Employee Response to Bobby Kotick, Additional Information on Cosby Suite

[zorkuus]

Read what it is in response to and you might find the answer for yourself.

It's like magic.

Yes, I understand the context.

Let's say they knew the whole Cosby thing before 2014. Making stupid jokes about him correlates to them engaging in sexual assault... how exactly?

[Trbn]

How about that.

https://twitter.com/oliviadgrace/sta...69710160859151

[Timester]

Bobby, just fire these whiners and hire normal people who are not triggered by jokes.

Considering the shareholders are moving legally to know why all this was omitted for years, Bobby right is now more concerned with the fact that he could also be fired.

[Trbn]

Are you aware of what 'it's relative' means? Working extra hours is NOWHERE as bad as sexual abuse. One is far more egregious than the other.

Please grow up. You've either had no exposure to the real world, or you've ignored the existence of it.

why do you think it's not as bad? what's the difference?

[Yarathir]

Yes, I understand the context.

Let's say they knew the whole Cosby thing before 2014. Making stupid jokes about him correlates to them engaging in sexual assault... how exactly?

If your whole argument is "but it was before 2014, nobody knew!!!" then your argument is plainly wrong. If your argument is "I still consider it harmless," well, go on with that, but don't pull this "people only found out in 2014" thing.

[kranur]

Maybe, just maybe, ask people in finance in Finland or any other technically driven industry what it's like. Not everything is theatre.

If you think that you can get a job in such industries and start off with 'yo, I want overtime for extra hours of work', you'll be unemployed.



So I think here's where it got complicated. They posted it in public after doing it in private. Which is where the 'line' got crossed.

Also, it's a bad look for senior managers in a team to have that attitude towards anyone, since it asks the question of whether that impacts their treatment of colleagues. And given the fact that Afrasiabi turned out to be such a massive creep, it's hard to dissociate from the idea that it didn't.



Time off in lieu is a different thing. There's always that notion of flexible working at play, which is fine.

BUT, if you've got a seriously hairy month at hand and you ask your employer to pay you overtime, it won't happen.

I don't think it's right, but it happens. Then multiply that issue with 'crunch' in gaming, and you have your answer.



Yeah, like the owner of the chat leaking it himself like a fucking plank.

Ironically the company I mentioned with paid overtime was actually a big gaming company.
Truth be told the opportunities to advance were extremely limited and generally not done by merit but by relationships or playing the outlasting game, hence why many people were quite unfit for their positions and why I left without looking back.

[Greyvax]

GC's response seemed reasonable. It's sad people are trying to pigeonhole him into a position of guilt.

It's sickening to use phrases like "he should have known" and "he should have done" and use that as evidence of a crime

Even if he did know, I doubt that anyone posting on this website would be some paragon of virtue and out every single workplace issue they see, especially if they are in a seemingly coveted job position. (spoiler alert, they wouldn't).

[Mojo03]

I don't take issue personally with that shit, I am merely defying the false claims that they didn't know anything about it because "it was in 2013, almost nobody knew before 2014."

Well, here it is in 2014 as a haha-funny injoke.

Do with it what you want.

- - - Updated - - -


Yes, people are ignoring that, which irks me. It's because she claims to be a victim of it all and pressured into it, and misled by somebody she trusted and had a lot of respect for, and naturally because she's a woman, people will buy into it.

Ya, except the Hannibal Burress thing happened on October 16, 2014. These were all before that.

So this doesn’t actually do anything for that argument.

I agree with you on the part about the woman. Pretty messed up.

[zorkuus]

If your whole argument is "but it was before 2014, nobody knew!!!" then your argument is plainly wrong. If your argument is "I still consider it harmless," well, go on with that, but don't pull this "people only found out in 2014" thing.

I haven't said that. Forward your anger to some other person you're arguing with.

[Yarathir]

GC's response seemed reasonable. It's sad people are trying to pigeonhole him into a position of guilt.

It's sickening to use phrases like "he should have known" and "he should have done" and use that as evidence of a crime

Even if he did know, I doubt that anyone posting on this website would be some paragon of virtue and out every single workplace issue they see, especially if they are in a seemingly coveted job position. (spoiler alert, they wouldn't).

It's because he himself is professing that he's above it and that he is now fingerwagging other trivial shit Blizzard colleagues did (that wasn't sexual harassment or abuse) in order to save his own hide.

- - - Updated - - -

I haven't said that. Forward your anger to some other person you're arguing with.

It wasn't directed at you. I was explaining why I linked that.

[DingDongKing]

I don't take issue personally with that shit, I am merely defying the false claims that they didn't know anything about it because "it was in 2013, almost nobody knew before 2014."

Well, here it is in 2014 as a haha-funny injoke.

Do with it what you want.

For me personally I'm not really sure as to whether people knew pre 2014 or didn't know pre 2014. Post 2014 it should've been seen as clearly not awesome, but then sometimes people say edgy shit to be funny. So it's why I don't really put much stock in the Cosby suite thing. It could've just been edgy behaviour.

However, all that said...

Yes, people are ignoring that, which irks me. It's because she claims to be a victim of it all and pressured into it, and misled by somebody she trusted and had a lot of respect for, and naturally because she's a woman, people will buy into it.

1. By wording it as 'she claims to be a victim', there's a perceived implication that you think it didn't happen.
2. It's further complicated by you saying 'naturally because she's a woman'. So if a guy said this, it would be suspicious?

What she's saying is correct in her other tweets. She didn't KNOW that what was a drinking party would involve Afrasiabi being a fucking creep. If the room could've been called 'The Unicorn Hideout' and what Afrasiabi did happened, then what? She would've had no forewarning that 'Unicorn is code sexually inappropriate behaviour by the hands of Alex Afrasiabi'. People need to realise that if sexually inappropriate behaviour, across a broad range of 1-10 in bad to worst happen, it happened. You don't need a room to be named something to strengthen or weaken the possibility of it happening.

The fact that people are dying on this hill is so fucking dumb and misses the entire point. 'BUT HER EMAILS!'

[Mojo03]

GC's response seemed reasonable. It's sad people are trying to pigeonhole him into a position of guilt.

It's sickening to use phrases like "he should have known" and "he should have done" and use that as evidence of a crime

Even if he did know, I doubt that anyone posting on this website would be some paragon of virtue and out every single workplace issue they see, especially if they are in a seemingly coveted job position. (spoiler alert, they wouldn't).

It’s legit bullshit from people whom nothing is ever good enough. Sucks he’s stuck working with so many of them. I feel bad for him.

[DingDongKing]

why do you think it's not as bad? what's the difference?

My word, this is stupid. This is my final response, and it should be fairly concise.

Working extra hours is not as bad as someone being sexually inappropriate and/or engagement in harassment.

If you think it is, you truly need to seek some mental help.

[cirdanx]

And that's the thing. The 'joke' continued after 2014 as well, which means they had an inkling about how it would be perceived.

But even with the entire Cosby thing in mind - and lets assume it was a harmless joke - it's still not okay for sexual harassment to occur at a workplace. So for everyone screaming 'OMG WOKE! COSBY IS JUST A JOKE! GET OVER IT!', the Cosby thing isn't the core issue at hand.

Alleged sexual harassment.

Alleged is the key word here. So far the only thing that seems to be true is the party that Afrasiabi attended. How much of that was really true in the end will be seen. The biggest problem here seems to be that every single accusation is lacking context. Making a joke is not harassment, trying to kiss someone at a party who doesn´t want that is...yet we know nothing of the supposed “victims”. How many? Who? Where they going along with it of did they say no?

The Bloomberg article was written like a hit piece and does not reflect the actual wording in the lawsuit very well. And Kotaku is a joke no one reads anyway. People should relax and actually wait what comes out in court before jumping to conclusions.

[Saltysquidoon]

Salary agreed at a monthly rate. Overtime pay would also fluctuate a bit froma month to another based on the number of working days of that particular month since it had to be broken down into hourly rate for the given month.

At least from what I remember.

Salary is an agreed annual rate generally dispensed either weekly or monthly, this is as opposed to a wage which is paid according to hours worked.
Overtime is a separate issue again that varies wildly by jurisdiction.

The greater point however remains the reason salaries even exist is an attempt to ameliorate/minimise paying overtime and/or holiday rates from their white-collar workforce.

[Timester]

https://www.wowhead.com/news/investo...against-323598

RIP Activision-Blizzard

[Kolvarg]

And that's the thing. The 'joke' continued after 2014 as well, which means they had an inkling about how it would be perceived.

Well, for what it's worth, it seems the sexual assault allegations only started becoming "viral" in September 2014 (vs August 2014)

Even if they kept the joke going after that, at that point it was already an inside joke to them, which they were discussing privately, so it's entirely possible that it wasn't in any way a rape/abuse joke.

the Cosby thing isn't the core issue at hand.

Well yes, that's the point. Let's not lose our minds over how scandalous every little out-of-context comment any Blizz develop has made over the last 10 years might sound now, and focus on discussing facts and supporting the employees how we can.

[DingDongKing]

Alleged sexual harassment.

Alleged is the key word here. So far the only thing that seems to be true is the party that Afrasiabi attended. How much of that was really true in the end will be seen. The biggest problem here seems to be that every single accusation is lacking context. Making a joke is not harassment, trying to kiss someone at a party who doesn´t want that is...yet we know nothing of the supposed “victims”. How many? Who? Where they going along with it of did they say no?

The Bloomberg article was written like a hit piece and does not reflect the actual wording in the lawsuit very well. And Kotaku is a joke no one reads anyway. People should relax and actually wait what comes out in court before jumping to conclusions.

Again, Blizzard AND The State of California have carried out their own investigations. Blizzard also carried out an INDEPENDENT investigation.

All three investigations came to the conclusion that Afrasiabi was culpable of sexual harassment. So it's not alleged.

If you're upset that harassment happens at Blizzard or just that harassment happens, that's fine. Just don't be in denial to make yourself feel better.

[Yarathir]

For me personally I'm not really sure as to whether people knew pre 2014 or didn't know pre 2014. Post 2014 it should've been seen as clearly not awesome, but then sometimes people say edgy shit to be funny. So it's why I don't really put much stock in the Cosby suite thing. It could've just been edgy behaviour.

However, all that said...



1. By wording it as 'she claims to be a victim', there's a perceived implication that you think it didn't happen.
2. It's further complicated by you saying 'naturally because she's a woman'. So if a guy said this, it would be suspicious?

What she's saying is correct in her other tweets. She didn't KNOW that what was supposed to be a drinking party would end in Afrasiabi being a fucking creep. If the room could've been called 'The Unicorn Hideout' and what Afrasiabi did happened, then what? She would've had no forewarning that 'Unicorn is code sexually inappropriate behaviour by the hands of Alex Afrasiabi'. People need to realise that if sexually inappropriate behaviour, across a broad range of 1-10 in bad to worst happen, it happened. You don't need a room to be named something to strengthen or weaken the possibility of it happening. The fact that people are dying on this hill is so fucking dumb and misses the entire point. 'BUT HER EMAILS!'

No, the point is she was involved in that situation and undoubtedly knew about shit. Now this comes out and people look at her with a raised brow, expecting her to explain what she meant and she goes "Actually, I was a victim too, I just didn't want to tell anyone," therefore deflecting any potential complicity and involvement, and people eat it up and call her brave for sharing her story where she was pressured into it.

What she purports to have happened to her may well have happened, but it doesn't take away her part in knowing about what was going on. If it was a small time male developer in the same situation, he'd have been ripped apart if he so much as tried to deflect.

[Timester]

Alleged sexual harrassment.

Alex was fired because of it, Blizzard itself considered him guilty.