In the end - yes, its Eva's conscious design choice to let you influence the actions of the chars you are playing and make them turn out what you want them to be. Isn't that the point of the game?
Of course it is, and I'm all for that. That wasn't my point.
Regarding Minerva I agree with you (even said so myself): she's a terrible boss. Even more so in a creative environment. But personally I don't think that fully excuses Ian's behavior; but forgetting that, the thing is Ian doesn't looks like having accomplished much -or extracting much joy from- in his work as a reviewer, and as a writer… Well, neither at the moment. Holly for example is more successful, looks much more focused, and taken in consideration some in-game instances (the proposed changes to Lena’s lyrics if not “gamey” optimal, for example) could probably be more talented.
I’m not sure of understanding your point about Lena: what matters if she is a women or not in order to judge her work? If she were to be a man, skipping his shift because *gasp* his ex-gf showed at work would then be (more) unprofessional? I don’t think so, it ought to be the same for both genders. She also skipped another shift in order to attend a modeling gig at her other job, and got tempted to steal from the drawer when she learned she was being laid off. And all of that happens without the player’s input, it’s Lena by default…
Look, I’m not saying she’s an awful worker, just not a superb one either. More than probably, as we’re discussing, because -as Ian- she is not really interested in her current jobs (and yay! for us, because surely erotic photoshoots are much more interesting to look at than she serving tables or washing dishes, heh).
As someone said before when it’s the MC actions (witnessed from the player’s POV) we’re talking about it’s easier to explain and make excuses for them, but if it were to be for example Wade or Allison the ones who displayed them, what would we think about it?