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  1. #1

    Blizzard Entertainment Welcomes Jessica Martinez as Vice President Head of Culture

    Blizzard Entertainment Welcomes Jessica Martinez as Vice President Head of Culture
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    Blizzard Entertainment is excited to announce Jessica Martinez as our first Vice President, Head of Culture. This comes as part of our ongoing initiative to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace culture where people at every level can learn, grow, and bring their most creative selves to their work.

    Jessica and the Blizzard leadership team will be responsible for growing and implementing our culture strategy, ensuring alignment across all teams and functions, and revamping learning and talent development programs. Excited to champion change within the gaming industry, Jessica says “When you create a people-first environment where teams feel safe, valued, and work together toward a shared purpose, everyone thrives–the employees, the players, and the business.” To help achieve this, Jessica will lead the learning and development team, while working closely with communications, events, and each of the franchise and functional leaders.


    “Making the values of our connections show up in what we do is how we bring humanity back to business,” says Jessica, who will also be spearheading vital action plans to ensure our values are reflected in our day-to-day operations and organizational design, as well as help to level-up connections between Blizzard franchises while still celebrating the uniqueness of the teams that support them.

    Jessica joins Blizzard after more than 14 years leading strategy, communications, operations and employee experience at the Walt Disney Company, where she served as Chief of Staff and key strategic advisor to both the Chief Security Officer and the Chief Technology & Digital Officer for Disney Parks & Resorts. Beyond spearheading fundamental organizational change including leading the security integration for the 21st Century Fox acquisition, Jessica was best known for creating a values-driven culture that connected global teams and celebrated diversity.

    Jessica is also an avid skier, an active supporter of animal rescues, and a Little League Baseball Coach.

    Welcome to the team, Jessica!
    Last edited by Lumy; 2022-05-05 at 08:12 PM.

  2. #2
    I don't understand why this is important to me or the community as a whole. We don't know who she is, and we don't know what this means. Only her performance on the job will tell us that. I'm also not sure what the hell the "Culture" Department is supposed to be.

  3. #3
    Scarab Lord Razorice's Avatar
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    WTF is a Culture Dept.?

  4. #4
    WAT?
    10chars

  5. #5
    Bloodsail Admiral Mustardisbad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Razorice View Post
    WTF is a Culture Dept.?
    It makes me think of an HR department but somehow not?

    Probably a pretty sweet gig tho, congrats to her.

  6. #6
    I remember the times where no game developer cared for "equal", and "diverse" workplace. I have also read about them recently in Staats' book about early days of World of Warcraft and Warcraft III development.

    It was just sweaty nerds with lots of passion. There was no diversity departament, no culture departament, no queer departament, there were guys working their asses off and producing iconic games, like Warcraft II, Warcraft III, StarCraft, Call of Duty 2, Gothic, Neverwinter Nights...

    Now, you have "diverse" and "equal" work environments, spewing vile stuff like Warcraft Rumble, Shadowlands, or any other Battlefield2042-esque soulless games.

    Why can't we focus on quality again?

  7. #7
    Herald of the Titans Rendark's Avatar
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    Vice president head of culture... What does that even mean?

  8. #8
    Head Culture of Humans or Orcs ??

  9. #9
    Scarab Lord Razorice's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mustardisbad View Post
    It makes me think of an HR department but somehow not?

    Probably a pretty sweet gig tho, congrats to her.
    I mean it probably comes with a nice pay, so for sure a nice gig and congratz to her, but the Dept name makes no sense to me haha.

  10. #10
    its a job position with no real consequence to calm down the woke culture. Thats all.

  11. #11
    Another woman hired for diversity. If you only hire women, you'll get equality and diversity...

  12. #12
    Warchief Progenitor Aquarius's Avatar
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    I think she will be responsible for maintaining an organization's culture. That means ensuring all departments align with the organization's mission, vision, and values. Besides explicit behaviors, a culture department manages the mindsets and beliefs of a workforce. Anyways, I don’t get why do we need to know this. All we should care about is game content whether we will enjoy or not.

  13. #13
    So is she the vice President of Blizzard and Head of Culture or Vice President of the head of culture?
    If the latter, then who's the president of the head of culture?

    Reminds me of an old Simpsons gig where Homer founded his own company and gave him Junior Vice President as title.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Radeghost View Post
    I remember the times where no game developer cared for "equal", and "diverse" workplace. I have also read about them recently in Staats' book about early days of World of Warcraft and Warcraft III development.

    It was just sweaty nerds with lots of passion. There was no diversity departament, no culture departament, no queer departament, there were guys working their asses off and producing iconic games, like Warcraft II, Warcraft III, StarCraft, Call of Duty 2, Gothic, Neverwinter Nights...

    Now, you have "diverse" and "equal" work environments, spewing vile stuff like Warcraft Rumble, Shadowlands, or any other Battlefield2042-esque soulless games.

    Why can't we focus on quality again?
    Imagine thinking that mobile games are the fault of diversity.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Jester Joe View Post
    Imagine thinking that mobile games are the fault of diversity.
    I referred to the overall quality.

  16. #16
    Can't they hire people who do... I don't know... check if their games quality is top notch? Maybe then we could have avoided disasters like WC3:R

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Cloudmaker View Post
    Anyways, I don’t get why do we need to know this.
    It's Blizzard news, this is a Blizzard fansite.

    If it weren't reported, the question would be "Why is MMOC burying this news?", just like with the recent non-reporting of Blizzard's dismal earnings statement.

    It's not like anyone was required to read the article after noting that the headline showed them something they were not interested in, so this question of yours seems more like bitching about something you don't like rather than a genuine lack of understanding.

  18. #18
    The Unstoppable Force Lorgar Aurelian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Radeghost View Post
    I remember the times where no game developer cared for "equal", and "diverse" workplace. I have also read about them recently in Staats' book about early days of World of Warcraft and Warcraft III development.

    It was just sweaty nerds with lots of passion. There was no diversity departament, no culture departament, no queer departament, there were guys working their asses off and producing iconic games, like Warcraft II, Warcraft III, StarCraft, Call of Duty 2, Gothic, Neverwinter Nights...

    Now, you have "diverse" and "equal" work environments, spewing vile stuff like Warcraft Rumble, Shadowlands, or any other Battlefield2042-esque soulless games.

    Why can't we focus on quality again?
    Ya they didn’t have any of those departments and they then harassed, passed over, and assaulted woman and minority’s under them for years leading to multiple multi million dollar law suits.

    Really makes you think.
    Last edited by Lorgar Aurelian; 2022-05-05 at 08:45 PM.
    All I ever wanted was the truth. Remember those words as you read the ones that follow. I never set out to topple my father's kingdom of lies from a sense of misplaced pride. I never wanted to bleed the species to its marrow, reaving half the galaxy clean of human life in this bitter crusade. I never desired any of this, though I know the reasons for which it must be done. But all I ever wanted was the truth.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Radeghost View Post
    I referred to the overall quality.
    One of which was a mobile game, another which wasn't even made by Blizzard OR Activision, and the last which isn't even worse than WoD.

    It's absolutely ridiculous to try to pretend that this has something to do with diversity. Bad games will be made either way. This whole idea of "focus quality first!" is just a roundabout way of continuing the same kind of hate that caused the lawsuit in the first place.

    Which, mind you, the lawsuit that caused a huge moral crash at Blizzard and impacted the quality of Shadowlands quite a bit. The lawsuit that also, after they started to get back up again, resulted in the Blizzard that's actually actively responding to feedback on Dragonflight already, and quickly made movements to improve QoL in Shadowlands itself.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Radeghost View Post
    I referred to the overall quality.
    I can't believe women ruined video games!

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