In Mass Effect: Andromeda there are problems with the animations. A woman is said to be to blame. Bioware denies this.
A while ago, there was the “Gamergate” movement, which targeted “leftist” influences in gaming and an excessive “Political Correctness.” One of the accusations was that journalists were corrupted in their work by women with whom they had sexual relationships.
The implicit accusation: Incompetent women sleep their way to the top.
Now there are similarly sounding accusations regarding the RPG Mass Effect: Andromeda, which is about to launch. Since a 10-hour trial has been active, discussions have arisen about the strange animations. According to voices from the internet, a woman is said to be to blame. She was allegedly the Lead Facial Animator for ME: Andromeda, even though she was not qualified for the job at all. Bioware refutes the allegations.
Twitter is on fire
Users on Twitter have singled out a former EA employee, Allie Rose-Marie Leost.
People accused her of being responsible for the poor facial animations in Mass Effect: Andromeda. Leost was allegedly the “Lead Facial Animator” of Mass Effect: Andromeda. This supposedly came from her Twitter profile, which has since been changed. The tweet also showed her resume on the business site Linkedin.
These accusations emerged on Twitter but gained momentum when they were picked up by blogger Ethan Ralph on his site “The Ralph Retort” in a column dated March 18. Ralph is associated with Gamergate but is also a controversial figure within the movement.
The article is titled “A Cosplayer with No Video Game Experience Became the Lead Facial Animator at Mass Effect: Andromeda.”
The article is quite harsh and suggests: Leost might have slept her way to the top.
It also refers to this tweet.
This seemingly sparked a campaign on “social media” against Leost, as reported by the US site Polygon.
This campaign reached such an extent that even the developer got involved.
Bioware responded to the accusation with its own tweet, in which Bioware’s GM, Aaryn Flynn, stated: This is false. A “former EA employee” was incorrectly identified as one of the leading figures of the Mass Effect: Andromeda team. The targeting and attacking of individual team members is unacceptable.
Targeting individuals and attacking them is really not okay
Mein MMO says: There are some contradictions in the story. Leost’s resume states she is still with EA. Bioware says she is “Former EA Employee.” Although there might not be any malicious intent behind it: People forget to keep their profiles updated. That happens.
One can imagine what kind of comments Leost has faced on social media in recent days.
One can only agree with Bioware: It is really not okay to single people out and attack them. It makes their lives hell. No one deserves that.
Even if Leost was indeed responsible for the animations – and Bioware says “She was not”: A game like Mass Effect: Andromeda is a huge product, worked on by hundreds of people. Even if some make mistakes, it is everyone’s responsibility to recognize and fix them.
More about the facial animations is available here:
Mass Effect Andromeda: Pancake Face – Internet trolls Bioware
