Blizzard Employee Letter to Leadership, Other Responses to Lawsuit

[DingDongKing]

Pronouns in bio forcing people to mass migrate to FFXIV, that's a fresh angle chief. Not gonna lie.

Welcome to the weird right wing gamer echo chamber on the internet. Everything is outrage 24/7.

[Mehrunes]

No it isn't m,y due. That is what yo are putting there so you can rip him. Ther can't be implication when you and others are the ones who are trying to put it there. You putting words in his mouth does not = he said it

Except you're the one putting words in his mouth. Or at least one word. As evidenced here.

You can be both, but those screaming and harrassing Blizzard employees no social media obviously aren't. The only care about "muh content". And again you are misrepresenting his words. He said you are a shitty person if you ONLY care about the game and not what is going on. But why actually read what he said when you can make it up yourself to fuel more outrage?

The word "only" does not appear in his tweet. And it won't magically retroactively appear in it even if you write it in caps. Unless in your mind the sentence "If your reaction to stuff at Blizzard is to complain about delay you're a part of the problem" and "If your only reaction to stuff at Blizzard is to complain about delay you're a part of the problem" mean the same thing. But at that point the word "only" ceases to have any meaning and becomes redundant fluff.

But since that word does have its own meaning, these are actually two different sentences. And the one Klontzas actually said includes situations where that is just one of multiple reactions a person may have towards this incident. Which you yourself admitted is perfectly possible in that very same post.

Which makes his tweet a shitty attempt at silencing criticism. Criticism that, again, is not mutually exclusive with feeling for the people wronged by Blizzard. What makes it even shittier is that Klontzas isn't just some random corporate drone #534. He's a senior game producer on the WoW team. Combine that with how open some of the bullshit at Blizzard was, like the "events" where a bunch of drunk twats crawled around the office cubicles, groping women on their way and it's incredibly unlikely that he'd be unaware of at least some of that. When even a CM like Lore knew (and knew that the CEO knew). Meaning that likely contributed to the issue in a real way, yet now has the gall to accuse some in the playerbase of being a part of the problem.

Yeah 1:30 mark was enough for me. Jesus christ.

"I haven't read about it but obviously a feminist attack". Go fuck yourself, seriously these Peterson dickriding incels can go fuck themselves so hard.

Siri, show me what a lifetime of getting rejected by women does to you.

I'm pretty sure the guy in the blue shirt is Sargon of Akkad, so it's a surprise it took him this long to say something like that. Not sure who the other guy is, but his voice sounds familiar.

[Magnagarde]

The old guard were gamers and creators, they made games with passion.

The people in charge right now are marketing and finance, they don't care about gameplay. They care about metrics and engagement, doing whatever they can do to entice idiots to part with their money, I.E anyone who has spent money outside of paying their sub.

Having grown up on tabletop RPGs, early MMOs and RPG games in general, it is no wonder they managed to create the Warcraft universe. The creative influence of other franchises is deeply embedded into the Warcraft universe.

[arkanon]

So you are trying to say that any "paying customer" That has sent death threats, to any number of employees in the last few weeks/months are not part of a problem? How many had been sent to Golden alone because they were pissy over a story arc? To the devs because of a delay? Yes, they are. Those who are merely stating their disapproval are one thing and but don't dare try to pretend there isn't a segment of the community that hasn't sent a number of threats because that is a bald-faced lie.

The wow community has some of the most venomously spiteful, and hateful people I have ever had the displeasure of meeting, and most of them live on MMO Champ. If anyone even thinks of a second that the shit going down at Blizzard isn't going to cause a delay they have another thing coming. Distress affects creativity, and workflow. With a last checked number of 4700 people working at blizzard alone (unknown how old or correct that data still is.) It's insane to assume even a large fraction of them even KNEW what was going on. So the news would likely have been quite a shock to most as much as it was paying customers.

but instead of trying to have even a fraction of understanding and compassion for them as they try and deal with this, a group of people throw a damned tantrum over it. No matter who is or isn't guilty, no matter how many of them, men or women have lied during this investigation there is still a larger number of innocent people who deserve respect. Because they are humans too and not machines. They have emotions and feelings, and god forbid that effect someone else's fun because they pay $15 a month, amirite? People and their mental/physical health will always be more important than a game. Period.

Yes, I am saying that nothing these naughty fans have done over the last few weeks caused a systemic culture of sexual harassment, rape, and abuse to exist within Blizzard for well over a decade.

Anyone sending death threats to a game dev is an idiot. But it has NOTHING to do with the disgusting culture and behaviour multiple blizzard high ups are accused of, and supported by over 1,000 staff. These two things are entirely unrelated.

All that aside, it is this idiotic, disgusting response that is the biggest immediate concern - the allegations may be proven, some may not. But this is completely unacceptable, and the dev in question should have been shown the door already. To be a part of a disturbing culture for years, and then when you are caught, immediately turn on your paying customers and fans and literally blame them for your own behaviour? Totally unacceptable and pathetic.

[Femininity]

Welcome to the internet. Everything is outrage 24/7.

FTFY

Outrage culture knows no political barrier.

[shise]

Sorry for Alex Klontzas, but I genuinely worry about 9.2 being delayed.

The rest is simply out of my reach and it is human nature to care about your own interests. Either way, it is my opinion, so just as valid as his or any other.

[Zantos]

WHO CARES. You haven't even posted about TBC Phase 2. Stop posting about this drama.

This "drama" means no content.

Its horrible that this went on for so long and got so bad. Maybe if they had dealt with it as a company and weren't scum bags, they wouldn't be having to deal with this. Things are often acceptable at one time, but not at another. Its called Context for a reason. I'd be surprised if they can even manage to get this expansion finished, let alone release anything else.

Seems like at this point, the entire company needs to go under or be rebuilt. Given these claims, on top of the horrible pay for the area and the poor treatment in general they have been accused of having towards their employees, its clear they don't deserve to continue to make games.

[shise]

Also about the video, she simply asked a silly question. Specially at that time, there was no such a thing as "sexualizing" wow characters... literally no female was made "sexy", they were, at best.. quite average. So, obviously her question was totally out of tone and out of he blue, they replied with a funny joke. Simple, move on and don´t give it more importance than it had... Not the best reply? sure thing, but a perfectly legit one given the absurd question.

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This "drama" means no content.

Its horrible that this went on for so long and got so bad. Maybe if they had dealt with it as a company and weren't scum bags, they wouldn't be having to deal with this. Things are often acceptable at one time, but not at another. Its called Context for a reason. I'd be surprised if they can even manage to get this expansion finished, let alone release anything else.

Seems like at this point, the entire company needs to go under or be rebuilt. Given these claims, on top of the horrible pay for the area and the poor treatment in general they have been accused of having towards their employees, its clear they don't deserve to continue to make games.

Don´t think it is half as bad as the media and people are painting it now... Most people working there had no idea about this.

[Tsarez]

Hah Alex Klontzas made his Twitter account private and you cannot access his tweet anymore. Looks like the customers took his comment very well.

[Explosivo]

Hah Alex Klontzas made his Twitter account private and you cannot access his tweet anymore. Looks like the customers took his comment very well.

considering insults in here have included focusing on his physical appearance, like being bald, and one user threatening to "bash his head into a wall until his brains flushed out" he probably had other encounters, focusing on everything but the issues, making him realize the fans base is littered with toxic man children. i get being upset, but i don't get childish insults and threats of ultra-violence.

[Magnagarde]

Yes, I am saying that nothing these naughty fans have done over the last few weeks caused a systemic culture of sexual harassment, rape, and abuse to exist within Blizzard for well over a decade.

Anyone sending death threats to a game dev is an idiot. But it has NOTHING to do with the disgusting culture and behaviour multiple blizzard high ups are accused of, and supported by over 1,000 staff. These two things are entirely unrelated.

All that aside, it is this idiotic, disgusting response that is the biggest immediate concern - the allegations may be proven, some may not. But this is completely unacceptable, and the dev in question should have been shown the door already. To be a part of a disturbing culture for years, and then when you are caught, immediately turn on your paying customers and fans and literally blame them for your own behaviour? Totally unacceptable and pathetic.

The fact that you can keep trying to explain this is truly commendable, but it is pointless. For every time you point this out, someone is going to come in with a strawman arguement and question wether you're condoning sexual harassment, rape, suicide, bad working conditions or simply don't care about human lives.

[Tsarez]

considering insults in here have included focusing on his physical appearance, like being bald, and one user threatening to "bash his head into a wall until his brains flushed out" he probably had other encounters, focusing on everything but the issues, making him realize the fans base is littered with toxic man children. i get being upset, but i don't get childish insults and threats of ultra-violence.

How detached from reality do you need to be to expect anything else?
How detached from reality do you also need to be to write such a tweet anyway, blaming your customer base for your internal issues? I sometimes think Blizzard forgets we're actually paying money to play their game.

It's fine for me if they want to make a freeze. I'll just also freeze my sub.

I hope they survive this though. Would be a shame to see them go. But if they're all mysoginistic fucks and unable to make a change, they can burn for all I care

[arkanon]

The fact that you can keep trying to explain this is truly commendable, but it is pointless. For every time you point this out, someone is going to come in with a strawman arguement and question wether you're condoning sexual harassment, rape, suicide, bad working conditions or simply don't care about human lives.

What I see are some terribly addicted individuals trying desperately to justify their continued support of a company that treats their own colleges like this, and then treat their fans and paying customers in such a disgusting way. I have literally seen people saying they will continue to pay their sub even without any content, purely to "support" the victims and ensure they get paid. This is idiotic, they will be getting paid in the short term one way or the other.

Like I have said though, if people are happy with state of the game and want to continue paying and playing, I have no issue with that - im not here to tell anyone what they should do with their own money. But please dont make idiotic claims about "supporting the victims" by paying your sub - there is no reality where this is helping them at all.

[Magnagarde]

What I see are some terribly addicted individuals trying desperately to justify their continued support of a company that treats their own colleges like this, and then treat their fans and paying customers in such a disgusting way. I have literally seen people saying they will continue to pay their sub even without any content, purely to "support" the victims and ensure they get paid. This is idiotic, they will be getting paid in the short term one way or the other.

Like I have said though, if people are happy with state of the game and want to continue paying and playing, I have no issue with that - im not here to tell anyone what they should do with their own money. But please dont make idiotic claims about "supporting the victims" by paying your sub - there is no reality where this is helping them at all.

I would go as far as to say that this is a matter beyond chosing to support Blizzard or not; it is a matter of people having no sense of self-respect, going so far as to accept an employee of Blizzard telling them that players are part of the problem. These players would rather blame another player, who is there for the game, than the dev of a company that harbored this culture, simply because the dev has got a facade of empathy, shock and grief going on Twitter. Wether someone choses to give their money to Blizzard or not is, as you've already written multiple times, an individual choice.

The fact that a Blizzard dev gets a green pass for daring to even insinuate that Blizzard's playerbase is part of the problem is beyond astounding. In fact, any single one of us is completely free and entitled to saying that we're here for the games, not issues of sexual harassment, without having to see a barrage of insulting classifications being flung about; we're also entitled to say that it doesn't concern us in the least bit and that the state of the game concerns us the most, which most of us won't say in the first place, but that is beyond the point.

Players aren't allowed to express their own concerns without being called egregious things by other players, who are taking the liberty to classify others into offender and criminal groups at a whim. This same standard doesn't apply for a Blizzard dev however, who is allowed to deflect from a culture he was a silent observer in, at the very least.

[DingDongKing]

Yeah, because the toxicity in response to the open letter clearly shows there's absolutely no problem as far as the player base is concerned.

The sense of entitlement is mental. Don't sub. Don't be a customer. It's better if there aren't such customers on hand.

Because what Blizzard really needs to focus on right now is improving their internal situations, the games are secondary right now.

I'm not saying every customer deserves to be treated this way, far from it. But the ones who go 'IDGAF ABOUT SEXUAL HARASSMENT, I WANT MY CONTENT' doesn't realise that the company needs to sort its shit out. The company could freeze subs in the meantime to keep an even keel.

[Magnagarde]

I won't even delve too deep into the fact that this is going to end catastrophically bad for Blizzard internally, within ActiBlizzard as a whole. It is going to result in the corporate management further erroding Blizzard's independence in the relationship. This will spell trouble for most of the signatories of this statement because what these organizations dislike the most is a sense of a position of strenght emanating from their employees and spilling over. These employees clearly think that Bobby is Mike Morhaime and that they'll get a free pass for openly defying the official company position. If anyone thinks that something like this is going to improve the overall situation, simply by infuriating the corporate hench and putting on a show of defiance - especially in an environment where a partner is as priviledged as Blizzard is - then they still have a lot of lessons to learn about life.

[Inoculate]

I just wonder what backlash this will have for warchief gaming and creephaven as a lot of the old guard are in those companies.

[Explosivo]

How detached from reality do you need to be to expect anything else?
How detached from reality do you also need to be to write such a tweet anyway, blaming your customer base for your internal issues? I sometimes think Blizzard forgets we're actually paying money to play their game.

...at what point did i defend the guy's tweet? in your reality is it normal and acceptable to threaten ultra-violence on someone based on a decision about a VIDEO game and a response to it? is that your reality? because i think very little rises to a level where "i would smash this guys head into a wall until his brains flush out" is reasonable. Is it reasonable to you?

[Chriisto]

The bare minimum of decency bit is the deal breaker for most people. It's also one of the reasons I can't be arsed to go back to online gaming in general. The combination of edgelord behaviour and people who are actually messed up is just way too tedious to deal with.



It's really not that hard to call out people for indecent behaviour. I do it whenever the situation arises, so do other decent people.

But again, the 'decent' bit is the main part.

What a decent guy! Well, I'm impressed.

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I do actually, there's literally TV-documentary made of what my girlfriend, me and our collective have accomplished. We've been targeted by neo-nazis and other lowlives for fucking years. I do plenty, every single day.

So accomplished! Very impressive.

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No it isn't m,y due. That is what yo are putting there so you can rip him. Ther can't be implication when you and others are the ones who are trying to put it there. You putting words in his mouth does not = he said it.

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Only the ones actually named. There may be more than the named . We don't know.

Look up the definition of implication my dude.

[Magnagarde]

I like how that absolute c*nt Alex Klontzas (who?) shit talks the consumers/players with typical male feminist talking points of "hur dur we aren't doing our job but you're the problem." I also looooove how his tweets are protected, like an absolute fucking coward. Fun Fact: You average wow player doesn't care about Blizz's shitty work place culture. And this isn't NEW. First patch launched BROKEN AND INCOMPLETE. Flying was not ready at end of patch. Multiple fixes had to be deployed. It took SIX months to get out the next patch. You have "devs" (loser nobodies who are nothing more than 9 to 5er's) shit talking famous streamers like Asmongold to fucking degenerate FURRIES with pronouns in their bios causing hundreds of thousands of players to migrate to FFXIV. This is probably great for Blizz/Activision since they can now delay the patch for as long as they want, claiming their stupid legal problems are in some way related to them paying staff to make content.

Based reply right here.