Blizzard Entertainment Welcomes Jessica Martinez as Vice President Head of Culture

[natham]

"Head of Culture" ... man I hate this century...

[Delekii]

All those come from European folklore, so don't say loosely based.... and Tolkien was European.

the Valar and Maiar and all Good powerful beings were associated with the colour white & light. While all things evil and shadow are dark. So why would he be african american? All elves were white also for a reason. But lets make them black too, it doesn't matter, it's 2022. Of course Gandalf being white isn't an important part of his character.

What was The White Council referring too? A lot of those characters had different hair colours from Saruman's, including Gandalf. You think it would not make a difference if Gandalf decided to show up to the council one day as an african american just because it's 2022 and we don't want Delekii's feeling hurt. How confusing would that be...

I'm sure you would be happy if Gandalf was portrayed as a fat retard in a wheelchair, atleast then you would finally get representation in fantasy media.

It's not European Folklore though. It's inspired by European Folklore. And, furthermore, European Folklore is also made up. There are no such thing as African Americans or Europeans in Middle Earth. Africa is not a place in Middle Earth. America is not a place in Middle Earth. Europe is not a place in Middle Earth. There are no intrinsic skin colours that are from places in middle earth.

The only feelings that are hurt here are yours; you are the one whining and bitching about the skin colour of gandalf.

Also, enjoy your ban. It's clearly a sign of maturity and good reasoning when you resort to personal attacks.

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Wow... It takes a serious intellectual lightweight to think that the themes of Tolkien's stories need to adhere to a "white skin good, dark skin bad" aesthetic.

Doesn't appear as if your thinly veiled racism took umbrage with prominent characters like Frodo and Aragorn being portrayed by Americans rather than Europeans. Are you also unaware of the fact that people of color can be Europeans as well? The Europe of today looks very different from the Europe of Tolkien's time, and even still these stories aren't actually set in Europe. So, try to tell us again (without making it painfully obvious that you're just a racist asshole) why European actors don't belong in a European based fantasy world simply because of the color of their skin.

It's not even thinly veiled; it's just abject.

[E0dyn]

Equity... that means they want to discriminate against whites and Asians. smh

[Adamas102]

Equity... that means they want to discriminate against whites and Asians. smh

Yep, by continuing to employ whites and Asians while also working against the racist assumptions that only whites and Asians could possibly be qualified to work at gaming companies they are clearly discriminating against whites and Asians.

[Grax]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minist...(Soviet_Union)

[Celement]

And yet you had people in this very thread arguing the very thing, saying that they are.



Except the whole idea of "Get woke go broke", which was on the other end of that idea, hasn't had a point to stand on. So it's weird to demand that they prove anything. Like, the new Star Wars trilogy gets a ton of hate from people because it had "wokeness", and yet it had the largest success of all the trilogies.



Again, we have people in this very thread saying they didn't care if people did sexually harass others as long as the game is fine, and that they should have just reported it.

Despite knowing that it WAS reported and nothing was done.



How can you mention bias, and then say that it's not unreasonable to suspect it....because of someone's own bias.

And on top of that, we had not even a few months back one of the new leaders for Blizzard was a female, and on these very forums she got nothing but hate despite having an extensive portfolio herself. Meanwhile, no one questioned the male who was chosen.



I'd say it's hilarious that you're trying to claim I'm arguing from an emotional point because you have a "logical" argument when not even once have you actually been able to interpret my post honestly. You've been misrepresenting it from the start while trying to claim it's on ME when you're the one just arguing dishonestly.

There's no hope in trying to discuss it with you. I said from the start, companies should be expected to follow morals. You for some reason, said I claimed they should be examples to follow when I said they SHOULDN'T be.

And then after that, I said they were making new positions to ensure they have diversity while also still keeping the talented applicants that people are using as their made up victims of "diversity hires", and now you're going on some parade about how I wasn't clear.

Honestly its because it was extremely difficult to understand what it was you were trying to say.

You kept trying to use catch phrases and lingo to express yourself believing people would instantly understand.

I want to focus in on this though as it highlights your cognitive dissonance rather nicely.

And then after that, I said they were making new positions to ensure they have diversity

I asked if the new token hires were picked to fill quotas or were simply bloat and outside of your post dismissing me rather then arguing your point you admit they are both...

Try to understand some people don't consider racism and sexism a societal good. Even when that racism and sexism is being done for "equality"

[Blackmist]

If it's like any of the other "head of something" hires, her only job will be to sit in the corner, do nothing, and say everything is fine in the event of some shitstorm.

This is just Blizzard going "Look, look, we're hiring women. We don't hate them. See?"

[willtron]

I remember the times where no game developer cared for "equal", and "diverse" workplace. I have also read about them recently in Staats' book about early days of World of Warcraft and Warcraft III development.

It was just sweaty nerds with lots of passion. There was no diversity departament, no culture departament, no queer departament, there were guys working their asses off and producing iconic games, like Warcraft II, Warcraft III, StarCraft, Call of Duty 2, Gothic, Neverwinter Nights...

Now, you have "diverse" and "equal" work environments, spewing vile stuff like Warcraft Rumble, Shadowlands, or any other Battlefield2042-esque soulless games.

Why can't we focus on quality again?

We can, you just have to go indie. Studios with shareholders care only about the share price, not your enjoyment of the game.

It's a nothing position to placate the people who take issue with Blizzards rep at the moment. It doesn't change anything, I wonder if she'll even last, like Jen...

[Ethas]

Cool, but what about "Head of making games fun and the level of old Blizzard"?

[Nelle]

I have no doubt she is a nice lady and all, so Welcome.

But what matters to us gamers is the game itself, not all the random drama sorrounding it. We wanna hear about improvements to the game, keep your dirty culture laundry internally.

[Razorice]

Some big companies like Apple, Microsoft and Blizz have culture dept. Their main goal is to make sure that the culture within the company stays cohesive, preventing deviations. Things like values, missions and core beliefs are what they work with. It sounds weird but big companies with offices all around the world needs this to make sure that they behave the same no matter where they are and keep cohesion between regions.

Example: If a company value creativity and constant innovation, the Culture dept will make sure that these values are upheld by offering workshops doing special events and giving the conditions for the workers to fulfill said missions. If one of these core beliefs are being challenged internally, the culture dept will probably weigh in and interfere at some level while also getting employees that are a good match for the company.

It is all a little bit abstract but when you are dealing with gigantic companies, they are actually useful. In simpler terms, they oversee a lot of different aspects of the company, make sure everyone is on the same page and increase engagement and communicantion between employees.

Thank you for the explanation!

[iinverse]

Blizz, hire someone who will make good games pls.

[Beet]

Fuck yes. A head of culture! Todays Blizzard sure have their finger on the button of what the fans need. I’m sure once the masses learn about these awesome additions we will see WoW hit numbers as high as they were in WotLK! Because gameplay is secondary to good values and culture. Just as good ol Pat Buchanan used to say in the 80s and 90s.

[Utrrabbit]

All I know is we had Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3 without diversity hires and culture heads or whatever. Valve had no diversity departament while developing Half-Life and Half-Lief 2. Neither did id Software. These games are classic and are highly regarded everywhere. Really makes you think.

Now enjoy your blue-haired developers and inclusivity crusade, where game itself is on the second plane.

And those companies are now being discovered to have been run/worked by scummy psuedo-pedophiles who also sexually assaulted women and belittled minorities. Get out of your own ass, these changes are a good thing.

[HansOlo]

Would be better if they promoted up from within rather than hiring from outside. Reward the hard working (oft abused) employees. Hell, there are women who were in the abuse who work at Blizzard now. Why not them? Surely they're more qualified to address the problem given they experienced it.

But nah, bring in some random from Disney.

Articulated post - something that is rare to find.

Smells like PR and I agree.

[NineSpine]

Fuck yes. A head of culture! Todays Blizzard sure have their finger on the button of what the fans need. I’m sure once the masses learn about these awesome additions we will see WoW hit numbers as high as they were in WotLK! Because gameplay is secondary to good values and culture. Just as good ol Pat Buchanan used to say in the 80s and 90s.

If you think that large tech companies can hire top talent without having a solid company culture that people want to be a part of, you need to leave your basement for thirty seconds, touch some grass, and get in touch with the real world.

[Zendhal The Black]

How about hireing actual developers?

[NineSpine]

How about hireing actual developers?

You can't hire actual developers if your company culture is trash. Do you know how hard it is to find good developers right now?

[Zoibert the Bear]

I can't believe women ruined video games!

I can, does seem correlated at least.

[Utrrabbit]

Articulated post - something that is rare to find.

Smells like PR and I agree.

That is an extremely dumb idea. As much as it sucks these woman went through all thar giving them positions or new titles for jobs they have absolutely no experience in while blizzard is actively trying to fix and change the way theybdo things is suicide.

Ill give you an example. I work in retail, in produce/bakery to be precise. The company I work for had this huge debacle with our bread being artifically over priced and when it became news the public was in an uproar. Now none of this has to do with our store we are just one of hundreds across the county. If they came to me (even though ive work for the company for almost 20 years now) and told me it is my job yo fix our public image in the nexy 6 months, that would just not be smart. I may have experience at store level, but that just is not going to do.

They hired someone who has 14 years experience doing the job. It was that simple.