fran townsend steps down from abk, still at Activision-Blizzard

[aceperson]

https://www.shacknews.com/article/12...womens-network

Just wanted to spread the news mostly. though i do have to ask, why the heck was a torture activist hired as a chief compliance officer or to a video game company? there isn't even any kind of overlap of relevant experience.

Mod Note: Edited title to be "Activision-Blizzard" rather than "Blizzard" due to that the is the company name and how it relates to the whole company rather than a small section.

edit: it has come to my attention the title and post are slightly misleading. townsend stepped down from the abk women's network specifically.

[Zyky]

For clarity she is not "at" Blizzard, she's at Activision Blizzard. Very different for the sake of the debate that's going to happen.

[druchii5]

Crazy how many employees have since "stepped down" or "exited" Blizzard in the last month. Very strange to read about, albeit disheartening. Hopefully it's ultimately for the best I suppose.

[thottstation]

The harrasment campaign at reddit worked.

They really, really hate women in tech.

[Chickat]

The harrasment campaign at reddit worked.

They really, really hate women in tech.

Thats BS and you know it.

[Soon-TM]

The harrasment campaign at reddit worked.

They really, really hate women in tech.

She wasn't being harassed because she was a woman, she was being harassed because she is a literal torture apologist and because her performance in this entire fiasco has been... let's say that less than stellar. But hey, nice attempt to get woke points by defending such a piece of human !@#$.

[aceperson]

For clarity she is not "at" Blizzard, she's at Activision Blizzard. Very different for the sake of the debate that's going to happen.

i know that but saying or typing activision blizzard is too freaking long. i'd rather be lazy in this case.

[Skirdus]

The harrasment campaign at reddit worked.

They really, really hate women in tech.

I find this terribly funny considering how Fran - a woman herself - is one of the only people at Blizzard actively challenging the discrimination lawsuit and essentially serving as a sexism apologist

[druchii5]

Have you been under a rock for the past few weeks or something? Do you not understand what's happening?

No need to get aggressive about it. Yes I've been following what's been going, and I'm not surprised this happened. It's just sad to see a company I've been familiar with since my childhood crumble so quickly.

[Grax]

She wasn't being harassed because she was a woman, she was being harassed because she is a literal torture apologist and because her performance in this entire fiasco has been... let's say that less than stellar. But hey, nice attempt to get woke points by defending such a piece of human !@#$.

If she'd played for the other political team, you'd be singing a slightly different tune. Just to be clear, I wasn't happy with Townsend (or the Bush administration) when it was current news.

[Berndorf]

No need to get aggressive about it. Yes I've been following what's been going, and I'm not surprised this happened. It's just sad to see a company I've been familiar with as a kid crumble so quickly.

I wouldn't say its crumbling. It's doing what it pretty much needs to in order to survive. I mean it's obviously taking a big black eye pr wise but this is the reality of what goes on at a lot of gaming companies that they weren't willing to honestly look at and take any steps to curb. Eventually it comes home to roost.

[rhorle]

i know that but saying or typing activision blizzard is too freaking long. i'd rather be lazy in this case.

Either way it is still misleading. Since she stepped down from the company women's network where she was "executive sponsor". It really isn't newsworthy nor impacts her job duties. If you were lazy you could have literally copied the articles own headline.

[Egomaniac]

If she'd played for the other political team, you'd be singing a slightly different tune. Just to be clear, I wasn't happy with Townsend (or the Bush administration) when it was current news.

If she'd played for the other political team... she wouldn't be in the mess she's in.

[MoanaLisa]

If she'd played for the other political team, you'd be singing a slightly different tune. Just to be clear, I wasn't happy with Townsend (or the Bush administration) when it was current news.

Believe it or not there are a ton of independents in the world who were disgusted with the Bush era torture stuff. Townsend was involved in that, toured Abu Ghraib, and essentially approved of all of it. Unless you're one of those "If you're not a Republican you must be a liberal" people it's good to keep that in mind. Independents may outnumber either party at this point. Which is fine.

[Raven]

The harrasment campaign at reddit worked.

They really, really hate women in tech.

Yeah funny how people upset that women got harassed at Blizzard, had no problem with harassing a women, sure she is a really terrible human being and i wished she never joined Activision Blizzard but harassing is still harassing.

[Egomaniac]

Yeah funny how people upset that women got harassed at Blizzard, had no problem with harassing a women, sure she is a really terrible human being but harassing is still harassing.

There is a difference between harassing a woman because she's a terrible human being and harassing a woman because she's a woman.

[Trend]

Believe it or not there are a ton of independents in the world who were disgusted with the Bush era torture stuff. Townsend was involved in that, toured Abu Ghraib, and essentially approved of all of it. Unless you're one of those "If you're not a Republican you must be a liberal" people it's good to keep that in mind. Independents may outnumber either party at this point. Which is fine.

There was a pretty big difference between what the policy was and what the actual implementation was. Are you educated about that or do you just lump everything you heard together? One can definitely use that as an exhibit for why such policies shouldn't be approached with a ten foot pole, but nonetheless I think very few people are outraged because of the policies as they were actually written.

I think the lady in question is a tool, and I'm not defending her per se. I just dislike it when people take facts only known afterwards and load them back into original intent. It's just very false.

[druchii5]

Didn't think I was being aggressive, sorry. This comes as no surprise though after the shit-show she put on when this lawsuit came to light. I agree though it's super sad I remember as a kid one of my first ever all-time favorite SNES games was the death and return of Superman.

All good, no worries! Yeah at this point, I need to stop being surprised about any news that will continue to come to light regarding all this. It is what it is.

I wouldn't say its crumbling. It's doing what it pretty much needs to in order to survive. I mean it's obviously taking a big black eye pr wise but this is the reality of what goes on at a lot of gaming companies that they weren't willing to honestly look at and take any steps to curb. Eventually it comes home to roost.

A fair point indeed. I do hope the company is able to survive and operate in a decent manner again.

[Relapses]

A fair point indeed. I do hope the company is able to survive and operate in a decent manner again.

Blizzard is in no way shape or form in any danger of being dethroned, crumbled into nothingness or anything of the sort. This is Blitzchung 2.0. In three months, people will barely remember this whole thing. It get that it feels uneasy now while we're smack dab in the thick of it but this is something Blizzard needs to work out internally and no amount of Twitter/social media grandstanding will have much of an impact on the ultimate outcome. (Restructuring of management within the company, outwardly facing commitments to "improve diversity," and Bobby Kotick in the business of people who've gone a long time without him being in their business.)

[Beastiel]

Yeah funny how people upset that women got harassed at Blizzard, had no problem with harassing a women, sure she is a really terrible human being and i wished she never joined Activision Blizzard but harassing is still harassing.

That's fucking retarded.