Mike Morhaime Response to Blizzard Lawsuit

[deenman]

What an absolutely bullshit statement to make.

Does Morhaime seriously expect us all to believe that he didn’t know everything that was happening inside his company? Does anyone believe that nonsense?

its not at all crazy to imagine him not knowing

[BossManRoth]

Oh, the toxicity existed BEFORE social media ever existed.

Don't blame social media on this issue this time ... it didn't exist when "Fires of Heaven" that the "creative" team of Alex "Furor Planedefiler" Afrasiabi and Rob Pardo and Jeff Chilton and the rest ALL came from bringing that TOXIC culture with them.

Mark Kern advocated for Gamergate too, with the Hentai Twitter banner (who now is trying to "save face" too).

So many Blizzard devs ignored that toxicity, because the toxicity was in the boardrooms and dev offices.

A Blizzard woman developer is dead now BY that CORPORATE extreme sexual harassment.

That has nothing to do with "wokescold". That has everything to do with ignoring a serious HR disaster on their hands that killed an employee.

ADDED: And like the Susan Fowler incident with Uber years ago with the ex-Google executive that sexually harassed women and quietly "let go", the same PATTERN of behavior Blizzard Entertainment did with Afrasiabi. His office was nicknamed after Bill Cosby. THAT was known by Mike and Crew.

Video gaming can't exist like this as it KILLS people. Both the SWATting death and game developer now are directly involved with Activision-Blizzard due to harboring that toxicity.

ooooo GGAAAAAAAMMMMEEEEERRRRRGGGGAAAAATTTTEEE! You mean the consumer movement that said "Hey we dont like devs fucking journalists for better reviews" You have no idea what youre talking about and likely believe kotaku is real journalism. The woman at blizzard who killed herself did so because she was fucking her boss and it was destroying her life, read the court filings on that. the picture of her was a fucking rumor.
swatting has NOTHING to do with the company that made the game. swatting is done by people like you who dont get their way and have to impose themselves on others.

[Confucius]

The guy's worth half a billion dollars. Make it more than "just words" to the tune of say 100 million to women's groups and then we'll talk.

he's worth way more than 500 million. He's around 2 billion, depending on a day

[Noblia]

And the shakedown of Activision/Blizzard commences. By this time next week, I predict 100k more made up complaints.

[Saltysquidoon]

Guy's I believe Mr Morhaime.

It makes perfect sense that culture that lead to the repeated statutory breaches blizzard committed over two year period that they failed to rectify so hard they are now the subject of regulatory suit, materialised the day that he left the company.
I mean how could he know? Blizzard is a big company, it's not like some of the alleged events were carried out by the executive officers.
It's not like there is evidence in this thread of a person alleging he was CC'd into an email chain about harassment at least once.

#mikesalrightboys

[Magical Mudcrab]

Brandy Camel has talked about Morhaime's open door policy where anyone could go and talk to him. If people weren't telling him what was going on that says something about the retaliation issue in the lawsuit.

The instances of retaliation we're privy to are a bit horrific. The most notable one mentioned in the lawsuit where the individual was forced to undergo a humiliating procedure where she had to read a paper and explain why she was wrong to be overly sensitive to the person who victimized her. Cher also brought up a case where she CC'd Morhaime and was admonished for doing so, she has stated that HR was a serious problem and was not to be trusted, though it appears she has since talked to him and believes he was unaware of the extent of the problem. It appears that their culture was such that HR complaints for harassment and inappropriate behaviors were not taken seriously by HR and, very likely, were never escalated because of this. In fact, it seems as though HR actively worked to oppress and silence people who tried to come forward with problems.

[Keristrasza]

I honestly would not be surprised if Mike did not know, and with how J. Allen Brack was called out as being the one to deal with Afrasabi... I'd be less surprised to find out he (Brack) was hiding all the misdeeds from those higher than him to save face somehow. If HR was ignoring it, and there was "relatation" towards those that spoke out, then in all likely hood a few good apples on the top end just honestly did not know. Especially if seeded in with them were rotten apples helping cover it up.

[MoanaLisa]

The instances of retaliation we're privy to are a bit horrific. The most notable one mentioned in the lawsuit where the individual was forced to undergo a humiliating procedure where she had to read a paper and explain why she was wrong to be overly sensitive to the person who victimized her. Cher also brought up a case where she CC'd Morhaime and was admonished for doing so, she has stated that HR was a serious problem and was not to be trusted, though it appears she has since talked to him and believes he was unaware of the extent of the problem. It appears that their culture was such that HR complaints for harassment and inappropriate behaviors were not taken seriously by HR and, very likely, were never escalated because of this. In fact, it seems as though HR actively worked to oppress and silence people who tried to come forward with problems.

It's not a very useful open door policy to executives if valid complaints are subject to retaliation.

[Biomega]

I mean how could he know? Blizzard is a big company, it's not like some of the alleged events were carried out by the executive officers.

I think that's just part of it - a good executive will make sure to know such things as the climate of the workspace etc. even in a big company. Not in intimate detail, but a general feeling.

The bigger problem I suspect is that people thought "everything is fine" because everything was AS THEY WERE USED TO. They had so gotten accustomed to a certain situation they didn't quite grasp the outside perspective of someone who hasn't already been acclimated to that environment. Very often the "feeling" you get of a workplace isn't an absolute measure, but a relative one against what you're accustomed to - and in that sense, they would have felt no different than what they're used to, which they then interpreted as things being fine.

This problem with hostile work environments didn't just magically appear overnight. In many industries this is how it's been for a long time - a work environment where it's okay to make advances on females, where it's okay to make insensitive jokes aimed at particular races, genders, etc., where it's okay to behave like a frat boy wallowing in the self-congratulatory environs of a traditionally male-dominated industry. And so on. Similar problems are going on in other industries, too; law offices for example, or financial services companies, and so on. I've dealt with CEOs and other executives before, and seen how casually they handle racism, sexism, and many other forms of discrimination as though they were just jokes and playthings that they are above and can do with as they wish - all in what they think is "good spirits", but what's in reality a very toxic stance when viewed by those on the receiving end. If you ask them directly they'd never think they are being racist or sexist or whatever - it's just, as always, "how it's always been" or "just how it is".

That's not meant to exculpate the executives, of course. Far from it. Part of their responsibility is precisely to be able to have a more differentiated perspective on those they lead, and it seems pretty clear that's failed in this case. What remains to be determined now is the degree of that failure.

[Magical Mudcrab]

It's not a very useful open door policy to executives if valid complaints are subject to retaliation.

Yeah, that's fair, the policy itself is pointless if other parties will retaliate regardless (sorta like how whistleblowers in a private company receive basically no protections and are open to retaliation). It's just a little hard to determine where the retaliation comes from. Given accounts from employees, it seems to have come from HR or managerial staff below Morhaime, though we don't know if this is by design (i.e.: if he intended for this to be the case or was just incompetent and ignorant to the extent of the problem).

[Skylarking]

its not at all crazy to imagine him not knowing

From what i have read (could be wrong i cant confirm) afrasiabi was known to be a piece of shit way back before blizzard during the everquest days. Now i get that mike was the big man and all sitting at the top, but its not outside of the realm of possibility that he knew his devs quite well including afrasiabi. I mean, blizzard didn't just randomly start as a massive company out of nowhere for them to have no connection to each other. It all started from a few guys right getting together and building up through networking and team work.

[regardoz]

he doesn't have to be a participant to enable the abusers by not firing them or putting them on serious notice. He was 1000% aware of what was going on.

You are right though, we'll have a good scope of what he let fly when this is over.

Did you work there to say "1000%" knew? Comon for god sake

[MoanaLisa]

Yeah, that's fair, the policy itself is pointless if other parties will retaliate regardless (sorta like how whistleblowers in a private company receive basically no protections and are open to retaliation). It's just a little hard to determine where the retaliation comes from. Given accounts from employees, it seems to have come from HR or managerial staff below Morhaime, though we don't know if this is by design (i.e.: if he intended for this to be the case or was just incompetent and ignorant to the extent of the problem).

Couple of things before I bow out for the night:

- If an employee has a one-on-one with a CEO and is later subject to some sort of retaliation it seems logical to assume that the CEO started that chain of events that led to the retaliation.

- If your offices resemble a frat-house party at times, how do you not know that? Am I the only one that has been to a frat-house party? It's a difficult thing to ignore. Did Morhaime never ever come downstairs and walk through the offices?

I think these are fair questions that need to be answered as well as the questions about how two employees doing the same work and having equitable positions in the company have very different salaries and benefits. No one can tell me the CEO was shielded from that information. If he wanted to know, he could have known.

Thanks for the conversation.

[Rngmonster The God]

One of the people who was abused has already outted him as a liar. She contacted him to try and deal with some of the abuse she was going through and got in trouble for it.

Yeah since you can obviously trust anyone instantly in such cases.. gosh you are such a whiny man..

What an absolutely bullshit statement to make.

Does Morhaime seriously expect us all to believe that he didn’t know everything that was happening inside his company? Does anyone believe that nonsense?

And you still believe you would know EVERYTHING in a company of that size ? Really ? What an absolutely bullshit comment to make.

[Kolvarg]

Are we really going to imagine that Mike somehow didn't know how women were being treated with respect to harassment, pay, advancement and the rest? Please. It doesn't make any sense.

To be fair, we don't really know to what extent this happened. It happened to several women, but even at only 20% of the company that's still up to 2k women in ActiBlizzard nowadays, nearly 1k in Blizzard alone. Not to mention it happened over more than a decade and many other have since left the company. It's very possible the majority did not experience any of this, so it mithy not be broadly "how women were being treated at Blizzard" in general, but how these specific women were treated.

From some of the testimonies ex-employees gave, it seems it happened even with low-level management, which I can totally believe might not have reached the people above them.

Not saying it's not inexcusable, the whole thing should definitely be brought to light and everyone who was held back and/or harassed should receive compensation, with the prepretators held accountable as well as those who's job was to prevent these situations and failed at.

Just saying that even though the report makes it sound like a daily living hell for all women, it doesn't necessarily reflect the experience of all or even most women, most of the time - it might, but we don't really know.

[Skylarking]

Lore replies saying Mike knew all along

https://twitter.com/devolore

bruh this ship is sinking faster than titanic kekw

[ClassicPeon]

Anyone here unsubbed, because of this??

I hope noone here are such big sheep

- - - Updated - - -

The guy's worth half a billion dollars. Make it more than "just words" to the tune of say 100 million to women's groups and then we'll talk.

It always comes down to people just wanting moar moneh

[Saltysquidoon]

Yeah since you can obviously trust anyone instantly in such cases.. gosh you are such a whiny man..

Ah yes the man who ran the company currently under suit for 13 years has far less of an incentive to lie than an ex-employee who apparently no one (not even morhime in his response to her) has sought to impeach.

And you still believe you would know EVERYTHING in a company of that size ? Really ? What an absolutely bullshit comment to make.

When the complaint goes to culture that is a direct indictment on the executive, they set the culture. Further, members of the executive are the ones being accused.

Did he personally know of every instance of harassment? No. Did he know of at least one? Yes. Was he aware there was a greater issue at play? Maybe.

[Magical Mudcrab]

- If an employee has a one-on-one with CEO and is later subject to some sort of retaliation it seems logical to assume that the CEO started that chain of events.

Nevermind, we got some spicy new lore to add to the discussion that changes everything.

Just on this point, because I think the other questions regarding their culture and employment practices are more than fair. From what we know I don't believe there has been a case in which a 1-on-1 with Morhaime has led to retaliation. The instance with Cher was referring to CC'ing him on an email (primary recipient was not specified, but can be assumed to be HR given context clues from other tweets), which is why there's the confusion as to whether it was due to Mike or not. Cher appears to believe Mike was left in the dark about many of the problems at Blizzard and given the public backlash and discussion about Blizzard HR specifically, there's a question of whether or not Mike was being provided the full picture on how incidents were being handled (i.e.: if you trust HR and HR tells you they've handled the problem you will assume the problem is resolved, especially if no follow up occurs with the victim).

[muto]

To be fair at a certain point you get so far up the ladder you can't see everyone at the bottom anymore, it is true with all huge companies.

Yeah that's true. It's Human Resources job to deal with complaints not the CEO of the company. The people in HR could have been buddies with those guys that were getting complained about, and they just ignored the complaints, and went about their day. Either way everything still does fall on the CEO of the company whether or not he knew anything or not unfortunately, and this stuff was likely going on when Mike was there. There's already been people working for Blizzard that said they didn't know stuff like this was happening, so it was likely only some departments. I guess we'll know more as things unfold. A lot of people also probably didn't come forward out of fear of losing their jobs or being disciplined.