I have no problems with Hepler's initial comments on skipping gameplay, her response after being attacked, or her writing skills. It's the internet; people attack people all the time. You can't expect to walk into crime alley and not get mugged/murder/assaulted/etc. I don't condone what was said on either side but, it's all part of being cloaked with online anonymity. Again, you can't expect to walk in to crime alley and get sunshine and butterflies--on both ends.

What I have a problem with is, these articles of labeling gamers to associate with false misinterpretations of "gamer entitlements" meaning "the idea that gamers have the right to do and say without suffering the consequences of their actions" and the false believes and insults of gamers being "basement dwelling, antisocial nerds!". Truthfully, to be quite honest, I wouldn't even call it "gamer" entitlements. It's more an accurate term to call it "consumer entitlements". We don't call it "Shopper entitlements" nor "Driver entitlements". In all three cases, we are all consumers, so why label it "gamer entitlements" then go on and insult gamers of being anti-social and whatnot.

As consumers, we are entitled with consumer entitlements, if you will, with the right to: criticize, comment, and reject if the product that we pay for isn't what is promised, viewed as a missed opportunity, or for any other matters. No one, including Bioware, is entitled to harass/humiliate/discriminate against anyone. This isn't consumer entitlements or developer entitlements. To harass/humiliate/discriminate should be accurately classified for what it is: immaturity, idiocy, moronic, insecurity, etc. These so called gamers, which I've just classified into a different category, who attacked Hepler do not represent the gaming community or gamers as a whole, but recent articles have classified us as one, and then proceeded to insult us further to typical stereotyping.

This event should have been downplayed, ignored, and basically forgotten. It should not have been expanded to this size of magnitude. Now we have both sides on this argument, on all fronts, from gamers to developers to the media insulting each other--including stereotyping, false accusations/misinterpretations, and even slander. The situation of this argument is downright ironic. Neither side has presented a winning argument or an argument that has passed the childish level of "name-calling".

Ref: "The Dangers of Gamer Entitlement"-Gamespot

"Inclusion: What Jennifer Hepler's Story is All About" -theMarysue

Ladies and gentleman, thank you for your time today. Thank you for having me as your speaker. The gaming industry, as you know, has rose from small starting points as basement creations to a multi-billion dollar industry. Gone are the days when we stood beside adult film booths, trying to earn and pave our way to a better future of respect. As a fan, making me a part of this industry, I come to offer a warning and a sense of urgency. As I look back at humble beginnings and the future of yet to come, it has become clear to me that the current gaming industry has hit a crisis and it needs to be addressed.

Back in the late 1994, a little grey box was released that became one of the most sold consoles in the history of this industry. Three years later the release of FFVII shook us to our core as this game provided one of the most must play, must have, and must buy experiences ever created. But, let us back up and see the flip side of this because many of my audience today did not feel what we had felt. I am specifically addressing my PC developer crowd. While Diablo was a new standard in 1997, console devs took FFVII as its standard. We had separation and never convergence. Consoles had no bearings on the PC market and the PC had no bearings on the console market. Ladies and gentleman—however we stand here today, not separated, but converged and married.

I started my gaming career as a console gamer first and foremost. My first system was the original NES system. I loved TMNT. I still remember the game fondly. As the time changed, Super Mario Brothers came and went with the new introduction of Super Street Fighter II. Nintendo's future never looked so bright. Then came the others, then came controversy, then came more success. Consoles are my love, my passion. They were here, to stay.

Consoles had had my heart, but PC's had my attention. Stealing time from my SNES was a PC game that drained me hourly after school called Warcraft II Tides of Darkness. I've never beaten the campaign. Never did, never will. I sat there—not looking for a storyline, great voice-acting, plot, animations, great graphics, or any of today's new mumbo jumbo of what makes games great but I sat there creating my own universe with Warcraft II's dynamic "Custom Map Editor". It was cool, engaging most important, it was fun. Flash-forward to 2001, my father purchased a brand new PC for me. Windows XP was still fairly new and I still remember the headache of "activation" with no internet. The "internet" as my father put it, "corrupts the minds of people." Yet with no corruption to add to the PC Game of the Year, I still found many of my days leeched by this new favorite game: Ghost Recon. It was hardcore, unforgiving, yet customizable and again fun. It never held my hand or gave a damn that I've never played a shooter game before. There were no life packs, regenerative health, or asked me to follow an NPC.

As technology advanced and consoles grew, as my Sony brother's put it, we had reached "Toy Story" graphics. The lines of consoles and PC's were starting to blur. Ports had happen before, but not quite like this. We started seeing the Halo's, the GTA's, the Half life's, and even Ghost Recon move and shift between PC and consoles. This was the dawn of our convergence, the start of our new crisis that we have hit today in 2011.

With the introduction of the PS3 and Xbox 360, the lines were crossed and the marriage complicated. Gone are the days where consoles had no bearings on the PC market and the PC had no bearings on the console market. It has become one and the same. This convergence has brought our innovation into a standstill and the faithful fans into a frenzy of frustration. I would like to address both crowds today: the console developers and the PC developers. I did not come here today to insult, bruise, tarnish, or question the reputation of our developers but instead to offer a suggestion of thought for you to ponder.

To the Console developers, it is time to WAKE UP and smell the air of today. Today is not yesterday's success. Today you stand with more competition that you have ever been in. Today you fight for your fans and your right to keep doing what you born to do: create console games. Today, you cannot claim small maps and how its "hard" to develop buildings, structures, and adding more characters on screen than you can imagine. You cannot sit back and re-release old games nor depend on past successful games to make quick money or else file bankruptcy. Your counter-part, your competition has done it, played it, sold it, and continues refining it. The games of yesteryear have gone and past, that success has come and gone. I see our current devs looking around, not knowing what to do next. Has console developers become so scared to do create something new that they take a wait-n-see approach on what PC developers will do next then copy? Where has the innovation gone? Where has the sense of dignity and pride disappeared to? Who knows more about consoles than console developers—PC developers? It is time to for console developers to rise again and stop toying with your fan base by releasing nothing new—it's disrespectful. Where art thou Capcom, Square-Enix, and Konami? Where are your teams? This list goes on even to the NA console devs. It is time to WAKE UP and meet and exceed today's standards or get left behind as yesterday's success. Tell me console developers, have you really abandoned your fan base?

To the PC developers, it is time to STOP PRETENDING . Please stop acting as if you know what "console gamers" want. You don't. Stop with the babying and caressing of console gamers and put yourselves back on track to what you do best: creating PC games. Your "simplifying" of your games to supposedly meet console gamers' needs are insulting. You question the console gamers' intelligence, and then you give PC gamers a game fitted for five-year-old. Even kids don't like to be treated like kids. To add more damage to the insult, you take away PC gamers most valuable assets. Are you really saying that games from 1995 and 2001 could do what your games of 2011 cannot? PC devs, taking away mod support, taking away dedicated servers, and replacing them with DLC and oversimplification is just the same as you giving your fans the middle-finger. As PC games matured from one game to the next, its games advance forward in leaps and not steps. Yet in 2011 your games takes steps and re-releases in full price. Ask a console gamer what an expansion pack is and my exaggerated number would be that 95% of them wouldn't be able to tell you. Ask a PC gamer and 99% would answer your question with their own question, why are we paying full price for an expansion pack? You alienate your own fans by looking the other way as if you didn't hear the question. Stop insulting your fan base and you will find that success is easier to come by than being ignorant.

All is not yet lost however, far from it. The gaming market has not yet reached an age that calls for "it needs bailout". Recently John Carmack has been quoted that he was relatively disappointed and regretted that this generation he had focus on the consoles as a lead platform. As one of the most important voices of the PC developers, I hope his statements send echoes to many others. As with one other important figure that bashed the consoles, to you Mr. Newell, you sir are also one of the leading minds in the PC arena, as like with Carmack, you too must lead the PC devs back into the promise land of doing what you do best: develop for the PC first and foremost, then port your game over as a secondary. As far as the console devs are concerned, Naughty Dog is the current leader in innovation and setting the best example. ND has already done what so many others could not—proving that console developers do indeed understand the consoles best. Other's only need to look and understand that it is possible and that they do not need to rely on past success to carry them into the future but that new success can be found by taking a chance and that even with more competition, as console devs you have the advantage of creating for a closed system and with the knowledge of your knowing fan base very well.

This industry use to have a standard of honesty, loyalty, and most definitely integrity. Has it really come down to just the money? What happens when the cows stop giving milk? What happens when the last drop has been drank? Where do you turn to? You've hidden away, lost your innovation, abandoned those who support you, insulted your fan base, and now had your cake and ate it too. What will you do? Blame the used market? Please. Blame piracy? Please. For all that has happened and all that is now, we still have a future that is yet to come. However, I warn you and urge you to go back to your roots and respect and innovate for your respective fans or this industry, our industry including the PC and console crowds, will find that in the upcoming years, this market will falter and stall. If you have not listened or cared for any words that I have said, at least leave with this last statement, that when you pick against the fans, "YOU WILL LOSE". Thank you for your time.