Activision-Blizzard Sued By California

[Elegiac]

I stated that I'm not going to take CA's statement at face value.

Just Blizzard's, clearly.

There's obviously a both sides to this

Exactly what do you think is motivating CA to lie.

[Levelfive]

I didn't shift anything. I stated that I'm not going to take CA's statement at face value. There's obviously a both sides to this.

You are shifting goalposts, which I'll just take as a sign you understand exactly the corner you've backed yourself into.

[Mihalik]

I also find the lawsuit a bit unclear, they complain about "white men" in leadership positions, while one of the named alleged offenders is Alex Afrasiabi (an Iranian-American).

He looks pretty fucking white to me.

Him being "Iranian" is basically akin to me saying "I'm half Greek, thus not a white guy". (I'm almost disturbingly white.)

[beanman12345]

I'm not. However, I wasn't aware that this came out https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comment..._frat/h62n78j/

If the allegations were true, I'd expect people to start speaking out and they are.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Uh, the state wouldn't be suing if people weren't speaking out... this isn't complicated.

[Elegiac]

He looks pretty fucking white to me.

Him being "Iranian" is basically akin to me saying "I'm half Greek, thus not a white guy". (I'm almost disturbingly white.)

Yes but hopefully your employees don't refer to your hotel room during Blizzcon as the Crosby Suite like they do with Afrasiabi's.

[Levelfive]

Yes but hopefully your employees don't refer to your hotel room during Blizzcon as the Crosby Suite like they do with Afrasiabi's.

Ok, SO many typos in that thing, Christ.

- - - Updated - - -

I was looking for actual evidence. I didn't realize there was a compiled list until Edge linked it.

LOL. The whole complaint, that you totally read, was a compiled list.

[Elegiac]

Ok, SO many typos in that thing, Christ.

Just gonna say that if it happens often enough for employees to give it a nickname it's probably a problem, lol.

This does put Blizzard's resistance towards diversity in their games into an interesting light, at least. And by "interesting" I mean "explains it in the sort of way that could only be the product of a group of moneyed middle aged men who still think they're geeky frat boys".

[Levelfive]

It was allegations.

The list on Reddit is a compiled list, from multiple former people at Blizzard, of their experiences. That's actual evidence, that, unfortunately, does match the pattern of behavior spelled out in the allegations.

Tell me you didn't read the complaint without telling me you didn't read the complaint.

[Elegiac]

Tell me you didn't read the complaint without telling me you didn't read the complaint.

We could tell they didn't read the complaint owing to the fact they started trying to treat this as a class action suit when it manifestly is not. Lol.

The degree to which people acknowledge gaming culture is problematic but seem to protest every attempt to address that is...interesting.

[lockybalboa]

Kotick was in Epstein's list wasn't he?

[Levelfive]

We could tell they didn't read the complaint owing to the fact they started trying to treat this as a class action suit when it manifestly is not. Lol.

LOL. Missed that. Hahaha.

[Jastall]

Yes but hopefully your employees don't refer to your hotel room during Blizzcon as the Crosby Suite like they do with Afrasiabi's.

As a hockey fan, every time I see that typo I imagine a suite where you can say hi to good old Sydney and imagine that not to be a bad thing at all.

[Elegiac]

As a hockey fan, every time I see that typo I imagine a suite where you can say hi to good old Sydney and imagine that not to be a bad thing at all.

Sadly that is the spelling given in the suit, lol.

Admittedly this isn't as funny as the Addison Cain lawsuits but still.

[Jastall]

Sadly that is the spelling given in the suit, lol.

Admittedly this isn't as funny as the Addison Cain lawsuits but still.

I'm aware, and that's why it is doubly funny that even State prosecutors would make such a mistake in an official document. That wouldn't happen in Canada, no sir/madam .

[Levelfive]

Sigh. If someone writes something that says X did Y to Z, that's an allegation that X did Y to Z.

That's specifically what the state's indictment is.

When Z testifies that X did Y, that's actual evidence. That's what this list of former Blizzard employees confirming this behavior is.

What I was expecting to see was that if this was true, there'd be a lot of news confirming what happened. I didn't realize there was already a compiled list of actual former employees confirming what happened.

:eyeroll here: Testimony is evidence, sure, but so far, these are claims on twitter, which, hey, I'm delighted you take *these* at face value, and Blizzard at face value (despite having every reason to lie), but not the state of California (with no motive to lie established). It just underscores that your metrics are arbitrary and subjective, which was my point in the first place. Also, here's the complaint: https://aboutblaw.com/YJw

[Elegiac]

Kotick was in Epstein's list wasn't he?

Yes, but this isn't a "Activision ruined everything" situation.

Afrasiabi is one of the few people named directly in the suit and he's been with the company since 2004. This is an issue with Blizzard's core culture.

[MoanaLisa]

i just hope that this is the thing that forces Blizzard to change for the better.

Yeah, I hope so too.

[Levelfive]

First, what I specifically stated was that I was willing to withhold judgement until I saw CA's evidence that supported their indictment. The indictment itself doesn't mean Activision-Blizzard is guilty and the actual indictment is a list of allegations against Blizzard.

Conversely, what I was looking for was for former employees to speak out and confirm the indictment. That is here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comment...eb2x&context=3

Similarly to what happened at Riot, I'd expect some former employees speaking out and I didn't realize they were.

And I was pointing out the inconsistency of remaining agnostic on the complaint itself, which you haven't read, while accepting Blizzard's version of events based on nothing more than their released statement, even though it seems pretty clear DFEH has receipts that directly refute Blizzard's claims therein.

[muto]

I just remembered Alex Afrasiabi was one of the devs that was questioned by Red Shirt Guy at Blizzcon back in Wrath, and how smug he looked/was responding to Red Shirt Guy.

[MoanaLisa]

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comment..._frat/h62n78j/

She's hardly alone.

https://twitter.com/riotashekandi/st...023741446?s=21

"We were told that problematic people were too senior to do anything about."

Very damning for many of those in senior management that have left Blizzard in the last few years. I'm not surprised because office culture starts at the top. Either they are actively a problem or passively not doing anything about it. If there are no consequences then the behavior seeps down into the ranks.

This is very sad. Even more sad that I'm 100% unsurprised by any of it.