Board 8 > Activision Blizzard being sued California for a toxic work environment.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Nanis23 posted...

Hmm kind of
I know about "virtue signaling" and "rainbow washing" so I know it can be a cynical use
But I am legit wondering about that guy because he is going out of his way to do that (and it's not like he is doing it in Pride month or something)

Hi, I'm new enough to enlighten you with my view, as someone who represents the pink purple and blue flag (and have had my share of "gay, straight, or lying" accusations from the camp end, despite being only halfway out of the closet in my personal life.):

If you're a corporation or representing one, flying a rainbow flag is automatically seen as lip service unless you do it year-round, not just near June. Even then, it rings hollow unless its subtle. A charm on a belt loop, purse, or backpack sings louder about personal belief than a tacky technicolor election pin.

But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

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Crescent-Moon posted...

Sad but true.

Except it's probably more than half.

This isn't true anymore.

The recent content patch only brought back a small portion of players and the population has already dwindled significantly.

BFA i could find people running content at all hours of the day.

There are times the entirety of the NA servers are a complete ghost town now.

I never understood this. Why is sexual harassment this much problem in USA? Sure everyone happens. But in maybe small business which is tougher there to be noticed and such. But in huge companies? With thousands of employees? Are all these people really think that these will stay hidden?
Especially now with all the technology?

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If you think sexual harassment isn't happening in every country...

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I am not saying it isn't happening. Because it is. But these are huge companies. So many people there. I mean this think will get noticed no matter what.

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The USA has a spotlight put on it all times, which is why stuff hits the news cycles often. But it's just as bad everywhere else in the world, and in many cases, worse.

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Safer_777 posted...

I am not saying it isn't happening. Because it is. But these are huge companies. So many people there. I mean this think will get noticed no matter what.

it's because it's the managers and bosses doing it much of the time, and HR departments' loyalties are with protecting the company, not protecting the employee

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Safer_777 posted...

I never understood this. Why is sexual harassment this much problem in USA? Sure everyone happens. But in maybe small business which is tougher there to be noticed and such. But in huge companies? With thousands of employees? Are all these people really think that these will stay hidden?
Especially now with all the technology?

Better question is if "gamers" are more toxic than the average population in their workplace
Considering how bad Ubisoft and Blizzard are and how many times they show up in the news...

But I am pretty much only following video games news so I don't know, maybe it happens in other big companies too

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I imagine it happens in all companies but gamer stigma is somehow the worst.

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The entertainment industry in general is terrible with this stuff. But yeah, the gaming industry seems like it could be the worst, from an outsider perspective anyway.

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I am also wondering about the performance of Activision Blizzard stock the past two days
It seems...unaffected by this, at all. Not even a scratch

But why? if it turns out they are guilty, won't it hurt them financially? I mean, they might have to pay compensations
And the worse thing - they public image of the company was hurt a lot by this. It might affect sales of future games

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There's huge tech companies where this doesn't happen (and many where it does). It's really the intersection of tech and entertainment that creates the worst possible cultures.

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Sorozone posted...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E63UKqyXsAIDkqy?format=png&name=small

Uhhh yikes.

Thats...I don't even have words.

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To be fair we have literally no context for that that story besides she committed suicide and was in a sexual relationship with a coworker. The truth could range from some fucked up abuse to her having mental issues and getting dumped sent her over the line.

Blows my mind how little critical thinking people have when they read these documents


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BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

To be fair we have literally no context for that that story besides she committed suicide and was in a sexual relationship with a coworker. The truth could range from some fucked up abuse to her having mental issues and getting dumped sent her over the line.

Blows my mind how little critical thinking people have when they read these documents

And people passing around pictures of her at a company event. And supervisors never being ok to date a coworker like that.

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BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

To be fair we have literally no context for that that story besides she committed suicide and was in a sexual relationship with a coworker. The truth could range from some fucked up abuse to her having mental issues and getting dumped sent her over the line.

Blows my mind how little critical thinking people have when they read these documents

Your logic might make sense if this was a random allegation, but this is quite literally the state of California suing the company. Which means they've already looked into all of these.

Blows my mind how somebody accusing people of using little critical thinking is utterly incapable of critical thinking themself.

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Don't engage BT.

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be like Sam Porter Bridges, avoid BTs
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BT already said he doesnt see why anybody would be unhappy with Warcraft 3 Reforged so I think he's already established a pretty low baseline for critical thinking

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DoomTheGyarados posted...

And supervisors never being ok to date a coworker like that.

Eh, I wouldn't support this being a "hard" cultural rule. Work is still among the most common places that couples meet, and unless they begin their careers at the same time/place, there will likely be some difference in office authority. Most large companies are aware of this reality and have established procedures to keep office relationships from affecting the actual work (the couple usually needs to bring the relationship to management's attention so that each person is placed on different projects/clients).

I've known more than one coworker who has dated higher-ranking people at the office, and the relationships have been long-lasting and seemingly healthy. While abuse of power is certainly possible, I don't assume it to be the norm in these cases.

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In large organizations, dating a higher up from a different department can be ok, but dating someone in your direct chain of command generally is a hard no.

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You also have no context for what the details of their relationship were. Perhaps they were dating before they worked together, or started dating before the one got promoted. If this was an actual case of abuse, it would have made the news cycles when it happened, rather than being a throwaway point in a legal document years later.

Critical thinking

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BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

You also have no context for what the details of their relationship were. Perhaps they were dating before they worked together, or started dating before the one got promoted. If this was an actual case of abuse, it would have made the news cycles when it happened, rather than being a throwaway point in a legal document years later.

Oh my we are detaching even further from reality here.

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Yall need to stop responding to BT, give him the Ulti treatment

https://twitter.com/JeffAHamilton/status/1419115389536006145?s=19

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Safer_777 posted...

I never understood this. Why is sexual harassment this much problem in USA?

I realllllllly doubt Europe has less sexual harassment. It's just so prevalent there that it's not reported. We're a lot more progressive.

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Heres a spicy video from back in 2010 featuring Blizzards progressive culture of the time. A couple of the guys at the center of the current investigation were also front and center here.

https://mobile.twitter.com/chrisbratt/status/1418629194683125761

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not speaking for any other groups here, but for me, jesus christ that video hurts my heart

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Ghostcrawler made a twitter thread discussing that yesterday. He isn't actually one of the guys talking in this clip, he's just on the panel and briefly whispers to the guy next to him. in his twitter thread he seems to regret not taking control of the conversation and preventing the other guys from saying what they did

https://twitter.com/Ghostcrawler/status/1418750286894551040


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This topic is odd. We're 128 posts in and I haven't seen anyone post about how they're ahead of curve and Blizzard has been trash since 2002.
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OrangeCrush980 posted...

This topic is odd. We're 128 posts in and I haven't seen anyone post about how they're ahead of curve and Blizzard has been trash since 2002.

TC has Ulti blocked, but he made the post youre looking for in his own topic about the company.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79549351/956358980

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BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

You also have no context for what the details of their relationship were.

That's true. Actually I just critically thinked about it for 45 minutes and I realized there's no reason it couldn't have been a gamefaqs user who convinced her to commit suicide by blackmailing her and paying her coworkers $15000 each to pretend to show her pictures around at the company event. This gamefaqs user must have been exceedingly intelligent, yet also prideful enough to boast about it publicly and subtly. They would hate to see someone else take credit for this kill and would be adamant there was another explanation...

What's your full name and the number of your closest police station again BT?

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OrangeCrush980 posted...

This topic is odd. We're 128 posts in and I haven't seen anyone post about how they're ahead of curve and Blizzard has been trash since 2002.

Literally Obsessed.

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redrocket posted...

In large organizations, dating a higher up from a different department can be ok, but dating someone in your direct chain of command generally is a hard no.

Where I currently work, a regular employee dating anyone in a supervisory role is grounds for immediate termination.

Though I've found companies in general tend to lean a little more lax than that.

I get the impression that "pressured" is a far more fitting word than "dated" would be in this situation though.

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Is Blizzard worse than Naughty Dog?

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I have been doing it for 23 years plus or minus. I still make mistakes. It happens. Learn from it. Apologize and move on. I hope the lesson that anyone is taking from that Blizzcon video is *not* how risky it is to talk to the community

That is the takeaway we're concerned about lmao

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He's not speaking to "us" with that comment though, he's speaking to other developers, who see stuff like that and think "yeah, i should just never talk to the public because i might say something bad and get torn apart for it, it's not worth it". Ghostcrawler believes that despite the opportunity for everything you say to get ripped apart (which is unfortunately happening to him right now even with all his well thought out comments here), it's still worthwhile to engage.

Though obviously he feels that video is exceptionally bad

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As bad and cringey as the comments from the speakers were, I think the chorus of boos that erupted from the crowd was worse. What a bunch of absolute losers.

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HashtagSEP posted...

Your logic might make sense if this was a random allegation, but this is quite literally the state of California suing the company. Which means they've already looked into all of these.

Blows my mind how somebody accusing people of using little critical thinking is utterly incapable of critical thinking themself.

Having worked for a government agency, do not underestimate the sheer amount of mental deficiency happening in the beurocracy. You can't lend any credence to the filings just because they came from "a government agency". Governments are as bad, if not worse than private businesses on pushing an agenda to make a political point.
redrocket posted...

Heres a spicy video from back in 2010 featuring Blizzards progressive culture of the time. A couple of the guys at the center of the current investigation were also front and center here.

https://mobile.twitter.com/chrisbratt/status/1418629194683125761

This is such a dumb video. That same woman could have said "It's great that you have strong female characters, but why don't you let all of them sexually express themselves?" and the drones in the crowd would have applauded the same. This is the very definition of performative "activism"

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Also, if the details of the suicide case actually had any weight to them, you think they would have put those details in the deposition rather than making an extremely short and vague statement there. That is essentially proof that there was more to that tragic situation than what is being said, and those details would have detracted from the case they are trying to present. The smart money is on some sort of relationship breakdown, maybe infidelity, in conjunction with the woman having poor mental health to begin with.

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BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

Having worked for a government agency, do not underestimate the sheer amount of mental deficiency happening in the beurocracy.

Most compelling argument you've ever made, just not for the reason you think.
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kevwaffles posted...

Most compelling argument you've ever made, just not for the reason you think.

"beurocracy" is the icing on the cake

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NFUN posted...

"beurocracy" is the icing on the cake

Oh man, you ruined it. I was hoping he was going to reply with an angry post about nitpicking over typos.

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redrocket posted...

Oh man, you ruined it. I was hoping he was going to reply with an angry post about nitpicking over typos.

You're assuming he even would have recognized the misspelling after my post.
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in their defense, that word is somewhere is in my own personal "top 5 most difficult to remember how to spell words" in the english language


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banananor posted...

in their defense, that word is somewhere is in my own personal "top 5 most difficult to remember how to spell words" in the english language

that's what red squiggles are for...

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pjbasis posted...

I realllllllly doubt Europe has less sexual harassment. It's just so prevalent there that it's not reported. We're a lot more progressive.

No you arent, workers rights are terrible in the US by comparison though I dont know much about exact levels of harassment. It certainly gets reported, like Riot in Dublin. The systems to protect workers here are better for sure.

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https://www.polygon.com/22595703/activision-blizzard-employee-protest-walk-out-lawsuit

Walkout on Wednesday. List of demands including end of forced arbitration and compensation/promotion/salary reporting. Gender pay gap reporting is already a matter of law in at least some European countries including the UK and there are EU directives getting under way to address this. Just since the question of how things are in Europe was raised.

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Lightning Strikes posted...

No you arent, workers rights are terrible in the US by comparison though I dont know much about exact levels of harassment. It certainly gets reported, like Riot in Dublin. The systems to protect workers here are better for sure.

i think the discrepancy is caused by people paying a lot of attention to the US (like KP said), not "the US is such a progressive country" lol. i'm sure europe sucks too when it comes to harassment but i doubt it's all that much worse than the US.

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As a Canadian, I'd very easily say other Canadians have an incredibly tilted view of our country believing our shit doesn't stink because we're not as bad as Americans, and it's definitely an important mindset to shift out of.

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I don't see how someone can identify "gender pay gaps" without accounting for all the factors that result in the "gaps" to begin with. On the surface women make less money on average, but that doesn't account for women that take extended leave for maternity leave, which as I understand it is the main reason that the gap exists.

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