Why I Hate Karen Traviss

-She just kinda decided that the Covenant were terrorists with less advanced technology than us and completely stripped away the feeling of desperation that sparked the heroic side of gamers for almost a decade.

-Whilst writing extended fiction for Star Wars, not only did she dumb down characters created by other writers of the universe to make hers look better, but she also went out of set fiction from books and the movies. When confronted with this, she nick-named her supporters "Fandalorians" like the Mandalores (See: Boba and Jango Fett), and called those who even questioned her writing "Talifans" like the Taliban. To push it even further, she went so far as to note that people that were fans of the Jedi, were no different than Nazi sympathizers, and shortly after left the Star Wars genre, leaving many plot holes in her fiction.

-She player hates on Dr. Catherine Halsey and makes her out to be a completely anti-social, over agressive hag, when she's been known to be affectionate and a pseudo mother to the Spartans, let alone having her own daughter. Not only did she write Halsey as threatening an innocent and harmless Engineer she KNEW was no threat, Traviss also wrote her currently as defecting from the UNSC and assisting Storm "Terrorist" efforts.

HALO 4 Spartan Ops Spoilers here!

Spoiler:

-She makes the claim on her website about Gears of War 3, stating "So don't let my efforts be in vain. You will play, and you will love it." when fan reviews in general prefer the story behind the second game. In my opinion, which I held even before I knew who Traviss was, I thought the story seemed a desperate attempt at standing alone, with no help from the superior story from the first or second game. Questions are left asked, even if you read the books or comics, and a lot of the tear-jerkers either feel forced, or are because of the death of already loved characters. Not to mention, a certain loved character's death is super stereotypical and done.

-She's a bitch and I'm not letting go of Nazi comment.

-Her plot lines are ridiculous and sometimes just kinda out there. She's already known to misuse set characters, so I want her nowhere near my Halo.

All valid reasons. She basically takes well liked characters and demonizes 'em.

It'd be like if I tried to write Manny as a bad guy.

Wait. That's a bad example...

It'd be like if I tried to make War a villain.

Oh. Right. Whoops.

100% agree. I'd add in the name of the character from GOW3 you were talking about, but that'll spoil Emergence .

I agree, a lot of her story telling, let alone the conduct with which she treats her fanbase, is completely bogus and unprofessional.

"Hurr durr, Lesh make teh nice characters teh bad guys for teh lolzzzzzzzz."

or my personal favorite:

"Cannon man characters? Oh my, the fans seem to love these guys! But I know something that'll make them love mine even more. I'll make them duller than dirt compared to mine, and MINE will save the day. Everyone will love mine, love MINE, LOVE ME!!"

Halsey, once the sweet mother like figure she was... into pseudo-terrorist; 'cause reasons.

Cortana, once sassy and know-it-all, now into a paranoid piece of technology with PTSD; 'cause fuck all the people that liked Cortana more than the other characters.

And this is all because it'd 'be an emotional journey if Cortana went off her rocker and acted all hopeless and completely out of her character for the sake of breaking the player's heart'.

Oh, and by the way, where the fuck is the Arbiter or Admiral Hood? Arbiter is understandable because of Sanghelios. At least a cameo from Hood in H4 would've been acceptable, other than the rather cliche; 'Command says its ago' statement.

Like, Hood was there when Chief fucking went into the void seven years before to stop the Flood and the Covenant once and for all. Is it too much to ask that the character congratulates and thanks Chief for his service, even if it's a brief line like;

"When Lasky first told me you were still alive and kicking, I was damned near ready to court marshal him for lying to a superior officer. But a part of me knew it was the truth. It's great to have you back Chief. Now kick this thing's ass."

Just for the record, y'all, Karen Traviss only wrote the Kilo Five book series. She didn't have a hand in creating the games themselves.

Bad John wrote:Just for the record, y'all, Karen Traviss only wrote the Kilo Five book series. She didn't have a hand in creating the games themselves.

You say that, but Karen Traviss works in mysterious/dark ways .

Her influence is heavy on the Halo 4 story. Traviss' Cortana and Halsey are in H4. Read Human Weakness.

Kruger 2521 wrote:Her influence is heavy on the Halo 4 story. Traviss' Cortana and Halsey are in H4. Read Human Weakness.

Wasn't Cortana already kinda going crazy at the end of Halo 3? Then factor in the 4 years she spent in isolation.

I dunno about Halsey. I NEVER saw her as openly caring about her Spartans. I always saw it as something she kept to herself.

Besides, she DID defend them in the opening CGI scene of Halo 4, did she not?

Kruger 2521 wrote:-She just kinda decided that the Covenant were terrorists with less advanced technology than us and completely stripped away the feeling of desperation that sparked the heroic side of gamers for almost a decade.

...Erm, the Covenant still have more advanced technology. Humans are still using BULLETS compared to the plasma weaponry they use. The Covenant remanants still have shielding on all their ships, while Humanity still only has shielding on a few. Humanity was also described as innovative rather than imitative, unlike the Covenant, so really it's only a matter of time until we surpass them. 

Besides, at the end of Halo 3 the Covenant Empire COLLAPSED. There is no more central leadership, so the shattered pieces of the empire are just fighting among themselves.

While the feeling of desperation was stripped away, I don't think Karen Traviss is totally to blame. When the main enemy of a series is defeated, and unable to come back in full force, I don't think there is much anyone can do to recreate the effect the enemy had previously.

Nazi Germany was pretty scary, but once it was divided into East and West Germany, it wasn't too significant in the Cold War (apart from the symbolism of the Iron Curtain).

I'm interested to see what happens with Halsey, but the universe has been kinda interested in pulling her wings off like a fuckin' fly.

I want to see her do some badass science, and team up with the Chief. THAT would be sick.

If Palmer doesn't plug her first. As much as I like Palmer, that was a huge dick move.