Fired Nintendo Blogger Speaks Her Mind - An Interview with Jessica Zenner

by Andrew Podolsky on October 3, 2007 at 11:44 pm

Earlier this week, news broke that Nintendo contract worker Jessica Zenner was fired for keeping a blog called “Inexcusable Behavior” where she made comments about herself (using the name Jessica Carr) and various co-workers (who were not named).

Jessica considered the blog to be entertainment, but Nintendo took offense and fired her. Jessica has since announced that she will be contributing articles to Ripten.com, and here for the first time is Jessica’s side of the story in her own words.

Q: What are your feelings on the video game industry currently?

A: My take on video games is a dismal one. Computer and video games have been the subject of controversy and censorship, due to the depiction of graphic violence, sexual themes, consumption of illegal drugs, consumption of alcohol or tobacco, or profanity in some games. I believe that generally speaking, gamers have sadly taken on some of the traits that are portrayed in fictional games.

With that being said, there is a lot of good that is coming out of the gaming industry, like the Nintendo Wii and their DS game Brain Age. Wow, Nintendo can make people smarter and more physically fit! They are breaking new ground. Actually, in all seriousness, I do enjoy video games, but I do believe that there should be a delicate balance when it comes to the time played.

Q: What was the nature of your job at Nintendo?

A: I work in the staffing industry, more specifically in the Enterprise Software world. Nintendo was actually the first gaming company that I’ve ever recruited for, and they brought me on as a Technical Recruiter. From a recruiting standpoint, recruiting in the gaming domain space is a completely different animal from the Enterprise and/ or Proprietary Software world. For one, I’ve found that the majority of gaming companies are running their internal IS departments with open source technology, and we all know why that is.

Q: Why’s that?

A: Linux is freely-distributable open source operating system that runs on a number of hardware platforms. Because it’s free, and because it runs on many platforms, including PCs and Macintoshes, Linux has become an extremely popular alternative to proprietary operating systems. The reason why it’s become a popular alternative for major gaming companies is because, in my opinion, of their competitors.

Generically, any database management system that can respond to queries from client machines formatted in the SQL language would be categorized as a SQL Server. When capitalized, the term generally refers to either of two database management products from Sybase and Microsoft. Both companies offer client-server DBMS products called SQL Server. Do you think that Nintendo would want to support a competitor? An extremely large number of companies that I’ve worked with are running everything on a Microsoft platform, and are using Microsoft SQL Server.

Q: So Nintendo doesn’t want to use any Microsoft products in-house?

A: I’m not going to say that, but you do the math.

Q: Did any of your colleagues at Nintendo know about the Inexcusable Behavior blog early on?

A: I had one friend, whom I still consider a friend, and I am 100% positive that he/she didn’t leak it. To clear the air, I never logged on to my blog or checked my personal email at work. To be honest, I have no clue how they found my blog. When I asked how they found my blog, they responded with “that doesn’t matter”.

Q: Did Nintendo make any effort to shut down the website, or give you any warning, before they fired you?

A: No. They called me on my way to work to tell me that I was fired. I had no clue that they were snooping around the Internet looking for a reason to fire me. Ironically, about a week prior, I was commended for a job well done on a specific project.

To be honest, I wasn’t talking about my boss. I was very disappointed to hear that she thought I was talking about her. I really enjoyed my boss, and she is a very pleasant person. It’s a shame that she had to fire me in the way she did, otherwise I might have had the opportunity to explain that I wasn’t talking about her.

Q: Do you believe that blogs should be considered protected speech?

A: Yes. In my case, 85% of what I said on my blog was exaggerated for entertainment purposes. For all they know, I could be leaking chapters out of a new book, a book that is written in a first person, diary voice. With that being said, even if [the blog] was true, it never would have any effect on Nintendo.

Q: If you had told them it was fiction, would they still be able to fire you for keeping the blog?

A: I don’t know… I wasn’t able to get a word in edgewise. Seriously, by reading my blog would you think I would work at a gaming company? Of all places to guess where I work, do you think my readers would say, “Ah ha, she works at NINTENDO!”

Q: You didn’t mention Nintendo by name?

A: No, of course not. As a matter of fact, not all of the content that was written was drawn off experience at Nintendo. Maybe a sliver was.

Q: Does Nintendo have a company policy on personal blogs?

A: No, but according to the PR rep they do. I was never aware of it until after the fact. If there was a company policy in place, I would have never accepted a job there.

I am not going to sit here and act like some of the stuff I wrote wasn’t inflammatory. But there wasn’t any proof in the pudding of me supposedly referring to Nintendo. If there was, that would be a completely different story.

Q: Do they claim the right to determine what is and is not acceptable blogging?

A: I don’t know, to be honest. Lately, I’ve heard some rumors of them instating some sort of blog policy. I guess I’m the poster child for that one.

Q: Could you have made your blog private, for friends only? Or did you want to allow a wider audience for your blogging?

A: I never thought that there would be a reason to make it private. I didn’t expect for someone to go searching for it. [Microsoft Live] Spaces doesn’t have a robust searching feature. You would literally have to know someone’s name or URL to find them.

Q: Is Nintendo trying to be outwardly “family friendly”?

A: You know, I don’t think that Nintendo wants the same audience as Microsoft or Sony. I get that they are marketing to children. The majority of their games are E or T. Their consoles are extremely user friendly, and technically speaking are extremely elementary compared to Sony.

Xbox may have had the recall, yes, but they make a pretty good product. I gotta admit, I like Halo, and Madden.

Q: So is Nintendo’s corporate culture sort of “E for Everyone” also?

A: I think that would be safe to say. In my opinion, I think that they are a generation or two behind Microsoft’s corporate culture.

Q: What are your career goals following your departure from Nintendo?

A: I want to write. I enjoy dabbling in online media.

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Tags: Blogging, Fired, Freedom-of-Speech, Jessica-Carr, Jessica-Zenner, Nintendo-of-America

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Comments »

Minder
on October 4, 2007 1:59 pm

Wow what a moron. Her knowledge on the gaming industry is a joke. And I find her observations to be highly inaccurate. Clearly she has done little research.

Nintendo caters to all the crowds as appose to MS and Sony who are mainly targeting the hardcore gamers. Nintendo has decided to target their loyal core gamers while bringing in new software that will attract nongamers and people who are more casual with games.

It’s the arcade approach. What kind of people do you see at fairs, carnavals, and Dave & Busters, playing arcades? The type of crowd that Nintendo is targeting along with their normal core gamers.

Get a clue, do some indepth research and maybe you’ll learn some more about this industry you tool.
Icarus
on October 4, 2007 3:06 pm

But a cute too tho.
XFLOP120RINGOFDEATHCANTFINISHTEHFIGHT
on October 4, 2007 3:45 pm

COME WORK FOR SONY SWEET CHEEKS,WE EVEN HAVE OUR OWN BLOG :D
XFLOP120RINGOFDEATHCANTFINISHTEHFIGHT
on October 4, 2007 3:47 pm

“Xbox may have had the recall, yes, but they make a pretty good product”

IS THIS GIRL SERIOUS :| ?
Pooch
on October 4, 2007 4:19 pm

Is she seriously trying to talk about Linux and SQL Server?

Typical tech recruiter with no idea what the hell she is talking about…

cute though…
DragonKnight24
on October 4, 2007 4:27 pm

More eMuscles being flexed by wannabe know it alls.

Leave her alone for goodness sake. If you all think you know what you’re talking about, why aren’t you in the gaming industry?

Exactly, you’re just jealous of her.

Back on topic, I think she wasn’t in the wrong at all, and any company that hires her will be lucky to have her.
Joker
on October 4, 2007 5:56 pm

DragonKinght stfu and quit trying to brown nose you tool. She is quite the idiot and she got what she derserved.

I came upon this article from N4G and everyones comments there are pretty consistant with peeps comments here save for you.

She dont know what she is talking about. Jealous? Please…

Watch her get fired again.
LordCancer
on October 4, 2007 6:52 pm

I was willingly to give her the benefit of the doubt, as if my opinion really matters right?

well after reading this tripe of an interview i feel her termination was probably on the level.

she is a complete idiot and this interview with her oh it was fiction excuse is pretty ridiculous.

i don’t care she had a blog or an opinion or that nintendo hired and fired her, only that now this pr stunt on her part has been considered serious game news and therfore i have been subjected to this supreme idiocy.

nintendo fired a low level recruiter, big deal.

get over yourself.

it’s even more sicking that the attention she is receiving is because she is perceived to be another one of these “fabled” cute gurl gamers, if anything that says a lot about the journalist and the community that is flocking to her, your all a bunch of ugly geek faced looser nerds and should get a life.

far as im concerned the content of this interview and her blog, lead me to believe i’d fire her moronic ass too.

so now she joins the rank of “real game journalist” with the rest of the pathetic ilk that is ripten or countless blogging gamer sites.

whatever, another shot in the heart of integrity that is our beloved industry.

pr joke, on us, all you need is internet some tits and you can get hired anywhere.
Joker
on October 4, 2007 7:16 pm

Amen
CrazeeSquirrel
on October 4, 2007 7:31 pm

@LordCancer

Ok here goes, you are an idiot. There are not enough fancy shmancy words in the dictionary to mask the truth of your pathetic existance.

You know nothing about this woman. You know nothing about what really happened. None of us really know what happened. But idiots like you love to run your mouths. You did get one thing right at least, your opinion means crap.

Gamer cute girl? The only one calling her that from what I have read on other sites that reported this same story are the readers like you.

“Our beloved industry” wow you need a life. I read about this chick on joystiq and kotaku as well, but I guess you have something against them too since they are blog sites.

As far as blog sites go, most of the writers that write “professionally” have blogs or write for blogs as well.

Ripten’s Andrew writes for 1up and Emily writes for IGN. The only one that is pathetic here is you. If you had a clue, you would realize that “our beloved industry” is better off without people like you in it. Freak.
TurthHurtz
on October 4, 2007 8:47 pm

All you guys are just pissed becuase she is a good looking woman and your jealous. Let it go, move on, the more you all dwell on it the more its going to get publicized. You really shouldn’t bad mouth people you don’t know, its bad karma.

She was in the wrong though
LordCancer
on October 4, 2007 9:03 pm

Well my reply to CrazeeSquirrel is in moderation. Apparently the s-word is censored and ironically I’ve been censored in a debate about the right to post in blogs.

Apparently there are consequences for saying what you want…

Therefore I will elaborate why I think she is an idiot and why I have a low opinion of ripten s-word free.

Judging from what we do know based on these rather inane news posts, she made comments about her colleagues and employer that were defamatory. Her employers at Nintendo find out obviously and drew the conclusion that the comments made were “Inexcusable Behavior”.

I don’t know how this story was picked up however, ripten has essentially given her a pass for her negative behavior like is so typical in society these days.

I think though, that she is playing the victim. She is unwilling to accept responsibility for her actions by arguing that she has been singled out and that the disparaging comments made towards her employer should be protected by free speech.

I agree she certainly has the right to say what she wants, but there is a certain decorum to be upheld in the work place and she violated that by insulting her employer.

She has the right to disparage her fellow colleagues if she chooses to do so and Nintendo or any employer has the right to fire her if they find out.

If she was foolish enough to post those comments on a website then she deserved to get caught.

In her defense she delete the comments from her website and then in this uncritical interview shes not only given an pass but can’t even come up with a valid or believable excuse claiming it was fiction and ripten buys it hook line and sinker not only that but offer her a job on top of it.

I’ll give you that CrazeeSquirrel I cant possible know all the facts but those presented paint enough of a picture to form a conclusion.

It is my opinion that she defamed colleagues and nintendo rightly fired her for doing so when they found out.

I also conclude that she is irresponsible and wants to deflect her own responsibility in these events and that ripten lacking from my point of view any integrity side with her giving her a job and a forum to offer her pathetic excuse for her actions that resulted in her being fired from her low level position at nintendo.
Chad Lakkis
on October 4, 2007 9:44 pm

LordCancer,

First off, thanks for taking the time to check out the site and comment. Our comment rules are in place because we firmly believe that debates can be had and points can be made without using those types of words.

Secondly, we had been in touch with Jessica prior to her incident with Nintendo. Frankly, we liked her writing style and thought that she would be able to offer a different perspective.

As you probably know, not all gamers are hardcore industry nuts. Jessica never claimed to be one, and it was never our intention to bring her on masquerading as one either.

We have plenty of writers with years of industry experience and felt that a little diversity would be welcomed.

In regards to her situation with Nintendo, again we had been in contact with her prior to the media storm. We actually were aware of her incident weeks before the news leak and we made the decision to not publicize it.

Our decision to give her an opportunity to state her side of the story is one we firmly stand behind.

In terms of society and second chances, well we stand behind that as well.

Again thanks for the comment,
Chad-
LordCancer
on October 4, 2007 10:16 pm

I don’t think this is a free speech issue and I think that she should have a level of respect for her colleagues, I do not imagine that she can openly disparage you or the other writers of this site with out repercussions perhaps I’m wrong.

I think second chances are important as well, and by that token ripten or anyone can employ her.

I still think that she needs to be able to say yeah maybe I screwed up by making inappropriate comments and not deflecting her part by playing the free speech card.

Doing so gives me a poor opinion of her personal character however I do not like her and do not plan to be a regular reader of this site.

Though I’m a gamer and that may change, I did read her I’m pissed off write up and your right she is a decent writer, I even laughed.

I hope she grows as a person and as a writer however much I disagree with her comments in this interview that make her seem flippant over the whole affair.

I think work place abuse is unacceptable and will go so far as to apologies for my comments towards her and this site as they were…inappropriate as well.

I think she should reflect seriously on the events that lead to her being fired and whether she is in the right or wrong and refrain from making such comments in the future espeacially in a public venue, not that in private makes it any more acceptable.

and as far as bad karma….I’m going to go out on a limb and wish her and the other contributers to this site the best.

LC
Chad Lakkis
on October 4, 2007 10:23 pm

LC,

No harm done. Thanks for the kind words. We hope you stick around.

Chad-
LordCancer
on October 4, 2007 10:32 pm

hahaha yeah I might but I always get banned eventually. I miss the escapist, I took a discussion over the improper use of mongoloid…way too far.
SpiralGray
on October 5, 2007 12:04 pm

Actually, I think her comment that “[She] believe[s] that generally speaking, gamers have sadly taken on some of the traits that are portrayed in fictional games…” is spot on. Spend an hour playing Gears or Halo on Xbox Live and you’ll see that. Cursing, lack of respect… When someone makes a comment like that it doesn’t necessarily mean “GTA made me kill.”

As for the rest of her interview, I’m still shaking my head. She’s a good-looking, 23-year-old technical recruiter who doesn’t know what she’s talking about, which is typical of most technical recruiters I’ve encountered in my 25-year IT career. Linux is used because if you capitalize SQL Server a certain way it’s a competitor’s product… huh? Apparently Nintendo is now a database company? She’s never heard of Oracle? Sybase hasn’t called their product SQL Server in ten years. If she’s going to spout off opinions, they should at least be informed opinions. That kind of uninformed babbling leaves me feeling like I can’t trust anything else she might say.
Auturgist
on October 5, 2007 12:24 pm

I don’t care to discuss her credibility as a recruiter or journalist in the gaming industry, but has anyone mentioned that she is ridiculously attractive yet? Like, really smokin’ hot!

Screw working, she should just host a pay site with nude pics — I’d gladly subscribe! Doesn’t matter to me whether people choose to earn a living with their brains or bodies, and if she doesn’t have the former, she’s definitely got the latter!
LUEyou
on October 5, 2007 12:47 pm

I just really can not stand anyone trying to argue any point without using correct grammar. This statement is mostly in reference to LordCancer, but there were other issues in these comments as well.

If you are gonna come on here and say stupid things and flame, then at least use proper grammar for god’s sake. That way your crap at least sounds intelligent, rather than simply crappy.
The Burned Earth » Blog Archive » I’ve censored myself
on October 5, 2007 1:04 pm

[...] posted here should be PG-13 now. After reading a an article on how this girl was fired from her job for having a normal blog I figured I’d make an effort to keep a clean [...]
Icarus
on October 5, 2007 1:31 pm

Auturgist is right. Please pass the URL around when she gets a paying nude site. I’m sure we all have our creditcards in hand.
jeff tremendous
on October 5, 2007 1:35 pm

First, I always run my sql server on my linux on my xbox.

Second, who has violated anyone’s rights to free speech? To suggest that Nintendo has violated free speech rights is tantamount to defamation, which is speech that is not protected by the first amendment.

Hypocrites.
3CountyLaugh
on October 5, 2007 2:22 pm

A couple of details here:
1)Washington is an “at will” employment state, people can get fired/quit for any reason that is not specificly covered by anti-descrimination laws. “I don’t like your attitude” is ligitimate reason to fire someone. Free speech doesn’t even come into it legally or ethically.
2) She was a contractor, in they greater Seattle metro area they are a dine a dozen for people at the level she indicates she was working at. They had no reason to keep her services and no investment in her as an actual employee.
3)As a professional contractor for almost the last decade, I’d bet money she’d accidently left some hint of her alternate identity with Parker Services (her actual employer, not Nintendo). I’d bet Carr was her maiden name and that Parker has a policy on checking up on it’s employees as they are representing their company to a client. This is not uncommon in contracting circles.
LordCancer
on October 5, 2007 2:54 pm

@LUEyou

My editor says proper grammar is unnecessary for comment box section where the majority of readers speak in broken internet lingo anyway.

Don’t bring god into it either you zealot.

As far as intelligence’s is concerned this whole story is stupid whether I contribute in the comments section or not.

In 48 hours this story will be lost under pages of new articles and no one will care, least of all about my improper grammar.

If you disagree with what I have said then say so and I’ll gladly debate those merits however if all you got is “oh your grammar is bad” then you might as well not bother.
Phoenix
on October 5, 2007 3:45 pm

Its amazing how ready people are to dish out criticism. While this interview may not have been as informative as, say, an interview with Cliffy B, when did it become okay to rip someone for her opinions? I’ll guarantee that if most of you who comment on this site were interviewed, you may not come across as intelligent as you think you are.

BTW, at will employment doesn’t hold up in court. I watched a district and regional manager fire an employee for a more than acceptable reason, and end up getting canned themselves when the employee sued for wrongful termination.

As far as the reason she got fired, I think it goes 50/50. It has become common practice for companies to search out blogs and terminate employees who have less than positive things to say, so anyone who keeps a blog needs to understand that there is a risk associated with it now. I do believe they should have given an explanation of what was wrong with the content. It’s not right to fire someone without a good explanation. That leads me to believe that there was not necessarily a “good” reason, and the blog became a good scapegoat for whatever agenda Jessica’s bosses had.

The interview was fine Jess, hopefully you don’t take stuff like this personally. Good luck.
Auturgist
on October 5, 2007 5:17 pm

The practice of firing people who have less than positive things to say about the company on their personal blogs is retarded, because the second those people are no longer employed, they have absolutely no reason to hold back their negative criticisms of the company; any sympathy they garner from others due to being fired can immediately translate into negative publicity for the company that fired them. Companies should get over the fact that one of their employees has something bad to say about working there when they find this sort of thing, and instead view it as an opportunity to learn about and address the issues the employee has, to better the company in the eyes of its employees. Not everyone has the time or confidence to contact human resources with their grievances, and firing people for blowing off steam on their personal blogs doesn’t help fix the problem if it’s something that is just going to cause the next person in the job to stress the same way.
Travis R
on October 5, 2007 5:31 pm

The policy of firing people because of negative blogging is an excellent one. Nintendo, or any other company has a reputaion to protect. The issue is likely not defamation at all, but more along the lines of association. Think about other serious bloggers for example, Tucker Max even. With the reputation someone with that sort of blog carries, would you want your company associated with the name? Would a family oriented company ever want the name Tucker Max said in the same sentence as theirs? I’m not in any way disparaging him or his writing talents of course, but you see my point. As a corporation, would you want to allow someone like that to continue to be associated with your company? Especially when you do not know how far that person will go in their attempts at humor and entertainment?
Diana
on October 5, 2007 5:48 pm

Anybody else think it’s slightly suspicious that her story about being fired broke nearly a month after it actually happened? And within a week of that, she’s employed elsewhere?

I wonder what she’ll do if she starts complaining about her current job on her blog … will she create a different one since her ‘anonymous’ one has been found out? Or will she just blog about it then claim it was a novel or some other nonsense?
I’m missing my trousers!!
on October 5, 2007 6:16 pm

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have now introduced an anti-blog policy (also included other types of media where the staff will talk about the hardware/software or even it’s competitors). It’s a shame that the staff are not aware of it as the HR department are supposed to inform staff of the new rules that appear in the company handbook.

The QA staff in Liverpool have had all their internet access removed due to one person being a dick, talk about going overboard and punishing a collective for what someone did.
DragonKnight24
on October 5, 2007 6:38 pm

@CrazeeSquirel and TruthHurtz: Amen, you speak the truth.

The rest of you are just a load of whiners who like to think that they know what they are talking about, but guess what, if you did then how come she’s the writer and you aren’t?

Exactly. Swallow your sour grapes and leave her alone. You guys act like she killed your mother. It’s pathetic.
LordCancer
on October 5, 2007 7:10 pm

@dragonKnight24

Why do you presume the only correct and valid response to this story or any writer who makes there work public to be one of positive support and that any criticisms is invalid on the basis that she is a writer and we are not?

As a writer she requires readers and that symbiotic relation ship exists out of necessity without readers there is no point to writing anything at all.

Part of that relation ship between the writer and reader is that while the writer is expressing creative thought or opinion they requires a reader base to consume that content and agree or disagree.

Anyone who reads what she writes also has a right to voice there opinion even if that opinion is a critical one, it is no less valid then any other viewpoint.

I think your attempt to silence anyone with differing opinion with petty insults is merely a means to simplify the discussion of this topic so ignoramus’s like you can contribute without an individual thought of your own.

As she went public with her story and there is a comment box here anyone who wishes can be critical of her. As a writer she should be able to deal with it and if she can’t then she should choose a different profession.

I gather she is up to it or she wouldn’t have gone public with this story. I also think that as she made this a free speech issue she should be just as willing to embrace any negative viewpoints from readers as opposed to blatantly pathetic and fatuous comments about her beauty.
engineerJim
on October 5, 2007 8:28 pm

Truth:

SQL Server / Linux answer was not a technically rigorous answer. It was a silly question for them to ask her. Her answer is insufficient for members here because either she was misquoted (happens frequently in attempts to explain technical concepts to journalists. It’s happened to me professionally as well and to all of my past academic advisors,) or she tried to answer for the layman (which is also hard to do. I notice nobody even came close to a correct and rigorous explanation in comments.) If you’re not the layman, it wasn’t written for you, so leave it be. If you came here looking for a technical explanation of SQL Servers and their history, that’s your fault. @ minder, joker, lordcancer

XBox is popular for a reason, and if you don’t like it, tough. You’re wrong. Companies don’t make gobs of cash defying laws of statistics like you would have us believe. I have an xbox, my friends have xboxes, the last two universities i’ve worked at have lounges full of xboxes, and you know what? Madden and Halo are pretty tight.

I have a complaint on the style of some frequent commenters. Namecalling strengthens one’s argument for the ’sheep’ audience only - people with little knowledge, investment, or desire for accuracy. It can feel good to be agreed with, or to dominate over someone else’s opinion with volume - but correctness isn’t democratic. Increase your default respect for others, that is, if you want to get any, @lordcancer, dragonknight, minder

And I don’t think this girl is going to bow to ‘post tits or gtfo.’ Epic fail @ chauvenism

Jessica - Pleased to hear of your success in your new gig.
jmarr
on October 5, 2007 9:09 pm

HOT! but with answers like that, I’m surprised she’s not a blonde… wait, did you check her roots??

>> Generically, any database management system that can respond to queries from client machines formatted in the SQL language would be categorized as a SQL Server. When capitalized, the term generally refers to either of two database management products from Sybase and Microsoft. Both companies offer client-server DBMS products called SQL Server.

hee, as a tech recruiter, I wonder if she’s ever heard of a little company called Oracle?

i’m telling you! check her roots!
JD
on October 5, 2007 11:35 pm

This doesn’t really seem like gamer news…more like legal. Being fired for a blog that doesn’t mention any company or person by name seems a bit extreme. It can’t possibly be defamatory towards anyone if I have no idea who she is talking about. If I were to play devil’s advocate I could say that if she didn’t make any posts while at work or access the blog at work, then there’s no concrete proof that the blog is even hers. Hell I could download a picture of her make a fake name and start saying anything. Theres no real way to know it was her. Obviously common sense might win out over that argument, and the blog would be attributed to her, but even so everyone has the right to their opinion as an individual outside of their existence as an employee of any particular company. You are not your job and your job is not you. Even though according to state law, Nintendo may have been within their rights to terminate her, that doesn’t make it right, or even legal on a national level. This is just another example of companies attempting to police your lives. Just because you work for someone doesn’t mean they own you. And this was not an example of breaking office decorum because it did not occur at the workplace. Everyone has a right to their personal opinions outside of work. And Travis R, as far as association goes, you cannot refuse to hire or fire someone due to their fame/notoriety, or specific opinions or beliefs they possess, ie if the owner of a company happens to have certain political beliefs they can’t fire you for not sharing them. This seems like a clear case of wrongful termination to me, but who knows what a court could find, particularly in view of the obscenity of the statements made. It’s a shame that so many people no longer believe, “While I may not like what you say sir, I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
DragonKnight24
on October 6, 2007 12:26 am

@LordCancer: Listen, you pseudo-English major, there is criticism, and then there is outright boorish behaviour. One does not need to call her an idiot to be critical of her writing. One can simply state “I tend to disagree with what she says because….” and then lay out a proper and civilized reason.

To come here and tear into her for no real reason (since she didn’t attack anyone by answering a couple of questions) is the mark of the uncivilized, dishonorable, and unnecessarily argumentative Internet “tough” guy.

No amount of gratuitous usage of insults painted in the guise of intelligent speech can be considered to be “honest criticism”, adn if you believe that coming here, insulting her intelligence, and then saying “she should expect it” makes you bright, then you my friend need to learn some manners, and the definition of the word criticism. It seems to me that many of the people who “criticize” her have no reason to and are merely doing so out of sheer boredom and the chance to try and prove that they are superior to an Internet “journalist” whom they will never meet. It’s quite pathetic that you can hide the inexcusable insults made here today under the guise of “criticism”.

@engineer Jim: Firstly, I do not have default respect for anyone. My respect is earned, not given. This has worked quite well for me throughout my life. But assuming that your point is correct, why would I give respect to people who believe they know better, cannot prove it, and instead insist upon insulting someone who is merely answer some questions of an interview?

Why would I then issue respect to people who feel it is their right to rip into a tragic situation of said writers life, blowing everything out of proportion, and then have the gall to call it criticism?

Such actions are the some of the most vile and disgusting forms of dishonor that exist. None who would act that way are deserving of respect. Nor do I care about getting respect from any who would act in such a despicable manner.
engineerJim
on October 6, 2007 1:37 am

“While I may not like what you say sir, I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
-JD

I’m glad someone brought this up. A legal framework surrounds the employer-employee relationship due to the intrinsic power one has over the other. The american privileges of liberty and the pursuit of property are undermined by loose controls on the HR practices of the ‘big fish.’ If the letter of the law is on the side of Nintendo, I still believe the spirit of the law is with Jessica.

@dragonknight - Perhaps I misspoke. A better word than respect might be tact, or civility. I don’t mean to belittle your points - far from it, they are some of the best expressed in the thread. Those delivered with a more objective tone, however, were the most persuasive.
LordCancer
on October 6, 2007 3:59 am

@dragonknight24

I think your initial comments were petty and ignorant just like my own and I appreciate the more thorough reply but still feel your trying to discredit me by insulting my intellect which isn’t much better then telling everyone there jealous of her.

————————-

My initial comments were made on a whim because I was irritated by seeing the story over and over and I’ll give you that my initial comments did not reflect any mannerism or civility and in reflecting on those comments I chose to elaborate my position and apologies for my comments.

I am not really concerned with her knowledge of the game industry or sql servers.

What bothers me about this story is that she was fired for whatever dispute between her and her employee and internet game sites have taken this up as worthy news item or even game related in any way that is relative I find obnoxious.

Is this news for the anti-nintendo fanboys to give fodder for them to disparage nintendo? Is that how it is game related news?

From what I understand she made personal attacks against her colleague’s in a public venue and I believe she was rightfully terminated.

She doesn’t have the right to insult a person simply because she feels like does she? If its a free speech issue then why criticize me for acting like she did, posting insulting comments on some website?

If it was just fiction then why did she delete the comments from her site?

I didn’t like her attitude in response to the comments or the consequence that resulted from them and I think my follow up to my initial response was more then satisfactory and valid.

I think the reason this is news is because ripten needed to draw attention to there new writer. what better way to do that then create an anti-nintendo propaganda story to collect hits on there site?

Before now I’ve never herd of this site. ripten got themselves a pretty face and some controversy to stir up some readers though didn’t they?

I like to hear a response from ripten on that too as I feel this whole story was staged to draw readers with a red carpet roll out for there new writer.

From my point of view the story isn’t game related, it is an free speech issue and I think the only reason the story was propagated to be as big as it was is because shes an attractive women.

If anything I’ve seen enough ridiculous Tongue wagging that only further lowers my opinion of gamers and how they portray women.

This story is completely stupid and pathetic, proliferated by mindless testosterone and ideological retards.

Any one can use a dictionary and that I do is somehow a slight against me is dim witted and anyone who thinks otherwise can piss off.
LordCancer
on October 6, 2007 4:02 am

Edit:

From my point of view the story isn’t game related, it “isn’t” an free speech issue and I think the only reason the story was propagated to be as big as it was is because shes an attractive women.
Wing
on October 6, 2007 5:49 am

Once again, it sucks to lose a job over a blog. However, it is worthwhile to note, observe your employers’ policies regarding things like this, especially, if you plan on blogging about work/co-workers/etc.

1) If you are a recruiter for a company, and you have a personal blog that describes negative aspects of your work environment, or in the case of your blog, negative aspects of the gaming industry… that is something that runs counter to you performing your job function, of recruiting for a company that is part of said industry.

2) They don’t need to reveal the source, due to whistle blower protection laws.

If you work for HR or recruiting, it should be job 1.5, to know what the work policies are. How else will you be able to answer potential recruits’ questions about… for instance, blogging?

Don’t get me wrong, it does suck to get fired for something you do on your own time. It does suck, that you were given no warning. But the question is… what should someone take away from this? Hopefully, it’s to get the blogging policy in writing and to run things like this through HR first and get their OK in writing, if you have ANY doubts.

One would think that after the other bloggers getting fired/let go/reprimanded in the last handful of years, people would get the message and take precautions, if there are ANY doubts.
Starwire
on October 6, 2007 6:46 am

I think that Nintendo’s consoles being aimed at ‘loyal-core’ gamers is primarily why they’re not even actively compared to their competitors anymore.
I liked N64, there were some fun games, adventure, arcade. But this is all subject to the fact that i was about 10 at the time. I moved on to find there wasn’t anything nintendo could offer for older gamers. I was quite loyal to Nintendo products originally, but they rarely produced anything interesting. The change in loyalties occurred, for me, when i obtained a Gamecube and there were good game releases with about 6 months delay inbetween. To begin with they brought out some good titles, and then couldn’t maintain the releases. Thoroughly disappointed, i also bore witness to all my friends enjoying the competitor consoles. Any titles i looked forward to were delayed almost continuously.

They do not cater for all crowds, clearly. The fact that they are targeting a particular ‘loyal’ or ‘casual’ gamer fundamentally suggests they aren’t targeting all gamers. However, if their *intention* is to appeal to all gamer types, i fear they won’t last very long. Without some sort of gamer crowd to target they receive no reputation in any field. Loyal gamers are select few in light of Nintendo’s decline here in Europe. Casual gamers are by nature - casual. Children also can’t buy your stuff. Fewer sales in a nutshell. Hence these are probably the worst categories to be targeting. Whether that’s unintentional or not.
MS and Sony are rolling in cash. What i’ve seen suggests Nintendo aren’t. To be able to start converting non-gamers and other such crazy ventures, you’re going to have to be rich.

By the way, the girl who got fired, it’s difficult to say whether she deserved it or not seeing as we can’t see the posted material. Who knows. Could be something bigger behind it all regarding Nintendo, or maybe she really was that offensive.

To say she has no knowledge of the industry is a little far-fetched. She worked for Nintendo, and we have little or no idea of what she did.
She’s aledgedly not a hardcore gamer, but there are few game related questions in this interview. In the first question she immediately describes it as her thoughts. Little or no cause to knock her knowledgeability.
Angelzero
on October 6, 2007 7:46 am

She’s young.
She’s attractive.
She’s at least moderately intelligent.
…and she wrote a blog that Nintendo had absolutely nothing to do with, that she didn’t log on to during working hours, which means they fired her for another reason even if they said it was for her blog.

As has been said, WA is an at-will state. They probably just said “for your blog” because they figured every twentysomething has a blog these days.
Ben_darkpikachu02
on October 6, 2007 10:24 am

I think that this is a free speech violation because what she said in her blog is protected by the 1st amendment. She should sue Nintendo on the basis that they violated her 1st amendment rights and subpoena the one who looked at her blog and told Nintendo what she said on her blog. The whistle blower isn’t protected by diplomatic immunity or anything close to it.
Ben
Travis R
on October 6, 2007 1:00 pm

” And Travis R, as far as association goes, you cannot refuse to hire or fire someone due to their fame/notoriety, or specific opinions or beliefs they possess, ie if the owner of a company happens to have certain political beliefs they can’t fire you for not sharing them. This seems like a clear case of wrongful termination to me, ”

Actually, this is completely untrue. A company can refuse to hire you for whatever reason they choose if they find you unfit for the position. I daresay that unwanted notoriety would certainly be a detriment to a recruiter for a company, the first face someone sees to represent your company when they are hired. Yeah, I think I might want someone with a good, or at least neutral reputation in that position. As for the political beliefs comment, if you made your political beliefs public in a deliberately inflammatory way in a public forum, and in a manner that belied your company’s desired public image, then yes, they can fire you for that, and quite certainly *should*.

If you don’t even have enough respect for the company that pays your bills to be a little concerned with, and invest in maintaining their image, why should they invest further in you?
LordCancer
on October 6, 2007 4:07 pm

@Travis R

“If you don’t even have enough respect for the company that pays your bills to be a little concerned with, and invest in maintaining their image, why should they invest further in you?”
———————

I am completely with you on this and its particularly why I don’t think it is a free speech issue because her right to say anything wasn’t impeding her right to work, but her lack of respect and common decency towards her colleagues is the problem that lead to her termination.

You can’t go to work with a nonchalant attitude, insult whoever you like and not expect there to be consequence whether those consequence result in more infighting and personal attacks levied against her or the boss fires you for inappropriate behavior.

Her behavior towards her colleagues was abusive it doesn’t matter that it wasn’t at work. she made comments in a public forum where her co-workers and the world could read them and when shes found out she deletes the comments.

I think she is defiantly in the wrong and if she believed she had a right to say those things then why bury them under rhetoric of free speech?
DragonKnight24
on October 6, 2007 4:50 pm

@engineer Jim: I never felt that you belittled me in anyway, far from it. Your response was the form of civility that you hope to see in other responses. If I acted a little over zealous, it’s because I’m a little biased in issues like these because of a friend I have who is an aspiring gaming journalist. I promised to help her with her work (no, it’s not Jessica) and I know that there are people who will act like this, even to her. I detest unwarranted attacks on a person’s work. Criticism doesn’t have to be harsh, it can be constructive.

@LordCancer: I apologize if I offended you. I say that we just forget this incident and start over. In response to your comment on this article, I’d like to make a few points.

First, no one knows for certain that she was insulting her co-workers, only she knows that. But, as we all know, that is completely irrelevant in the corporate world. So long as the possibility of hurt feelings and bad PR exists, especially for a company like Nintendo who prides themselves on their image, any form of speech will be harshly censored and the writer dealt with in a manner that the PR department deems necessary.

I personally don’t believe that a person’s personal blog should be grounds for termination UNLESS said person named names. If it is clearly a vague work, and can be seen as fiction, then that’s just one of the many reasons Nintendo was wrong to fire her for a blog.

Among other things, if Nintendo did not present all of their employees with either a contract to sign, or a clearly defined stipulation in the employee hadnbook, that expressly forbids blogging about said employees work, they are in the wrong for terminating her. In many States, and here in Canada, such a termination could result in the employee lodging a complaint with the Labor Board and being victorious.

Not knowing whether or not Nintendo presented her with a contract or a clearly defined handbook passage forbidding this, we can’t judge her for her actions, especially since she was not aware that she was being watched for this after supposedly performing well in her duties and not giving rise to suspiscion.

It’s a mark of bad form on Nintendo’s part to not inform their employees that they WILL be monitored at random, and that they may NOT make personal blogs about the company.

We are all entitled to our opinions, employee or not. Last I checked, America was not a Communist Dictatorship where one couldn’t speak their mind.

Bottom line, if Nintendo didn’t tell her she couldn’t, then they had no right to fire her for something she didn’t know was wrong until they made up the rule. But that’s just my opinion.
LordCancer
on October 6, 2007 6:08 pm

@DragonKnight24

I accept and agree that we should move past the initial incident.

I would like to point out that I am not an aspiring journalist for the record and I do not have anything against Jessica being one.

While your right we do not know all the facts about Nintendos policies or how Jessica accorded herself while employed. I still however draw the conclusion from what is known that she had greater role in the events then she lets on to and at the very least I do not think she made a convincing argument about the comments she was accused to have made in her blog, claiming that said comments were merely fiction.

I also do not think that Nintendo actively monitors employees private lives, rather that said comments in her blog were brought to an executives attention by someone who likely found them offensive.

On the topic that Nintendo need specifically address an anti-blog policy, I imagine that whatever contract she did sign had some form of clause about how she is to represent the company. I would also imagine that there is some form of decorum she is to uphold in her work place that would include being respectful to her superiors which I at least think would include not making defamatory statements about your boss or co-workers.

I gather from an outside point of view that Nintendo is very strict and likely many of there policy’s are probably Japanese oriented. If a Nintendo employed developer told Miyamato to go screw himself in person or on a blog I think he would also be out of a job.

If she doesn’t have respect for her employer then she shouldn’t be working there. The supposed fictional comments were obviously capable of being construed to be more then fiction, but like you say I can’t possibly know if her superior lady boss did in fact have an hairy upper lip.

Was it Nintedno that released those? I’m not sure but there are a few comments out there to be found. I find it suspicious that she deleted the comments and I do not find her explanation that is ultimately a denial of any wrong doing sufficient.

I thing she acted out of turn and Nintendo has a right to protect its image and fire her. Jessica Zenner is probably better of as a writer in the end, if her first piece is anything to judge by she is going to be a controversial writer and I like her writing style.

I however do not think her right to free speech was impeded, I don’t think the story deserved as much attention as it received espeacially as its not game related.

I feel it was a staged pr event to attract readers to this site where she is now employed or at least offered a venue to distribute her work.

I am obviously a bit disgruntled over the affair, but its all water under the bridge ultimately.
hamburgers101
on October 6, 2007 8:36 pm

@lordcancer
Excellent use of debating technique; I especially liked your rebuttal of crazeesquirrel’s thoroughly ad hominem attack, which did nothing to disprove your claims. If not for your subsequent fall into incoherence, I’d have stopped scrolling down after reading through your comment, since I am admittedly inclined to believe the worst in people if they show indications of ‘bad character’ or a lack of what I would call ‘common’ sense. Then again, I am conceited enough to think that my sense therewith is uncommonly good.

@engineerjim
As expected of a true fan of Square’s series(though that has nothing to do with anything), you very reasonably and amicably presented your thoughts (to which I wholeheartedly agree, especially regarding the xbox), proceeding to brush off the trolls, the result being that you have left your mark in a dignified manner. Hear, hear!

@Jessica, you’re effing gorgeous(call me! ^^;), and that’s really all I have to judge you by, so I will not pass judgment on you, not only since it’s not my place to do so and a lack of information therewith, but also because I haven’t got the time, ironically enough. Heh.

Then again, that’s not the case (regarding time) for the guys over at Penny Arcade, whom I wholeheartedly admire for their finely-tuned BS detecting abilities
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/10/05

Have I contradicted myself in what I have said? I certainly hope so, since that’s my hallmark. So feel free to lambast me for my inaccuracies, inadequacies, and otherwise fallacies; it will only make me feel better.
Pseudonym Krealle
on October 7, 2007 5:44 am

People are fired from jobs relatively routinely because of behavior like Mrs Zenner’s. There are three reasons why this particular event has attracted so much press.

1) It relates to the gaming industry, which in turn relates to a hotbed (or not :P) of nerds who, if exposed and with some motivation, get upset by things easily and have access and knowledge of the “internets.”

2) Mrs Zenner is attractive; I am qualified as a human being to say that, because if you disagree, that’s stupid. People like pretty women, and her good looks provide motivation for the nerds who are easily upset.

3) This story relates to an important and new social issue revolving around the question, “How personal are online interactions?”

To that third reason, Mrs Zenner’s firing is unfortunate and an example of one side of the question, but is a drop in the bucket, except a much more publicized drop.

As for the comments made, Zenner’s response to the third question asking why gaming companies use open source software is informed, as she is/was an insider in the gaming development community, and as for the rest of it, she’s more informed that the rest of us Non-Computer Science BAs.

It’s 2:40 and that last chunk didn’t make a huge amount of sense.

To the rest of y’all out there, look past the incident here and give a thought to the bigger picture (see reason 3).

To Mrs Zenner, condolences for the crap you’ve gotten from your former employer and now from a bunch of random anonymous people online. Congratulations on your new job with ripten.

To Mrs Zenner’s husband prayers from a humanist, for whatever its worth, congrats on your new job.

Pseudonym Krealle,
University of Portland
Video Game Media Watch - The Video Game Journalism Review » Zenner Speaks
on October 9, 2007 1:26 pm

[...] Kirk on the October 9th, 2007 In case you haven’t heard the story of Jessica Zenner yet, an interview is up with the former Nintendo employee at Ripten.com, providing her side of the [...]
Snipehunter
on October 9, 2007 9:28 pm

That’s something of a shame there - here is a person that many people in that culture (the gaming culture) wanted to support, but she’s essentially marginalizing them in her very first interview answer. As a result she marginalizes their thoughts of the real issues: Protected speech and the appalling acts of employee “ownership” that corporations such as Nintendo and many others commit all the time.

Her opinion is hers and I would never dream of faulting her for having one, but having worked in this industry for a very, very long time and having seen where it’s come from and where it’s going, I have to say that I find her conclusions totally unfounded. Gamers today just aren’t out there emulating or taking on the behaviors in the games they see…

At least, the primary market isn’t, perhaps with Nintendo’s noteable efforts to find new markets, they’ve exposed her to the questionable folks in the global culture who emulate all violent and distasteful media they see. Perhaps she’s lost sight of the fact that games don’t exist in a vacuum outside of other media - but rather are simply one small aspect of the constant bombardment of media we all experience, every day.

It’s a shame she had to make it sound like that’s a games only thing. Bad people behave badly, and yes they often do find their inspiration in what they see and hear, but there’s a lot more out there to see and hear than video games… things like.. blogs…
Jess
on October 10, 2007 12:04 am

@Snipehunter

I don’t really feel that way about all games. Lol, I was just trying to sound cliche in a suburban house wife sort of way. At the end of that statement, I said, “In all seriousness…”.

Anyway, I hope that you like the site, and continue to visit us here a Ripten. Take Care.

-Jess
Pseudonym Krealle
on October 10, 2007 5:21 am

I think she has a point. She’s not saying that we have guns and are going to go on killing sprees, necessarily. I do think gamers have taken on aspects from the games they play.
DragonKnight24
on October 10, 2007 10:08 pm

It’s a good thing that I know that she doesn’t seriously believe that the psychotic people shooting up schools and the like are doing so because of games, because I’m seriously tired of all the Jack Thomspon wannabe’s trying to push their own agendas or acting out their frustrations at their pathetic lives.

A video game doesn’t make a person a psychotic killer, it’s not even a catalyst. Said person already had issues. But a scapegoat is needed, and one needs to be found quickly. So why not pick on the least professionally accepted medium? Hollywood and the Music industries don’t consider gaming to be a serious form of media, yet when their’s a problem, it’s all gaming’s fault.

I really wish all these political/parental whiners would find a hobby and leave ours alone.
DragonKnight24
on October 10, 2007 10:09 pm

EDIT: I meant to say *there’s*.
LordCancer
on October 10, 2007 10:35 pm

Hey DragonKnight24

Check this interview out with senator leland yee, I thought it was an informative interview.

He acknowledges that games are not primary contributing factors to violence, but can contribute to already demented individuals.

I also like that he supports adult only games and was generally supportive of the industry but keeping the violent stuff out of kids
hands.

http://www.gamealmighty.com/story-individual/story/The_Anti_Gamer/
Pseudonym Krealle
on October 11, 2007 3:35 pm

I think you make a valid point dragonknight24, but that digresses from the topic of the article- this is more of an issue of freedom of expression outside of the workplace than it is about videogames.

My stance is that while a blog is a public medium, there should be freedom of expression in blogging to say what you want to say. And in NO circumstance should a person be fired about a personal issue such as the one in this situation without approaching the person first.

It sounds like Mrs Zenner is doing alright despite what happened to her, but that doesn’t change the issue of what happened to her at Nintendo because of her blog.
reni
on October 25, 2007 1:24 am

@jess

I think it is funny that you find it easy to lie to the world about how and why you were fired. You shouldn’t tell coworkers about your blog and not expect backlash. What you said was mean and hurtful. You deserved everything you got. You lack respect, ethics and integrity. Shame on you.
Pseudonym Krealle
on October 25, 2007 3:38 pm

I had one friend, whom I still consider a friend, and I am 100% positive that he/she didn’t leak it. To clear the air, I never logged on to my blog or checked my personal email at work. To be honest, I have no clue how they found my blog. When I asked how they found my blog, they responded with “that doesn’t matter”.

Doesn’t sound like she told many people.
DragonKnight24
on October 25, 2007 4:41 pm

@lordcancer: Nice interview. We need more people like this.

@pseudonymkrealle: Yes, I did digress of the overall page topic, but the comments had done so long ago so, I just went with the flow.
Whatever-ishere
on November 21, 2007 2:26 pm

thanks for the GREAT post! Very useful…
FATTUNEMPLOYEDCHIK
on November 21, 2008 2:13 pm

Whatever the case, there was no “justifiable reason” for firing MS Carr. The only way I could see them firing her if she stated what she just stated during this interview on her blog and I don’t see anyone being that stupid. lol. No Nintendo really needs to issue an apology on this one. Freedom of speech is dead even if the speech was never accusatory in the first place.

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