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  1. #1

    Exclamation Activision-Blizzard Sued By California

    Kotaku article: Activision Blizzard Sued By California Over Widespread Harassment Of Women

    In the office, women are subjected to “cube crawls” in which male employees drink copious [amounts] of alcohol as they “crawl” their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees. Male employees proudly come into work hungover, play video games for long periods of time during work while delegating their responsibilities to female employees, engage in banter about their sexual encounters, talk openly about female bodies and joke about rape.

    Female employees are subjected to constant sexual harassment, including having to continually fend off unwanted sexual comments and advances by their male co-workers and supervisors and being groped at the “cube crawls” and other company events. High-ranking executives and creators engaged in blatant sexual harassment without repercussions.

    In a particularly tragic example, a female employee committed suicide during a business trip with a male supervisor who had brought butt plugs and lubricant with him on the trip.
    Other Sources: Bloomberg

    Blizzard's Initial Statement: https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/st...841982465?s=20
    J. Allen Brack's Internal Email: https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/st...12291218264065
    Fran Townsend: https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/st...19091515068421
    Mike Morhaime: https://twitter.com/mikemorhaime/sta...471277569?s=20
    Chris Metzen: https://twitter.com/ChrisMetzen/stat...76394546470913
    CEO Bobby Kotick to All Employees ; Employee Response
    The World of Warcraft Team
    New Leadership (Oneal & Ybarra)


    Court Filing: https://aboutblaw.com/YJw
    Lawsuit Additions: Axios

    The Cosby Suite: Kotaku ; Reddit ; Ghostcrawler

    Blizzard Employee Letter to Leadership: First ; Second
    Activision Blizzard Employee Walk Out: https://www.polygon.com/22595703/act...lk-out-lawsuit
    Activision Blizzard Shareholder SOC Letter
    Workplace Initiatives & Several Executives Suboenaed

    Thread Warnings:

    Keep discussion related to the topic. It'd be easy to get distracted from the actual people and events involved if the thread is derailed with irrelevant interjections.

    Don't make death threats or wish harm on those involved. You can hate whoever you want, but this rule is to maintain an appropriate atmosphere for discussion.
    Last edited by Rozz; 2021-09-28 at 12:48 AM.

  2. #2
    I'm sure you didn't create an account just to start a thread that I can guarantee was already started elsewhere on the forum (and probably already closed by now, knowing the posters around here), right?

  3. #3
    The Unstoppable Force Mayhem's Avatar
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    Good, I like their games, but I don't need to like them, so go fuck em up if this is true and I doubt someone would just randomly make this shit up so yeah, fuck them.
    Quote Originally Posted by ash
    So, look um, I'm not a grief counselor, but if it's any consolation, I have had to kill and bury loved ones before. A bunch of times actually.
    Quote Originally Posted by PC2 View Post
    I never said I was knowledge-able and I wouldn't even care if I was the least knowledge-able person and the biggest dumb-ass out of all 7.8 billion people on the planet.

  4. #4
    The Insane Masark's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mayhem View Post
    Good, I like their games, but I don't need to like them, so go fuck em up if this is true and I doubt someone would just randomly make this shit up so yeah, fuck them.
    It's not just "someone". This suit is by the state of California following two years of investigation.

    Warning : Above post may contain snark and/or sarcasm. Try reparsing with the /s argument before replying.
    What the world has learned is that America is never more than one election away from losing its goddamned mind
    Quote Originally Posted by Howard Tayler
    Political conservatism is just atavism with extra syllables and a necktie.
    Me on Elite : Dangerous | My WoW characters

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Masark View Post
    It's not just "someone". This suit is by the state of California following two years of investigation.
    Ouch. So this is not as ridiculous as it sounds

    Please tell me this is taken out of context, because High-ranking executives and creators engaged in blatant sexual harassment without repercussions. sounds REALLY REALLY bad.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Omega10 View Post
    Ouch. So this is not as ridiculous as it sounds

    Please tell me this is taken out of context, because High-ranking executives and creators engaged in blatant sexual harassment without repercussions. sounds REALLY REALLY bad.
    Is it really that surprising, when there's a guy like Danuser who literally writes his personal sylvanas wank fantasies into the game as it's story.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jtbrig7390 View Post
    True, I was just bored and tired but you are correct.

    Last edited by Thwart; Today at 05:21 PM. Reason: Infracted for flaming
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    millennials were the kids of the 9/11 survivors.

  7. #7
    The Unstoppable Force Mayhem's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Masark View Post
    It's not just "someone". This suit is by the state of California following two years of investigation.
    Good, good, I hope they don't fuck it up and that no one can just weasel themselves out with enough money.
    Quote Originally Posted by ash
    So, look um, I'm not a grief counselor, but if it's any consolation, I have had to kill and bury loved ones before. A bunch of times actually.
    Quote Originally Posted by PC2 View Post
    I never said I was knowledge-able and I wouldn't even care if I was the least knowledge-able person and the biggest dumb-ass out of all 7.8 billion people on the planet.

  8. #8
    The Insane Masark's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Omega10 View Post
    Ouch. So this is not as ridiculous as it sounds

    Please tell me this is taken out of context, because High-ranking executives and creators engaged in blatant sexual harassment without repercussions. sounds REALLY REALLY bad.
    Have a read of the court filing if you want context. Pages 14-15 are particularly informative.

    https://aboutblaw.com/YJw

    Though it is taken out of context. It's much worse in context.
    Last edited by Masark; 2021-07-22 at 07:02 AM.

    Warning : Above post may contain snark and/or sarcasm. Try reparsing with the /s argument before replying.
    What the world has learned is that America is never more than one election away from losing its goddamned mind
    Quote Originally Posted by Howard Tayler
    Political conservatism is just atavism with extra syllables and a necktie.
    Me on Elite : Dangerous | My WoW characters

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Masark View Post
    Have a read of the court filing if you want context. Pages 14-15 are particularly informative.

    https://aboutblaw.com/YJw

    Though it is taken out of context. It's much worse in context.
    Holy shit that was freaking disgusting to read through. If this is true, and there is a lot of evidence there, then fuck Blizzard. I have not had much desire to play their games for the last couple of years any way but now I am actively going to not pay them another cent.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Masark View Post
    Have a read of the court filing if you want context. Pages 14-15 are particularly informative.

    https://aboutblaw.com/YJw

    Though it is taken out of context. It's much worse in context.
    Pages 12-13, and 16-17 are also pretty depressing. Yeah you are correct. The summary is much tamer than the court filing. It is a very depressing read.

  11. #11
    Titan Orby's Avatar
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    Considering the type of corporation Blizzard has become I am not surprised... Its sad to see the once great company become what they are now. No care for their games and also no care for their own workforce.

    IF they start supporting pride next year they can kiss my bisexual ass and shove their rainbows up their ass. Hypocrites.
    Last edited by Orby; 2021-07-22 at 08:26 AM.
    I love Warcraft, I dislike WoW

    Unsubbed since January 2021, now a Warcraft fan from a distance

  12. #12
    Just a reminder that although the investigation was for two years, this has been going on since at least 2013 with reports on shit going back to early 2000s. So Morhaime also has his hands dirty in this.

  13. #13
    Titan Orby's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kallisto View Post
    Just a reminder that although the investigation was for two years, this has been going on since at least 2013 with reports on shit going back to early 2000s. So Morhaime also has his hands dirty in this.
    If it comes back Metzen was involved then my soul is destroyed
    I love Warcraft, I dislike WoW

    Unsubbed since January 2021, now a Warcraft fan from a distance

  14. #14
    On a related note I have sometimes looked at Blizzard's job listings and several years ago I noticed that they talked about a lot of drinking camaraderie (which I remembered since I found it odd - it's a company not a frat-house), and then I noticed that they recently stopped with that.

    I also find the lawsuit a bit unclear, they complain about "white men" in leadership positions, while one of the named alleged offenders is Alex Afrasiabi (an Iranian-American).

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Sugarcube View Post
    lol... explains so much why they won't do much about misogyny in their games... guess i'll just never play blizzard games again...
    Any exemple ?

  16. #16
    So feminism sucks unless it makes Blizzard look bad?

  17. #17
    Guess that explains why shadowlands has so many BDSM themes.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Orby View Post
    IF they start supporting pride next year they can kiss my bisexual ass and shove their rainbows up their ass. Hypocrites.
    They already 'supported' Pride this year... by selling $65 hoodies.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Sugarcube View Post
    saying hello at the start of the game on voice resulted in this...


    just speaking on voice...


    2 people in the same game screaming on voice chat about how i should suck their dick and telling me to go mercy and then i leave voice because of it... and then they type in the chat after that...


    these are just a few pictures of everything that's been said... then there's more on voice chat too...

    then in wow there's the m+ groups i've tried to play with where i get harassed, people hitting on me constantly on discord even though being told i'm not interested... even sending dick pics to me...

    Oh I thought you meant about the game's content and not community behavior. What could Blizzard do about those ? Report them and move on.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Orby View Post
    Considering the type of corporation Blizzard has become I am not surprised... Its sad to see the once great company become what they are now. No care for their games and also no care for their own workforce.

    IF they start supporting pride next year they can kiss my bisexual ass and shove their rainbows up their ass. Hypocrites.
    They already do. They have rainbow pride shirts on the Blizzard store, and two Overwatch characters are gay/lesbian; Soldier: 76, and Tracer.
    Last edited by muto; 2021-07-22 at 09:50 AM.

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