A Letter From CEO Bobby Kotick Regarding Progress and Commitments Made at Acti-Blizz

[Orby]

So you agree that the logic you have is extremely silly?

My logic is very sound because now I can play loads of other games from companies who don't treat their women like shit and developed by develops who don;t shit talk their fan base online. I am having a gay old time.

[alturic]

Ah yes. Let's focus on hiring more women, and non-binary folks, instead of just hiring the best human being for the job, regardless of their sex or sexual identity.

Do you want to know how you can cause a massive drop in the quality and efficiency of your product and or services? Do what Blizzard is now doing. Catering to a mob is absolute fucking madness.

I'm all for fixing sexual harassment issues in the workplace, they need to be fixed and addressed, but immediately, not 10 years down the road. Once you start hiring less qualified workers because you need to meet a quota based on nonsense, you've fucked up. Hiring Xy over Yx because of their biological sex or sexual identity, instead of their merits or work ethic or skill, you've fucked up.

These people are going to cater to the mob, and their quality, which is already on a decline, is going to get even worse.

And before any of you jump the gun, none of this is stating that females or people who identify as something other than their biological sex aren't good workers or skilled workers. It's stating that when you make an effort to appease ideologies in your hiring practices, it 100% causes declines in overall quality. There just aren't enough "skilled" folks as it is in this field, but now you're only going to hire certain ones?

This might be what finally kills Blizzard. Legit.

But you see, to the 'flakes/woke crowd (unsure if they are all the same, but they are to me), that is exactly what they expect. They have this weird demented thought process that businesses - especially large ones - would hire a man over a women 'just because'. Or wouldn't hire the better candidate because they had a penis, got it removed, and now consider themselves a female. They think businesses like to hire the lesser skilled workers while at the same time, wanting them to hire... lesser-skilled workers.

[Sariengrey]

blah blah blah blah is all I hear

[Kel_Sceptic]

You will get flammed to hell for this comment. I agree with you, but just to make sure we are on the same page the reason I fucking utterly despise shit like this.

It literally means a.) they purposely went out of their way to NOT hire people in X categories, even if they were a better candidate or b.) they will purposely go out of their way to hire more people in X categories to appease the 'flakes.

Both of which are garbage.

Exactly this. There were no women declined from any jobs there, because they were women. So why enforce 50% women ?

[Gadzooks]

Bobby is fine. He is board member of Coca Cola company anyway.

Financially? Sure. He won't ever miss a meal or struggle to pay bills ever again.

But he may not have an office in Santa Monica in the future. This isn't just about money.

We'll see, that's my take.

[Valhalladin]

Been playing this game since 2007. I've played through bad expansions, bad patches and all the store mount controversies and all the other bullshit systems, all because I love the core gameplay and the heart of the game itself. Now it's being replaced by this woke bullshit it's time to call it a day. #WowUnsubbed

[ReD-EyeD]

Financially? Sure. He won't ever miss a meal or struggle to pay bills ever again.

But he may not have an office in Santa Monica in the future. This isn't just about money.

We'll see, that's my take.

Are you actually worrrying about his morals? Thats new for me.

[alturic]

My logic is very sound because now I can play loads of other games from companies who don't treat their women like shit and developed by develops who don;t shit talk their fan base online. I am having a gay old time.

I know there's obviously no reasoning with you (a la Trump voter) but the logic is extremely silly.

Boycott a company because ~0.001% (at approximately 10,000 employees at Blizzard) of their employees are accused of treating women like shit?

With logic like that, you might not want to spend your money anywhere because you go looking at any company and you will find employees are various levels having issues you apparently boycott a company over.

[Drynix]

I would be so scared to work at blizzard under that zero tolerance thing. Sometimes its really really hard to know where the lines are since the lines are different for each person. So it might be pretty easy to get something thrown against you which might cost your head.

An example from personal experience, a little over a year back a female colleague of mine entered my office area. I noticed she was wearing a new dress. So I simply said that I liked the new dress and said she looked good in it. In my eyes it wasn't a very bad thing to say, a simple compliment.

A week later there was a letter in my mailbox with a warning from HR telling me to refrain from unwanted flirting with other colleagues. Ever since I havn't given a single compliment on the way anyone was looking or dressed.

If I was working a blizzard that would have costed me my job, simply saying that you notice someone wearing something new and saying it looks good on them while then proceeding on your own work.

[Gadzooks]

Are you actually worrrying about his morals? Thats new for me.

How on earth did you go from financials to morals? Are you trolling? Because you make no sense at all. I haven't discussed or even implied anything about Kotick's morals, other than being a greedy, vindictive shitbag? And worrying? Did you even read anything I wrote, and in a few minutes after I posted made up a whole scenario in your head about what I posted, based on literally fantasy?

[Orby]

I know there's obviously no reasoning with you (a la Trump voter) but the logic is extremely silly.

Boycott a company because ~0.001% (at approximately 10,000 employees at Blizzard) of their employees are accused of treating women like shit?

LOL where did that even come from? How did you get to that? If I was a Trump voter I am pretty sure I'd be calling all the accusations against Blizzard fake news and something about grabbing 'em by the pussy. Something Blizzard and Trump have in common.

Also I am not even American I couldn't even vote for Trump. You'd better off saying I was a Boris voter which would also not not be true... but at least it would be more consistent. xD

[agentsi]

But you see, to the 'flakes/woke crowd (unsure if they are all the same, but they are to me), that is exactly what they expect. They have this weird demented thought process that businesses - especially large ones - would hire a man over a women 'just because'. Or wouldn't hire the better candidate because they had a penis, got it removed, and now consider themselves a female. They think businesses like to hire the lesser skilled workers while at the same time, wanting them to hire... lesser-skilled workers.

I agree. But I think the folks asking for these changes, don't understand the situation themselves, at all. For example. I'm the operations manager at my company, and I handle all of the hirings. When I need IT/Server/Networking techs and Tape techs, all the time. If I was forced to use the practices Blizzard is trying to impose on themselves, I would never be able to hire anyone. It is a male-dominated field, there are times I never get any-non male applicants out of thousands. Even when working with headhunters or temp agencies, I only get males 99% of the time.

Blizzard is obviously different, and they have more folks from all walks of life to choose from, but it is still a mostly male field. IT, Server, Programming, Design, etc in the Video game world. They will have no choice but to take less qualified, lesser-skilled individuals if they are to stick to their plan.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

a wall of text. dont have to read to know it's bullshit... you're being carried by your visual art and artistic talent [music, VO, sfx, etc] teams..

[Daronokk]

So now Blizzard wants to be the super wokest gaming company there is? Yeahh.... that's it, I'm done with them. Good luck with that.

[Orby]

So now Blizzard wants to be the super wokest gaming company there is? Yeahh.... that's it, I'm done with them. Good luck with that.

I think its all PR... recruitment will go on as normal. I been in companies that have done similar marketing but nothing has changed, its ther eto just lure minorities that they want you to at least apply, so they can say, how much they have had come to them. Personally considering Blizzard reputation as of late and the accusations and call outs, most women and LGBTQI+ wont even wanna work for them. As a Bi/pan guy I would have loved to have worked for Blizzard once, but they can fuck right off now xD

[Gangresnake]

This is very clearly a message to the investors first, reassuring them that he's taking the PR of the company seriously. And that he'll increase """diversity""" to appease game journalists and twitter creatures.

As for the players, they get to buy another mount. Lucky them.

Gotta see the positive : This basically confirm that wow is going F2P soon.

[Powerogue]

I mean it sounds like the goals people were asking for, let's see how that goes. I want to see this going on internally and getting the content train rolling again.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Exactly this. There were no women declined from any jobs there, because they were women. So why enforce 50% women ?

One of the claims of the lawsuit was that woman(and minority’s) were passed over for higher level jobs pay raises promotions ect even when they were more qualified.

[alturic]

LOL where did that even come from? How did you get to that? If I was a Trump voter I am pretty sure I'd be calling all the accusations against Blizzard fake news and something about grabbing 'em by the pussy. Something Blizzard and Trump have in common.

Also I am not even American I couldn't even vote for Trump. You'd better off saying I was a Boris voter which would also not not be true... but at least it would be more consistent. xD

Oh, I didn't insinuate you were a Trumper. I was saying there's no reasoning with Trumpers. There's no reasoning with your logic of boycotting a company or product because of the *accused* actions of ~0.001% of their employees.

[Nalam the Venom]

It scares me that someone as high up in a company as this care for a meme term like "non-binary" that the twitter mob use's to feel special.

It really is not those people you should cater towards.