A Letter From CEO Bobby Kotick to All Employees

[DelusionalBear]

You started out denigrating women in the workplace so you lose any high ground.

Are you sure you talking with the right person? Because I haven't started anything, and my last posts on this forum are from years ago, and not about politics or social issues.

And your country's political leaders have publically condoned violent acts against LGBT people and women who protest against civil and government abuses, so you'll forgive me if I harbor doubts about your motivations here, particularly in light of your past posts.

The only political leader in Russia worth talking about is Putin and I'm pretty sure he never condoned any such actions.

As for my motivation, its simple really, I hate generalisations like you did, calling a guy who you don't know, a forum troll, just because your media outlets love to blame russians for everything. Such a progressive position indeed.

[Stormwolf64]

That is what I said. But there are plenty of people who don't act in a respectful manner by default yet other people still tolerate them (out of fear for conflict or whatever). Often people don't speak out when they encounter something abhorrent but simply condemn it in silence instead.

Well, you can't do much about that. We are all responsible for standing up for ourselves when we are treated unfairly. Sure it's nice having someone stand up for us in certain special cases, but that won't always happen.

[StillMcfuu]

Softer than a cotton ball.

[Yarathir]

Why are people even engaging Lobosan? He just wants to be right, and he wants war. It has nothing to do with the case in hand. Please all do yourself a favor and block him, its sad how you keep feeding him

Yeah, he's just arguing with strawmen, and it's quite blatant that he's not actually engaging with anything anyone has said. I'm starting to unironically worry that he's in too deep, but I also don't really wanna deal with him. Hope he logs off in a bit and gets some rest.

For anyone else, I would suggest just not replying to him.

[anon5123]

So.... less based on merit, more on "diverse" skintones and what's between their legs? Am I reading this correctly?

Yep. Lefties have now decided that being "color blind" is bad and horrible and racist, and we must instead judge people based on the color of their skin.

Clown world.

[Souflikar]

I saw this a lot lately. the only reference I know about that dude is the grand marshal in stormwind. can you guys please point me to some other??

From wowhead:
Some examples include:
Fras Siabi's Axe from Dire Maul is now Grimm's Cigar Cutter;
All Fras Siabi references in Stratholme, both the dungeon and pet challenge, now direct to Ezra Grimm - Such as the mini-boss Ezra Grimm, The Great Ezra Grimm quest and Ezra Grimm's Advertisement;
All Furor items have been renamed - Foror's Compendium of Dragon Slaying is now Nostro's Compendium of Dragon Slaying. The Autographed Picture of Foror and Tigule now only features Tigule, a reference to Jeff Kaplan.
Field Marshal Afrasiabi in Stormwind has been replaced by Field Marshal Stonebridge;
Lord Afrastrasz at Wyrmrest Temple is now Lord Devrestrasz;
Pathstalker Kariel in Eversong Woods is now Pathstalker Avokor;
Shard of Afrasa is now Shard of the Splithooves;

[vaeevictiss]

Really can't wait for the court of Twitter to dig up Bobby's sexual harassment case.

Also, +1 for hiring a do nothing firm to increase your diversity and inclusivity by another 10,000 points. It's super effective!

I wouldnt be surprised at this point. Especially from an adult that still goes by the name "Bobby".

[Boddhi]

Thanks bobby! Please think about removing bwomsamdi from de Other Side Dungeon. After the manastorms He is bragging about what a sexual Predator He was at Lifetime! And yeah, please purge all kinds of boobs. Too inappropriate!

[Xires]

Hiring Practices. Earlier this year I sent an email requiring all hiring managers to ensure they have diverse candidate slates for all open positions. We will be adding compliance resources to ensure that our hiring managers are in fact adhering to this directive.

Does that mean that "whites need not apply" at blizzard now? Because why does sexual harassment charges against blizzard mean that everybody but white people can work there now? This whole "diverse" thing is just globalist speak for "no whites allowed".

I hate woke corporations.

[Wangming]

I wouldnt be surprised at this point. Especially from an adult that still goes by the name "Bobby".

On the one hand, I agree. Plus I want Kotick to step down. But still I would like to ask: Did you also have a problem with Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Jim Carrey. They are all adults who go by their nicknames.

[shise]

This is very good.

If they do follow all those steps at 100%, they will already be ahead of many other companies on the subject...

I think that this was a good thing for Blizzard. It is going to shake up the team... a team who inherited a master piece and fall asleep on the desk, instead of keeping that master piece up to the times.
This big shake up is not only going to help bringing proper working conditions.. it might bring them up to the top level. Together with a few position changes... The developer´s and designer´s teams might finally get what they needed... an inspirational work place.


And people, take this serious. This guy was involved in hte same shit in 2010 already.. if he is smart, he will know that there is no point fighting the system on this one, specially with his background... I think Bobby right now might be the one who can drive Blizzard into the right way. (Oh the irony, so many years hating this guy lol... If he genuinely puts the means to achieve great work conditions, that´s it.. then he should let developers do their job)

[Asrialol]

Kotick is a great CEO and will with no doubt fix this and keep Activision Blizzard profitable.

[Xires]

Yep. Lefties have now decided that being "color blind" is bad and horrible and racist, and we must instead judge people based on the color of their skin.

Clown world.

Exactly. Still don't know how hiring by skin color and your sex is going to fix the problem. Looks like they are just pushing whites out of the gaming industry because...diversity. And you wonder why other countries are pushing these people out of their nations and creating laws to prevent the crap going on in the Western world. Diversity simply means "whites need not apply" as it is NEVER a word associated against anybody except white males.

Now watch as a virtue signaler calls me a "white supremacist" because I'm pointing out that racist laws are being imposed against whites.

[Wangming]

From wowhead:
Some examples include:
Fras Siabi's Axe from Dire Maul is now Grimm's Cigar Cutter;
All Fras Siabi references in Stratholme, both the dungeon and pet challenge, now direct to Ezra Grimm - Such as the mini-boss Ezra Grimm, The Great Ezra Grimm quest and Ezra Grimm's Advertisement;
All Furor items have been renamed - Foror's Compendium of Dragon Slaying is now Nostro's Compendium of Dragon Slaying. The Autographed Picture of Foror and Tigule now only features Tigule, a reference to Jeff Kaplan.
Field Marshal Afrasiabi in Stormwind has been replaced by Field Marshal Stonebridge;
Lord Afrastrasz at Wyrmrest Temple is now Lord Devrestrasz;
Pathstalker Kariel in Eversong Woods is now Pathstalker Avokor;
Shard of Afrasa is now Shard of the Splithooves;

As expected, problematic stuff is Afrasiabi stuff. With how many things are named after employees, I'm sure many other offenders are commemorated but since those haven't been named, they can stay. And so can 'stalker' LOL.

[Tsarez]

How about keeping the phone number and email private so that trolls don't flood the inbox with garbage, rendering it effectively useless?

Honestly, do people even think for a second before reporting anything? Oh my god.

[Nimin]

So in the case where two diverse candidates are equal in qualifications and experience, you're saying the white guy should be hired anyway?

In the case two diverse candidates are equal in qualifications and experience you hold a more difficult tiebreaker until one surpasses the other on the basis of merit.
You don't automatically hire the "rare skincolor".
That's racial discrimination over the "less rare skintone".

I realize this might be an incel thing, but that's not how that works.
If you reversed the races in the original thought...it would be the same.
The idea itself is to not hire a bunch of the same people as it stifles creation.

Because creativity is based on skin pigmentation? Ugh.

[Agrias2x]

How many statements did they make already lol I see one every single day now... nobody cares about your well written bs statements. Just stfu and show some results cause actions speak louder than words.
Edit: after actually reading Bobby Kotick statement it surprisingly is way better than all of those previous bs statements by WoW Devs.

[vincink]

It's unfortunate that this originally started as claims of sexual harassment and has now spread beyond to include the distraction of so-called "diversity". Really, the problem is people in leadership positions who failed to maintain their responsibility as leaders. Justice ought to be dealt on those who harmed others under their leadership, with no regard to sex, gender, skin color, or any other attribute.

True, "diversity" hiring can bring in more perspectives. But the problem is not perspectives. The problem is spineless, amoral leaders with no self-control. Blizzard could hire more "diverse" candidates and, yes, end up providing more opportunities to those who would have otherwise not had the opportunity. But "diversity" says nothing about the morality of the individuals hired. Thus, Blizzard could end up bringing on more amoral, spineless individuals lacking all self-control.

[Nimin]

Why should "women" get a "positive attitude"? Men don't get that. Women shouldn't, either. Individuals should get a positive attitude, someone shouldn't get praise or be coddled simply because they are the "correct" group, that is just discriminatory and pathetic. Everyone should be treated as an adult, not an easily offended toddler that needs everything "toned down" in order to avoid making them cry.

You, like Jesus, speak the truth.

[Ivarr]

True, "diversity" hiring can bring in more perspectives. But the problem is not perspectives.

Which is definitely something WoW sorely needs right now. It's indeed a shame that diversity of background is considered an accurate proxy for diversity of perspective even though the hiring process is easily able to distinguish the two.