The fate of Alexis Kennedy's contribution to DA4

What witch hunt? Condemning him to what? Kennedy is doing pretty well for himself. He has his own company, his wife is eager to defend him, and in fact he was the first person in this whole debacle to threaten legal action. The worst that can happen to him at the moment is that he won't make as much money as he would have otherwise, and that's a small price to pay for the safety of those who might associate with him, and those like him.

What do you think an "investigation" would even involve, if not asking people who've worked with him to provide witness reports? Said people have already spoken, but you assume they're liars until proven innocent. It is par for the course for employers to ask for references from former coworkers, and take them into account in the hiring process. Multiple former coworkers reporting abusive and predatory behavior would be more than enough reason to refuse to collaborate with someone.

We are all endowed with certain unalienable rights. Again, Kennedy has the right to due process before he faces any legal repercussions, and everyone else has freedom of association e.g. the freedom not to associate with him. And when multiple individuals who have worked with him confirm the initial complaints, there are only two options: they're either telling the truth, or there is a sinister conspiracy to bring him down. I would question anyone's reason to jump to the latter conclusion.

It's fine colfoley Anyway, I've made a new thread for the discussion: bsn.boards.net/thread/17887/fate-alexis-kennedys-contribution-da4

It was supposedly something “death focused” or something? My theory has been that he was working on something concerning the Mortalitasi or the Kal Sharok dwarves, probably a minor quest. Nothing connected to the main plot.

They contracted with AK though, not Failbetter so I do think he was working on something for Joplin.

Will do, but I'm flying today so I can do it tonight (unless SofaJockey or mousestalker is around before then)

Yep, got them...

Or perhaps they contacted Failbetter, but this was never announced... did Failbetter announce before that they were working on anything DA-related when they were hired to create The Last Court?

Anyway - my bet would be on something from Kal-Sharok. Or perhaps Tevene Wardens? "Goth" also brings to mind Tevinter nobility.

I think the reason people view art (especially writing) a little differently is because it comes with a point of view. If you buy, say, packing peanuts from a questionable person, you can be fairly confident that the packing peanuts aren’t going to carry any weird underlying messages.

While it’s not always true that art is tainted by the artist, it’s usually pretty clear that some of their personal worldview informed their art. For example, people who avoid Orson Scott Card’s work don’t just avoid it because of his personal views, they avoid it because those views deeply inform how he frames problems in his fiction. He sets up scenarios where his worldview would be vindicated. And most people tend to write that way.

I think when people say “separate the art from the artist”, they’re often imagining this theoretical ideal where the art doesn’t have a bunch of the artist’s fingerprints on it. While that’s possible, in practice it doesn’t happen that often. Hearing of an artist’s misconduct can often highlight stuff in their art that’s a little yikes, which prompts people to reconsider whether they want to consume/promote that message.

It's worth drawing a distinction between Kennedy and Failbetter, he hasn't been working there and I get the impression that they didn't part on amazing terms. They also immediately endorsed the women coming forward, most of which have taken the time to endorse Failbetter.

I've followed him on Twitter for a while, lukewarm on Cultist Simulator but this current library game seems interesting. This really pulled the rug out from under me since I follow a bunch of the people (Meg Jayanth, whose work I loved on 80 Days, Failbetter for Sunless Skies and Kennedy for Sunless Sea/Fallen London/Cultist Sim/Library game plus also a lot of people who chipped in with "Yeah, I've heard rumors about that guy for a while" like the DA devs, Jon Ingold, Josh Sawyer, Dave Gilbert etc).

From what I can tell it started with Meg Jayanth calling Alexis out, she referenced an anonymous account that called out a bunch of game dev men but said the account was gone later. From there Olivia Wood, who worked at Failbetter, talked about how she and Kennedy dated, he broke up with her via text that said (I'd link all these but I'm lazy also Jayanth's account has a little lock next to it which I thiiink means it's protected?) he was sleeping with a different underling and from that point on that he treated her shitty at work. I dunno for sure but I think this might possibly be Lottie Bevan, with who he is still with and running Weather Factory. Emily Short also added that he had made some unprofessional/inappropriate comments towards her and made her feel uncomfortable and she wouldn't be surprised if the stories were true because of that. There was also someone who said Alexis fired her before she officially started working at FB (I think, could've been Weather Factory) which is really neither here nor there and I have no idea why it was included in the discussion but w/e. Surrounding all this are the more concerning rumors that this behavior forms a broader pattern and that he threatens the careers of women who might come forward with these stories so they stay quiet but, beyond Olivia's story which is obviously sufficient in and of itself to show problematic behavior, I haven't seen any other explicit accounts though I haven't gone into this as exhaustively as this post might suggest. Although, I should say the first thing he did is threaten Jayanth with the police/legal action which may or may not be noteworthy.

It's been interesting to see how Kennedy's story contrasts with what Quinn and Lawhead came forward with, in his case the problem very much seems to be the power differential between Kennedy who is a huge name in the indie dev world and the women he chooses to be romantically involved with and not outright, blatant sexual harassment/assault. I haven't seen anyone say "And then Kennedy said he would ruin my career if I told anyone he was an enormous asshole" but I have seen people say that they were afraid that would be the outcome. That kind of implicit power can definitely be consciously implied but it can also be presumed. I read a tweet that said 'Maybe don't date your underlings' and another one that said 'Don't be horny at work' which both offer excellent advice but also getting into a consensual relationship requires two parties, obviously the primary onus is on the authority figure but since I haven't read (yet?) anyone saying that Kennedy treated them like shit/destroyed their career for turning him down it's hard to say how much weight can reasonably be given to the fear of implicit power/influence when it comes to the consensual decision making of two fully functional adults. It's one thing to say 'I felt compelled to date my boss because he said/heavily implied he would fire me and make sure no one hired me in this tiny indy dev field if I said no' and a different thing to say 'I was in a consensual relationship with my boss for years, he turned out to be an awful person and afterwards, despite him not saying anything, I felt like I couldn't tell anyone or there would be undefined reprisal.' How big is the difference? I dunno, wouldn't mind hearing some thoughts on it tbh.

But aaaanyyywayyy. Whatever Kennedy worked on for DA4 is 100% trashed. 100%. Patrick was in Jayanth's tweets and I'm pretty sure I saw Karen there too. Hopefully whatever he was working on something comparatively isolated so the devs don't feel the need to scrap something interesting because Kennedy's work bordered on/elaborated on it.

According to Olivia Wood's twitter thread his treatment of her after he broke up with her looked like downright mobbing, plus she feared retaliation if she said anything. I've read on Jayanth's account, before it got protected, that she was in contact with other women who were scared into silence and that Failbetter folks actually protected her and some other women from Kennedy's professional retaliation. That would explain that they were quick to side with victims and publicly denounce Kennedy.
He and Failbetter (when he still worked there) were recognized for their Fallen London and Sunless Skies games, which have something of a cult following among indie games and why Kennedy was considered something of a big fish in these circles. They're pretty acclaimed for their storytelling and quality of writing, which is probably why both FB and Kennedy seemed kinda close and why Failbetter created the Last Court for them. It also makes me wonder whether FB may create something for Bioware in the future or whether perhaps they were given an opportunity to work on what Kennedy work for DA. It would make sense, IF the stuff AK worked on has survived in some form and Bioware styill wanted to include something with their  style of storytelling and mood.

p.s: about AK comment about contacting his lawyers- it is what every sane person should do when publicly being accused of something that serious. I don't believe it should be seen as a threat to someone.

I think they should use whatever AK decided to create if they feel it is on par with the quality that they want.

If whatever AK created offends you on a personal level, then get a real life and grow tougher skin, sorry but that is the reality of it. That said, I doubt bioware would use anything that is so deeply offensive anyhow, unless it is for an element of choice somewhere in the game. Even more so, you will never be certain if what you see, read or hear is by AK or not... so stop thinking about it, lol. Bioware can claim they burned it all to the ground, and they could still lie to you.

I am also so tired of all these #metoo episodes. There is also one in the anime scene where all the stories about the accused individual has been contradicted time and time again. It is a strong reminder that numbers does not equal truth. Just because there are few five people, and just because these few five people claim there is hundreds more, does not make it true... at all... remember that... always remember that.

Anyway, I do not necessarily agree with the notion of seperating the artist from the art. If I disagree with the conduct of a specific individual or corporation, then I will not support that individual or corporation directly. But blaming and punishing a corporation or business for the acts of an individual is too harsh even for me (Well, unless the corp or business has clearly endorsed said individual by remaining silent despite being in a position of shutting said individual up, or directly endorsing whatever the individual said.)