Patch 9.1 Hotfixes - July 21, 2021, Activision Blizzard Sued By California

[Wangming]

The official Blizzard reply called the DFEH a bunch of names like "sickening", "disgraceful" and "unprofessional".
Saying they should, by law, give Blizzard more information before going to litigation (taking legal action).
They seem pretty mad about that and keep attacking the DFEH for an entire paragraph.

humm...Blizzard acting sus

If you want to read:
https://pt.wowhead.com/news/activisi...-female-323503

Naoki Yoshida apologized twice in a short period of time.

First was when the servers got full due to FFXIV being popular.
Second when he had to implement an automatic logout as a temporary countermeasure.

In contrast here Blizzard is faced with a government lawsuit resulting from a two year investigation and supported by both several testimonies from former employees and circumstancial evidence like Afrasiabi being layed off without much fanfare compared to literally anyone else leaving.

Their response? "You are all meanies. This is totally not how it happened." Is there nobody left in that company with a spine?

[Ryzek]

This pretty much proves Blizzard has been rotten since the start (Afrasiabi being there since 2004 and allowed to be like this). Brack will probably made to resign and thrown to the dogs (not that he does not deserve this) but I doubt that much is going to change sadly.

[Azerate]

A lot of what I have seen on Twitter and on forums is how its all on New Blizzard -- and quickly forget for Alex has been here since 2004, meaning his behavior and culture has been in the company since the beginning of WoW.

Yeah, a lot of people trying to use the situation to add to the current pile of "wow bad 2021", which is quite sad. Especially since this is so clearly untrue, with the guy in the center of it being one of the old timers. I even read somewhere that "Dreamhaven" will bt that new better Blizzard, without these kinds of situations...like bro dude it's literally those people who are probably the main perpetrators of this debacle that created it...

[Houle]

It is not my biggest issue here - stop putting words to my mouth.
There are just better ways to handle these comments like report to mods instead calling other random internet people 'idiots'.
Keep it civil - that's all.



Yeah... things are getting 'better', holy fk.
I really wonder how this situation will end.

nope, no reason to keep stuff like this civil. shitty people deserve to be called so.
and it seems the mods agree, since the dude still hasnt received an infraction for it despite your best efforts...so theres that.

[Inoculate]

Found what I was looking for... there is an article just took a lot of digging. Very sad.

It truly is. Trust me, I've played Blizzard games since I was a wee lad and grew up playing Diablo and Starcraft in middle school. As a father of a daughter, this stuff enrages me, so I'm sorry if I seemed short with you, just hate how people keep throwing the "fake news" argument around on stuff like this.

I can't imagine the pain that family went through and how much this is going to reopen not-so-old wounds, especially if they happen upon a thread on here, Reddit or wherever and people are acting like it didn't happen or are defending the corporation that lead to that situation.

[KYH]

You can just tell some of the guys defending blizzard are the same ones who fall into that group shit.

[Antherios]

They are so competent they couldnt even write cosby right. Look at the original one -Repeatedly "Bill Crosby"

Oh excuse me! I didn't see that, then clearly the whole case is bogus and infested with misinformation!

/S in case it wasn't obvious

[shise]

If the legal report is to be believed then this is mostly about the older Blizzard crew. And if this is true then everyone should be directing their hate to Dreamhaven. Ever wonder why the OG crew has been dropping like flies? It's called a clansing. Don't let these monsters get away scott free by singling out Blizzard.

Ewh, I´d think it is the other way around...
The original wow crew had completely different ethics, they cared about the consumer. OF something, I´d think it is the second or third generation who maybe took it for granted and acted this way. They are the ones who, afte rall ,destroyed the game too.

- - - Updated - - -

Naoki Yoshida apologized twice in a short period of time.

First was when the servers got full due to FFXIV being popular.
Second when he had to implement an automatic logout as a temporary countermeasure.

In contrast here Blizzard is faced with a government lawsuit resulting from a two year investigation and supported by both several testimonies from former employees and circumstancial evidence like Afrasiabi being layed off without much fanfare compared to literally anyone else leaving.

Their response? "You are all meanies. This is totally not how it happened." Is there nobody left in that company with a spine?

Doesn´t count tho as apologizing is an automatic Japanese response, it is intrinsic in their culture. So its value is not as strong as it might be in other places where it is not an automatic response, but you actually mean it.

Not saying that he didn´t mean it.. but that´s the truth.

- - - Updated - - -

This pretty much proves Blizzard has been rotten since the start (Afrasiabi being there since 2004 and allowed to be like this). Brack will probably made to resign and thrown to the dogs (not that he does not deserve this) but I doubt that much is going to change sadly.

Not really. For what we know, this might not even be true at all.
But it seems to be, so all we can do is wait and see what comes out of it. I don´t think much will happen tho, the company has to keep running and that´s the priority, I`d guess.
Good thing is that a cleansing might come out of it.

[Musicman835]

Not really. For what we know, this might not even be true at all.
But it seems to be, so all we can do is wait and see what comes out of it. I don´t think much will happen tho, the company has to keep running and that´s the priority, I`d guess.
Good thing is that a cleansing might come out of it.

From the complaint, a lot of Alex A. shit was done AT Blizzcon. In front of other employees and possible attendees. So I would imagine if they had no issue doing it in public, it was even worse in private.

[shise]

From the complaint, a lot of Alex A. shit was done AT Blizzcon. In front of other employees and possible attendees. So I would imagine if they had no issue doing it in public, it was even worse in private.

If something had happened at Blizzcon in public.. we all would know it minutes after.. or even as it happened.
Everyone having cameras on their pockets..

[Seranthor]

So much outrage, but how many are ACTUALLY going to take their gaming time and money elsewhere?

[Djuntas]

USA has a sick culture, and it will continue with nothing happening. Nothing changed with Riot games, nothing will here. I litterally never hear about these things in Europe or most countries outside of the USA...In my small ass country Denmark we just had some politicians being creeps, thats about it.

[The Royal We]

Gross, and I was just getting back into retail then this happened, unsubbed.

It seems Blizzard needs a titanic culture shift and the first baby step starts with taking responsibility. The blame shifting statement they released is the polar opposite of responsibility, I may never spend another dime on their product. Pity, I was looking forward to D2:res and D4.

[shadowmatrix]

Why are there idiots acting like any of this is new? It happens nearly every other year and few, if any, of the companies nailed have shutdown. How's Riot doing these days after their sexual harassment situation?

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Ewh, I´d think it is the other way around...
The original wow crew had completely different ethics, they cared about the consumer. OF something, I´d think it is the second or third generation who maybe took it for granted and acted this way. They are the ones who, afte rall ,destroyed the game too.

Afrasibai was with blizzard since 2004 it was defiantly the older blizzard crew rather that be them being involved directly or covering it up there's no way people like morhime didn't know.

[Musicman835]

Afrasibai was with blizzard since 2004 it was defiantly the older blizzard crew rather that be them being involved directly or covering it up there's no way people like morhime didn't know.

Especially since Brack knew. According to this section in the complaint.

Absolutely. 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."

[Aliven]

So much outrage, but how many are ACTUALLY going to take their gaming time and money elsewhere?

Already did. The only reason i did not deleted blizz account is because my brother play on that same account.

[Forogil]

Btw, what's Vi versus Emacs?

vi is an old-school minimal text-editor on Unix and later other OS.
Emacs is an old-school super-advanced text-editor (or according to some a full-fledged program only lacking a text-editor!; seriously it had its own text-based adventure game) on Unix etc.

Basically Mac vs. Pc / Android vs iPhone for an even older generation.

[Gadzooks]

If my memory serves me right, ActiBlizz is well within its rights to see the evidence being used against them before litigation. Procedural stuff is not my forte, but I think this is the case.

Regardless of innocence or guilt, ActiBlizz would likely respond the same way. One has to keep in mind that even filing such claims are a huge PR issue, even if nothing comes out. Heck, these forums have tons of people ready to instantly condemn ActiBlizz just based upon the accusations, which means the PR damage is already being done. The court filing's introduction is just as accusatory as ActiBlizz's statement, as this is how the game is played.

I think people should always have a healthy bit of skepticism when it comes to matters like these, as it's never just black or white. Personally, I wouldn't put it past the DFEH (as a government body itself) to be embellishing the situation to make it seem way worse than it is. I mean California has never been known to have governmental agencies to overreach or do shady things, right? That's not to say this suit is one such instance, it may be 100% legit, but it also may not be. This is why you want to let these things play out, as you should not just automatically trust government or large corporations and what they tell you without verification.

ATVI saw the evidence and allegations previously to the filing of the lawsuit. It's in the filing, I strongly recommend you read it before posting nonsense like this. Read the filing, and pay attention to sections 17 through 20. They list the process they've followed, and the timeline.

- The DFEH originally filed and served a complaint of Group or Systemic Investigation and a Director's complaint for Group/Class Relief against Blizzard. (Bold mine) October 12th, 2018. On the 29th of that same month, they amended the complaint to include Activision-Blizzard as a whole.

- They then continued to investigate, and 2 years later issued a cause finding on June 24th of this year, bolstering the findings in the 2018 complaint, along with new evidence they found while investigating.

- DFEH attempted to resolve this out of court in mediation sessions on July 1st, 2nd, and 15th of this year, or earlier this month. These sessions did not accomplish anything. By government code, the DFEH is then within it's rights to file a lawsuit, which they did, and states that the deadline to do so was July 21st of 2021 - "By operation of a signed agreement between the parties", or between DFEH and Activision Blizzard.

To equate the results of a 2 year investigation with witnesses who will testify in court to Blizzard's awful response as a "game" is flabbergasting. Blizzards own statement you're using as a defense of them refers to them providing the DFEH with documents and data over the problems the DFEH identified in their previous complaints they filed in 2018 and Blizzard was aware of. How you can sit there and post that Blizzard had no access or knowledge of the allegations is inconceivable, unless you're purposefully trying to muddy the waters on the events here in favor of Blizzard, or just sheer ignorance based on what you think is going on, and not bothering to read the document that is central to the entire discussion.

I won't even bother trying to wrap reason or common sense around "ThE sTaTe iS JuSt LyIng!" happy horseshit.

It's entirely correct to wait until a court renders a verdict in all of this. It is not correct to make statements of fact that are entirely fiction in defense of one side of the dispute, by implying Blizzard's rights were denied and they didn't have any idea what the DFEH was accusing them with, as that is factually and utterly untrue.

[Siglius]

Ewh, I´d think it is the other way around...
The original wow crew had completely different ethics, they cared about the consumer. OF something, I´d think it is the second or third generation who maybe took it for granted and acted this way. They are the ones who, afte rall ,destroyed the game too.

- - - Updated - - -



Doesn´t count tho as apologizing is an automatic Japanese response, it is intrinsic in their culture. So its value is not as strong as it might be in other places where it is not an automatic response, but you actually mean it.

Not saying that he didn´t mean it.. but that´s the truth.

- - - Updated - - -



Not really. For what we know, this might not even be true at all.
But it seems to be, so all we can do is wait and see what comes out of it. I don´t think much will happen tho, the company has to keep running and that´s the priority, I`d guess.
Good thing is that a cleansing might come out of it.

You can't be serious right? The one man actually named in the lawsuit is Alex Afrasiabi who has been with Blizz since before WoW launched and he was allegedly involved in an incident in 2013. This goes waaaaay back. You don't get to blame this shit on Activision or whatever.

This is as old Blizzard as it fucking gets.