J. Allen Brack's Internal Email, Warcraft III: Reforged Production Backstory

[Cosmic Janitor]

Wonder if Blizz is just going to clean house and fire Brack/Ion/Danuser and start over.

Danuser is a best a 2D creep, otherwise Mrs. Excellencia would have blown the horn already. Firing him because he is an awful writer isn't really helping the matter at hand, it might just increase the quality of the game which is not subject of the lawsuit. Ion is a project lead, not sure how much he has to do with HR and if something happened in the teams he is directly responsible for. I'm sure the investigation has already unraveled if he was shining with inaction. Brack on the other hand is in a position where HR is clearly his concern and it has been explicitly mentioned that he knew about it.

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It's not a thing, that I'm aware of. I've lived on both coasts and have friends from college all over the US, and know people all over the political spectrum, and I've never heard of any family having a "patron saint feminist". JAB's family may have (I think he's just virtue signaling as hard as he can), but it is not a normal thing.

Okay, thanks for clarifying; so it's really cringe.

[beanman12345]

Very interesting how this leaked, and yet none of the claimed incidents leaked over the last 2 years. Blizzard is too big to hide any supposed institutional problems. If this was as widespread as the lawsuit claimed, Kotaku would've had a field day pumping out articles on this years ago.

The pretzel logic people will do in their heads to just outright dismiss this so casually, is, sad.

[Samuraijake]

All the people screaming right now will have forgotten this in a months time. Blizzard don't care if you're upset or you want to stage one of your cringe in-game protests.

Now shut up and play the game

this. and as i said before.. in about a month people will forget... continue playing and asking about patch 9.2

[Th3Scourge]

Lol fuck off JAB with your bullshit stories, go suck the CCP for some more cash

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The pretzel logic people will do in their heads to just outright dismiss this so casually, is, sad.

They "investigated for 2 years" but don't know who did what, also they filed on the last possible day.

[Mojo03]

Very interesting how this leaked, and yet none of the claimed incidents leaked over the last 2 years. Blizzard is too big to hide any supposed institutional problems. If this was as widespread as the lawsuit claimed, Kotaku would've had a field day pumping out articles on this years ago.

Also interesting that not a peep when #metoo stuff was going on when it would of been an opportune moment.

And the website that breaks the story writes a short summary article of the court documents in a way no honest person that read through it could possibly summarize it.

Lot of interesting things with this.

[beanman12345]

They "investigated for 2 years" but don't know who did what, also they filed on the last possible day.

Providing more pretzel logic, doesn't make it any less sad.

[Gadzooks]

Danuser is a best a 2D creep, otherwise Mrs. Excellencia would have blown the horn already. Firing him because he is an awful writer isn't really helping the matter at hand, it might just increase the quality of the game which is not subject of the lawsuit. Ion is a project lead, not sure how much he has to do with HR and if something happened in the teams he is directly responsible for. I'm sure the investigation has already unraveled if he was shining with inaction. Brack on the other hand is in a position where HR is clearly his concern and it has been explicitly mentioned that he knew about it.

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Here's the thing - there are 10 "John/Jane Does" in the filing, who may or may not be named later. Ion could be one of them. The state is claiming systemic issues of harassment and prejudice, so nobody in the company flow chart is off the hook, technically.

I find it interesting that J Allen was the one who handled the whole Afrasiabi issue - once in 2016 with a public outburst against female employees, and the verbal meetings with J Allen about his drinking and harassment (according to the filing). If I'm correct, this was when J Allen was the executive producer of the wow team, not President yet, so either Ion failed to address it, or Ion doesn't have the rank everyone thinks he has. But Afrasiabi reported to him, so he's involved in some way. Not that it's a automatic condemnation, but technically, if this reaches the court and isn't settled, Ion could be named. Or John Hite. Or any of the leadership in Team 2 and the executive office, and HR. The State sued the entire company, for a class/group of people, specifically as a systemic issue, so determining the system and who was directly involved and responsible is going to be impossible unless you're in the courtroom and hear the testimony and evidence. This case isn't to focus on specific people or events, but that the entire company needs to address and remedy what the state thinks is happening, for a distinct class of employees.

I don't think Ion did more than pass the buck on the Afrasiabi issue specifically, or it was too big and ugly for him to deal with, but I have no idea if he was involved in passing women over for promotions or knew of and allowed harassment under his watch, which is the bulk of what this lawsuit is over. As a department head, he's just as capable of being involved as any department head, especially when it comes to promotions, raises, hires, and how people are treated in his office. The Wow team seems to be a focus of the investigation, so make of that what you will. Ion isn't the issue here, the whole leadership and management of the company is, regardless if he's part of the problem or not.

Okay, thanks for clarifying; so it's really cringe.

Oh, yeah. Big cringe.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Providing more pretzel logic, doesn't make it any less sad.

"We will name the defendants once we go through discovery and find out who they are. Also, they are all acting vicariously with one another and the company. Whoever they are."

This is a Californian agency trying to gain clout. They made a mountain out of a molehill as their "gotcha!" moment to blackmail Blizzard. Most people are just going to see the headlines "BLIZZARD SUED FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT" and that's what they will think; they won't dig deeper. The goal of the agency is to push for a settlement and then tout this as their big investigation because they know that software companies don't want to go through discovery.

Most lawsuits about sexual harassment are complete bogus, a political shakedown. Remember that Michael Jackson was found innocent and so was Bill Cosby.

[Hyral]

Imagine defending this.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Here's the thing - there are 10 "John/Jane Does" in the filing, who may or may not be named later. Ion could be one of them. The state is claiming systemic issues of harassment and prejudice, so nobody in the company flow chart is off the hook, technically.

I find it interesting that J Allen was the one who handled the whole Afrasiabi issue - once in 2016 with a public outburst against female employees, and the verbal meetings with J Allen about his drinking and harassment (according to the filing). If I'm correct, this was when J Allen was the executive producer of the wow team, not President yet, so either Ion failed to address it, or Ion doesn't have the rank everyone thinks he has. But Afrasiabi reported to him, so he's involved in some way. Not that it's a automatic condemnation, but technically, if this reaches the court and isn't settled, Ion could be named. Or John Hite. Or any of the leadership in Team 2 and the executive office, and HR. The State sued the entire company, for a class/group of people, specifically as a systemic issue, so determining the system and who was directly involved and responsible is going to be impossible unless you're in the courtroom and hear the testimony and evidence. This case isn't to focus on specific people or events, but that the entire company needs to address and remedy what the state thinks is happening, for a distinct class of employees.

I don't think Ion did more than pass the buck on the Afrasiabi issue specifically, or it was too big and ugly for him to deal with, but I have no idea if he was involved in passing women over for promotions or knew of and allowed harassment under his watch, which is the bulk of what this lawsuit is over. As a department head, he's just as capable of being involved as any department head, especially when it comes to promotions, raises, hires, and how people are treated in his office. The Wow team seems to be a focus of the investigation, so make of that what you will. Ion isn't the issue here, the whole leadership and management of the company is, regardless if he's part of the problem or not.

Oh I'm well aware, it's just that calling for those 2 besides Brack specificially seems a bit too easy. Certainly in the case of Danuser who is head of a small team and at least Golden pretents to have never witnessed anything, and I'm sure she'd be the first to report on it on twitter if given the chance.

[Mardux]

Imagine defending this.

Imagine assuming someone is guilty before its legitimately proven.

[Couchpotato2013]

Imagine assuming someone is guilty before its legitimately proven.

Blizzard didn’t care about that when they deleted swifty and quinton flynn from the game.

Funny how the tune changes when people on the inner circle undergo allegations.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Blizzard didn’t care about that when they deleted swifty and quinton flynn from the game.

Funny how the tune changes when people on the inner circle undergo allegations.

Swifty and Kael'thas' voice actor being thrown under the bus was indeed a humongous dick move. If this lawsuit was true I'd almost call it karma. But this ain't it chief.

[FightingFarse]

J Allen Prick is just a corporate apologist. Anything he says can be disregarded as rubbish.

[stoffe]

like many other have said and will probably keep saying give it one, two maybe even three months and people have forgot all about this.

I will still play SL,HoTs and OW cuz its really funny and good games.

[Gadzooks]

Oh I'm well aware, it's just that calling for those 2 besides Brack specificially seems a bit too easy. Certainly in the case of Danuser who is head of a small team and at least Golden pretents to have never witnessed anything, and I'm sure she'd be the first to report on it on twitter if given the chance.

I've already posted my feelings on Golden. I don't believe her when she says she was unaware of it, when so many current blizzard employees are saying everyone knows about it, and aren't surprised by it. But honestly, she doesn't matter to me, or Danuser's comments, as my feeling towards him as a creative professional and his all around creepiness is unchanged. I'm a bit annoyed with Asmondgold being thrown around as an arbiter of ethics and morality, but it's not unsurprising in this fandom.

I've also posted concerns that naming Brack and Afrasiabi, and the story about the woman who took her life were salacious bits the state threw in to pressure Blizzard to settle. Don't know if it's true, but it's within the realm of possibilities.

And, you could use the unnamed Does as a potential fishing trip by the state. That's within the realm of possibilities, too.

The current devs speaking out are what are influencing me the most. It's not an outpouring of "Everything is perfect here, CA is just being greedy", it's "There's good people here, but yeah, this is a thing, and we all know about it."

And, both parties are acting in bad faith, probably. The state wants a lot in terms of remedy here, and the corporate response by Blizzard is beyond problematic.

That's why I think this gets settled. It's already damaged Blizzard, and if this reaches court, will leave a smoking crater in the company. If they settle, the state gets some of what they want, and Blizzard might be able to recover.

I don't have a horse in this race, I'm just trying to point anyone willing to listen towards the reasonable center based on known facts, and not wild conjecture.

[Sinyc]

So, it's good to have diversity, except when it's "bro culture"? What exactly is "bro culture" anyway?

Taken to it's extreme? Wolf of Wall Street.. Or actually just being a real stock broker working on Wall Street.

Neither is healthy.

[Ashleyxoxo]

This whole ordeal is juicier than TMZ.

[Xilurm]

I think Kotick at that point would just decide to sell the Blizzard IP.

Oh please do. Maybe they got bought by someone who actually cares about the franchises.