Employee Response to Bobby Kotick, Additional Information on Cosby Suite

[Schmittay]

Like the professional athletes have come out to say: they don't engage in that behavior (women in pro locker rooms have been there since the 1970s -- any athlete that engages in that sexist behaviors, will get called on the carpet -- it's bad for the game's image and tarnishes the want of pros that their sports are FAMILY appropriate. That they're not pariahs wanting to hit on underage kids and more).

Don't use that excuse to justify a woman committing SUICIDE over being trapped in a CULTure that demeaning and ugly.

All the women are coming out to express what they're experiencing under the corporate policies and CULTure there. It does NOT paint a pretty picture and goes miuch further than just "locker room talk".

THIS is very appalling and shows brainwashing occurred -- https://twitter.com/DaniBat/status/1419156967038271490...

I know exactly the kind of person she is describing. The kind of guy who annoys people (usually relentlessly) for a reaction and act surprised when the reaction isn't a laugh and pat on the back after they say "it's just a joke".

[Noobslayer]

WoW is about to be dead and done. Activision will step in and absolutely clean house. It is the perfect storm to give them full justification for realigning the mission statement for Blizzard. Cash shops here we come...hope you have your phones ready.

[Awsumpossum]

Never! All victims should always come out and be instantly believed, 100% of the time, and don't you DARE question anything about their story, don't you know how OFFENSIVE and TRAUMATIC that is?
Surely you don't wanna be offensive and cause trauma to poor victims, right? Right. Never question, just bend the knee, agree and shut up.
Oh and don't forget to sign that check.

Exact numbers on false allegations vary by source with most experts citing 2-10%. Here are the findings from a few different studies:

"A multi-site study of eight U.S. communities
including 2,059 cases of sexual assault found
a 7.1 percent rate of false reports (Lonsway,
Archambault, & Lisak, 2009)."

"A study of 136 sexual assault cases in Boston
from 1998-2007 found a 5.9 percent rate
of false reports (Lisak et al., 2010)."

"Using qualitative and quantitative analysis,
researchers studied 812 reports of sexual
assault from 2000-2003 and found a 2.1
percent rate of false reports (Heenan
& Murray 2006)."

I don't think anyone is suggesting that it doesn't happen, but this isn't a case wherein someone has made a claim and it hasn't yet been investigated. While it is true that the accusations haven't been fought in court, the findings are the result of a 2 year comprehensive investigation by qualified personnel. The likelihood that all these accusations are false, based on 2-10% false reporting metrics is near a statistical impossibility.

[MoanaLisa]

One of the good things to come out of this might be forcing their hands to do something about Ion's failure with his leadership and management of the game, and the stagnation of the company as a whole. This was a huge issue anyway, before all this lawsuit stuff broke. Watching Preach's video on why he's dropping coverage of WoW sums it up nicely - why be miserable for 8 or 9 months, when they don't care what the players say anyway?
People have been saying for a while now, new blood is needed for the leadership of the wow team. Ion I'm sure has a place at Blizzard somewhere, he's not without merit, he was just a bad promotion. And, he's not the only one making decisions that have been driving off customers. Overall I think the company needs fresh ideas and faces - if for anything to get new IPs going. They're basking on their reputation and cash shop whales. Well, were.

They have an opportunity here. We'll see if they take it.

Ion, lawyer that he is, I expect to see come out of this without any issues. I agree that his data-focused engineering approach to design has not worked well for the game. I don't know if it's enough to replace him (especially with the potential of a significant bloodletting in other teams).

One more thing about leadership: I don't know that Brack is the leader they need right now. But I do think that if Brack has any brains he's going to listen to those he used to work with and in a sense, let them lead him for a while. That may be the best practical solution. I don't know if there is anyone currently at Blizzard that's qualified to take over those responsibilities. While he is disliked by many here, it's his reputation within the company that matters. This all assumes that he won't be fired which is a very distinct possibility over his hand-waving on Afrasiabi. House cleaning at this level is never pretty. I expect this could possibly be worse than most.

The very worst solution in my eyes is Kotick sending a bunch of Santa Monica suits/outsiders down to Anaheim to run things. I don't think anyone is in the mood to deal with that.

They must, however, do something about their culture. Now is the best chance they will ever have. They should take it and run hard with it. I'd rather see people talking about where the company goes from here but there's a lot of nonsense happening here so I think I'll shut up and just watch developments. I'm not interested in seeing people slap each other around or idiots talking about communism and 'woke'.

It's been good to do a back-and-forth with you over the last couple of days.

[Berndorf]

WoW is about to be dead and done. Activision will step in and absolutely clean house. It is the perfect storm to give them full justification for realigning the mission statement for Blizzard. Cash shops here we come...hope you have your phones ready.

**** that. I washed my hands of Wow months ago and now I've probably washed my hands of Bliz as an entity for quite a while.

[Zolaris192]

this is beginning to sound less like a fight against workplace abuse and more like a communist manifesto

[Nimin]

Literally none of what you quoted is either 'Marxist' or 'Socialist'. It's the end result of a collective bargaining agreement.

Mmmh. Dividing people on racial lines, ragging on the "white male", arguments of "privilege", ragging on capitalism and treating the customers as crap for voicing dissent about the delays their "equity-based" realignment of the company will cause... smells postmodern neomarxist from a mile.

[Saltysquidoon]

No. Either it was okay and only up to them what they were doing in their spare time, or not (and I don't know if this is to be classified as normal spare time as it was apparently during an event they were working at.) But if it was okay then it's got NOTHING to do with accusations in regards of their workplace.

Blizzcon is a blizzard employee's workplace.
Feeling up a blizzard employee when you are a blizzard employee is a workplace issue regardless of venue in any case.

[Tooshie]

this is beginning to sound less like a fight against workplace abuse and more like a communist manifesto

With what kind of mental gymnastics are you able to pull communism into this?

[Explosivo]

this is beginning to sound less like a fight against workplace abuse and more like a communist manifesto

could you describe what part of the outlines that the employees requested involve any transfer of ownership? (i know you won't, because you can't, just like the person before you). watch you slither away now that someone asked you to provide support. starting to feel like there are just bad 4chan trolls in here

[TheRevenantHero]

this is beginning to sound less like a fight against workplace abuse and more like a communist manifesto

Tell me you don't know what communism is without telling me you don't know what communism is.

[Zolaris192]

Tell me you don't know what communism is without telling me you don't know what communism is.

assurance of equal outcome

[Sithalos]

I do sort of appreciate that ghostcrawler's entire contribution to that chat is that he's at the bar.

I'm sure Twitter will witchhunt him into oblivion anyway.

Virtue signalers gotta signal.

I kind of get the sense that Street was in the boys club because that was expected of all senior staff, but gradually edged his way out the door as he didn't like what he saw. I find it telling that he jumped, wasn't pushed, at a time when Blizzard was flying high. His departure was quite surprising at the time.

I got the same vibe. Most people won't think of it that way though. It's not socially convenient enough.

You don't earn any Woke Points by giving people the benefit of the doubt.

[Explosivo]

assurance of equal outcome

equal rights =/= equal ownership and profit rights
youre now telling us youre brain damaged without telling us youre brain damaged

- - - Updated - - -

What should I base my assessment of you off of though? All I've really gleaned from you so far is that people supporting the Blizzard workers who feel victimized are 'woke', which you seem to use in a derogatory way. And that if that leads people to express anger at Blizzard or not buy their products they are engaging in 'cancel culture'. That people shouldn't view harassment as a bad thing if it's all done in good fun.

If you have something different to add, something that would make me think "huh, maybe he's not so bad and actually has a point other than thinking people who complain are snowflakes", by all means, I would genuinely love to hear it.

...why are you guys still replying to this person? they are a lonely troll trying to bait people into conversation (probably doesn't have many people reaching out to them for personal conversation in their life and seeking it by being contrarian) and feeding it.

[Zolaris192]

i find it funny when people expect a genuine apology from a company in regards to morals

these people don't care about your rights or your feelings, money is the only motivating factor

the only genuine apology you'll ever hear from blizzard is written in chinese and addressed to the chinese government, who violates human rights every day

you think blizz gives a shit about the marginalized group of the month? they will remove all reference to their latest social justice cause from a game to appease their human rights violating overlords, their opinion matters, yours does NOT

this is why a company's feigned "moral compass" should not matter to you as a customer, the only thing that should matter is the quality of the product

vote with your wallet, that's the only language these people speak, half of the people on this website acting upset about this situation still login to wow every day, so save me the virtue signaling

[jellmoo]

Mmmh. Dividing people on racial lines, ragging on the "white male", arguments of "privilege", ragging on capitalism and treating the customers as crap for voicing dissent about the delays their "equity-based" realignment of the company will cause... smells postmodern neomarxist from a mile.

This is what was quoted:

The end of forced arbitration for all employees.
Worker participation in oversight of hiring and promotion policies.
The need for greater pay transparency to ensure equality.
Employee selection of a third party to audit HR and other company processes.

There's absolutely nothing about dividing people on racial lines, ragging on white dudes, arguments about privilege, ragging on capitalism or treating any customers like crap anywhere in there.

Nor is there anything involving Marxism or socialism.

- - - Updated - - -

You shouldn't be basing anything off of what I say, on a Mmo-champ fuckin forum, for one, I'm trolling the 99% of you that are responding to me.

Well then, consider your trolling successful. I award you 75 troll points.

[lichbane]

Here's what Blizzard will do. If you are unhappy, there's the door....... It is the mantra of all corporations

He's what customer's of good conscience will do. If we're unhappy, there's the door. That's the mantra if what to do with companies you're unhappy with, and that's EXACTLY what I've done.

And all that's left are toxic sociopaths, and that kind of gaming community is not the gaming kind of gaming community I want anything to do with.

[Zolaris192]

This is what was quoted:



There's absolutely nothing about dividing people on racial lines, ragging on white dudes, arguments about privilege, ragging on capitalism or treating any customers like crap anywhere in there.

Nor is there anything involving Marxism or socialism.

let me ask you

who do you think the people that wrote this voted for? because i would bet my next year's salary it was bernie

the same bernie that honeymooned in the USSR

the same bernie that praises castro

the same bernie that praises china's government (ironic this one)

the same bernie that wrote in his 1972 essay, wherein he explains that in his view, women fantasize about being raped by multiple men

the same socialist bernie

the same communist bernie

the same marxist bernie

[Doombringer]

I'm sure Twitter will witchhunt him into oblivion anyway.

Virtue signalers gotta signal.


I got the same vibe. Most people won't think of it that way though. It's not socially convenient enough.

You don't earn any Woke Points by giving people the benefit of the doubt.

With GC, one could make the leap that he was "getting along to get by" and participated because NOT participating would earn him a black mark among his peers.

Won't take away much of his complicity but he does seem more the type to only be at a party because he "should be."

[Explosivo]

let me ask you

holy shit you are reaching so hard. now convinced you are a troll. anyone replying to you after this is being baited. i'm sorry your life is so sad you have to troll people to get your daily social interaction