Blizzard Employee Letter to Leadership, Other Responses to Lawsuit

[Tortuga234]

Kind of the same way I dont give a fuck about starving children in Africa. Like ya it sucks, and its way worse than sexual harassment at some company in California, but im not gonna spend much time thinking abt it. Neither of us will do anything abt any of it anyway lol

They rarely care about real issues in the world. They cry about abuse from the comforts of their homes from their PCs \ phones etc. while there is actual violence in the east. It is so easy to feel abused, harrassed etc. when you live a comfortable life of boredom in a 1st world country. So convenient.

[Nachtigal]

What do you suggest be done

Well, I don't think anything needs to be done right now. There's an investigation going on, for awhile now. It's in the spotlight now so they can't avoid it. Stand by and make sure that the people that need to be handled, are handled. If I recall, they recently fired Kael'thas Sunstrider's voice actor for harassment, didn't they? So it seems they ARE capable and willing to take the steps to correct behavior... We don't know who all is left at Blizzard who has been a victim, and to sink the company they've endured these things for might not actually be helping them. That said - if the investigation is concluded and nothing happens as a result.. THEN there's actual reason for people to be upset with Blizzard.

Right now, it's mostly hatemongering from people who have been upset with the direction the game took, and they're using this event as fuel for the fire they've been so desperately trying to light. It's not very nice to the victims who went through it for their situation to be used this way. We just don't know what's going on at Blizzard. We don't. We just know something happened.

[Zmagoslav]

No one is going into an interview to say that. It’s the whole point. And blackballing means you’re fucked before you even enter the interview. Go read up on it. I don’t have time to educate people on basics.

Oh, i know what blackballing is, i just wanted to see whether you could elaborate your point...
Well apparently you aren't anymore; glad i could assist you with that.

[Pheraz]

Yeah and the gaming industry is made from same type of people but older generation so when you put these individuals in positions of power... Well, we are seeing where it leads, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Luckily we live in an era where these things are taken more and more seriously and fortunately all the male right activists and similar losers are a vocal but inevitably dying breed.

Yes if the human species wants to survive it needs to transcend from toxic masculinity. Also shoot asteroids and stop to kill our planet but yeah, you get my point

[Soikona]

If you don't "give a fuck" about people suffering abuse and one going as far as committing suicide, you're a piece of shit as a human being. Plain and simple.

Oh please get off your high horse. I do charity for people with Alzheimer’s, and volunteer at suicide hotline. If you really cared, you would do more than just type words on a website.

[kranur]

Am I the only one that thinks Blizzard has reached yet a new low, by using their own internal failures to advocate and try to somehow justify their incompetence on the game development?

Using the lawsuit (their own shot in the foot) as an excuse for the 9.2. delay is just.... out of taste.

Well one of their seniors just tried to shift the blame on the customers expecting the content they paid for instead of admitting management incompetence of which we're well aware of.

The only low left is to make a new tweet and admit they don't give a crap about players anyway.

[Tooshie]

Oh please get off your high horse. I do charity for people with Alzheimer’s, and volunteer at suicide hotline. If you really cared, you would do more than just type words on a website.

You sound like a person who shouldn't be nowhere near a suicide hotline with your aggressive, half-assed assumptions. As impressive as your resume looks (really, respect if you're not full of shit) I'm not gonna give ammunition to the whingy idiots and derail this topic into a pissing contest between samaritans.

[stoffe]

i paid for a 6 month sub like 1 month before all this come up into light. That was probably my first and last time i paid for so long sub in advance. Lesson learned.

[Nubpwn]

Seems like most victims already left the company one way or another. All that is left is sex abusing leadership , material for worst designer in gaming history aka Ion and specimens like Klontzas that lash at customers.

This is just plain false and outright disrespectful to the women still employed at Blizzard. YOU are part of the problem as to why these women feel so terrified about coming out with these allegations. What woman would dare come out with allegations when people like you come out of the woodwork to claim women like her already left the company? A damn brave one I can tell you that, you should be ashamed of yourself.

[StillMcfuu]

We don't know that is the case that *they did nothing*.

It's possible to witness or know of something bad that happened, and notify the proper authorities with the expectation that your report is being handled and carried through.

That the authorities did nothing to investigate the problem is not the responsibility of the one who reported the incident. That these allegations are coming out and people are coming out to confirm these reports is simply what it is. We can't assume either way that they are complicit in inaction, or if they genuinely did something and are expressing frustrations at nothing having been handled. It could be either scenario.

So far the broadest picture being painted is that the top people were in the know, and that HR was intentionally covering things up and complicit in gaslighting. The responsibility isn't squared in the hands of the employees, regardless of their knowledge of the situation. Even if we did know, they technically aren't the ones responsible to changing the system if HR was actively covering it all up.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. For things like this to happen, everyone is complicit. People coming out and "confirming" is more proof that everyone was complicit in what was happening. The Lawsuit puts it as "a culture" and names "meeting taking over maternity rooms" and events like cubicle crawls. This requires everyone to be aware of what's happening and them being ok with it. Which means that the only complaints are coming from the people who were most negatively effected, and no one spoke up for them to put a stop to the behavior.

Even in the sense that let's say its only Afrisabi, everyone saw it and saw the way he treated people and were OK with it because "he's a good worker". These things don't happen in a vacuum, they happen for the world to see.
The whole "people afraid for their jobs" is a cop out. No HR is going to fire someone for getting in an altercation (verbal or physical) with a person actively breaking the law. Blizz would have been sued for wrongful termination and their nonsense would have been dragged out in court years ago if that were the case.

[BrintoSFJ]

Yo continue to prove him right. Nothing has been proben and nothing that has been alleged comes anywhere close to rape. And calling the company rapists is flat out absurd because the company never raped anyone. Calling someone an apologist is further of of what he said too.

And you people continue to prove me right with your corporate apologist mentality.

saying you sound psychotic and like the type of person that would shoot up a place is an understatement. get help, you sound sick and mentally unwell.

I am angry and my post perfectly implies that. Only a complete lunatic would think that I am sick and mentally unwell.

[thilicen]

And you people continue to prove me right with your corporate apologist mentality.



I am angry and my post perfectly implies that. Only a complete lunatic would think that I am sick and mentally unwell.

Here's you on page 24:

"A whoreson who is shirking responsibility and deflecting it to others to make himself look cool on the internet. If I were to find him in person, I would have bashed his head on a wall until his brain flushed out. He has been in leadership position for years and now acting like the allegations have nothing to do with him. Go figure what kind of trash he is."

You are the very definition of psychotic if you think murdering a person over his wording of a fucking tweet is ok. Simple as that. And calling people out as "defenders of rapists" for not being ok with that further proves it.

[StillMcfuu]

No. The attitudes that allow it to fester are the ones that create an environment where it's not safe for them to speak out.

People talk when they feel like it's safe to. There's safety in numbers. Now that the dam has broken, you're seeing countless stories pouring out.

Being afraid of losing your livelihood or facing retribution doesn't mean you're "okay with the behavior." It means you're effectively being coerced into remaining silent.

The stories pouring out are from people who saw it and did nothing because the behavior was "ok" in Blizz.

People are talking now because they feel guilty, not safe. Guilt is motivating them and they are attempting to choose a side to assuage guilt from them. But they are no less complicit.

There is no such thing as safety, and sometimes doing whats right requires a sacrifice and a harder path. They said nothing because they didn't want to rock the boat, because its easier for them to not speak up. I'm sure plenty of the signees also took part in these "cubicle crawls" and what not.

Enabling people by giving them an excuse to not speak up is a massive issue. They need to take responsibility.

[Soon-TM]

No, actually we should complain if there is a delay. But not about the devs, we should complain about management. If a company is so abhorrent on the inside that they can no longer properly work, and no manager feels like fixing it, then a complaint about that management is actually required.

Exactly this. Getting mad at the workers because of this "development break" (so to speak) would be missing the forest for the trees. It was management who let all of this crap happen in the first place, either through active participation or at least willful negligence. It is them who should be being lit a fire under, NOT workers.

[Tamurello]

OMG yawn already, everyone involved has buggered off from the company already, sick of all this wokist crap

important thing is outlaw rogues need a buff

[Tooshie]

OMG yawn already, everyone involved has buggered off from the company already, sick of all this wokist crap

important thing is outlaw rogues need a buff

I hope that some day you get mistreated and instead of support you have people telling to stop with "wokist crap". Actually scratch that, I don't hope it for you. But perspective could do you good.

[DingDongKing]

Oh, i know what blackballing is, i just wanted to see whether you could elaborate your point...
Well apparently you aren't anymore; glad i could assist you with that.

You didn’t assist with anything. You played dumb for no other reason than to engage in a bad faith conversation. Good job. This entire thread has such choice examples on why people think less of gamers. The lack of empathy is stunning.

[uuuhname]

Well the criticism of video games and circulation of comments from 10 years ago really is taken in aggregate with everything else the West is currently going through so yeah that's a pretty dumb take there mate

this doesn't answer my question but okay. I wasn't really excepting you to lol.

[Ihavewaffles]

Here's you on page 24:

"A whoreson who is shirking responsibility and deflecting it to others to make himself look cool on the internet. If I were to find him in person, I would have bashed his head on a wall until his brain flushed out. He has been in leadership position for years and now acting like the allegations have nothing to do with him. Go figure what kind of trash he is."

You are the very definition of psychotic if you think murdering a person over his wording of a fucking tweet is ok. Simple as that. And calling people out as "defenders of rapists" for not being ok with that further proves it.

obviously he is just talking passionately n don't really mean that, calm ur concerns lucy, or it's rather that ur happy u got that part to deflect blizzard with??

[Khahirr]

Lol. Lmao. The amount of whales in this thread justifying freezing development of a product people pay 15 a month for is incredible. You people will eat up any shit gaslighting blizzard churns out. This blaming the customer bullshit has gotten so completely tone deaf and tired. It really gives insight as to the mindset of the people running the company. It's no wonder they treat their employees like this if they're so used to these sociopathic tactics. The company is doomed. The game is doomed. This has been many years coming. Both WoW and Blizzard will not recover from this. It is obvious why the original executives jumped ship now.

The only thing that will remain is Activision. They have won.