Activision Blizzard Shareholder SOC Letter, Diablo II: Resurrected Early Access

[Clozer]

if we promote equal representation, shouldn't we take the ratio of who studies the job as a metric?
if 70% of people who study game dev are male, then the natural result would be that 70% of game devs are male.
same with all other jobs.

if 10 apply, and you must hire 5 men and 5 women, but there are 7 men and 3 women, does that mean the 3 women get a free pass?

If they are equally skilled, they should yes. Studies have shown that hiring based on such a practice results in better workplaces producing more creative solutions. People in those industries work in groups, having a lot of different opinions and approaches will result in overall way better solutions. So giving under-represented groups a better chance is better for everyone.

[FelPlague]

Replace Kotick with basically anyone and nothing will change. Ceo is a Ceo is a Ceo. They all have to by nature of the job put profit first, profit second, profit third. They have to find ways to make more profit while they eat, drink shit and sleep.

Real change won't happen in the board room. It comes voting in people that will fight these businesses in DC and state capitals. As well as capitals around the world.

This is the thing, kottick has little to nothing to do with any of this, everyone says "he only cares about profit' which is true, but that is a good thing, cause usually the thing that makes the most profit, is things players want, and having a sexual harassment scandal like this DOES NOT MAKE PROFIT.

i doubt kotick knew about ANY of this, because if he did he would have snapped at them saying "fix that shit, i dont want to be hit with a multi million dollar fine, and i dont want our stocks dropping"

Kotick has been amazing for the companies profit wise, go look at activision/blizzard stocks over the years, and go back to 2013 when he started, it fucking sky rockets.


dudes a cunt, but he is a cunt who is very good at making money, and likes profits, and usually people who like profits, will make sure things are happening that will give them more profits, like dealing with stuff like this.


if we all give mike morhaime a pass (cause aparently everyone is...) even though it happened for more then a decade under him, somehow Hr intervened any messages sent to him about the issue, there is no way kottick knew.

[Bloomer]

"We need more diversity, guys! And more inclusion!"
Yeah, that'll fix everything

[Super Kami Dende]

We believe that to ensure smooth operations and a strong reputation going forward, Activision Blizzard should commit to the following changes:
Increase board diversity and equity by adding a woman director – preferably one with a history of advocacy for marginalized people and communities - by the end of 2021, committing to gender-balance on the board by 2025, and reserving at least one board seat for a nominee selected by current employees as their representative.

Ahh yes, just what a Videogame company needs, Activists in the top roles and forced diversity.

[Very Tired]

it was not because he supported pro-democracy protests, many people said these things on their own streams, their own channels, etc with no reprecussions, one of them even being paid to come to blizzcon and do the Q&A.

it was because he hi-jacked their live stream to give his message.

Would you be ok with a guy whos winning speech is about how trump is right and its all fake news and the earth is flat and this and that?

Yeah one is real, the other is hilariously sad, but if you say "people have this right" you have to give everyone the right, cause if you shut down the trump supporter, the right will say you only did so cause hes right wing.

its all or nothing, and a video game stream, people want video game chat, not political.

Seeing how Blizzard themselves reinstated the player, apologized to him, and apologized publicly at Blizzcon, it seems like even they themselves aren't on your side of the argument, so its a strange hill to die on.

And let's not pretend millions of people in China protesting for basic human decency is at all equivalent to some cultists spreading dunked conspiracy theories. We're better than that.

[regardoz]

So if there is a man with 15 years old experience , and a woman with 4 years experience , then Blizzard will pick the woman? wtf guys this is not equality

if it is abusing woman its in inequality , if it is not fair for men you say its justice , comon guys you guys in the west are destroying your own self

[tru]

So I mean as a company they should still hire the best candidates. You care force a hire just to be equal it whatever metric.

Im going to hire you because you are a woman and we need more

I cannot hire you because you are a man

It just creates more problems. Hire skilled people whether they tuck in or out, purple or orange and make em do their job. I mean are you gonna sit there and compare a NBA team roster to Nascar?

Black White
Man Woman
Girls in boy scouts

This F* generation

[mojusk]

equality is great but fuck equity, thats some marxist bullshit.
you should get paid for your work, and get hired because you have the best quilifications, being a man or a woman is not a extra qualification, certainly not a make or break qualification.
the rest of the letter i agree with 100%

[Lorgar Aurelian]

progressive/activist types will not allow you to have a "different opinion" you will be accused of sexism or being toxic and so on

have you noticed how ugly all the female characters in shadowlands are
i guess not 1 dev in the whole company thought there should of been nice looking characters added

Fortnight a kids game has better looking characters then WoW

https://i.imgur.com/xCpQKzH.png

Why would you use the race based off Nosferatu in any looks comparison? There not meant to be hot if you want something like that look at overwatch skins not the Nosferatu race.

[Clozer]

progressive/activist types will not allow you to have a "different opinion" you will be accused of sexism or being toxic and so on

Not sure if you are trolling. This is such nonsense, you must be trolling.

have you noticed how ugly all the female characters in shadowlands are
i guess not 1 dev in the whole company thought there should of been nice looking characters added

Fortnight a kids game has better looking characters then WoW

I have never seen a woman fighting in a plate bikini in my history books before. Why is a more realistic depiction of a female character a bad thing? Male characters are also not shown running around in underwear, which makes no sense, once again. If you want to see skin, you should google something else.

[arkanon]

progressive/activist types will not allow you to have a "different opinion" you will be accused of sexism or being toxic and so on

Not sure if you are trolling. This is such nonsense, you must be trolling.

Interesting how quickly that was proven.

[Peggybundy]

There once was a time when people were hired because they were the best for the job. Now people are hired based primarily on how many boxes the company can check with talent and skill being secondary. No wonder the products/service they provide are turning to shit.

[Clozer]

yep...

cant really blame them most of them are brain washed

but this is why so many of the older Blizzard staff members are bailing watch more and more of them quit even though it has nothing to do with the current drama

current drama can just be used as an excuse to bail

- - - Updated - - -



almost all women i play with want their characters to look attractive and complain that there is not much choice when it comes to sexy transmogs

i keep telling my little sister (age 24) to put pants on her cloth characters but she refuses zzzz

Not sure what your sister's desire to make her character sexy/naked has anything to do with any of this. Imagine they had put Bolvar in a Bikini. Why is it different with female characters? Why are there so many unattractive male characters? Why are they not fighting in underwear? Sexism!!11!!!1!!

[Drynix]

if we promote equal representation, shouldn't we take the ratio of who studies the job as a metric?
if 70% of people who study game dev are male, then the natural result would be that 70% of game devs are male.
same with all other jobs.

if 10 apply, and you must hire 5 men and 5 women, but there are 7 men and 3 women, does that mean the 3 women get a free pass?

Going with a ratio equal to what is studied would be better yeah. I have worked in a place where they introduced a "minimum female % workforce and a female leader" rule. It resulted in the most toxic enviroment for woman ever. It didn't matter how well suited the female employees were, since the workforce is not part of filling the vacancies all they know is "You are here because we needed a minimum female %, not because you were the best pick".

It makes for a horrible toxic place and of the employeed female workforce a solid 30% left within 2 years, if not more. People should be picked on who is the best fit for the position. And since gender plays no role in being the best fit eventually when enough females start signing up for positions now that they can form a carreer more easily compared to 30 years ago it will even out eventually in most employement fields. For now, if you hire fresh people and the ratio of people getting a degree is skewed then by that logic the employement rate will be skewed the same way.

Ofcourse this would be better if gender wasn't even part of soliciting for a job but the recruiters just getting the resume of people without name/gender and then just picking what is the best fit from those and go with interviews from there. This does ofcourse spark the discussion that some of the best employees in certain fields are the worst at writing their resume and you ditch those early. But that is already happening with the current procress aswel.

[Clozer]

There once was a time when people were hired because they were the best for the job. Now people are hired based primarily on how many boxes the company can check with talent and skill being secondary. No wonder the products/service they provide are turning to shit.

It's the opposite right now. This is why they are changing it now. You tried tho.

[LeftyDPS]

All this complaining about about quota based hiring killing off wow.

It won't kill off wow if done properly.

There is a simple way of resolving this: blind hiring.

This is done by one of the big four accountancy firms. The hiring team never know the name or gender or any defining details of the person until they are at the final stage of recruitment. By then they are highly likely to already have an opinion on who to hire based purely on the information provided, answer to any questions or assessments and by reviewing their CV.

The majority of hires are decided before the final interview happens for these kind of roles based on all this information anyway.

And to people saying they will hire people with less experience because of quota, frankly that's a load of shit. Having hired numerous people myself, length of service means Jack, you go by the quality of experience not quantity.

[TehTemplar]

...

Quotas and prioritizing what people look like over their expertise is what already killed Blizzard. This is just the epilogue.
Also, claiming that quotas don't impede hiring the most qualified person is just a load of bs - if they were the most qualified person they wouldn't need a quota, now would they?

[Clozer]

not sure if you noticed but there are a lot of half naked men running around this expansion with budging muscles

it has nothing to do with sexism its just about oppression they don't want choice they don't want other opinions

"they they they" who is "they"?

people still link the video of the woman complaining about characters looking sexy form 10 years ago... then trying to say the dev's are bad people because of it

Do you realize that you are part of this? You blame the developers for making female characters not sexy enough for your taste. You are part of the people that you criticize.

[Northelim]

The amount of racism and sexism that letter is filled with is on absolute insane levels. Do these degenerates not see the hypocrisy in their own writing? I hate these activists with a passion.

Hiring someone based on race or gender alone is extremely prejudice and just flat out racist to begin with.

[exsanguinate]

Increase board diversity and equity by adding a woman director – preferably one with a history of advocacy for marginalized people and communities - by the end of 2021, committing to gender-balance on the board by 2025, and reserving at least one board seat for a nominee selected by current employees as their representative.

I don't know if that is a good idea. Strictly against this when it only serves for gender balance and nothing else. People shouldnt get hired based on their gender.