Jessica Chobot: Stepping Into Daylight by Polygon

She really doesn't have any writing credentials.

This is like having Kristen Stewart write a script for a movie. Sure it might be good but we don't have any reason to believe it will be.

As for bring up things from the past, welcome to the internet!

No one is born with credits. The company believes in her and is giving her a shot, why the outrage?
 
If you had people constantly questioning you and your gender's authenticity you would bring it up as well.
But listen to her in the video. Towards the end, she brings up the PSP thing again, saying it was seven years ago and asking if she hadn't done anything since then to prove that she's genuinely interested in the medium.

That's not the issue. If I was defending my legitimacy, I'd be asking if I hadn't done anything in the past seven years to prove that I have a valuable perspective on the medium, not a genuine interest in it.
 
No one has anything against a hot woman in the game industry. There are plenty of those. Just the untalented ones. If this was some idiot bloke deciding he wanted to write a game, i'd have the same attitude

Yup. I was aware of her existence from back in the IGN days, but didn't know anything about her to form an opinion either way. Recently saw her on Bonus Round with Bosman and Pachter and she didn't say a single interesting, insightful thing.
 
Good article but Polygon needs to cool it on the drama they add to articles. They mention her health was failing but that's it. What exactly was failing and did she recover?
 
I hate to say this, but not reading the the link in the OP just to be "the first" to post is no different then saying "First" on a comment section or forum. That fact people come in here and say "who?" with Google just one tab away is fucking annoying.
 
What's wrong with wanting to make a documentary about yourself? It's not for profit, no one is being forced to watch it, and they're not trying to say she's better or more important than anyone else. She's a figure in gaming and the industry, whether other people want to recognize and respect that or not.

And it's really naive to act like her being a woman is not an issue for some people.



You don't have to comment on something if you really don't have anything to say

I did have something to say though. I edited my post. I think the report is very well done. Just not sure if Jessica is really someone that needed a report to be done on.
 
tumblr_m1earnGZai1qjb971o1_500.gif
 
Please, someone in this thread who is defending her: explain to me why its not okay to complain about someone getting a job they are not qualified for?

That's nice that she came from a troubled childhood and overcame some things in her life, but to call someone with my opinion sexist cause "a female is coming up in the industry" is totally wrong when the reason she is coming up is sexist in nature.
 
gamasutra editor in chief:

@krisgraft: Sorry but that @Polygon piece doesn't profile @Jessica_Chobot's career in games, but her worth through the eyes of men.
 
No one is born with credits. The company believes in her and is giving her a shot, why the outrage?

Presumably she is replacing some other writer with experience and we have no reason to believe she is going to deliver a quality story.

The whole thing reeks of "well lets get someone popular to write our story".

If she delivers great but that doesn't mean I shouldn't keep a healthy dose a skepticism.
 
Please, someone in this thread who is defending her: explain to me why its not okay to complain about someone getting a job they are not qualified for?

How do you know she's not qualified? The people who hired her thought she was qualified. Take the issue up with them?
 
Chobot eh. Didn't she work for IGN and handle Mass Effect 3 previews and then show up in the game as a character replacing what was clearly supposed to be Emily Wong alongside a completely hyperbolic review?

I think the larger problem with her appearance in ME3 isn't that it's terrible, but that it's totally inappropriate for someone working at IGN to receive money for being in a game if IGN is going to review it. It's gross.

It was G4, not IGN. And there are many cases like this. Jim Rossignol (RPS) is a part of making Sir You Are Being Hunted. RPS has been doing previews of the game, and will probably do a review of it. Anthony Burch (former Destructoid) was the writer for Borderlands 2. Destructoid did a review of Borderlands 2. The only case where a website didn't do a review because a former colleague worked on the game was Giant Bomb with Bastion (Greg Kasavin), but they also promoted the development of that game from the start. I'm guessing they'll do a review of Transistor this time, since there isn't really a conflict of interest.

In 2011, Chobot was approached by friends at developer BioWare to appear in Mass Effect 3 as an optional character, a reporter named Diana Allers. In January 2012, Chobot would host preview coverage of the game for G4.

That Chobot would preview a game that she also appeared in struck many as a conflict of interest. Chobot disagrees.

"I did run it by management," Chobot says. "We agreed that I wasn't going to review or talk about the game. So I said, 'OK.' And that's what happened. I never did. I think it got misinterpreted because I was full time at IGN when I first got asked [to be in the game]."

Of her time at IGN and G4, Chobot says that she never saw herself as a journalist.

"I saw myself as a host. I think 'game journalist' is used very loosely in this business.


"BioWare never asked me for any favors in regards to any kind of additional or good reviews. I've never gotten contacted by them at all for any of the stuff. And, I wasn't even reviewing the game in the first place. I don't give game reviews. I've never given a game review."
 
She really doesn't have any writing credentials.

This is like having Kristen Stewart write a script for a movie. Sure it might be good but we don't have any reason to believe it will be.

As for bring up things from the past, welcome to the internet!

Yeah, like Video Games is leading the way in Story telling..*rolls eyes" There's people with credentials that have written some horrendous shit in this biz. Trust me, she'll do fine as a writer compared to the competition she's facing in this industry.
 
But listen to her in the video. Towards the end, she brings up the PSP thing again, saying it was seven years ago and asking if she hadn't done anything since then to prove that she's genuinely interested in the medium.

That's not the issue. If I was defending my legitimacy, I'd be asking if I hadn't done anything in the past seven years to prove that I have a valuable perspective on the medium, not a genuine interest in it.

She does have a valuable perspective, you should hear her talking about videogames.
 
Please, someone in this thread who is defending her: explain to me why its not okay to complain about someone getting a job they are not qualified for?

That's nice that she came from a troubled childhood and overcame some things in her life, but to call someone with my opinion sexist cause "a female is coming up in the industry" is totally wrong when the reason she is coming up is sexist in nature.

Who are you to say she's not qualified for the job she's been asked to do? Have you read and critiqued her writing? I haven't either, but you're making the assumption she's not qualified because of "reasons," whereas I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until I see something concrete.

You may also want to do some research on what sexism is.

Presumably she is replacing some other writer with experience and we have no reason to believe she is going to deliver a quality story.

The whole thing reeks of "well lets get someone popular to write our story".

If she delivers great but that doesn't mean I shouldn't keep a healthy dose a skepticism.

Why waste time and energy making baseless presumptions that "she took er jerbs"
 
How do you know she's not qualified? The people who hired her thought she was qualified. Take the issue up with them?

Because it says in the article she is not qualified.

Good luck to her though. In the immortal words of Principal Seymour Skinner "Prove me wrong, kids! Prove me wrong!"
 
That IGN Babes article from 05 though is hilarious and sad.

Oh man, I forgot that IGN used to have a "girls" section. Talk about embarrassing.

OT: why should I give a flying fuck if Jessica Chobot is writing a videogame? Let's be honest here: if she didn't have the notoriety from licking the PSP, Polygon (in their infinite editorial wisdom) wouldn't have a video about her. When the game gets released, if the writing is good, then sure, by all means, talk about her as a writer. In the meantime, all of this manufactured controversy is just for two purposes: marketing this game and marketing Polygon.
 
Please, someone in this thread who is defending her: explain to me why its not okay to complain about someone getting a job they are not qualified for?

That's nice that she came from a troubled childhood and overcame some things in her life, but to call someone with my opinion sexist cause "a female is coming up in the industry" is totally wrong when the reason she is coming up is sexist in nature.

How is she not qualified for it? It's a writing/acting gig. She has a Fine Arts degree.
 
Because it says in the article she is not qualified.

Good luck to her though. In the immortal words of Principal Seymour Skinner "Prove me wrong, kids! Prove me wrong!"

Where does it say she's not qualified for the job she was hired for? Go ahead, I'll wait.
 
Why waste time and energy making baseless presumptions that "she took er jerbs"


Why waste time and energy making baseless presumptions that she is going to write something of quality? Also, it's not a jobs argument, its a argument about the overall quality of writing.
 
Her licking a PSP did open the doors for her and no matter what that fact is going to follow her for some time to come, it will always be attributed with her. Can she prove her stuff? of course, if she has the talent she can go far but that all depends on her. Maybe she will shock people, maybe she'll be exactly what people think. Time will tell.

I still say her best part in Mass Effect 3 was in the easily missed content that a lot of people have never seen before.
 
I think it's fair for people to be skeptical of Jessica Chobot being chosen to write a game. She has no credibility in this arena. If it's good, fine. If not it might prove correct the suspicions of those who are skeptical. I think those people see her selection as writer as a way to gain publicity by associating with an attractive public figure, one with a history of exploiting sexual imagery, in the gaming scene.
 
I'm not surprised. It's like the first thing they mention in the video and then show some NeoGAF comments in the video.



I agree but why did she lick the Vita?

Because it's playing to the fact that she did it years ago, recognizing it's a thing. Pretending it didn't happen is stupid, it's funny. People make fun of the shit they did in the past all the time.

Why does she have to be so serious all the time to satisfy you?


Presumably she is replacing some other writer with experience and we have no reason to believe she is going to deliver a quality story.

The whole thing reeks of "well lets get someone popular to write our story".

If she delivers great but that doesn't mean I shouldn't keep a healthy dose a skepticism.

She didn't replace anyone, she was friends with the studio people. Read the article. It was something that just happened.

I am skeptical you even know what you're talking about.
 
Examples? Let's see some Jessica Chobot content that is insightful in the way we would expect from a well-considered piece by a Jeremy Parish or a Tom Bissell.

I said talking. I've listened to a lot of her podcast appearances, she is well informed and smarter than most people in this industry, have a look at her appearances on Girlfight.
 
I'll never forget her hijacking IGN's Nintendo podcast to talk about how Mass Effect 1 was the best game ever on their special Mario Galaxy launch podcast.

...funny how she later ended up in Mass Effect. One of the easily bought "journos" in the industry. Awful figure.
 
Between this thread and the Naughty Dog thread, you clearly have issues with women

A baseless assumption.

I said in the naughty dog thread that I would rather have developers focus on making good characters rather than add a appealing to a specific demographic.

To me it doesn't matter what race/gender a character is as long as it is a good character first, but hey it just easier to assume that I have women issues.
 
A baseless assumption.

I said in the naughty dog thread that I would rather have developers focus on making good characters rather than add a appealing to a specific demographic.

To me it doesn't matter what race/gender a character is as long as it is a good character first, but hey it just easier to assume that I have women issues.

To be honest, you're making it easy
 
Why waste time and energy making baseless presumptions that she is going to write something of quality? Also, it's not a jobs argument, its a argument about the overall quality of writing.

I'd argue that 99.9 percent of the time, a writer doesn't get replaced because the work they're doing is beyond reproach. A writer being replaced with new blood isn't a bad thing. Otherwise games, movies, TV would become a stagnant bore. Kinda like what mainstream gaming has turned into. The most interesting stories are now coming from indies, written by people that major studios probably never would have ever given a shot to write the narratives for their AAA games.
 
It was G4, not IGN. And there are many cases like this. Jim Rossignol (RPS) is a part of making Sir You Are Being Hunted. RPS has been doing previews of the game, and will probably do a review of it. Anthony Burch (former Destructoid) was the writer for Borderlands 2. Destructoid did a review of Borderlands 2. The only case where a website didn't do a review because a former colleague worked on the game was Giant Bomb with Bastion (Greg Kasavin), but they also promoted the development of that game from the start. I'm guessing they'll do a review of Transistor this time, since there isn't really a conflict of interest.

Oh, I don't think it's some horrible moral outrage. I just think it's gross and unprofessional.
 
Also I think people are thinking writing is a super hard thing to do. Not trying to downplay writers ( I'm 1 myself and have a degree), but having creative talent is more important imo. So I cant say that she isn't "qualified" if I havent seen any of her past works she has written( doesn't have to be published, but almost every writer has stuff they've written and keep around).
 
I can't believe people are so upset that she's writing a game. Not liking her television/web show personality is one thing, but to bash her just because she hasn't written a game before Daylight is so irrational. If anything, the evidence is in her favor since Zombie voted and picked her as the writer because they liked her ideas. I don't think using her on screen presentation has anything to do with her writing potential.
 
Top Bottom