Destiny 2 sometimes gives players an official behind-the-scenes look at Bungie. Employees share their results or report on game development. Last week, however, there was a glimpse of a different kind when an ex-Bungie employee took to Twitter to publicly express her disappointment at the layoff.
Which employee is it? The former Bungie employee is Elisabeth Pring. She was employed by Bungie as a “Test Associate” and was also quite active in the Destiny community on Twitter.
She caused Bungie to trend on Twitter with nearly 9,000 likes when she publicly protested her dismissal and former Bungie employees via her account.
Today is my last day at Bungie, I’ve been fired. Apparently I created a hostile work environment […] and for berating colleagues for reporting me using anonymous internal tools.
writes Elisabeth Pring, a former Bungie employee via Twitter
This first post is followed by others in which she shares her view of things and thus attracted attention.
Above all, the statement “the moment there is criticism, you’re fired and it breaks my heart” triggered their followers and the Destiny community.
You can see the full post on Twitter here:
Why was she fired from Bungie? According to her own statement, the reason for her dismissal was that she arbitrarily changed the job title “Test Associate”, for which Bungie had officially hired her, to “Test Engineer” on her social media profiles.
In doing so, she points out that she and many other employees from all kinds of teams reportedly agreed that their “job goes well beyond that of a testing associate role.”
I was hired as a test associate, yes, but actually I was doing a test engineer’s job the whole time…
emphasizes the ex-employee several times
She also apparently expressed her frustration with parking in Seattle, and received some negative feedback from current Bungie employees as well.
These events are said to have ended up angering a few of her colleagues at the Destiny 2 developer long term enough to talk to HR about her behind her back. This is supposed to have ultimately led to her dismissal, as she assumes.
Elisabeth does not mention any specific names on Twitter. She just says, “You know who you are,” and followed that statement with several explanatory tweets that ultimately led to a hunt against various Bungie employees by the Destiny community.
She also apparently posted an excerpt of a personal chat with Pete Parson, Bungie’s CEO, on Twitter.
Along with the screenshot, she writes why she took this step publicly: “I spoke publicly because things didn’t happen internally, but I went through the right channels.”
Additionally, she has also publicly accused Bungie’s Senior Creative Lead Tom Farnsworth of stalking her and hopes he likes her cannabis profile banner.
Is there a statement from Bungie? no We contacted our contacts at Bungie personally and asked for a statement. So far, however, there has been no official statement on the incident from the developer.
In addition, Elisabeth herself has now made it clear that she did not actually want to start a hunt against Bungie or its employees.
Here’s how she posted a call to the Destiny community on Twitter on September 4th:
Hey I want the community to stop contacting my old co-workers. […] I’ve only ever leveled up in my life and will continue to do so because I love learning and improving the community around me. […] I won’t let a company dictate who I am if I’ve proven time and time again that I’m bigger than the box they’re trying to put me in.
Elisabeth challenges the Destiny community via Twitter
What does the community say about the dismissal?
The insights were at least surprising and very open for players. Typically, ex-employees only publicly thank Bungie or share good times before starting a new job.
Thanks to Elisabeth we got a very one-sided insight, but it was obviously all the more interesting. Still, not everyone knows what to make of it.
Many initially expressed their dismay at the events on Twitter. Elisabeth has even received new job offers from other developers there.
However, after Destiny 2 content creator LUCKYY10P picked up the drama about the ex-employee several times on YouTube, there were also critical voices.
Here the main focus was on the fact that she ultimately made a decision at her own discretion that she was not entitled to.
For example, Blake writes below the YouTube video:
The problem in this situation is that she was hired as an “employee” but supposedly does the job that an “engineer” is expected to do. The correct course of action would be to either require an actual title change within the company to match the work she is doing, or simply refuse to perform work that does not fall within her officially assigned role. Instead, she changes her job title on social media without the official endorsement of the company she works for, which of course both the people with the position she claims to have and the people who actually work in the same role as her, upset.
write Blake in the YouTube comments
And Malcolm Fitzpatrick finds Twitter to be the worst place to wrap things up for something like this.
First off, she publicly complained on Twitter. It’s one of the worst places for something like this. Twitter is not your friend. Especially if your boss knows your account. When you’re doing more than you’re supposed to be doing, ask for more. Don’t be petty, be cunning.
is Malcolm Fitzpatrick’s take on it via YouTube
And the player mounte45 also notes:
We haven’t heard the full story, of course, but judging by her replies on Twitter, I’d say she was probably a pain in the ass. […] In HR, you don’t typically fire someone for a single disagreement or incident, because that’s natural with people with different viewpoints and opinions […]. My guess is that she was unprofessional at work and had a disagreement with her colleague. […]
explains the player mounte45 via YouTube
What do you think of the incident? Would you have publicly changed your job description because you actually do a lot more? Do you think there is more to the termination or is it just the disappointed frustration of a former employee who misbehaved? Leave us your personal opinion in the comments.
For those who prefer to focus on the game, we recommend an old weapon that is currently making its strongest comeback in Destiny 2: