California sues Activision/Blizzard for employment discrimination because of sex, retaliation, discrimination & harassment, unequal pay

[Tahnit]

It might be a good idea to have a thread about the S-E stuff to give it more visibility. Both discussions need to be active.

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I agree. However this is nothing like Blizzards internal culture of harassment from the leadership down to the individuals. It still needs to be corrected sure as ANY amount of harassment should not be tolerated. But SE is nothing like blizzard as far as I know. This seems to be an office in the US as SE has offices all over the place.

This sort of shit is everywhere. What's important is HOW the company responds and deals with harassers and how they protect the victims. I hope the guy that did this is out of a job and never works in the industry again and I hope she gets some recompense for her troubles.

 

[Nepenthe]

For journos, this forum is a good for news posts and little else

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Thank you for putting this so clearly.

Before I realized I was genderfluid, I worked in tech as a woman, a software developer. The last weeks have made me want to cry and laugh bitterly because I was in tech for a decade and the only way I could escape the harassment before I made an irreversible life decision was to give up tech entirely. I know a lotta former Blizz dev women say their lives are so much better at X company now, and while I can believe it, at the same time I remember how much denial I put myself in, to keep working and enjoying work.

I used to love coding so much, I loved doing architecture and design, I even loved debugging and solving root causes and organizing efforts to put out fires. I wanted to work in games eventually, hah.

And then all of that was poisoned. Permanently for me, because the workplace trauma hasn't gone away even during the time I did a self consulting biz and had more control.

It was always more than just that one company or this other company. We have to fix the whole industry. Otherwise there just is no escape within the industry. We just... delude ourselves into thinking this other place is more awesome, and then it hires a Cosby suite exec from ActiBlizz.

What's happening at ActiBlizz right now could crack the industry open. We must support the workers. Boycotting isn't enough, buying products isn't enough, buying/selling stock as individuals is *so* not enough.

Thank you for putting some possible actions for us out there.

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I'm really sorry that you were effectively chased and harassed out of something you genuinely enjoyed and contributed to. And I'm also sorry it took a lawsuit of this magnitude for people to start paying a modicum of attention to the issue. Hopefully this is the start of something better for tech as a whole, and I hope we all realize that we can push the needle towards some semblance of justice.

I would think unionizing would be a start? This would help in equality at the pay level at the very least. Problem is as long as it's a male driven industry it will be hard to get rid of the Old Boys Club mentality.

I look even at the level we are dealing with now and COVID, many simply don't care. Maybe because they have not had a loved one get really sick so they don't take it seriously. It's hard to get into the minds of the employees who have to come to work in this environment unless they too deal with it. All I can really say is it's gross how a company's bottom line is the number one factor and why many leaders turn into sociopaths (or already are) who don't have any empathy at the level of the workers.

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Unionizing is ultimately what needs to happen, alongside terminations and jail time. Issue is, the layman on the ground can't do much to directly affect that except maybe vote. I'm pretty sure it's even illegal to donate directly to unions if you're not apart of them. Because, you know, America. (Although that's another thing that people can do- join these unions if eligible and bolster their influence!)

 

[Alpheus]

Here's another FF XIV employee talking about their story.

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Quoting for a new page ty for posting the tweet to begin with.

 

[Deleted member 85465]

Part of the issue we're fighting against is that the majority of the gamer base just doesn't really care, either because they're not in tune with gaming news, or because they're not part of the target demographics that were the most affected by the abuse. If nothing else, the fact that this is an "issue with tech" means many people are not going to single out AB and bother getting involved in any efforts to make change. But for the people who do care, I think we need to understand that this is ultimately an issue of worker's rights, and subsequently the employees are relatively alone in terms of having a direct impact on meaningful change. Because the fact of the matter is, even if player engagement on all of their games dropped significantly to actually force AB out of business, well, that doesn't really address the issue? Those predators will go on to another company to continue predating, as we've seen with Riot just willy-nilly hiring some of these assholes, and the women involved will have their work all for naught (and I say their work with emphasis, because considering the reports, seems like the men were slacking off, and thus I am happy to retroactively put the credit for Blizzard's games into the hands of their women), and will either leave the industry or... go to another company to run into those same pieces of shit.

I think the things that folks likes us on the ground can do are thus:

1.) Keep this shit in the news. The reason why this blew up is because of the lawsuits, where a mass amount of people were able to read accusations from a governmental agency. This gave an opening for more and more Blizzard employees to not only speak up about their experiences, but have them amplified. Blizzard, right now, has a latent reputation as being a den for outright sexual abusers. This needs to continue to be a narrative they cannot shake. Reblog, comment, retweet and share; do not let people forget what has happened. Hell, try to see how you can elevate this story to generalized news networks. And if you are in the position to do so-

6.) Ask Blizzard community spokespersons to help keep the story alive. Most of us are not Twitch and YouTube famous, but we certainly tune into people who are, and some of these people probably make their living by diving into a love for Blizzard's properties. Ask them to put out statements, to see if they would be willing to run drives for relevant donations, or even to see if they can communicate your demands to take the victims' demands seriously to actual Blizzard personnel. Their might be issues with contracts and things, but these community folks may be another tool in our toolbox if we simply bother to get in touch with them. This extends to the voice actors of these properties too, many of which have put out statements critical of the company and are choosing to focus their efforts on other things.

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Hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of threadmarking this wonderful post <3

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If its fine to ask, would you agree on Resetera taking active steps in bringing more awareness to this industry wide culture?

Like for example, having pinned mod messages with links to news to this kind of practices on discussion/new game announcement/hype threads about known videogame companies that do this kind of horrible practices? (I would be fine in including horrible crunch practices too.)

 

[dr.rocktopus]

 

[wedge55]

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Really solid list of demands there.

 

[sinopiasaur]

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I am now extremely amused when I remember a lawyer commenter on Kotaku/Polygon who kept insisting that ActiBlizz wasn't using the union busting arm of WilmerHale because Not All Law Firms and that everyone was biased against lawyers out of ignorance, cause Not All Lawyers.

Hope that commenter reads this letter because they sure seemed to believe the leading lawyer couldn't possibly not be experienced in addressing workplace issues without union busting, and seemed to think mere non-executives didn't know any better.

 

[Finaj]

A bit off-topic and possibly complete bullshit, but members of certain communities (not on era) have accused a senior member of the WoW team (not Ion) of fighting with fans on twitter and even doxxing someone.

Again, I don't know if this is true or it's just the WoW community blowing something out of proportion.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

A bit off-topic and possibly complete bullshit, but members of certain communities (not on era) have accused a senior member of the WoW team (not Ion) of fighting with fans on twitter and even doxxing someone.

Again, I don't know if this is true or it's just the WoW community blowing something out of proportion.

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From researching the "doxxing" is literally just posting a screenshot on Twitter of some WoW fan on LinkedIn sending them a DM that said "Fuck You" with their name attached to it.

 

[Ogni-XR21]

 

[Primus]

EDIT: Whoops, thought it was due to ActiBlizz reporting but it's due to other reporting.

 

[Raigor]

Looks like Jason Schreier is getting a ton of Twitter harassment today over his ActiBlizz reporting. Lots of racism, death threats, calls for suicide, all the usual hallmarks of Twitter Warriors.



Twitter, of course, is refusing to do anything about it.

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It has nothing to do with ActiBlizzard reporting. Check his latest tweet before this.

 

[Primus]

It has nothing to do with ActiBlizzard reporting. Check his latest tweet before this.

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Edited and changed, thanks.

 

[sinopiasaur]

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Thank you for the video heads up.

Lots of good info, though I think the employees were specifically not a fan of WilmerHale because of their union busting work, not because of other possible "bad" work.

Maybe what she means though is that all big law firms do union busting work, so there isn't any reason to protest WilmerHale because every big law firm would yield the same results. So it is pointless to point it out, I guess, this time because it really actually is All (Big) Law Firms rather than Not All Law Firms.

At least she didn't defend WilmerHale as the best choice for helping employees? Which I have seen other lawyers argue in comments elsewhere and, uh, yeah no. I appreciate her honesty and willingness to not defend big law firms here.

I really also liked how she talked about administrative law! It makes a lot of sense to this layperson, and the info is useful for context behind what the DFEH is doing and why it exists. It also made me realize that the people pushing for less government actually mean to disband administrative law, which can be much more favorable to the public good than federal law. I did not know that the Federal version of DFEH very often loses lawsuits, and that California's DFEH offers stronger protections.

And since disbanding administrative law essentially decimates the "fourth branch" of government that actually does the enforcement legwork of acts of Congress... well. I don't think people understand that context. It sounds like without administrative law even the Federal government's official three branches would entirely lack teeth to do *anything*.

Re SOX she mentioned, which she doesn't know much about, I do know a little about because for a year I was doing part of SOX internal accounting and support for security at my previous company. SOX covers many things, including having adequate security for customer data, really stringent requirements especially for protecting their financial data, as well as a bunch of other legal stuff not related to security. And SOX violations were taken entirely seriously internally. I was actually encouraged to go hard on internal security audits, and wasn't punished for doing so, which is extremely unusual for *any* big company politics. Issues I found were immediately addressed. I am not sure I quite believed a representative of our Legal who said that certain SOX violations are one of the few things that merit executive jail time. If true, it explains a lot about my experience.

Kinda doesn't explain why ActiBlizz was *allegedly* lax about even small parts of their SOX report. I had never seen the top brass at my company be so paranoid about anything as much as they were for SOX.

And lastly, her video has reminded me... this all landed July 20th and corporate lawyers will make a formal statement refuting the allegations etc. But... it's August 11th. Have we even seen anything like a first step towards an eventual full statement? Is that weird if we haven't? I know the courts can move slowly, but this is one company in PR hell. Like, is their legal department on fire? I can't think the first several ActiBlizz statements helped Legal.

 

[Deleted member 85465]

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Thanks for sharing, YouTube channels about discussing videogames in a law context are hard to come by.

 

[Jag]

I am now extremely amused when I remember a lawyer commenter on Kotaku/Polygon who kept insisting that ActiBlizz wasn't using the union busting arm of WilmerHale because Not All Law Firms and that everyone was biased against lawyers out of ignorance, cause Not All Lawyers.

Hope that commenter reads this letter because they sure seemed to believe the leading lawyer couldn't possibly not be experienced in addressing workplace issues without union busting, and seemed to think mere non-executives didn't know any better.

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I'm not sure what the union busting issue is here. Any "Big Law" firm will have the same issues as Wilmer Hale. These big corporate firms are required to protect their client and the nature of Big Law is to protect billion dollar companies. The problem isn't Big Law (well, it is, but that's another issue). The problem is they haven't hired a true independent investigator that will produce honest and transparent results. You won't get that from any law firm hired by the company. It needs to come from outside.

An example of this would be to hire someone or a company to investigate and then THAT person hires a law firm to work for them, not work for ActiBlizz.

I should add that I'm the guy that hires outside law firms for my company, so i understand how this works.

 

[sinopiasaur]

I'm not sure what the union busting issue is here. Any "Big Law" firm will have the same issues as Wilmer Hale. These big corporate firms are required to protect their client and the nature of Big Law is to protect billion dollar companies. The problem isn't Big Law (well, it is, but that's another issue). The problem is they haven't hired a true independent investigator that will produce honest and transparent results. You won't get that from any law firm hired by the company. It needs to come from outside.

An example of this would be to hire someone or a company to investigate and then THAT person hires a law firm to work for them, not work for ActiBlizz.

I should add that I'm the guy that hires outside law firms for my company, so i understand how this works.

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Ah, thank you, I understand more now.

 

[Alavard]

Another high profile harasser gone.

 

[Neoxon]

Another high profile harasser gone.

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3 of them, actually. Hopefully the heads continue to roll.

 

[sinopiasaur]

QA and CS suffered heavily. Two reports from both Polygon and Kotaku, with different information in each.

In both, they lead off with the hell ActiBlizz puts QA through, and then cover different details.

Would you like to know about the hell ActiBlizz is leaving its CS staff in?

Activision Blizzard’s contract workers say they’re ‘crushed’ by toxic culture

Workers are speaking out following California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing investigation

www.polygon.com

Or would you rather know what HR does to transgender employees?

Activision Blizzard’s QA Department Seems Like A Hellhole

Quality Assurance workers speak out in light of the ongoing lawsuit

kotaku.com

 

[oofouchugh]

The mistreatment of QA is completely systemic in the industry, they're treated like second rate developers and completely expendable gamer meat you can just churn through. It sucks. A place I worked for (not as QA) broke labor laws for non-salary employees basically so they could just overwork QA around the clock. Trying to find out if they ever got hit with a fine/lawsuit in WA over it.

Anyways, unionize EVERYTHING.

 

[Deleted member 12867]

I am so fucking disappointed with the twitch community for streaming DIablo 2 beta. Nothing will ever change people have already moved on like nothing happened. This won't effect their bottom line and it's fucking sad.

Edit: of the streamers I followed who are streaming this none of their viewership is effected at all it's like nothing at all happened over at blizzard. I thought maybe just maybe after all the wow streamers quit that things were happening, but let's be real if WoW didn't suck right now they would all be playing it.

 

[Griffith]

I'm not a lawyer, nor a legal expert but a recent video I saw of LegalEagle's reminded me of Blizzard's case. While on one hand it's good to see some of the reported harassers being fired or otherwise removed from the company something that I saw on LegalEagle's video reminded me of this:



Because some of the alleged perpetrators have been removed from the company, Blizzard is no longer obligated to produce them as witnesses during the case. I'm not sure if there are other means to call them to stand to testify, but their removal from the company might have been more of a means for them to legally protect themselves that just so happens to give them some form of positive PR.

It would be good if someone with more legal experience could affirm or deny this.

 

[Vash]

I'm not a lawyer, nor a legal expert but a recent video I saw of LegalEagle's reminded me of Blizzard's case. While on one hand it's good to see some of the reported harassers being fired or otherwise removed from the company something that I saw on LegalEagle's video reminded me of this:



Because some of the alleged perpetrators have been removed from the company, Blizzard is no longer obligated to produce them as witnesses during the case. I'm not sure if there are other means to call them to stand to testify, but their removal from the company might have been more of a means for them to legally protect themselves that just so happens to give them some form of positive PR.

It would be good if someone with more legal experience could affirm or deny this.

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Maybe Legal Eagle can answer this question?

 

[Griffith]

Maybe Legal Eagle can answer this question?

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I don't know what would be the best way to pose the question or if he'd even make a video on the subject on demand. I don't think he's known for covering a lot of gaming related law topics... Leonard French, of Lawful Masses would be a more likely bet. Even though he's a copyright lawyer, he does cover the gaming industry much closer.

 

[BBboy20]

I am so fucking disappointed with the twitch community for streaming DIablo 2 beta. Nothing will ever change people have already moved on like nothing happened. This won't effect their bottom line and it's fucking sad.

Edit: of the streamers I followed who are streaming this none of their viewership is effected at all it's like nothing at all happened over at blizzard. I thought maybe just maybe after all the wow streamers quit that things were happening, but let's be real if WoW didn't suck right now they would all be playing it.

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Everyone was still talking about and playing Ubisoft games when it's troubles broke out last year. People still playing and excited for Insomniac, SNK, Arcs System, Rocksteady, etc. games. I mean, unless you are so happen to be surrounded by people who no longer want to take part in companies when they are exposed wide open/commit public transgressions/possesses actual blood money...I don't know what to say.

 

[sinopiasaur]

Everyone was still talking about and playing Ubisoft games when it's troubles broke out last year. People still playing and excited for Insomniac, SNK, Arcs System, Rocksteady, etc. games. I mean, unless you are so happen to be surrounded by people who no longer want to take part in companies when they are exposed wide open/commit public transgressions/possesses actual blood money...I don't know what to say.

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I feel the only thing to say is that people should be better. That they aren't doesn't invalidate that ideal, nor does it invalidate disappointment. Disappointment is a pretty natural response to situations like this, and I wouldn't try to convince people not to be.

It kind of reminds me of a guy who at work, when I mentioned the horrors of slavery being visited upon members of my mother country in the year of 2006, said "Hahaha, but you're not suffering, why should you care? I'm confused. Feeling bad won't fix anything. I mean, they're still alive, after all. If I had to care about that, I'd never get anything done!"

He was my superior of course, so I couldn't safely talk back to him about it. I cared about many things, and still got things done. His response was just odd to me. And yes, I cried because he was just so callous.

There is something really sad in itself about someone who knows something happening is wrong, yet doesn't have the strength to say: "This disappoints me" because they fear even an iota of compassion makes them look weak, or worse, fragments their self-assured ego that bad things don't happen to "real people." That they would shatter utterly at accepting how bad the world is. Just one tragedy away from completely crumbling.

If the only way someone processes tragedy
is by ignoring it, they are really, really not prepared for life.

Disappointment is healthy. There was a point in my life when I waved away disappointment, and what happened was that I ended up ignoring what was even happening to myself until it was too late.

 

[nintendoman58]

I feel the only thing to say is that people should be better. That they aren't doesn't invalidate that ideal, nor does it invalidate disappointment. Disappointment is a pretty natural response to situations like this, and I wouldn't try to convince people not to be.

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Well, what does "be better" mean in this instance? If someone wants to buy and play a game, and stream it for their Twitch audiences, are they in the wrong to do so?

Does this not imply that one can't have: "I don't want abuse to happen at Activision Blizzard" and "I am enjoying playing Diablo II Remastered." as non-conflicting thoughts? Does it have to be one or the other?

I don't think it should!

 

[sinopiasaur]

Well, what does "be better" mean in this instance? If someone wants to buy and play a game, and stream it for their Twitch audiences, are they in the wrong to do so?

Does this not imply that one can't have: "I don't want abuse to happen at Activision Blizzard" and "I am enjoying playing Diablo II Remastered." as non-conflicting thoughts? Does it have to be one or the other?

I don't think it should!

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Final edit probably: Randinva has a much better answer here, I leave below my rambling attempt to answer.

I was thinking more about the "moving on". One should, if one enjoys the game, hold both thoughts: the game is good, the work conditions it was made under are terrible. Indeed, holding both thoughts is necessary to walk through society as it is.

But ignoring one for the other, in either direction, is not being better. If you play the game and ignore the conditions it was made under, that is very much not being better. Likewise if you convince yourself that horrible work conditions cannot produce good games, you ignore a really important dichotomy in favor of simplifying the situation, which is also terrible.

Edited to add: when I say "play the game and ignore" I mean it not as "don't play the game", I mean accept what conditions the game was made under in your heart, with all the pain that entails, and come up with ways you can make others aware if you have the platform for it. Playing it or not is beside the point.

Edited yet again to add: at the same time, "better" will be different for every person. This is my definition, and it is by no means universal. We can only answer for ourselves what is better, and it's one of the hardest questions of life. I still think about it.

 

[oofouchugh]

I am so fucking disappointed with the twitch community for streaming DIablo 2 beta. Nothing will ever change people have already moved on like nothing happened. This won't effect their bottom line and it's fucking sad.

Edit: of the streamers I followed who are streaming this none of their viewership is effected at all it's like nothing at all happened over at blizzard. I thought maybe just maybe after all the wow streamers quit that things were happening, but let's be real if WoW didn't suck right now they would all be playing it.

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The mass market was never going to respond to this and streamers have a lot to lose by skipping it. While it would be nice for streamers to take the moral high ground, streaming is a cutthroat profession. They lose tons of subs just by simply taking a single day off or not chasing big releases like this. It is very hard to hold it against them and why it is incredibly important to fix issues like this through legal action and worker unions instead of just leaning on the court of public opinion.

 

[Deleted member 85465]

Well, what does "be better" mean in this instance? If someone wants to buy and play a game, and stream it for their Twitch audiences, are they in the wrong to do so?

Does this not imply that one can't have: "I don't want abuse to happen at Activision Blizzard" and "I am enjoying playing Diablo II Remastered." as non-conflicting thoughts? Does it have to be one or the other?

I don't think it should!

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I made a post talking exactly about this here.

 

[sinopiasaur]

I made a post talking exactly about this here.

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Your answer there is much, much better than mine! Thank you for sharing it, and I am watching that thread now for reference, and to learn.

 

[Deleted member 12867]

Well, what does "be better" mean in this instance? If someone wants to buy and play a game, and stream it for their Twitch audiences, are they in the wrong to do so?

Does this not imply that one can't have: "I don't want abuse to happen at Activision Blizzard" and "I am enjoying playing Diablo II Remastered." as non-conflicting thoughts? Does it have to be one or the other?

I don't think it should!

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I think they are wrong. After all we have learned why would anyone want to promote their games until real change happens. There is a reason streamers are paid to play games. It works. So I think streaming it is worse than even playing it on your own.

 

[Deleted member 85465]

Haven't seen this posted, Acti/Blizz accused of routinely deadnaming trans staff.

Source.

Changing the name requires a complex process involving the HR department, but even then programmes often repeatedly reset the names of employees.

"This puts us at risk of randomly being outed as transgender, which is incredibly disrespectful," says QA tester Andrew. "HR is aware of this issue and has supposedly been talking with others to get the issue fixed, but this has been going on for [at least] a year."

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Billy, another member of the team, requested their teammates address them with they/them pronouns. Those teammates, all male, repeatedly refused.

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"[One] squad member made the classic 'joke,' 'I identify as an attack helicopter,' while sitting a few seats down from me," said Billy. "No one said anything to correct it."

When Billy contacted the HR department to request further sensitivity training for all staff, they didn't hear back for months.

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[Neoxon]

Haven't seen this posted, Acti/Blizz accused of routinely deadnaming trans staff.

Source.

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Jesus......

 

[Arcus Felis]

Haven't seen this posted, Acti/Blizz accused of routinely deadnaming trans staff.

Source.

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... When it rains, it pours. Dear Lord, this in unacceptable.

 

[Lamiafusion]

Haven't seen this posted, Acti/Blizz accused of routinely deadnaming trans staff.

Source.

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It's had a thread for a while.

[PinkNews] Activision Blizzard accused of routinely deadnaming trans staff, ignoring & making fun of a non-binary employee's pronouns Activision/Blizzard

Once again, fuck Activision Blizzard. Trans rights are human rights. The key points are in the quote, with the rest of the article being in the link below. Source: PinkNews

www.resetera.com

 

[Kyuuji]

It's had a thread for a while.

[PinkNews] Activision Blizzard accused of routinely deadnaming trans staff, ignoring & making fun of a non-binary employee's pronouns Activision/Blizzard

Once again, fuck Activision Blizzard. Trans rights are human rights. The key points are in the quote, with the rest of the article being in the link below. Source: PinkNews

www.resetera.com

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The thread was posted after that comment 🌿

 

[Futabaisthebest<3]

thought i'd re-post here in order to keep them in check so….here is "what an odd timing" tweet that you might want to rethink twice about purchase this game.

 

[Kyuuji]

Please look at our shiny new games, not at our constant and pervasive abuse of women in the workplace.

 

[nintendoman58]

I think they are wrong. After all we have learned why would anyone want to promote their games until real change happens. There is a reason streamers are paid to play games. It works. So I think streaming it is worse than even playing it on your own.

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…Nah.

I'm not about to cast blame on individual streamers playing Diablo 2 Remastered because for one thing, it's their job. Obviously it varies per streamer, but if they get the offer to be paid to stream the game, of course they're going to do it. That's how they make a living.

Streaming the hot new game release is how popular streamers stay relevant for their own job, and not jumping aboard that bandwagon means potentially tanking your own viewership. Yes it's messed up, but I'm not going to fault any individual streamer for only playing Diablo 2 Remastered when their jobs are on the line.

Of course, this doesn't apply to every streamer. Some are in positions where they can happily choose to not stream Activision Blizzard games anymore, and if they make that choice, then more power to them.

And if some streamers have smaller audiences and only want to stream the game for fun, then that's fine too.

 

[Tbm24]

thought i'd re-post here in order to keep them in check so….here is "what an odd timing" tweet that you might want to rethink twice about purchase this game.

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Is there an expectation for that response to be public that day if at all?

 

[Commander Quackers]

…Nah.

I'm not about to cast blame on individual streamers playing Diablo 2 Remastered because for one thing, it's their job. Obviously it varies per streamer, but if they get the offer to be paid to stream the game, of course they're going to do it. That's how they make a living.

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One thing? Are you forreal?

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Please look at our shiny new games, not at our constant and pervasive abuse of women in the workplace.

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Sadly, it has worked. We can already see the results in ERA with the Diablo 2 beta.

 

[nintendoman58]

One thing? Are you forreal?

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Yes? I listed the other thing below, about smaller streamers who wish to play the game for themselves and their own audiences.

 

[Commander Quackers]

Yes? I listed the other thing below, about smaller streamers who wish to play the game for themselves and their own audiences.

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Seems like more than one thing tho

 

[Deleted member 12867]

…Nah.

I'm not about to cast blame on individual streamers playing Diablo 2 Remastered because for one thing, it's their job. Obviously it varies per streamer, but if they get the offer to be paid to stream the game, of course they're going to do it. That's how they make a living.

Streaming the hot new game release is how popular streamers stay relevant for their own job, and not jumping aboard that bandwagon means potentially tanking your own viewership. Yes it's messed up, but I'm not going to fault any individual streamer for only playing Diablo 2 Remastered when their jobs are on the line.

Of course, this doesn't apply to every streamer. Some are in positions where they can happily choose to not stream Activision Blizzard games anymore, and if they make that choice, then more power to them.

And if some streamers have smaller audiences and only want to stream the game for fun, then that's fine too.

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Yeah I didn't consider that as long as people are profiting that it's ok to promote such a horrible company. I mean it's only been decades of the worst abuse I've seen in the industry. Gotta get those twitch primes lol. Also refuse to believe that it would even effect the largest streamers. I've seen people pull insane numbers with power washing simulator.

 

[Lozjam]

I have to say, this forum is a failure in regards to the handling of these accusations and their treatment of Activision as a whole.

I don't exactly agree with censoring, or banning threads on Activision. But stifling the criticisms of Activision's management on Era's "Hype Threads" certainly is something that shouldn't be done. So what if it gets "off-topic". These women that were harassed shouldn't be shoved into other thread, when Activision's treatment should be about in every single game/announcement they make.

 

[Bufbaf]

Yeah I didn't consider that as long as people are profiting that it's ok to promote such a horrible company. I mean it's only been decades of the worst abuse I've seen in the industry. Gotta get those twitch primes lol. Also refuse to believe that it would even effect the largest streamers. I've seen people pull insane numbers with power washing simulator.

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Yes, but you see, it's even more money though. Why only get SOME money when you can get ALL the money? It's just common sense, really.

 

[blame space]

Seems like more than one thing tho

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you're misunderstand the post. they're not saying "boycott streamers for [the lawsuit]", they're saying "for one thing, it's their job."

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