Let’s be clear.  ArenaNet didn’t “fold like a cheap card table“, she wasn’t “thrown to the wolves”,  and she most certainly is not a victim.  Mike O’Brien, president of Arenanet, most certainly did not fail to lead.  As has been pointed out, Derior’s comment did not exist in a vacuum, and most certainly neither did that of Jessica Price she he let loose an unjustified toxic tirade on the general public.  Ms. Price is not a victim, she wasn’t threatened by Derior and like it or this is not in the same arena as when female developers such as Brianna Wu who really was a victim.  Attempting to portray this in the same manner cheapens those female developers who really have been victims.

 

Speaking as a female business professional and a professional project manager of more than 20 years the simple fact of life is that the business world is a stressful place.   Has Ms. Price had her talents called into question more than once?  Welcome to the club.  Many is the time I have left world with so much stress I felt like quitting.  No matter how much stress the client may cause, and make no mistake, people like Derior are the client here,  you can’t hurl toxic epithets at the general public and expect to remain employed for long.  You can say what you want to an empathetic friend, you can discuss the matter with a supervisor.  But in the end when you start to call the general public “rando asshats” and express relief at the death of a critic like TotalBiscuit, you can’t expect there to be no repercussions.  Being a woman in the business world does not, by any means excuse the behavior.   If an apology is due, it should come from Ms. Price.  Doing so may have gone a long way.

The long and the short of it is this.  I have been in the same exact situation as Ms. Price. I over reacted.  I said something I shouldn’t have.  I apologized publicly and admitted my fault.  In the end perhaps this is why I am still with the same employer and Ms. Price is not.