Until Blizzard steps up and fires many people, no apology is sincere, especially from management. Apology without action is only manipulation.
Blizzard sure turned into a shithole over the past decade. And fuck Morhaime, I don't buy that he didn't know, not one bit.
Blizzard sure turned into a shithole over the past decade. And fuck Morhaime, I don't buy that he didn't know, not one bit.
I'd also keep in mind that people who went through this at Blizzard can and will have different opinions about the executives and other employees involved and they shouldn't be poked at for that being the case. A large group of people having similar but ultimately unique, personal experiences with discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault do not need to agree about everything for there to be a problem. They are not a monolith. Support them all.
Seems to be a very common trait of people who have never had to face any real consequences or be held accountable for anything in their lives.There may be no bigger indictment of Morhaime than the sheer ARROGANCE of thinking he could get away with posting that bullshit without people immediately coming back at him with receipts.
All the things he "thought" he stood for, all the things he "tried" to do-- all blatant lies. He knew. He was told exactly what was happening and didn't give a shit. He's only sorry now because it's finally getting attention. He's sorry he got caught, he's not sorry he did it.
Dude calling Gloria Steinem a revered saint in his house, and I'm gonna die.
Why does it literally seem like every gaming company are pieces of shit? I mean from activision, to Ubisoft, to insomniac, EA I can keep on going.
computer science has been a boys club since the mid 80s, so it becomes self selecting for this shit.
I've seen similar in a 2016 Silicon Valley startup. Not a lot has truly changed. In many ways it's gotten less outwardly blatant depending on how big and corporate the company is, but it's certainly there. I also worked at a Fortune 500 with 8k+ employees, many many many women leaders, nothing stopped executives and managers from preying on the interns every summer. Even one who was ultimately fired because he could NOT stop texting the intern despite his own wife working at the same company and after warnings he received to stop.Tech companies today are largely pretty corporate so no it's not really about CS.
This just seems like another symptom of game studios just being behind the curve.
The shit I'm reading about Blizzard is something from like an early 2000s silicon valley startup lol
I've seen similar in a 2016 Silicon Valley startup. Not a lot has truly changed. In many ways it's gotten less outwardly blatant depending on how big and corporate the company is, but it's certainly there. I also worked at a Fortune 500 with 8k+ employees, many many many women leaders, nothing stopped executives and managers from preying on the interns every summer. Even one who was ultimately fired because he could NOT stop texting the intern despite his own wife working at the same company and after warnings he received to stop.
I don't buy Morhaime's apology at all. There is no way he wasn't fully aware of what was going on and that culture probably started at the top and worked its way down.
square enix still works with an actual homophobic war crimes denier -- don't die on this hillOh im sure. But im pretty sure there is not a toxic culture at square Enix. I am sure there will be outliers but I doubt its prevalent.
I don't buy Morhaime's apology at all. There is no way he wasn't fully aware of what was going on and that culture probably started at the top and worked its way down.
Good for them, someone else prepared to make a real stand rather than just continue with an easily ignored footnote.
Agreed. This is what command climate looks like. People see what folks at the top will allow and act accordingly. This shit happened because Morhaime and people like him allowed it through inaction or direct action. Either way they created the climate that allowed this to fester.The Morhaime stuff is disappointing and unsurprising. It's impossible he wasn't aware of these problems while was running Blizzard, and of course people immediately show up with receipts proving it.
Oh im sure. But im pretty sure there is not a toxic culture at square Enix. I am sure there will be outliers but I doubt its prevalent.
Sugiyama has a stake in Dragon Quest specifically that's both unfortunate and makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to just get rid of him. At this point, it's just a waiting game on when he croaks.square enix still works with an actual homophobic war crimes denier -- don't die on this hill
One thing you can probably say about square Enix is that this shit most likely isnt happening. Japanese culture is WAY different than American culture. This shit wont fly in square Enix and Yoshi P would publicly out someone doing that.
Coke is the drug of choice when you're working by Wall Street I learned frankly. Either way that was just a small example as I'm not going to start discussing more of the worse stories I've heard as I've only heard them second hand. So I'm not putting them out there randomly. The point is more to highlight that Blizzard or other game dev companies aren't unique in the slightest for this kind of behavior.Surely there's a difference between hitting on employees discreetly and uh *checks notes* doing coke in bathrooms, spreading nudes of employees, and large swathes of sexual assault allegations.
This is John McAfee startup levels crazy.
Ahh yes, on the notorious feminism Japan is known for, clearly
Godamnit. Yup I was wrong. I apologize.
That being said the law being put forth sounds like something that needs to happen in the US to help curb this. If it has helped that is good.
Yeah, I'm not mad at Tahnit. I just know other people who's said the same thing so I needed a bit to vent because it feels so surreal to just go "you see my billion dollar company's mmo would never let this fly". It feels like console war shit. This isn't directed Tahnit. All love to them!
yeah thats trueSugiyama has a stake in Dragon Quest specifically that's both unfortunate and makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to just get rid of him. At this point, it's just a waiting game on when he croaks.
Fuck Bobby and all the other assholes that helped things get this fucking horrible for people working there, is this the first time a state has sued a gaming company for these kind of issues?
Oh im sure. But im pretty sure there is not a toxic culture at square Enix. I am sure there will be outliers but I doubt its prevalent.
I wasn't really directing that at you in particular, just felt like bringing up an already resolved conversation isn't all that productive (and you weren't the first person to bring it up, so it's cool).Yeah, I'm not mad at Tahnit. I just know other people who's said the same thing so I needed a bit to vent because it feels so surreal to just go "you see my billion dollar company's mmo would never let this fly". It feels like console war shit. This isn't directed Tahnit. All love to them!
I wasn't really directing that at you in particular, just felt like bringing up an already resolved conversation isn't all that productive (and you weren't the first person to bring it up, so it's cool).
I understand your need to vent. It's weird to see a lot of people under the impression that Japan is some feminist utopia with great worker's rights.
Oh no, don't worry I know it wasn't at me. I take no offense! Yeah, pretty much your last sentence sums it up for me.I wasn't really directing that at you in particular, just felt like bringing up an already resolved conversation isn't all that productive (and you weren't the first person to bring it up, so it's cool).
I understand your need to vent. It's weird to see a lot of people under the impression that Japan is some feminist utopia with great worker's rights.
Thank you for sharing this. I'm going to try and embed the initial response from Scarlett:
Taking responsibility and apologizing for your role in this is paramount, Mike, and I really appreciate it.
When things got really bad in bnet - many of us felt abandoned by you, and what's worse, when I was threatened with physical harm and panic cc'd you about it -
Thread.
He admits it was a failure.
And I was there, and I know mike, and I'm part of this whole thing (a woman who participated in the complaint). I fully believe he was shielded from most of this by both bad and good actors. Every time I've seen someone really ask for his help, he's made it happen, up to and including personally firing someone who assaulted people and overturning a wrongful termination.
I think people who wanted to get away with things knew how to either shield him from it with fear on those below them, or how to make it seem less than what it was. Especially the people who knew him best and knew how to manipulate that trust he had. It doesn't excuse it or take away all responsibility, but by even 2005 or so he was really removed and had trusted people to follow through on his values.
And he admits he failed on that
He is actively one of the more problematic people there and is making this about himself instead of the people it affects. He shared nudes without permission and other things. His hands are dirty, too. Also, reporting to hr was well known to do nothing. It was rare, if ever, that reporting up the chain or to hr actually ever went to anyone who would actually do something. Including mike.
Again I've seen the good things he did when they actually did get to him. I fully believe most things didn't even get close to his level. People were really good at hiding shit from him and making things seem rosy. A couple of the people on Twitter and other social media have said similar things.
I left in 2019 for a job out of state that paid better, but was there for some time before that and saw a lot of what people said and did that quickly disappeared when mike was around. and the crappy managers would make it clear that if you went around to him directly, even if he listened and delegated action and fixed that problem, others would not take it kindly and you'd end up in with trouble anyway. It apparently wasn't true as I learned over time, but it's a line we were fed to keep us going to managers and hr instead. And you just felt too intimidated despite the open door, because it was mike morhaime and all your execs made a big deal about it and made it seem like you couldn't use it
A lot of us wish in hindsight we actually had used it more, especially looking back at the things he did do when people actually used it
Okay I have an ops shift to start now, and this is all bringing up way too much that I'm already having a rough time dealing with. It's really complicated and shitty
Well, she retracted her sympathy for Mike entirely. She didn't mention what exactly changed her mind (yet), but damn she seems distraught.
Thanks, I'll edit my initial post.
She posted more right after about him basically saying it was a problem to the people under him which directly led to her failing performance targets and losing bonuses etcWell, she retracted her sympathy for Mike entirely. She didn't mention what exactly changed her mind (yet), but damn she seems distraught.
Seems people are doing too much, people attacking and making accusations to people working for Activision Blizzard.People have started harassing current employees on social media to quit their jobs as a sign of protest. It is so insanely stupid.