So yeah… if you haven’t been paying attention to much tech or gaming news. the State of California is suing Activition Blizzard
(A shocking read, caution if you are sensitive to stories harassments. pretty bad stuff tbh)
Bloomberg Law Article: Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment (1)
There is a TON of information since this article. Lots of employees (ex and current) have spoken out against the company as well as give their own anecdotes and accounts of nefarious behavior at the company.
Many people in the company did a walk out on Wednesday as well.
What a ride. I grew up with so many Blizzard games. I had already stopped my support of them due to the incident with Blitzchung, but seeing this is just insane.
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I haven’t been following it really closely since this kind of thing just makes my blood boil but just… Wow. The amount of doubling down from some of the employees there has been insane.
Same. Blizzard North’s work on the first Diablo made me a fan, but I don’t think a single one of those folks still works with Acti-Blizz. It’s been a real shame to see companies like them and Electronic Arts turn into the monsters they once stood as an exception to.
The silver lining for me is that it’s easier than ever for creative indies (including folks that used to work for old favorite studios) to get their stuff out there, and there’s so many interesting pieces to enjoy.
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gaming companies are often cesspools of that behaviour.
Look at me too last year over at ubisoft.
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Another article I saw today and it is completely disgusting
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I came to the conclusion that the Blizz I grew up with was not the same as the one today a while ago.
This is just the gross icing on top of the cake. Not really sure how people like Metzen and other top execs. at the time could have missed this.
The whole “Cosby Suite” thing is cringe and disturbing too. I am almost positive it had nothing to do with the room carpets matching his sweaters… Cosby and “Spanish fly” was a thing long before he was convicted. Same with Harvey Weinstein. People joked about it for years. This would have been known at the time, and in my opinion is likely the true reason the room got the nickname.
Did you see the picture of the room? Did you noticed the one exec. that left to Riot in the photo? You know the same Riot that had similar allegations to Blizz just a few years ago…
Makes me glad I am not in the game biz.
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This story is pretty gross too. That woman didn’t deserve what was said to her, but at the same time… the security company made a pretty tongue-in-cheek shirt.
I kind of feel like this is victim blaming, but at the same time… again that shirt. This seems like a shitty article to me. VICE is hoping on the bandwagon here.
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The shirt is definitely tongue-in-cheek, but I don’t think many of those comments would have been directed if a male was wearing it
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True. However you can’t really get mad at one company for being “frat-boy like” when another company made a “frat-boy” t-shirt.
This is just one incident where I think both parties are gross. In the others, it is all on Blizz for their gross behavior.
I feel pretty 50/50 on this because it’s an in-joke reference to the industry. Yes it’s crude, but wearing a crude shirt doesn’t necessarily mean someone should be subject to crude behavior like that.
Like I mentioned, I’m pretty sure males who wore that shirt were more likely to be met with laughs about the shirt than the derision that individual went through. I don’t think blizz would be asking the guys, “so you here with your gf or what?”
I’m not in this industry, so I don’t know other dynamics in this industry in regards to gender relations, but from my outward looking in view, it still looks more scummy on the side of blizzard than that woman wearing that t-shirt.
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Being an old dude who’ve seen it all first-hand, I can attest that it’s not them but us that changed.
What was acceptable back then is now unacceptable. Most people adjusted but many didn’t and there are constant influx of late comers, most recently from Asia, Eastern Europe, and Middle-East who hadn’t had the time to acclimate to new moral standards.
I’m not saying we should be lenient. There is no room for mercy in evolution, not even social evolution. Perspective matters. That’s all.
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