@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.

Doesn’t sound like she told many people.

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.

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.

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/

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.

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

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…

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

@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.

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.

@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.

“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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

>> 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!

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.