the gaming community, specifically those who target writers, actors, and other devs online.

While he does not mention Dragon Age: The Veilguard by name, it appears to be in relation this this latest release, as he calls out those who celebrate layoffs - something BioWare was hit with after The Veilguard launched. He argues that many who are abusing devs online don't actually know what caused a game to have issues in the first place, as they are not privy to what happened during development.

Mark Darrah Calls Out Those Celebrating BioWare Layoffs​

Darrah made these comments in a new video shared on his YouTube channel, titled, "Your $70 Doesn't Buy You Cruelty". Here, he gives several reasons why gamers should not be cruel to developers. The first of which is that it's simply not a nice thing to do, but digging a little deeper, he also suggests that they may be getting angry with the wrong people.

"I'm not saying you're not allowed to be angry about it, I'm not saying you don't get to express your dissatisfaction with the content of the game that you're not enjoying" he starts. "But when you climb into someone's personal social media and start actively attacking that person, when you celebrate layoffs at a studio because the game that you don't like didn't do that well, you're crossing a line into being cruel and fundamentally you should have more grace for other human beings."

He then continues, saying that fans have no way of knowing what created the issues they have with a game. He gives several examples of what could have gone wrong during development, such as the writing being poor quality because the writer was working to a tight deadline, or the direction of the game was changed last minute. He also points out that issues can come up when the leadership of a project changes several times - something which we know happened to the fourth Dragon Age game since it started early development after Dragon Age: Inquisition.

"When you decided to personally attack that one specific person on social media, how certain are you that it was their fault, that they are responsible for that thing that you don't like?" he argues. "You shouldn't be certain, because you don't know exactly what was going on within the project."

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was largely received well at launch, but came under fire by some longtime fans who felt that the writing was weaker compared to previous games. On the other hand, the game also became a culture war target, with bigoted comments made about its inclusion of queer characters.

Again, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is not mentioned in the video, but a lot of what he mentions does seem to apply to the project and its turbulent development - which was restarted twice. Now, every single writer who has ever worked on the series has left BioWare, and it's unclear what is happening with the series now that the focus is on Mass Effect.

BioWare Veteran Calls Out People Celebrating Layoffs After Dragon Age: The Veilguard Backlash

BioWare veteran Mark Darrah calls out cruelty directed at game devs, especially as some celebrate layoffs after Dragon Age: The Veilguard's launch.

www.thegamer.com

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

im cruel for free

 

[Topher]

"I'm not saying you're not allowed to be angry about it, I'm not saying you don't get to express your dissatisfaction with the content of the game that you're not enjoying" he starts. "But when you climb into someone's personal social media and start actively attacking that person, when you celebrate layoffs at a studio because the game that you don't like didn't do that well, you're crossing a line into being cruel and fundamentally you should have more grace for other human beings."

I agree. People take this stuff too far.

 

[owandeseis]

I understand people being happy since there's a chance american developers will end up learning about their mistakes and become good and relevant again.

In my case it's absolute indifference, which is sad considering Mass Effect saga is up there with Final Fantasy and The Elder Scrolls ones (all three are fucked nowadays.. oh god...)

 

[nial]

He's right. Not even a drive-by post, he's 100% correct with everything there.
The fact that this needs to be said is extremely concerning:

"I'm not saying you're not allowed to be angry about it, I'm not saying you don't get to express your dissatisfaction with the content of the game that you're not enjoying" he starts. "But when you climb into someone's personal social media and start actively attacking that person, when you celebrate layoffs at a studio because the game that you don't like didn't do that well, you're crossing a line into being cruel and fundamentally you should have more grace for other human beings."

 

[od-chan]

It's hilarious how far up his own ass he must be to think that reasonable people would even entertain the thought of watching his retarded ramblings for like 10 Minutes. I'd genuienly rather listen to a homeless person talk about chemtrails, and I'd probably gain about the same new insights from both of these.

 

[winjer]

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

If you listen to what he says, he's very reasonable - I think it's easy to forget how many people take their disdain way too far.

 

[LectureMaster]

Always play a victimhood huh? Stop trying generalizing shit. There are small bunch of indecent people deliberating harassing devs but the majority gamers are just disappointed when a good studio/franchise turned to craps due to culture shift.

And more importantly, those controversial shits often started with the dev. Take Avowed for example, I think the game probably got more dunked on than it actually deserves, but it was Matt Hansen who put the game into the center of controversy. If you really need to blame, find the root causes.

 

[Wildebeest]

Devs should just delete all social media. It is a useless waste of time and makes them worse at their jobs, and encourages the hiring of talentless people just because they have a social media profile.

 

[nowhat]

I agree. People take this stuff too far.

Yeah, agreed.

And having said that, Veilguard fucking sucked. It had nothing to do with wokeness, T(r/a)ash or whatnot. It just was a piss-poor Dragon Age game. And that made me both very angry and sad, because I doubt we'll see another attempt at a Dragon Age game.

(And yeah, boning scout Harding didn't quite do it for me. But, if you play a female character, change your appearance in the character creator to remove the top and go through the whole ordeal, you get to see your own, puny even if the slider was all the way to the right, tits for just a while. So whoopedoo. The most mature DA ever.)

 

[notseqi]

Dunno who does these alleged things but chiding a broader audience of not-liking-your-game'rs would be a bit... dogshit.

edit: cry is free, dont act all hoity-toity and then go off on critical voices. hounding select people is no good ofc.

 

[Blank Space Invader]

I am sure this will result in the changing of many hearts and minds.

 

[LectureMaster]

The majority of gamers are just disappointed, no one deliberately wants a bad game and then celebrate the failure. The meme sums the situation perfectly.

 

[Putonahappyface]

 

[IFireflyl]

 

[Antwix]

Maybe random devs and employees shouldn't post extremist political opinions. Might get less cruelty aimed back at them.

 

[Pop]

Should we pull up all the game devs that talk shit to people on the right and not expect backlash

And who gives a f what this soy says

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Personally attacking someone on social media is going too far.

But pardon me, when I see a once respected studio and franchise run into the ground by incompetent narcissistic dipshits, yeah I am going to feel some satisfaction seeing them experience the consequences of their incompetence and toxic positivity.

Perhaps Mark should direct some of his anger at the self proclaimed Queerosexual Gendermancer who cost so many people their jobs thanks to her vanity project.

 

[Nickolaidas]

He's right. We don't know what happened. But we do have numerous statements by devs who were more than happy to put their foot in their mouths and insult their potential audience and customer base.

So here's what I suggest:

How about you and your buddies shut the fuck up, stop ANTAGONIZING the very people YOU ARE DEPENDENT to make a PROFIT from, and STOP PUTTING POLITICS into your work and your public STATEMENTS, when you have your FUCKING COMPANY'S LOGO on your shirts, your Social Media accounts and your credentials. How about, you STOP BEING A-HOLES when you - like it or not - REPRESENT the COMPANY and the PRODUCT you are working on?

You know, instead of 'I hate white people', and 'I hope MAGA people don't know peace', and 'we don't need fans like you', or 'it wasn't made for you', how about you tell those people TO SHUT THE FUCK UP?

I PROMISE you that if those people had made the EXACT same games they made but DIDN'T POST on twitter about how much they hate us, they wouldn't get HALF the flack they're getting now.

 

[Hot5pur]

I played the game, enjoyed it, it was one of the better titles to come out in 2024.
The "woke" stuff did not bother me, I understand how some people dislike it, but it should be more like not liking fetch quests, not "OMG my life is over because of trans messaging". We are not children who've had their favorite toy taken away or forced to eat brussel sprouts.
It's OK, the general state of the world is this way, people just aggressive about simple things that are easy to digest, instead of understanding nuance and not always looking at the worst in everything.
Outrage and entitlement feels better than empathy and understanding. We get it.

 

[notseqi]

He's right. We don't know what happened. But we do have numerous statements by devs who were more than happy to put their foot in their mouths and insult their potential audience and customer base.

So here's what I suggest:

How about you and your buddies shut the fuck up, stop ANTAGONIZING the very people YOU ARE DEPENDENT to make a PROFIT from, and STOP PUTTING POLITICS into your work and your public STATEMENTS, when you have your FUCKING COMPANY'S LOGO on your shirts, your Social Media accounts and your credentials. How about, you STOP BEING A-HOLES when you - like it or not - REPRESENT the COMPANY and the PRODUCT you are working on?

You know, instead of 'I hate white people', and 'I hope MAGA people don't know peace', and 'we don't need fans like you', or 'it wasn't made for you', how about you tell those people TO SHUT THE FUCK UP?

I PROMISE you that if those people had made the EXACT same games they made but DIDN'T POST on twitter about how much they hate us, they wouldn't get HALF the flack they're getting now.

dont agree with the caps but with errything you said

 

[Topher]

Always play a victimhood huh? Stop trying generalizing shit. There are small bunch of indecent people deliberating harassing devs but the majority gamers are just disappointed when a good studio/franchise turned to shit due to culture shift.

And more importantly, those controversial shits often started with the dev. Take Avowed for example, I think the game probably got more dunking than it actually deserves, but it was Matt Hansen who put the game into the center of controversy. If you really need to blame, find the root causes.

Valid point. Devs can be just as bad especially when it seems like they are thumbing their nose at gamers. However, I think this Bioware guy is making a distinction here and pointing directing at the asshats who are going after the devs and not generalizing gamers. But yeah....he should look at it from both sides.

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

white knighting for corinne busche.... not a hill I would die on...and im chorizo picozo

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Can I be a white guy in the game and call out actual racism?

 

[Mithos]

He and his have been attacking people in the social media for years getting people fired, defunded, if they had the wrong "opinions"...

Sorry, but not sorry when it backfires on them...

 

[Nickolaidas]

Can I be a white guy in the game and call out actual racism?

"HeLlO, yOu CaNnOt Be RaCiSt To WhItE pEoPlE - hOpE tHiS hElPs!"

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

"I'm not saying you're not allowed to be angry about it, I'm not saying you don't get to express your dissatisfaction with the content of the game that you're not enjoying" he starts. "But when you climb into someone's personal social media and start actively attacking that person, when you celebrate layoffs at a studio because the game that you don't like didn't do that well, you're crossing a line into being cruel and fundamentally you should have more grace for other human beings."

I agree. People take this stuff too far.

As someone who played professional sports and dealt with fanatics my entire life I agree people take it too far but these devs should essentially grow some thicker skin and maybe make something truly compelling and oh not attacking gamers for not buying your shit products

I saw first hand the worst of the worst in people for losing a single Baseball game and damn right people celebrated when players would get cut

This shit has happened since forever just seems a lot of devs can't take it

 

[Topher]

dont agree with the caps but with errything you said

I only agree with the caps

 

[CompleteGlobalSaturation]

Personally attacking someone on social media is going too far.

But pardon me, when I see a once respected studio and franchise run into the ground by incompetent narcissistic dipshits, yeah I am going to feel some satisfaction seeing them experience the consequences of their incompetence and toxic positivity.

Perhaps Mark should direct some of his anger at the self proclaimed Queerosexual Gendermancer who cost so many people their jobs thanks to her vanity project.

Well said.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

I only agree with the caps

Is it because you're so old you can only see the caps?

 

[Nickolaidas]

As someone who played professional sports and dealt with fanatics my entire life I agree people take it too far but these devs should essentially grow some thicker skin and maybe make something truly compelling and oh not attacking gamers for not buying your shit products

I saw first hand the worst of the worst in people for losing a single Baseball game and damn right people celebrated when players would get cut

This shit has happened since forever just seems a lot of devs can't take it

I keep saying that this is a generation of pussies.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

"HeLlO, yOu CaNnOt Be RaCiSt To WhItE pEoPlE - hOpE tHiS hElPs!"

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

Here for you, no jealousy, I don't use social media: It's free and for everyone at Bioware

Hope you feel better and by the way: what about stopping politics and go back to games for players.

 

[{insert code here}]

Was he saying this when people were fired for having the wrong opinions? Or the wrong immutable, physical characteristics? Or the wrong politics?

 

[LectureMaster]

Valid point. Devs can be just as bad especially when it seems like they are thumbing their nose at gamers. However, I think this Bioware guy is making a distinction here and pointing directing at the asshats who are going after the devs and not generalizing gamers. But yeah....he should look at it from both sides.

I read it elsewhere that he also said something like "If you must complain, doing it directly to game directors is much effective than blaming everyday programmers", which I agree a lot.

From my observation, if a game is just straight bad in design/mechanics, people often just don't buy it and move on. It is always those games having "culture war" controversies that made huge splashes online. Maybe devs should take notes and just focus on making good games.

 

[nial]

So much for generalizing gamers (which I didn't get the impression he was trying to do here), yet people don't think once when it comes to generalizing devs. Not saying that devs can't say dumb shit deserving of pushback, because oh god they have, but are the words of one or two dudes enough to ""justify"" the layoffs of WAY MORE people than that?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Maybe if game studios didn't release sloppy games with tons of bugs, added in their personal politics, had employees bitch back on social media, jammed in mtx to the brim and offered gamers a full refund within 14 or 30 days like most stores and product companies offer you wont have as many people complaining.

 

[LectureMaster]

As someone who played professional sports and dealt with fanatics my entire life

like this right?

 

[Kacho]

I am sure this will result in the changing of many hearts and minds.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It's hilarious how far up his own ass he must be to think that reasonable people would even entertain the thought of watching his retarded ramblings for like 10 Minutes. I'd genuienly rather listen to a homeless person talk about chemtrails, and I'd probably gain about the same new insights from both of these.

I skimmed through the video listening to a few seconds here and there. Guy looks like he's 60 years old and talks like a manchild.

Then again, that's video game employees for ya. Always looking for attention.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

I keep saying that this is a generation of pussies.

How many times have devs lashed out at us gamers for not buying their crap and how many devs have made videos criticizing their own people?

like this right?

heh

More like this

 

[DeepEnigma]

"I'm not saying you're not allowed to be angry about it, I'm not saying you don't get to express your dissatisfaction with the content of the game that you're not enjoying" he starts. "But when you climb into someone's personal social media and start actively attacking that person, when you celebrate layoffs at a studio because the game that you don't like didn't do that well, you're crossing a line into being cruel and fundamentally you should have more grace for other human beings."

I agree. People take this stuff too far.

While true and I completely agree, some of these developers ran their mouths first on their social medias to draw attention to themselves.

 

[Gamerfan81]

It's not so fun when the rabbit has the gun now, eh?

 

[Nickolaidas]

So much for generalizing gamers (which I didn't get the impression he was trying to do here), yet people don't think once for generalizing devs. Not saying that devs can't say dumb shit deserving of pushback, because oh god they have, but are the words of one or two dudes enough to ""justify"" the layoffs of WAY MORE people than that?

That is because when we see a dev getting fired, we don't see Michael McAllister losing his job, despite making good assets for *insert AAA slop title here*. We see a supporter of woke gaming culture experiencing the consequences of his actions, and we hope that other companies and publishers will realize they need to change their tactics.

I don't get any satisfaction from anyone losing their jobs - even queersexuawhatever freaks.

I get satisfaction from the thought that Western gaming may understand they need to change their ways.

No one would give a single fuck if it was revealed that the writers and combat designers of an AAA game are trans, or have pronouns in their bio or whatever as long as the game runs well, looks cool, has gorgeous looking characters and has good, traditional values the average man and woman can aspire to and resonate with. Seriously, NO ONE.

 

[LectureMaster]

How many times have devs lashed out at us gamers for not buying their crap and how many devs have made videos criticizing their own people?


heh

More like this

Damn,

No wonder my man is buying GPUs and PS5 Pros like candies.

 

[Clear]

Bottom line: When the next bunch of activists attack and celebrate the demise of the thing YOU like, don't cry about it if you've engaged in the same shitty manner.

Don't be dicks. Its not hard.

 

[notseqi]

I only agree with the caps

ANTAGONIZING YOU ARE DEPENDENT PROFIT STOP PUTTING POLITICS STATEMENTS FUCKING COMPANY'S LOGO STOP BEING A-HOLES REPRESENT COMPANY PRODUCT?

MAGA TO SHUT THE FUCK UP?

I PROMISE EXACT DIDN'T POST HALF.

 

[March Climber]

He is out of touch with how the internet behaves in 2025, which is technically a good thing for his well-being, because the more one knows, the more one understands how utterly pointless it is to ask people online to behave with courtesy or grace.