Activision Blizzard Appoints Kristen Hines as Chief DEI Officer

[Mendzia]

Gonna be honest....mods need to start locking the comments sections of news posts like this because the comments posted so far are mostly just bigoted bullshit.

Oh yeah. Let's make it WoWHead 2.0 where most of the news threads are insta locked so you can't present your opinion.
You do not blindlessly follow current year mainstream ideas = you can't comment.
Phenomenal idea!

White fragility right here folks.

Yep, we got 'great' times that saying this is fine and totally not racist...

that's not even remotely close to what will happen but I don't think you're even remotely interested in what it means you just like to spout unqualified garbage

As a payer for their game i am interested what will happen.
You can or can not agree with my opinion - that is fine.

[DarkAmbient]

Blizzard is a company with thousands of employees whose job descriptions are far more diverse than what a nurse would typically do. (And even then, the societal stigma against male nurses has been eroding over time as well.) A perfect microcosm isn't being forced. They've made commitments not quotas. But even said, they are at least trying to ensure there are people on the team whose diverse cultural backgrounds may help better develop the game for the diverse group of players in the game.

I don't get why this has a tendency to immediately devolve into bickering over perceived identity politics. It's mostly PR but it doesn't have any measurable downsides and can potentially reap massive rewards by allowing the games Blizzard develops to have the widest potential audience possible.

WoW achieved its pinnacle of success in terms player numbers long before any serious attempt at diversification of the workforce, and Shadowlands seems to be the most disliked expansion yet. Back when I started playing I had absolutely no idea what kind of people were on the development team, and as a potential customer of their products I didn't care. It still doesn't seem relevant to me or the product at all, as long as the people being hired love games. I mean, how diverse does anyone think the teams for Elden Ring or Final Fantasy are? No-one's complaining that there's too many Asians working on those games.

I think identity politics becomes part of the discussion when these more diverse developers approach their job from an inclusivity standpoint and insert their personal politics into the game (fruit bowls and deleted emotes etc) which some players feel is the wrong priority and doesn't make WoW a better game. People see an appointment like this and it gives the impression that such politics will become even further entrenched in WoW's development philosophy and content.

[Echo of Soul]

Implying that there are no qualified people that do check boxes is pretty ignorant tbh.

Yeah reading comprehension is hard. It's okay though, you can't help it.

[TheRevenantHero]

Oh yeah. Let's make it WoWHead 2.0 where most of the news threads are insta locked so you can't present your opinion.
You do not blindlessly follow current year mainstream ideas = you can't comment.
Phenomenal idea!



Yep, we got 'great' times that saying this is fine and totally not racist...



As a payer for their game i am interested what will happen.
You can or can not agree with my opinion - that is fine.

It has absolutely nothing to do with blindlessly following mainstream ideas. It's about denying bigots a platform. Because posts like this news post have shown in this very thread that open comment sections allow for bigots to spew their toxic bullshit.

[Mendzia]

It has absolutely nothing to do with blindlessly following mainstream ideas. It's about denying bigots a platform. Because posts like this news post have shown in this very thread that open comment sections allow for bigots to spew their toxic bullshit.

So you want censorship only certain opinions as it seems everyone not agreeing with you = 'bigot spewing toxic bullshit'.
Ok, i get it.

[oleander]

They could. But try actually thinking about it a bit.

"Our company is very serious about diversity. Here is a middle-aged white man in charge of diversity to explain." Not really showing much seriousness in diversity after all, are you?

BTW, I am a middle-aged white man...and I was asked one time to talk to new recruits about diversity initiatives that I help with. I told them "No" specifically for that reason. While my co-workers understand that I work to support everyone equally, new hires aren't going to understand that. There are plenty of other individuals in my company that could (and should) do that talk at least as well as I could.

A white person could perform in the role acceptably, but an actually diverse person with the same skill sets will do better because they don't just *think* they understand the challenges, they've actually experienced those challenges. While I emphasize and support others, I don't fool myself into thinking I understand nearly as well as those that have experienced those challenges.

This is no different than having someone with my relative experience in an unrelated thinking that they can be just as good as I am at my job. They may bring interesting new ideas and do well overall, but they aren't going to be better than me overall running all the activities because I have knowledge from experience that they have yet to learn (and may never learn).

Why is diversity synonym for ‘race’ in the USA? You’re not diverse if you focus merely on skin color. To me as a European, a black American Harvard schooled employee is the same as a white American Harvard schooled employee: American-centred, homogenous world and scientific views and probably monolingual. I also see it in the UK company I work for. They pet themselves on the back, but to me it’s just more of the same.

[TheRevenantHero]

So you want censorship only certain opinions as it seems everyone not agreeing with you = 'bigot spewing toxic bullshit'.
Ok, i get it.

you've got to be fucking joking with this comment. Bigots deserve to be censored. Period. If a point someone makes involves further marginalizing certain groups then they really don't deserve a platform to speak. And again, just look at NUMEROUS comments on this news post. There's a lot of bigoted toxic bullshit.

[Iain]

Why is diversity synonym for ‘race’ in the USA? You’re not diverse if you focus merely on skin color. To me as a European, a black American Harvard schooled employee is the same as a white American Harvard schooled employee: American-centred, homogenous world and scientific views and probably monolingual. I also see it in the UK company I work for. They pet themselves on the back, but to me it’s just more of the same.

Indeed, a privileged person who shares traits with a marginalized demographic will be chosen over a marginalized person who shares traits with a privileged demographic. 'Diversity' is only skin-deep in that sense, a vulgar aesthetic of assorted appearances in the workforce. It's a superficial means of obtaining the optics of a broad mandate.

A company that truly seeks to level the playing field and provide better opportunities to those who barely had any, would have a much deeper hiring process, one that necessarily can't be constrained to the appearance of a person.

[crusadernero]

WoW achieved its pinnacle of success in terms player numbers long before any serious attempt at diversification of the workforce, and Shadowlands seems to be the most disliked expansion yet. Back when I started playing I had absolutely no idea what kind of people were on the development team, and as a potential customer of their products I didn't care. It still doesn't seem relevant to me or the product at all, as long as the people being hired love games. I mean, how diverse does anyone think the teams for Elden Ring or Final Fantasy are? No-one's complaining that there's too many Asians working on those games.

I think identity politics becomes part of the discussion when these more diverse developers approach their job from an inclusivity standpoint and insert their personal politics into the game (fruit bowls and deleted emotes etc) which some players feel is the wrong priority and doesn't make WoW a better game. People see an appointment like this and it gives the impression that such politics will become even further entrenched in WoW's development philosophy and content.

Yeah, I agree. I have no idea who made Elder Ring or most other games I play. I couldnt put a face to so many games i've played over the years.

Now - if hiring someone like this makes the company, and therefore the games better at Blizzard, then this is a good move. If this is just virtual signalling and/or the games they provide overall suffer, one can start to question whats really going on here. Are they here to bring out great games or to push some sort of agenda with mediocre games?

Im all for diversity in games, but it feels wrong when forced. Its funny how many western games the last couple of years that clearly has a agenda, were characters/plotpoints are shoehored by some political viewpoint and/or agenda. Characters cant be a woman(example) without it being enforced in one way or another.

I often use the example of Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider games. All of the games are great, the character is great, the story(most of it) is great. Theres not one part during those games that I feel the game has to tell me she is a woman or whatever. She just is who she is. Kicking ass, solving mysteries. Her gender or whatever does not come across as a major thing. Its just is.

[Mendzia]

you've got to be fucking joking with this comment. Bigots deserve to be censored. Period. If a point someone makes involves further marginalizing certain groups then they really don't deserve a platform to speak. And again, just look at NUMEROUS comments on this news post. There's a lot of bigoted toxic bullshit.

Looks like mods do not agree with you in that case.
Afaik you can always apply to be one of them if you hate some comments so much.
Anyway, i think it is not worth even replying anymore since you got your 'bigot' agenda in your mind and literally nothing will change it.

[crusadernero]

you've got to be fucking joking with this comment. Bigots deserve to be censored. Period. If a point someone makes involves further marginalizing certain groups then they really don't deserve a platform to speak. And again, just look at NUMEROUS comments on this news post. There's a lot of bigoted toxic bullshit.

Be careful what you wish for. A cencored internet is not something we, or you, want.

[Grimbold21]

You realize your articles point to the same study?

And, that said study accounts for 83'000 people in a country state that has millions of citizens?

I feel like you're strawmanning a very niché argument, also, given the recent IGN debacle about being paid $20 to write an article quite honestly do you really trust modern journalism to be anything but cheap race baiting posts?

Maybe im a hardline sceptic, but I like to think money talks and honestly money is a very good way to tell if someones cause is sincere or a strawman for their actual agenda, this is why I look past the left-right bullshit and focus on the real enemy, the guy or girl with the big bucks who keeps everyone else, down.

That's not the most interesting tidbit of all 3 articles linked.

They all read as if the studies were conducted with an already pre-set conclusion, and that the researchers set out to find "data" that corroborated their conclusion.

To ask the question: are minorities still being discriminated in the hiring process? and to then immediately read and conclude that this single data point confirms the existence of discrimination is bad science.

[Iain]

Im all for diversity in games, but it feels wrong when forced. Its funny how many western games the last couple of years that clearly has a agenda, were characters/plotpoints are shoehored by some political viewpoint and/or agenda. Characters cant be a woman(example) without it being enforced in one way or another.

I thought this chat to be fascinating. Magic the Gathering released a new set that heavily borrowed from Japanese culture. Therefore the designers felt obliged to go through great lengths to make sure the artwork and naming conventions and such would be culturally sensitive. To use existing cultures as a point of reference is frequently called 'cultural appropriation' but this is only true when starts to grab ideas and designs without any care for their original meaning. Once the artists seek out the meaning and incorporate the original intent into something new, I would call it a cultural celebration.

[TheRevenantHero]

Be careful what you wish for. A cencored internet is not something we, or you, want.

Oh fucking dry up with that hyperbolic censoring nonsense. I 100% want an internet where bigots are given absolutely no platform to speak on.

[NineSpine]

They shouldn't.

I worked in diverse environments that were absolutely bomb. Everyone had a different background and nationality, and they had an incredible set of skills that often humbled me. Which means diversity and skill where present at the same time. That is something I can understand. Diverse environments aren't bad at all. Forced diverse environments are bad.

I remember there was a guy that got fired because he was clueless about the job. He was not white, I think he was Indian. He was promoting diversity, but he did not know the job, so he was let go. And that is also fine.

I don't care about your personal experience. There is extremely good evidence that diverse workplaces are significantly more productive, so hiring a diverse workforce is what is best for companies. There is even evidence that diverse workplaces do a BETTER job of hiring the individual with the best qualifications, because homogenous workforces tend to hire people like themselves even if they aren't the most qualified because they see experiences similar to their own as intrinsically more desirable, even if it really isn't the best thing for the job.

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Be careful what you wish for. A cencored internet is not something we, or you, want.

You aren't entitled to a platform. CNN doesn't need to give me a show.

[Varodoc]

Reminder that the supreme God of the Afterlife who judges all souls of the Warcraft universe is now a trans, who also has a total of 2 minutes of screentime, that tells you all you need to know about modern Blizzard.

[NineSpine]

Why is diversity synonym for ‘race’ in the USA? You’re not diverse if you focus merely on skin color. To me as a European, a black American Harvard schooled employee is the same as a white American Harvard schooled employee: American-centred, homogenous world and scientific views and probably monolingual. I also see it in the UK company I work for. They pet themselves on the back, but to me it’s just more of the same.

Diversity initiatives consider religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, etc.. It's not just race.

[Grimbold21]

So you want censorship only certain opinions as it seems everyone not agreeing with you = 'bigot spewing toxic bullshit'.
Ok, i get it.

The issue with this sort of reasoning is that the people employing it usually reserve the right for themselves of being the judge, jury and executioner of what is and isn't acceptable.

And as it is so typical with mmo-champion ever since the nothing burgers of the mid 2010s, opposition, criticising or just plain making fun of such initiatives and reasoning usually gets swept along with actual bigotry.

It's taking the now very tiresome meme of Are you agaisnt this? Then you can only be a bigot - quite typical of the twitterverse - adding some superficial coat of reasoning, with a tad bit of self righteousness, and making blanket accusations of anyone who shows even a hint of opposition.

[crusadernero]

Oh fucking dry up with that hyperbolic censoring nonsense. I 100% want an internet where bigots are given absolutely no platform to speak on.

Oh yeah? Whos to say you aint the one that has to be cencored? Whats your end game goal here? To rid the planet of people that have views that goes across from yours? Newsflash, the world is complicated and people will always have fucked up vies and comments about literally anything. That wont ever go away.

Im all for supporting good causes and progressional views, but rambling around on the internet about cencorship solves nothing. Those opinions you despise? They are still out there, even if its written here or not.

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[/SIZE][/COLOR]



You aren't entitled to a platform. CNN doesn't need to give me a show.

Neither are you? I guess? Whats your point?

[NineSpine]

Oh yeah? Whos to say you aint the one that has to be cencored? Whats your end game goal here? To rid the planet of people that have views that goes across from yours? Newsflash, the world is complicated and people will always have fucked up vies and comments about literally anything. That wont ever go away.

Im all for supporting good causes and progressional views, but rambling around on the internet about cencorship solves nothing. Those opinions you despise? They are still out there, even if its written here or not.

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Neither are you? I guess? Whats your point?

Being denied a platform on a website isn't some violation of your rights. Nobody is being "censored". People are being asked to leave the restaurant because they won't stop screaming racial slurs.

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The issue with this sort of reasoning is that the people employing it usually reserve the right for themselves of being the judge, jury and executioner of what is and isn't acceptable.

And as it is so typical with mmo-champion ever since the nothing burgers of the mid 2010s, opposition, criticising or just plain making fun of such initiatives and reasoning usually gets swept along with actual bigotry.

It's taking the now very tiresome meme of Are you agaisnt this? Then you can only be a bigot - quite typical of the twitterverse - adding some superficial coat of reasoning, with a tad bit of self righteousness, and making blanket accusations of anyone who shows even a hint of opposition.

People have a right to ask the owners of social spaces to exclude people that render the social PRODUCT less desirable for them. The idea that I am in the wrong if I ask twitter to get rid of the guy that keeps posting about wanting another holocaust because his precious rights are being violated is absurd on its face.