Jessica Chobot: Stepping Into Daylight by Polygon

Why do people hate her? She got the job because she's hot, but she held it because she worked for it. If she was as bad as people think she wouldn't have been around this long.
 
mkenyon said:
GAF, do I have this right?

A typical directionless person gets involved in a shitty marriage, has half assed attempts to do something with her life, and then things get murky and she starts playing WoW all of the time, while living in a basement.

She then licks a PSP, gets interviewed by a virgin at E3 saying she is the holy grail of women, and has a career launched because she's attractive.

She continued to work at IGN, clearly not as a result of writing or even hosting abilities, but because she was halfway attractive and knowledgeable about games. But, she's also likable and might have some decent ideas in her head to work at game studios due to connections she's made during her stay at IGN. Good on her for that.

Then this piece gets created to write a sob story to rack up sales of the game she is working on, and people have the gall to be offended at people calling her out? What the fuck.

She exploits her sex appeal to get into the games industry. They then exploit the guilt and ill placed morals of white knighters to drum up game sales. GAF people calling her out isn't offensive, this article is.

*edit for grammar*
Click to expand...

DAMN, the smackdown. Bolded for super turning point.
 
mkenyon said:
GAF, do I have this right?

A typical directionless person gets involved in a shitty marriage, has half assed attempts to do something with her life, and then things get murky and she starts playing WoW all of the time, while living in a basement.

She then licks a PSP, gets interviewed by a virgin at E3 saying she is the holy grail of women, and has a career launched because she's attractive.

She continued to work at IGN, clearly not as a result of writing or even hosting abilities, but because she was halfway attractive and knowledgeable about games. But, she's also likable and might have some decent ideas in her head to work at game studios due to connections she's made during her stay at IGN. Good on her for that.

Then this piece gets created to write a sob story to rack up sales of the game she is working on, and people have the gall to be offended at people calling her out? What the fuck.

She exploits her sex appeal to get into the games industry. They then exploit the guilt and ill placed morals of white knighters to drum up game sales. GAF people calling her out isn't offensive, this article is.

*edit for grammar*
Click to expand...

heh
 
It's like the true Hater's Ball in this topic.

Congrats to her though and hopefully the game comes out great. We need more survival horror games tbh
 
I feel there's alot of jealousy and insecurity going on in this thread. Instead of being happy for somebody, we get posters saying, " She only got here using her sex appeal", and "why doesnt somebody more qualified have the job". First off, she may have licked a psp years and years ago, but she took that opportunity and made it into something. She didnt fade into oblivion. So I respect her for that.

Also people seem to think that being a trained writer somehow imbues you with secret sauce to make you a better writer. Hate to break it to you, but a freshman writing major in college, can be just as or even more creative than a graduate student. They don't teach you interesting ideas in school. Its mainly alot of feedback and reading alot of other work. I know, I have a degree. So if she has natural talent or an interesting story to tell, why would I disregard all of that just because she doesnt have a piece of paper.

Peopl also need to get over the fact that networking gets people places. its just the way it is. Its about who you know. Get over it
 
I'm not going to write the game off or assume anything at all about her or her ability. Some of that stuff is overly hostile, but there are a couple of fair points sitting at the base of it.

She definitely exploited her sex appeal, and that's typically frowned upon in any context where your attractiveness shouldn't be relevant. It strongly insinuates a lack of legitimacy.

People asking what her credentials are to be writing this are asking a very fair question. Hopefully she'll do great, and the video showed that she at least had a genuine interest in doing it.

I just think it's a bit silly to take advantage of your sex appeal that much to get ahead and then turn around and demand that people don't consider it.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if not being a game writer helped in some way. Best of luck to her.

Although, it isn't exactly cynical to say she got the gig because of her connects, that's probably exactly what happened.
 
toastyToast said:
I wouldn't be surprised if not being a game writer helped in some way. Best of luck to her.

Although, it isn't exactly cynical to say she got the gig because of her connects, that's probably exactly what happened.
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well she did, but people act like thats a bad thing. Thats why colleges stress networking so much.
 
Used to hate on her like most gamers back in the day but shes stuck around which has to count for something. The PSP licking which turned into a job back in the day did rub a lot of us the wrong way but you know what she honestly did a great job hosting ign videos. Maybe she wasn't the best writer as I really didn't dig her articles but they weren't poorly written just the content was usually something I didn't care about.

If the haters need a bright side it's that if her game sucks you'll never have to hear from her again and if its good then we all get a good game to play.
 
I don't want to sound like a dick, but I think it is her looks that allowed her to even be a part of this industry for this long. She has shown us nothing of talent or contribution to the industry.
 
mkenyon said:
GAF, do I have this right?

A typical directionless person gets involved in a shitty marriage, has half assed attempts to do something with her life, and then things get murky and she starts playing WoW all of the time, while living in a basement.

She then licks a PSP, gets interviewed by a virgin at E3 saying she is the holy grail of women, and has a career launched because she's attractive.

She continued to work at IGN, clearly not as a result of writing or even hosting abilities, but because she was halfway attractive and knowledgeable about games. But, she's also likable and might have some decent ideas in her head to work at game studios due to connections she's made during her stay at IGN. Good on her for that.

Then this piece gets created to write a sob story to rack up sales of the game she is working on, and people have the gall to be offended at people calling her out? What the fuck.

She exploits her sex appeal to get into the games industry. They then exploit the guilt and ill placed morals of white knighters to drum up game sales. GAF people calling her out isn't offensive, this article is.

*edit for grammar*
Click to expand...
Nyoro SF said:
DAMN, the smackdown. Bolded for super turning point.
Click to expand...

Obscene Jester said:
I don't want to sound like a dick, but I think it is her looks that allowed her to even be a part of this industry for this long. She has shown us nothing of talent or contribution to the industry.
Click to expand...
Whole lot of unpacked assumptions and cultural misogyny in these posts
 
Fancy Corndog said:
I'm not going to write the game off or assume anything at all about her or her ability. Some of that stuff is overly hostile, but there are a couple of fair points sitting at the base of it.

She definitely exploited her sex appeal, and that's typically frowned upon in any context where your attractiveness shouldn't be relevant. It strongly insinuates a lack of legitimacy.

People asking what her credentials are to be writing this are asking a very fair question. Hopefully she'll do great, and the video showed that she at least had a genuine interest in doing it.

I just think it's a bit silly to take advantage of your sex appeal that much to get ahead and then turn around and demand that people don't consider it.
Click to expand...

This is a perfect medium. Not to vile. Not to white-knighty. It's alright to question her talent after a questionable history. We do that all the time with game companies and developers.

Sometimes we are surprised, sometimes we aren't! No reason to wish a swift death, but surely no reason to back down when it comes to looking at things as a whole. The latter doesn't make you automatically sexist.
 
Video games have a bunch of sexy female protagonists and some gamers are incredibly hostile to the thought that female characters shouldn't have to be sexy but a real life sexy woman gets a job writing a game? She "exploited" her sex appeal. Shit's hilarious.
 
Pau said:
Video games have a bunch of sexy female protagonists and some gamers are incredibly hostile to the thought that female characters shouldn't have to be sexy but a real life sexy woman gets a job writing a game? She "exploited" her sex appeal. Shit's hilarious.
Click to expand...

You'd have to be under the assumption that people enjoy the sexy female protags and carry a double standard, which is probably right in some cases, but not enough to call for a vast generalization.
 
Lol at needing credentials to write fiction.
 
TheSpoiler said:
You'd have to be under the assumption that people enjoy the sexy female protags and carry a double standard, which is probably right in some cases, but not enough to call for a vast generalization.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying all gamers or even most are like that. Just funny that people in this thread are even salty about it.
 
TAJ said:
Lol at needing credentials to write fiction.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the world of jobs, where you have to have a stunning resume and know just the right people! Being hired on means that, in a sense, you probably need to have some experience in the field.

Or you can just get lucky/already be decent and skip past that part. I'm sure most of us wish we could jump the line, as it were, but it's not like I don't respect those people.

Pau said:
I'm not saying all gamers or even most are like that. Just funny that people in this thread are even salty about it.
Click to expand...

Honestly, it's no less funny than the people licking their lips and typing out rebuttals with the words "sexist" in them. Not saying you are part of that group, mind you, it's just silly how both sides need to get reactionary when we can discuss this civilly. Too bad the calmer chatter will be ignored.
 
Why the fuck does her licking a psp even factor into any discussion? Exactly how is it relevant to whether or not she can write a game or not? These people, who all they do is scrutinize someone, for things that don't hurt anyone just drive me crazy. She licked a psp, so what?

And whether or not she has the talent to write a game we wont know until the game is out. Do all start up video game writers receive this much vitriol?
 
TheSpoiler said:
Welcome to the world of jobs, where you have to have a stunning resume and know just the right people! Being hired on means that, in a sense, you probably need to have some experience in the field.

Or you can just get lucky/already be decent and skip past that part. I'm sure most of us wish we could jump the line, as it were, but it's not like I don't respect those people.
Click to expand...

"Sorry, amazing pitch/screenplay/novel/whatever, but you didn't study English at the right college."
GTFO
You people are ridiculous.
 
charsace said:
Why do people hate her? She got the job because she's hot, but she held it because she worked for it. If she was as bad as people think she wouldn't have been around this long.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's simultaneously possible for her to have earned the job through a looks advantage but also earn her keep through hard work.

She also has people forcing on her the expectations of her playing the hot one and effectively type casting her.

She's had plenty of time for all of her rites of passage. Let her work on the game speak for itself at this point.
 
TAJ said:
"Sorry, amazing pitch/novel/whatever, but you didn't study English at the right college."
GTFO
You people are ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Hyperbole! I never said it was about going to the right college or getting a degree, even though those things do factor into a job. I'm talking about writing experience, and in the job market, those with the better experience get the job in some situations.

In others, it comes down to experience in different genres, who you know, etc. The variables are all there, and some help in areas more than others.

I'd love to believe we live in a world where the first things I said don't matter, but they do, and they matter far more than they should. I'm not dissing Chobot. Quite the opposite, really, but it doesn't take much for that knee to jerk.
 
CraftySkills said:
Why the fuck does her licking a psp even factor into any discussion? Exactly how is it relevant to whether or not she can write a game or not? These people, who all they do is scrutinize someone, for things that don't hurt anyone just drive me crazy. She licked a psp, so what?

And whether or not she has the talent to write a game we wont know until the game is out. Do all start up video game writers receive this much vitriol?
Click to expand...

Did you read the article? It's mostly about how she got into the industry, and explains that she sent that photo of her licking a PSP to websites in the hope of getting attention, which worked, and lead to where she is today.

That's probably why people are talking about it.
 
She definitely doesn't need any credentials or anything to be a writer, so good luck to her on making a dream project and congrats.

That being said, what if there were a bunch of other really awesome submissions by passionate story-oriented gamers who don't have any pull in the media? It'd be quite a bit demoralizing to know that you were beaten out by a media personality from IGN who also happened to play a character in Mass Effect 3. I'd like to see more devs giving talented up-and-comers a shot at writing in videogames, that's just my opinion though. I'm aware that Zombie apparently liked her treatment the best of course.

...I wish Capcom would give me a shot at writing Resident Evil...
 
Threads about women on the gaming side are BAFFLING! They seem to either cater to undue concern or extreme vitriol.
 
To put it frankly...

Have you sat in a room and spoken with her? Do you know her personally?
No?
Then shut the hell up, because you don't know a damn thing.

You can pull the internet sherlock and try to explain to yourself who she is, how she got to where she is, and how she's been able to stay there... but in reality, you don't know.

Congrats to her and the success she's earned. Sometimes you strike gold with a bit of luck. Best wishes to her and her family.
 
Vibranium said:
She definitely doesn't need any credentials or anything to be a writer, so good luck to her on making a dream project and congrats.

That being said, what if there were a bunch of other really awesome submissions by passionate story-oriented gamers who don't have any pull in the media? It'd be quite a bit demoralizing to know that you were beaten out by a media personality from IGN who also happened to play a character in Mass Effect 3. I'd like to see more devs giving talented up-and-comers a shot at writing in videogames, that's just my opinion though. I'm aware that Zombie apparently liked her treatment the best of course.

...wish Capcom would give me a shot at writing Resident Evil...
Click to expand...

I've watched a friend of mine send his stories out to different places, some indie, some bigger named companies. All of them turned him down. His shit is beautiful.

On the other hand, I have another friend who knows a bunch of people in the industry, and his stuff is of the same quality. He didn't get rejected. In fact, he's doing well for himself.

It's not that the second person is at fault. The industry, and the job process in general, is messed up and it's a weird place anywhere you go. I do wish, that with the advent (or cresting) of Kickstarter, maybe more devs can hire those writers.
 
i liked Chobot after her stint on G4's Feedback. She was really down to earth and honest. Turns out her famous last name is from her ex-husband.
 
dmg04 said:
You can pull the internet sherlock and try to explain to yourself who she is, how she got to where she is, and how she's been able to stay there... but in reality, you don't know.
Click to expand...

Or you could just actually read the Polygon article linked in the OP, which does explain how she got where she is. Holy shit people.
 
TheSpoiler said:
I've watched a friend of mine send his stories out to different places, some indie, some bigger named companies. All of them turned him down. His shit is beautiful.

On the other hand, I have another friend who knows a bunch of people in the industry, and his stuff is of the same quality. He didn't get rejected. In fact, he's doing well for himself.

It's not that the second person is at fault. The industry, and the job process in general, is messed up and it's a weird place anywhere you go. I do wish, that with the advent (or cresting) of Kickstarter, maybe more devs can hire those writers.
Click to expand...

At the moment I'm going into the tech field through school so I know as well as anyone that networking is everything in this business; it's a good thing in that you get to meet all kinds of cool people and bad that you can get shut out for the stupidest reasons you outlined above. I feel really bad for your buddy, that sucks ass.

If an indie dev ran a campaign for fan story pitches that had the restriction of being outside the games industry (but obviously very devoted to the medium) they'd totally have my respect.
 
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