Blizzard Entertainment Welcomes Jessica Martinez as Vice President Head of Culture

[Azadina]

Going to school counts as professional experienced and companies always overstate the needs for their positions. It's obnoxious. Are you not applying to places because of that? Just apply.

I've often wondered if it really pays off, for some companies to inflate the requirements to sometimes ridiculous degree. They're missing on those motivated and hardworking people who won't overinflate their own accomplishments, who may be very near the exact requirements stated. How many applications of people overqualified do they receive, versus those who are very underqualified compared to the first group, but just happen to be completely shameless liars exaggerating their own skills and qualifications (and end up poor to mediocre employees). I've seen so many of the latter category, it's maddening.

[Aydinx2]

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.

So you just spent a lot of words complaining that you didn't understand something.

[NineSpine]

Way ahead of you on that front. If I don't apply to places, they're either asking for more then 3 years of professional experience, require several pieces of software I've never heard of, much less used, or have some other sort of condition that would ultimately result in immense discomfort in, or out of the workplace.

That's the mistake. Ignore those requirements.

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Good bit of personal anecdote and ad hom. Classy.

But this is not mundane. It's a pattern of them wasting millions upon millions of dollars on nonsense. None of which will actually improve their business, again because it's redundant: HR, Culture, Equity and Dviersity. So now they have three salaries going toward nothing that the end consumer gets.

People complain about development being mismanaged and losing content they want. Now the company is wasting our money on bullshit.

The company is spending money on things that are required to keep talent.

Let's look at a timeline here:

1. Game quality is good.
2. Company is run by a bunch of bros that allows a culture of harassment.
3. Game quality goes down.
4. Harassment is exposed and the company tries to change course.
5. You blame #4 on why #2 happened.

Your whole logic here requires time to flow backward. You are delusional if you think developers, who are in insanely high demand right now, are interested in working at companies that don't have positive cultures. You think people want to work at places with no values and no consistency, and that is delusional and at odds with everything we know about the industry. Developers flock to companies that have good cultures, undeniably.

[Jester Joe]

So by that logic, OW's high viewership during the beta key giveaway is effectively moot, as it's less a game thing than an event thing.

Are you actually trying to discuss what I'm saying, or are you trying to strawman?

The high viewership shows that people wanted to play the beta. That has been my point from the start. That there is millions of people, or at least a million, that were interested in trying the beta enough to watch streams to do so.

The declining relevance of OW in the eyes of modern gaming, combined with the clown fiesta that was OWL, Blizzard's tanking reputation, and OW2 commonly being viewed as a glorified update patch do make me skeptical of longer-term success. Time will tell either way, though.

Side note: Not sure how I would have rose-tinted glasses for a game that I've never even played.

The declining popularity you mean because the game hasn't had any new content since they focused work on OW2.

The "clown fiesta"...? I'm sure you meant success but okay. The only real joke there was the drama with xQc.

And people's ignorance doesn't mean anything, because anyone who's calling it a "glorified update" has literally no idea what they're talking about and can safely be disregarded as such.

[Dudenoso]

And people's ignorance doesn't mean anything, because anyone who's calling it a "glorified update" has literally no idea what they're talking about and can safely be disregarded as such.

I don't actually play Overwatch so I don't really have a horse in the race either way. Please treat this as an honest question made in good faith.

From an outside perspective it does look like a glorified update. Could you please explain to me why it isn't so?

if you think developers, who are in insanely high demand right now, are interested in working at companies that don't have positive cultures. You think people want to work at places with no values and no consistency, and that is delusional and at odds with everything we know about the industry. Developers flock to companies that have good cultures, undeniably.

I earn a living by programming and doing a bunch of stuff related to that. Can confirm that generally speaking people in the field wanna go work for places with decent culture (aka non-stupid work environment).

A fat paycheck, or a company that looks good on your CV overrides that - see how Amazon isn't burning to the ground due to lack of developers wanting to work there, despite having huge issues with retention.

Game companies are known to rely on nerds being passionate about it and are generally speaking god-awful places to work since said nerds will put up with the crap if they get to make games. Which is the main reason I'm not a game developer myself, despite game development being lots of fun.

[EverDash]

Translation: "Our company has been under fire lately for how we treated female employees. So we created a YAY ALL WOMEN department (but called it something a little less obvious), and now we're handing positions left and right to women mainly because they're women - not because they're more or less qualified than other people. Please be proud of our progress."

[Jester Joe]

I don't actually play Overwatch so I don't really have a horse in the race either way. Please treat this as an honest question made in good faith.

From an outside perspective it does look like a glorified update. Could you please explain to me why it isn't so?

What's currently on the beta is just the basic PvP changes, one new character, and one new game mode on one map. They've already said that there will be more new characters at launch to begin with, and that there's more for them to do. This beta just piggybacks off of the OW1 files even so it can get the test out faster to players.

The real kicker though is, to repeat it, this is the PvP changes. Those are going to be free to everyone who has OW1 even, so if all you care about is the PvP you can stick with OW1 and still be fine.

OW2's actual content is supposed to be basically a campaign mode. PvE with customizable perks for characters along with a huge amount of missions from what they claim at least. Which is possible it might not be as great as they're setting it up to be, but the issue isn't that really. It's moreso that people are somehow leaving out that OW2 is actually the PvE content which we haven't seen anything past the first initial wave of information about.

[NineSpine]

I don't actually play Overwatch so I don't really have a horse in the race either way. Please treat this as an honest question made in good faith.

From an outside perspective it does look like a glorified update. Could you please explain to me why it isn't so?



I earn a living by programming and doing a bunch of stuff related to that. Can confirm that generally speaking people in the field wanna go work for places with decent culture (aka non-stupid work environment).

A fat paycheck, or a company that looks good on your CV overrides that - see how Amazon isn't burning to the ground due to lack of developers wanting to work there, despite having huge issues with retention.

Game companies are known to rely on nerds being passionate about it and are generally speaking god-awful places to work since said nerds will put up with the crap if they get to make games. Which is the main reason I'm not a game developer myself, despite game development being lots of fun.

That well has really dried up on the game development side. They are starting to approach parity with other low-to-mid-level tech companies.

As far as lack of developers at Amazon goes, their products reflect the types of developers they attract. Their products have horrible interfaces, are not user friendly at all, and AWS in particular is one of the most incredibly difficult to use tech products that has ever existed. It's successful because those types of developers are awful at the aforementioned things and great at brute technical power. That's not the type of developers that make good video games, so its a moot point appealing to them.

[Dudenoso]

What's currently on the beta is just the basic PvP changes, one new character, and one new game mode on one map. They've already said that there will be more new characters at launch to begin with, and that there's more for them to do. This beta just piggybacks off of the OW1 files even so it can get the test out faster to players.

The real kicker though is, to repeat it, this is the PvP changes. Those are going to be free to everyone who has OW1 even, so if all you care about is the PvP you can stick with OW1 and still be fine.

OW2's actual content is supposed to be basically a campaign mode. PvE with customizable perks for characters along with a huge amount of missions from what they claim at least. Which is possible it might not be as great as they're setting it up to be, but the issue isn't that really. It's moreso that people are somehow leaving out that OW2 is actually the PvE content which we haven't seen anything past the first initial wave of information about.

Thanks, I see your point.

Must be a shitshow having to do the marketing campaign for OW2 (PvE, with OW1 PvP included if you don't own it already) given OW1 (PvP).

I would have bought OW originally if it had a more traditional campaign mode, I'll keep an eye on it when it launches

[Chilela]

Are you actually trying to discuss what I'm saying, or are you trying to strawman?

Bringing up streamers as a viewcount bringer borders on non-sequitur territory.

The high viewership shows that people wanted to play the beta. That has been my point from the start. That there is millions of people, or at least a million, that were interested in trying the beta enough to watch streams to do so.

Presuming that everyone was doing it specifically for a shot the beta, and that there isn't a possibility of keys just being sold (I will admit ignorance on how exactly the giveaways worked, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some way of doing so). OW2 will still probably be reasonably successful, just nowhere near what OW1 pulled out.

And going back to the original point that started all of this, there's still no sufficient proof that OW has, or likely will, have the same degree of influence on the industry as a whole as the IPs mentioned previously. I'd put it more on par with Diablo, which was also a highly successful franchise, but didn't significantly alter the trajectory of the industry.

The declining popularity you mean because the game hasn't had any new content since they focused work on OW2.

That's one factor, yes. One could also point to the OWL pushing the game's design decisions in a direction that would alienate some.

The "clown fiesta"...? I'm sure you meant success but okay. The only real joke there was the drama with xQc.

I definitely recall interest declining after Season 1, and while it was a moderate success in its own right, I'm not sure it entirely matched the original vision in terms of scope.

And people's ignorance doesn't mean anything, because anyone who's calling it a "glorified update" has literally no idea what they're talking about and can safely be disregarded as such.

As I understand it, OW2's major updates are a PvE mode, character reworks, and an extra PvP mode. Seems fairly glorified update-y to me.

EDIT: Per your post made after I started working on this one, that seems to be the general gist. As it stands, it doesn't change my view on the matter.

[NineSpine]

Translation: "Our company has been under fire lately for how we treated female employees. So we created a YAY ALL WOMEN department (but called it something a little less obvious), and now we're handing positions left and right to women mainly because they're women - not because they're more or less qualified than other people. Please be proud of our progress."

If you are surprised that an HR hire was a woman... well let's just say it doesn't speak well to how in touch with reality you are.

[Daronokk]

When Blizzard remains more focused on their public image over delivering quality content then you know what you're going to get as customer.

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If you are surprised that an HR hire was a woman... well let's just say it doesn't speak well to how in touch with reality you are.

I'm pretty sure the Dragonflight announcement being 80% women talking gives it away. He's got a point, women are getting positions just because they're women. Which is textbook discrimination.

[Linkedblade]

That's the mistake. Ignore those requirements.

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The company is spending money on things that are required to keep talent.

Let's look at a timeline here:

1. Game quality is good.
2. Company is run by a bunch of bros that allows a culture of harassment.
3. Game quality goes down.
4. Harassment is exposed and the company tries to change course.
5. You blame #4 on why #2 happened.

Your whole logic here requires time to flow backward. You are delusional if you think developers, who are in insanely high demand right now, are interested in working at companies that don't have positive cultures. You think people want to work at places with no values and no consistency, and that is delusional and at odds with everything we know about the industry. Developers flock to companies that have good cultures, undeniably.

It's takes actual workers to make a culture. You can't just hire some rando who fled another piss poor company to somehow magically create culture. Yes I can blame #4 because the allegations were bullshit. The people that were mentioned were already termed or left the company. And the CA state government and "Equity" boards just shoehorned in to take money from Blizzard. And this is just another hire that continues it.

Imagine having to cater to these fucking lunatics because someone said some crude things in a private group chat years ago.

[HansOlo]

When Blizzard remains more focused on their public image over delivering quality content then you know what you're going to get as customer.

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I'm pretty sure the Dragonflight announcement being 80% women talking gives it away. He's got a point, women are getting positions just because they're women. Which is textbook discrimination.

Not really.

Women or men - even different races, religious/sexual backgrounds contributes to diveristy. Diversity encourges people.

The lack of women in charge, was the main reason for these people went 'bros' to start with.

But I get it - it's annoying when companies are showing off.

[NineSpine]

It's takes actual workers to make a culture. You can't just hire some rando who fled another piss poor company to somehow magically create culture. Yes I can blame #4 because the allegations were bullshit. The people that were mentioned were already termed or left the company. And the CA state government and "Equity" boards just shoehorned in to take money from Blizzard. And this is just another hire that continues it.

Imagine having to cater to these fucking lunatics because someone said some crude things in a private group chat years ago.

Yeah, sure, it was all a big conspiracy theory despite the hundreds of pages of evidence presented, virtually none of which Blizzard contended was untrue.

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I'm pretty sure the Dragonflight announcement being 80% women talking gives it away. He's got a point, women are getting positions just because they're women. Which is textbook discrimination.

It was less than 50% women in that video, and most of the women were from departments we see women strongly represented in game studios, like art. One of the panels didn't even have any women on it. This is such a "tell me you have a creepy issue with women without telling me you have a creepy issue with women" moment.

[arkrend30]

A lot of woke blue haired femanaz!s on this thread. Man this cry wolf movement is ruining society and everything of joy.

[Linkedblade]

Yeah, sure, it was all a big conspiracy theory despite the hundreds of pages of evidence presented, virtually none of which Blizzard contended was untrue.

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It was less than 50% women in that video, and most of the women were from departments we see women strongly represented in game studios, like art. One of the panels didn't even have any women on it. This is such a "tell me you have a creepy issue with women without telling me you have a creepy issue with women" moment.

Not a conspiracy theory, it's conspiracy fact. Do you not believe that this happened/is happening?

[NineSpine]

Not a conspiracy theory, it's conspiracy fact. Do you not believe that this happened/is happening?

Yeah a conspiracy 'fact", tell me more about Californias fake suit against Activision that they didn't bother to fight, and then we can talk about the lizard people ruling the world.

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It's takes actual workers to make a culture. You can't just hire some rando who fled another piss poor company to somehow magically create culture. Yes I can blame #4 because the allegations were bullshit. The people that were mentioned were already termed or left the company. And the CA state government and "Equity" boards just shoehorned in to take money from Blizzard. And this is just another hire that continues it.

Imagine having to cater to these fucking lunatics because someone said some crude things in a private group chat years ago.

Ah yes, a "rando" who was chief of staff and advisor to the CTO of "piss poor" Disney, the largest and most wildly successful entertainment company on the planet. Crazy that she "jumped ship" after *checks her linkdin*... 14 years at the company.

[Linkedblade]

Yeah a conspiracy 'fact", tell me more about Californias fake suit against Activision that they didn't bother to fight, and then we can talk about the lizard people ruling the world.

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Ah yes, a "rando" who was chief of staff and advisor to the CTO of "piss poor" Disney, the largest and most wildly successful entertainment company on the planet. Crazy that she "jumped ship" after *checks her linkdin*... 14 years at the company.

It's not fake, it's bogus. And what were they supposed to do but capitulate? Spend years and the even more money fighting the case that the CA govt would end up winning anyway because of ambiguous legislation and terrible judiciary? I'm surprised there are any business left in CA at this point.

Yes, check her linkedin and see she has no skills other than "communication." Doubt she has anything to do with the success of anything Disney ever did. xD

[NineSpine]

It's not fake, it's bogus. And what were they supposed to do but capitulate? Spend years and the even more money fighting the case that the CA govt would end up winning anyway because of ambiguous legislation and terrible judiciary? I'm surprised there are any business left in CA at this point.

Yes, check her linkedin and see she has no skills other than "communication." Doubt she has anything to do with the success of anything Disney ever did. xD

She has a masters degree and rose from analyst all the way up to the level of chief of staff to the CTO at the most successful entertainment company in the world.

I'm sure your resume is much more impressive.