Activision Blizzard Commits to Expanded Workplace Initiatives, Lawsuit Updates

[rhorle]

Correct, but this will most definitely impact the State suit - you can't settle with the Feds for the same thing the State is suing you for, but tell the State 'We'll see you in court!".

It will probably be used in the state lawsuit but different rules do exist between state and federal. So you certainly can settle with the feds while still facing state charges. Different interests. Different motives.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

It's only been progressive 'woke' people who think "boys will be boys" means sexual harassment. Basically every other sane person on the planet means "boys will be boys" as in fighting and getting dirty.

But ya know, the progressive 'woke' people absolutely love their addiction to hate so... that won't change anytime soon.

What a sheltered life you must lead, let me guess you think its only ever used for children and hasn't been used to defend frats and young adults in general as well?

[Crazozourus]

People here listing few names of Blizzard employees that were let go, is there any evidence of the sexual harassment from their part? Except for JAB and Afrasiabi they weren't even listed in the lawsuit. Any one got a link that states that Barriga or other people were involved in the situation?

[luciano]

Lots of virtue signaling words in that memo.

Getting tired of progressivism in any form. Its a cancer on society and has only made people less free, less enabled, more dependent on government, more entitled, the list goes on.

Not a fan of any company using the word "inclusive" or any derivative of the word. Its a fake word that only is made to make a very very very tiny portion of the total world population feel good.

Them: We'll do our part to stop sexual harassment at work

You: OH MY GOD THE PROGRESSIVES ARE AWFUL

Just grow up already. FFS

[uuuhname]

Them: We'll do our part to stop sexual harassment at work

You: OH MY GOD THE PROGRESSIVES ARE AWFUL

Just grow up already. FFS

it really goes to show just how reactionary the gaming community is when they have to moan about "progressivism" in the context of people asking to be treated with even the bare minimum amount of respect. I wonder how these people even function in normal society.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

People here listing few names of Blizzard employees that were let go, is there any evidence of the sexual harassment from their part? Except for JAB and Afrasiabi they weren't even listed in the lawsuit. Any one got a link that states that Barriga or other people were involved in the situation?

Some are HR or adjacent leads who were likely to be found to not have done enough, others like Mcgree who are being Scrubbed from all games don’t have public info out on what they did but are guaranteed to be involved.

[Belize]

how the FUCK do you think this translates in a business setting?

I bet crawling on the floor drunk gets your knees pretty dirty, so boys will be boys, amiright

[Kralljin]

People here listing few names of Blizzard employees that were let go, is there any evidence of the sexual harassment from their part? Except for JAB and Afrasiabi they weren't even listed in the lawsuit. Any one got a link that states that Barriga or other people were involved in the situation?

Unless the harassed people take those individuals / Blizzard to court over it (which is unlikely if those accept the settlement) or those laid off will take their firing to court because they didn't do anything (which is unlikely), you're not going to learn anything unless someone spills the beans.

[uuuhname]

I bet crawling on the floor drunk gets your knees pretty dirty, so boys will be boys, amiright

like, I can imagine a bunch of dudes playing grab ass with each other in a body shop or some other blue collar job but, in an office? in a "professional" setting? I- I'm truly at a lose here.

[El Gucaragua]

Ya I’ll think I’ll pass taking phrase advice from any one who think all progressivism is a bad thing, what next are you going to try and convince me the civil war was about states rights?

It wasn't a bad thing, but now it's very visibly been twisted into something that's regressive.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

It wasn't a bad thing, but now it's very visibly been twisted into something that's regressive.

Ah yes dealing with sexual harassment, promotion and raise pass overs for woman/minority’s and other work place issues is so regressive!

[vincink]

it really goes to show just how reactionary the gaming community is when they have to moan about "progressivism" in the context of people asking to be treated with even the bare minimum amount of respect. I wonder how these people even function in normal society.

See, this is problem with many online debates: two sides argue right past each other.

You assume those who complain about "virtue signaling" must support a complete and total lack of accountability on the part of employees for their actions. On the other hand, the "they" (gaming community, anyone complaining about "progressivism") seem to think companies like Blizzard have been completely overrun by the goblins of far-left identity politics.

Neither of you are completely right or completely wrong.

Looking at the public responses Blizzard has provided indeed supports a conclusion that they are "virtual signaling". Virtual signaling is when a person or organization tries to display their righteousness by announcing their virtuousness either directly or incidentally. It's like when a person says, "I shop at <insert super moral retailer here that supports XYZ cause that is really important>" and their friend says "yes, and so do I." The friend is virtual signaling incidentally by quickly agreeing with their supposedly moral and respectable friend. It is often absent of any substance, however. Blizzard likely doesn't actually care about inclusion and diversity to the extreme degree that far left identity ideologues do.

Looking at now the inclusion of the SEC in this suggests there's something deeper within Activision-Blizzard that deserves attention. The more right leaning folks are quick to dismiss it based solely on the charge that Blizzard's public notes contain virtue signaling. That is not fair because if there are people who have genuinely suffered abuse and mistreatment because of employees who abused their authority, that definitely deserves investigation.

Rather than fighting this out by talking past each other, how about we wait to see what shakes out from the investigation. In the meantime, give some merit to claims that may not align to your particular political or social identity.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

like, I can imagine a bunch of dudes playing grab ass with each other in a body shop or some other blue collar job but, in an office? in a "professional" setting? I- I'm truly at a lose here.

It’s been a incredibly common thing since woman started working in office settings, mad men has a rather accurate showing of it and while it’s become less of an issue it’s still a huge one.

[uuuhname]

See, this is problem with many online debates: two sides argue right past each other.

You assume those who complain about "virtue signaling" must support a complete and total lack of accountability on the part of employees for their actions. On the other hand, the "they" (gaming community, anyone complaining about "progressivism") seem to think companies like Blizzard have been completely overrun by the goblins of far-left identity politics.

Neither of you are completely right or completely wrong.

Looking at the public responses Blizzard has provided indeed supports a conclusion that they are "virtual signaling". Virtual signaling is when a person or organization tries to display their righteousness by announcing their virtuousness either directly or incidentally. It's like when a person says, "I shop at <insert super moral retailer here that supports XYZ cause that is really important>" and their friend says "yes, and so do I." The friend is virtual signaling incidentally by quickly agreeing with their supposedly moral and respectable friend. It is often absent of any substance, however. Blizzard likely doesn't actually care about inclusion and diversity to the extreme degree that far left identity ideologues do.

Looking at now the inclusion of the SEC in this suggests there's something deeper within Activision-Blizzard that deserves attention. The more right leaning folks are quick to dismiss it based solely on the charge that Blizzard's public notes contain virtue signaling. That is not fair because if there are people who have genuinely suffered abuse and mistreatment because of employees who abused their authority, that definitely deserves investigation.

Rather than fighting this out by talking past each other, how about we wait to see what shakes out from the investigation.

no, I read what these people are saying. the people who from the get go have been admonishing what the outcome of these investigations into Blizzard have made it clear their issues are:
1) the sexual abuse allegations are spurious and not to be taken seriously.
2) any response to dealing with said sexual abuse allegations is wokism/progressivism and therefore bad.

I mean I'm sorry I'm not sure how else I'm supposed to read:

Getting tired of progressivism in any form. Its a cancer on society and has only made people less free, less enabled, more dependent on government, more entitled, the list goes on.

in the context of people being sexually harassed and see that as a valid position that should be taken seriously.

if they did what you're suggesting they're doing then there wouldn't be a problem, but that's clearly not the case.

I mean yes, OF COURSE Blizzard has been on a "virtue signaling" spree, that's obvious to anyone with working eyes. it's called PR.

[vincink]

no, I read what these people are saying. the people who from the get go have been admonishing what the outcome of these investigations into Blizzard have made it clear their issues are:
1) the sexual abuse allegations are spurious and not to be taken seriously.
2) any response to dealing with said sexual abuse allegations is wokism/progressivism and therefore bad.

And that's why I said that neither side is absolutely right nor absolutely wrong. There are conservatives who are quick to diminish complaints, but in the shadow of quick dismissals, people can suffer. Then there are liberals and leftists who say if a woman so much as makes a peep, she's right no matter her accusation and lack of evidence, and to question her is to contribute to the "oppressive" "patriarchy". They are the absolute ends of either side of the spectrum, neither of which are desirable.

I mean I'm sorry I'm not sure how else I'm supposed to read:


in the context of people being sexually harassed and see that as a valid position that should be taken seriously.

if they did what you're suggesting they're doing then there wouldn't be a problem, but that's clearly not the case.

I mean yes, OF COURSE Blizzard has been on a "virtue signaling" spree, that's obvious to anyone with working eyes. it's called PR.

The other way to read it is to consider the merit of the claim and not merely dismiss it. Has far-left ideology gone too far in places in our society? To answer that first figure out what is "far-left ideology"? Answer those questions, then ask, is it possible that it is overshadowing to some extent what has really happened at Blizzard? (To put it bluntly, are some people being falsely accused and have some suffered unnecessarily merely because of the accusation? And will that injustice be uncovered? Far-left ideology tends to sacrifice accuracy in order to exact justice.)

[Verdugo]

ah yes, the 3 'sacrificial lambs' that were let go recently, glad to see your maths is up to date and that 3 equates to 'a ton', understandable, as for general employees, there's been little to no change that has been documented ANYWHERE of lower ladder employees being fired over these issues, so try again.

There must be a big chunk of them still employed since they have to remove everything suggestive from the game, otherwise their primal brain would activate and they would jump at the first female form near their vicinity.

[uuuhname]

And that's why I said that neither side is absolutely right nor absolutely wrong. There are conservatives who are quick to diminish complaints, but in the shadow of quick dismissals, people can suffer. Then there are liberals and leftists who say if a woman so much as makes a peep, she's right no matter her accusation and lack of evidence, and to question her is to contribute to the "oppressive" "patriarchy". They are the absolute ends of either side of the spectrum, neither of which are desirable.


The other way to read it is to consider the merit of the claim and not merely dismiss it. Has far-left ideology gone too far in places in our society? To answer that first figure out what is "far-left ideology"? Answer those questions, then ask, is it possible that it is overshadowing to some extent what has really happened at Blizzard? (To put it bluntly, are some people being falsely accused and have some suffered unnecessarily merely because of the accusation? And will that injustice be uncovered? Far-left ideology tends to sacrifice accuracy in order to exact justice.)

sure, those liberals and leftist's exist out there, but they haven't been present here.... or at least haven't been as active in the conversation as those who, again, want to either ignore these sexual abuse allegations all together or think any attempt to fix the problems are just hollow virtue signaling and therefore a waste of time even trying to do something about it. or, take it a step further and say any attempt to fix the problem is worse than the problem itself.

no, I'm not obligated to consider the complete dismissal of trying to fix the toxic work environment at Blizzard with anything besides the same complete dismissal. like, I'm not interested in trying to meet people in the middle who clearly have no intention of doing so themselves. forget that. I have better things to waste my time doing.

say nothing of the fact this isn't a debate about left vs right.... this is about the very obvious toxic work environment at a business that needs to be fixed. I'm totally on board with keeping left Vs right politics out of this, tell that to the others...

[inafume]

TLDR; Blizzard makes some changes, the peanut gallery complains they are not enough or just for show.

[Martymark]

It’s been a incredibly common thing since woman started working in office settings, mad men has a rather accurate showing of it and while it’s become less of an issue it’s still a huge one.

I've been "sexually harassed" by women at many jobs. I never reported it of course, because I'm the sex that isn't allowed to.

[vincink]

sure, those liberals and leftist's exist out there, but they haven't been present here.... or at least haven't been as active in the conversation as those who, again, want to either ignore these sexual abuse allegations all together or think any attempt to fix the problems are just hollow virtue signaling and therefore a waste of time even trying to do something about it. or, take it a step further and say any attempt to fix the problem is worse than the problem itself.

Skimming through the replies, I have seen no replies outright saying that allegations of sexual abuse should be ignored. The person you originally quoted, Kalocy Jim, was remarking on their frustration about how Blizzard is using such empty words in the publicity. That does not mean Kalocy Jim was suggesting that the sexual allegations should be dismissed. To read that into what that person was saying is to be dishonest about what they said. That is why I said in an earlier reply that these conversations end up being two sides that talk past each other by accusing the other side of saying things they did not say.

no, I'm not obligated to consider the complete dismissal of trying to fix the toxic work environment at Blizzard with anything besides the same complete dismissal.

I didn't remove the possibility of firing employees. I did not dismiss the claim that Blizzard has a toxic work environment in some places or possibly everywhere. What I said in my first reply quoting you is that we should not be quick to jump to conclusions about what should be done before the facts are known. Personally, I think those who were fired did do wrong. But if my conclusion or yours are used to enact justice, how do could I ever possibly know if that justice (yours or mine) was right if I am judge, jury, and executioner and I do not wait for all the facts to be laid out clearly and debated? Those who enact a punish so quickly are to be feared the most. So that includes you and me if we settle on conclusions so quickly.

like, I'm not interested in trying to meet people in the middle who clearly have no intention of doing so themselves. forget that. I have better things to waste my time doing.

It's not about meeting in the middle. It's about find the facts of the case and enacting justice according to the wrongs committed according to the facts.

say nothing of the fact this isn't a debate about left vs right.... this is about the very obvious toxic work environment at a business that needs to be fixed. I'm totally on board with keeping left Vs right politics out of this, tell that to the others...

Unfortunately, it does end up becoming a left vs right discussion because in our highly polarized world, we all judge situations of injustice according to our preconceived (biased) ideologies. Presently, those ideologies align with ideologies of the left and right. And this where again the "talking past each other" comes into play: I am in fact arguing that we should recognize when our biases (ideologies) get in the way and push them out of the way so that we can see as objectively as we can. I don't think you and I ultimately disagree, but I do disagree with your approach. Choose to wait when you don't know everything.