Afrasiabi left Blizzard?

[Makabreska]

When Gazillion Entertainment's CEO was accused of multiple sexual misconduct allegations. Disney pulled the rights to use the Marvel IP for their game titled "Marvel Heroes"

The company quickly went bankrupt, servers closed, everyone on the team lost their job overnight with iirc no compensation package of any kind and no severance.

Reading material

Reddit - MAU3 - All About Dave Dohrmann (Well-Documented Sexual Predator & Former Gazillion "Marvel Heroes" CEO) https://www.reddit.com/r/MAU3/commen...mented_sexual/

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ally-shut-down

Diff situation this time. They aren't relying on 3rd party corp, so they can do a "self-cleaning", and we all know how these go.

[rogoth]

So...any guesses what's going to happen with all those Afrasiabi references?

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Alex_Afrasiabi

After all, if history is anything to go by, Sexual allegations = bye bye ingame references / npc's

the biggest problem is, he wrote himself into so much of the game that if they want to do a scorched earth policy on 'his stuff' they would remove half the game, as he was the main quest designer, main story lead, he has countless things (toys and pets etc) with references to him, it's not like the kael'thas incident where they could just rerecord the lines with a different VA and drop them in like for like replacements, it would take years of development time and work to rename/remove and replace all the stuff associated with this fuckwit.

[Kralljin]

Yes, but I'm pretty sure Blizzard have known the entire time. If they remove the references now it just seems hypocritical to me.

No, not removing them is hypocritical, considering in the cases of Quinton flynn (original Kael'thas VA) and Swifty, they removed them, before anything was confirmed.

Of course, in both cases, none of the allegations turned out to be true yet Blizzard didn't re add them to the game.

[Makabreska]

No, not removing them is hypocritical, considering in the cases of Quinton flynn (original Kael'thas VA) and Swifty, they removed them, before anything was confirmed.

Of course, in both cases, none of the allegations turned out to be true yet Blizzard didn't re add them to the game.

That's pretty normal behaviour TBH. Corps tend to insta drop potential hot potato.

[korijenkins]

Maybe he's been involved in some #metoo stuff grabbing colleagues asses or something that forced him to leave and Blizzard sweeping it under the rug tp avoid bad publicity right before upcoming release of Shadowlands?

Given recent developments, it's insane that this was proposed all the way back in November.

[Kralljin]

That's pretty normal behaviour TBH. Corps tend to insta drop potential hot potato.

Except this time.

the biggest problem is, he wrote himself into so much of the game that if they want to do a scorched earth policy on 'his stuff' they would remove half the game, as he was the main quest designer, main story lead, he has countless things (toys and pets etc) with references to him, it's not like the kael'thas incident where they could just rerecord the lines with a different VA and drop them in like for like replacements, it would take years of development time and work to rename/remove and replace all the stuff associated with this fuckwit.

Talking about references to his name, not replacing his actual work.

[munkeyinorbit]

The front page has a post about it and links to an article discussing it. The website is not trying to hide it. It is just trying to keep rule breaking responses/stuff to a minimum.

This is BS. Did you see the thread for the latest WFR? Two thirds of the posts there broke the rules and there was barely an infraction. In my opinion only posts that the mods don't like get punished while others that do the exact same thing but the mods agree with get nothing.

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Which is buried in its post, a post which will disappear from the front page long before this discussion dies down in the larger community. And I've seen discussions get much worse and go on for much longer before getting closed down, when they were relevant - I don't want to get specific and derail but I'm looking over at that politics subsection. I don't really think it's a conspiracy, I'm just frustrated by the heavy handed reaction.

It's not heavy handed, it's an uneven hand.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

the biggest problem is, he wrote himself into so much of the game that if they want to do a scorched earth policy on 'his stuff' they would remove half the game, as he was the main quest designer, main story lead, he has countless things (toys and pets etc) with references to him, it's not like the kael'thas incident where they could just rerecord the lines with a different VA and drop them in like for like replacements, it would take years of development time and work to rename/remove and replace all the stuff associated with this fuckwit.

Nah dude they'll just run his name through an anagram generator to make a new name again.

[Asrialol]

Doesn't that usually happen fairly quickly if it happens? He left a year ago and they are still present.

People didn't really know until now. If Blizzard removed his shit a year ago, it'd cause a shit storm. The irony.

They're really bad at handling bad shit happening, lol. Usually they're the cause of that bad shit..

[Magical Mudcrab]

I'm genuinely disappointed at the moderators for closing down all the threads about the ActiBlizz lawsuit. The excuse that it 'veers into forbidden topics' is pathetic. If that happens then just delete the damn posts, because what you're doing now looks a lot like covering up for some unforgivable behaviour, even if that's not your intention.

I'm sure the reasons are genuine, but given the website's connection to the Blizzard Gear store (via the affiliate program) it comes off as worse than it probably is.

[Clbull]

"This profile is not available."

I think Afrasiabi knows he's in serious trouble.

[Video Games]

People didn't really know until now. If Blizzard removed his shit a year ago, it'd cause a shit storm. The irony.

They're really bad at handling bad shit happening, lol. Usually they're the cause of that bad shit..

Im really looking forward to the apology at blizzcon. "We're sorry, anyway diablo immortal is out today!!!"

[Egomaniac]

I'm not a liberty to disclose that information, especially with a lawsuit starting, until the lawsuit is over I can't divulge that information.

Probably shouldn't have said it 3 months ago then....

[Kathranis]

which post exactly was just garbage insults and not actually informative that i complained about exactly?


and how did u know?

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interesting point i never thought about
who is old blizz team actually know and/or embraced that behavior? or at least was ok with it?
rose-tainted glasses need to be removed, corruption that degree is no way not known by old higher ups... or it can (hopefully) and i'm wrong?

There's no way that group didn't know about it. Afrasiabi was in that same inner circle along with Metzen, Brack, Samwise, Kaplan, etc. He was one of the faces of the game, always up on stage, doing interviews, appearing in the bts featurettes, etc., going back to Classic and BC.

And he switched over to Titan along with Metzen and Kaplan, before that project floundered.

Makes me a bit concerned about Jeff "Tigole Bitties" Kaplan, too. They seem to have kinda been a pair ("Tigule and Foror"), both coming to WoW from the EQ community. Kaplan's exit was also abrupt and rather unceremonius, and like Afrasiabi he hasn't been snapped up by any other studios yet.

Hope the concern is unfounded. No mention of any shady shit on the OW team, which also had a lot of new blood.

[LordVargK]

"This profile is not available."

I think Afrasiabi knows he's in serious trouble.

He already left Blizzard last year. There's no trouble for him anymore; he made millions and did nothing he could be sued for. It's probably hard for him to get a new job, but if he invested his money wisely, he won't need to work another day in his life.

[Zyky]

Probably shouldn't have said it 3 months ago then....

Firstly, 8 months ago . Secondly, I can disclose information if there's no case happening. I wasn't under a nondisclosure and there wasn't an active lawsuit happening where I've been contacted by an attorney to be told that I might receive a subpoena to testify.

[Asrialol]

Im really looking forward to the apology at blizzcon. "We're sorry, anyway diablo immortal is out today!!!"

Kek. You know, I've played wow since release. Loved the game. Only recently I've stopped playing, mostly due to irl stuff. But with everything that's happening at Blizzard lately, the FF14 rivalry drama (?), I can't help but feel that shit is about to do down. I was going to stop giving a shit about wow, Blizzard, but I can't help but feel that I want to really see what's going to happen going forward.

I'll cherish the memories and friendships this game has given me, though. Shame it would end like this.

[Musicman835]

There's no way that group didn't know about it. Afrasiabi was in that same inner circle along with Metzen, Brack, Samwise, Kaplan, etc. He was one of the faces of the game, always up on stage, doing interviews, appearing in the bts featurettes, etc., going back to Classic and BC.

And he switched over to Titan along with Metzen and Kaplan, before that project floundered.

Makes me a bit concerned about Jeff "Tigole Bitties" Kaplan, too. They seem to have kinda been a pair ("Tigule and Foror"), both coming to WoW from the EQ community. Kaplan's exit was also abrupt and rather unceremonius, and like Afrasiabi he hasn't been snapped up by any other studios yet.

Hope the concern is unfounded. No mention of any shady shit on the OW team, which also had a lot of new blood.

Absolutely. Looking at this section of the complaint, it seems to have been an ongoing issue.

"47. In a blatant example of Defendants' refusal to deal with a harasser because of his seniority/position, Alex Afrasiabi, the former Senior Creative Director of World of Warcraft at Blizzard Entertainment, was permitted to engage in blatant sexual harassment with little to no repercussions. During a company event (an annual convention called Blizz Con) Afrasiabi would hit on female employees, telling him he wanted to marry them, attempting to kiss them, and putting his arms around them. This was in plain view of other male employees, including supervisors, who had to intervene and pull him off, female employees. Afrasiabi was so known to engage in harassment of females that his suite was nicknamed the "Crosby Suite" after alleged rapist Bill Crosby. Afrasiabi would also call females derogatory names at company events. Afrasiabi's conduct was known to Blizzard Entertainment's executives, who took no effective remedial measures. J.Allen Brack, President of Blizzard Entertainment, allegedly had multiple conversations with Afrasiabi about his drinking and that he had been "too friendly" towards female employees at company events but gave Afrasiabi a slap on the wrist (i.e. verbal counseling) in response to these incidents. Subsequently, Afrasiabi continued to make unwanted advances towards female employees, including grabbing a female employee's hand and inviting her to his hotel room and groping another woman."

[rhorle]

Makes me a bit concerned about Jeff "Tigole Bitties" Kaplan, too. They seem to have kinda been a pair ("Tigule and Foror"), both coming to WoW from the EQ community. Kaplan's exit was also abrupt and rather unceremonius, and like Afrasiabi he hasn't been snapped up by any other studios yet.

Mr. Kaplan was given an official blog post to mark the departure so it couldn't have been anything like Mr. Afrasiabi.

[LordVargK]

Kek. You know, I've played wow since release. Loved the game. Only recently I've stopped playing, mostly due to irl stuff. But with everything that's happening at Blizzard lately, the FF14 rivalry drama (?), I can't help but feel that shit is about to do down. I was going to stop giving a shit about wow, Blizzard, but I can't help but feel that I want to really see what's going to happen going forward.

I'll cherish the memories and friendships this game has given me, though. Shame it would end like this.

Maybe it's a catharsis. Some fresh blood wouldn't hurt the game.
Then again, we don't really know if those allegations still hold up. Some of them are pretty old, think Lich King era, but the fact that California sues indicates, that Blizzard still has this problem going on (despite PR claming otherwise).

So either the old devs were creeps, but good game devs and the new ones are not creeps but game devs without passion. Or (best case for us) Blizzard currently has lazy, misogynistic game devs, that also rather play CoD than WoW. I really hope the latter is true, they get fired and we get devs with passion for the game instead.