Ex-Blizzard Employee Details His Terrible Time with the Company

[DeckardWintermute]

https://twitter.com/Psychlolis/status/1082515598184271872


"I've written this retelling several times—too many that we've lost tracked—when I was reaching out to attorneys and later the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
During my employment at Blizzard Entertainment in the Blizzard Esports Team supporting Hearthstone and the Hearthstone Championship Tour, I was the victim of racial abuse and discrimination during April-December 2016 until I was transferred to the Blizzard Esports Business Operations Team."

 

[InspectaDekka]

Reading this sickens me deeply that the Industry straight up refuses to be self-reflective and sort this shit out.

 

[Futabaisthebest<3]

That's why unionize is important.

 

[Gundam]

Reading this sickens me deeply that the Industry straight up refuses to be self-reflective and sort this shit out.

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I have to be careful about what I say, because honestly I'm just not actually educated properly on the matter, but I feel that a lot of this hinges on the fact that game developers aren't really celebrities, unlike actors or singers. Not that famous actors or singers are the only ones that face abuse in their industry, but it really helps to signal boost how shitty someone is when it's someone that's well known that comes forward.

Like until someone with the visibility of, say, Todd Howard, comes forward with something like this, I don't expect an industry wide, public effort to combat this stuff.

 

[thediamondage]

That's why unionize is important.

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Did you read his very, very long twit-longer link?
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqp7gi

It seems like one specific coworker, a woman, kept joking/harassing him about his "mexican machismo" heritage and it drove him into a deep depression. I'm not sure how a union would really help that, my experience with unions has been that if you are a junior employee and try to make waves you get told in no uncertain terms to shut the fuck up and play along. Sure, unions are great when its company vs. employee, but this is more a employee vs. employee situation.

This thread is a little concerning because he openly names people who didn't get along with him and I'm not sure if thats a good idea to expose on the internet, especially since some of them are women and there is the whole overhang of Blizzard essentially cancelling Hearthstone as an e-sports game, which probably will have some fans be a little crazy and looking to lash out.

 

[Khanimus]

Reading this sickens me deeply that the Industry straight up refuses to be self-reflective and sort this shit out.

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Why self-reflect when you can force out the people you don't like and have an endless crowd of people wanting to join your ranks who won't complain about being treated unfairly?

 

[Deleted member 1476]

Fucking racist piece of garbage using one's status as a shield to bully others.

I read the longer tweet and it made me livid, that other person he mentioned is trash.

 

[ArmadilloGame]

Did you read his very, very long twit-longer link?
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqp7gi

It seems like one specific coworker, a woman, kept joking/harassing him about his "mexican machismo" heritage and it drove him into a deep depression. I'm not sure how a union would really help that, my experience with unions has been that if you are a junior employee and try to make waves you get told in no uncertain terms to shut the fuck up and play along. Sure, unions are great when its company vs. employee, but this is more a employee vs. employee situation.

This thread is a little concerning because he openly names people who didn't get along with him and I'm not sure if thats a good idea to expose on the internet, especially since some of them are women and there is the whole overhang of Blizzard essentially cancelling Hearthstone as an e-sports game, which probably will have some fans be a little crazy and looking to lash out.

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Writing specific guidelines about employee harassment is a union issue regardless of who is harassing, since the employer is the one who adopts and enforces it. If Blizzard's answer was to transfer him to another division and hope it goes away instead of taking direct action that follows a clear HR plan, that's absolutely the sort of employee-devaluing action that a union is around to stop.

 

[Maneil99]

Naming women for calling him a sexist due to his race publicly seems like a bad idea in a post Gamer Gate world

 

[Deleted member 18944]

there is the whole overhang of Blizzard essentially cancelling Hearthstone as an e-sports game

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Esports. No hyphen.

Also, you are thinking of Heroes of the Storm. Hearthstone esports is still ongoing.

 

[Grug]

Wow, that was harrowing to read and hit very close to home for me based on some past experiences.

This isn't your standard EA/Rockstar crunching employees to death videogame industry story which makes me wonder if the people talking about unionisation actually read the story. Much more a story about bullying and individual/unit organisational failings nearly killing a guy.

 

[NaDannMaGoGo]

Naming women for calling him a sexist due to his race publicly seems like a bad idea in a post Gamer Gate world

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Not that I disagree with throwing the names out there being a potential issue, however, "for calling him sexist due to his race " is undermining what appears to be extensive bullying.

 

[violent]

Esports. No hyphen.

Also, you are thinking of Heroes of the Storm. Hearthstone esports is still ongoing.

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Electronic Sports, no concatenation.

 

[Maneil99]

Not that I disagree with throwing the names out there being a potential issue, however, "for calling him sexist due to his race " is undermining what appears to be extensive bullying.

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I'm simply pointing out what ever headline from those garbage right wing click bait youtube videos will be.

 

[udivision]

Electronic Sports, no concatenation.

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Games are art, so we should call them Electronic Arts.

 

[Dr. Monkey]

Oh boy. There's a lot to unpack here.

 

[violent]

Games are art, so we should call them Electronic Arts.

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I'm in.

 

[fertygo]

At just other day Che Chou, Hearthstone esport director that mentioned in longtweet ignoring this dude report announce he resign from blizzard to join ubisoft esport team. All kind of people around Hearthstone scene give him good word. If this is true, dude actually not cool at all eh.

 

[sandboxgod]

I wonder if he plans to sue. Man lots of bad news about Blizzard is coming to light lately imo

 

[PrimeBeef]

Did you read his very, very long twit-longer link?
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqp7gi

It seems like one specific coworker, a woman, kept joking/harassing him about his "mexican machismo" heritage and it drove him into a deep depression. I'm not sure how a union would really help that, my experience with unions has been that if you are a junior employee and try to make waves you get told in no uncertain terms to shut the fuck up and play along. Sure, unions are great when its company vs. employee, but this is more a employee vs. employee situation.

This thread is a little concerning because he openly names people who didn't get along with him and I'm not sure if thats a good idea to expose on the internet, especially since some of them are women and there is the whole overhang of Blizzard essentially cancelling Hearthstone as an e-sports game, which probably will have some fans be a little crazy and looking to lash out.

Click to shrink...

Sounds like you had a bad union, or more like a poor union rep.

 

[Dr. Monkey]

Why self-reflect when you can force out the people you don't like and have an endless crowd of people wanting to join your ranks who won't complain about being treated unfairly?

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Yep.

 

[entremet]

Damn. He named names. Not sure how I feel about that. He's basically destroying his employability sadly.

 

[mlappy]

Fucking racist piece of garbage using one's status as a shield to bully others.

I read the longer tweet and it made me livid, that other person he mentioned is trash.

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I don't know, I am Italian in origin and I literally always get people telling me stuff like "oh you're in the mafia", or were all fat and hairy, shit like that. I've never thought anything of it tbh. I certainly didnt do a depression over it. I'm none of those things so why should it bother me?

Obviously if she's always saying the stuff then it can become annoying, but to have a depression over it? Seems to me like he might have had other stuff/issues happen and this was the drop that made the bucket bust. It doesn't excuse her attitude tho.

Ultimately, People say stupid shit. If you're going to take everything personally, then life is going to be very hard for you. I hope he got/gets help tho. Depression is not fun.

 

[Complicated]

Damn. He named names. Not sure how I feel about that. He's basically destroying his employability sadly.

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It seems like his former employer/coworkers did their best to destroy his employ-ability already. Used him up, turned him inside out, and spit him out a barely functioning human being. Hope he's found some stability.

 

[sandboxgod]

I don't know, I am Italian in origin and I literally always get people telling me stuff like "oh you're in the mafia", or were all fat and hairy, shit like that. I've never thought anything of it tbh. I certainly didnt do a depression over it. I'm none of those things so why should it bother me?

Obviously if she's always saying the stuff then it can become annoying, but to have a depression over it? Seems to me like he might have had other stuff/issues happen and this was the drop that made the bucket bust. It doesn't excuse her attitude tho.

Ultimately, People say stupid shit. If you're going to take everything personally, then life is going to be very hard for you. I hope he got/gets help tho. Depression is not fun.

Click to shrink...

That is called harassment it is not ok and something you should -not- have to get used to

 

[Flash]

What in the living hell? Does Blizzard not have an competent HR department? This harassment and bullying from that women should have ended ages ago. Any decent and proactive HR department would have launched an investigation and/or transferred one of the two until the investigation was finished to not incite any more occurrences of bullying or ethnic discrimination.

 

[MechaJackie]

This is one of the most horrific, terrifying and depressing things I have ever read in my life. I identify with some situations that Julian has gone through, and I really feel for him. I hope him all the best.

 

[Grug]

I don't know, I am Italian in origin and I literally always get people telling me stuff like "oh you're in the mafia", or were all fat and hairy, shit like that. I've never thought anything of it tbh. I certainly didnt do a depression over it. I'm none of those things so why should it bother me?

Obviously if she's always saying the stuff then it can become annoying, but to have a depression over it? Seems to me like he might have had other stuff/issues happen and this was the drop that made the bucket bust. It doesn't excuse her attitude tho.

Ultimately, People say stupid shit. If you're going to take everything personally, then life is going to be very hard for you. I hope he got/gets help tho. Depression is not fun.

Click to shrink...

God I despise these sorts of anecdotally dismissive responses to mental illness. And the suggestion that there is a specific quota of trauma you have to have received for your depression to be legitimate.

"I have received similar abuse and didn't get depressed... what's this dude's problem? There's obviously other stuff going on that he's not telling us about."


Yuck.

 

[Ardiloso]

I don't understand one thing. Why he don't sue Blizzard and the garbage woman? He almost died because of them.

 

[ProstatePuncher]

Damn. He named names. Not sure how I feel about that. He's basically destroying his employability sadly.

Click to shrink...

He does mention he spoke to lawyers and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Probably advised him he's safe, but who knows.

 

[entremet]

He does mention he spoke to lawyers and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Probably advised him he's safe, but who knows.

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I never thought it was legality issue. It was more due to the toxic nature of the internet and vigilantism online.

Blizzard also is not a Proctor and Gamble. They have a huge online presence and their fans are active online.

 

[Grug]

I never thought it was legality issue. It was more due to the toxic nature of the internet and vigilantism online.

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Yeah but to what extent do victims have to be cognisant of the predictable unpredictability of the internet masses? What if someone said the same thing about #MeToo victims? Where's the line?

 

[NaDannMaGoGo]

I don't know, I am Italian in origin and I literally always get people telling me stuff like "oh you're in the mafia", or were all fat and hairy, shit like that. I've never thought anything of it tbh. I certainly didnt do a depression over it. I'm none of those things so why should it bother me?

Obviously if she's always saying the stuff then it can become annoying, but to have a depression over it? Seems to me like he might have had other stuff/issues happen and this was the drop that made the bucket bust. It doesn't excuse her attitude tho.

Ultimately, People say stupid shit. If you're going to take everything personally, then life is going to be very hard for you. I hope he got/gets help tho. Depression is not fun.

Click to shrink...

Oh great, you're tougher so he should've done like you and not get depressed from being overworked and mistreated? I don't even... I fail to see how it would be difficult to see how the described scenario could lead to depression.

 

[jontin]

I read the whole thing, some of it was confusing and I'd need clarification before knowing my own opinion on this. But it's obvious the guy was/is in a bad place, hope he gets the help he needs and anyone who willfully meant him harm faces repercussions.

 

[entremet]

Yeah but to what extent do victims have to be cognisant of the predictable unpredictability of the internet masses? What if someone said the same thing about #MeToo victims? Where's the line?

Click to shrink...

Ultimately, this is was a failure from HR. But surprising to see names in these accounts. Most of the time, they're kept anonymous.

 

[kyorii]

Sounds like you had a bad union, or more like a poor union rep.

Click to shrink...

I don't know about that necessarily. Employee vs employee situations are HR jurisdiction. A union will never do anything to endanger a dues paying member or to cost them their job. Which in this case what the accused of is if there was one. However, unions will support you in terms of making sure the right parties such as HR do their due diligence.

 

[Resilient]

I don't know, I am Italian in origin and I literally always get people telling me stuff like "oh you're in the mafia", or were all fat and hairy, shit like that. I've never thought anything of it tbh. I certainly didnt do a depression over it. I'm none of those things so why should it bother me?

Obviously if she's always saying the stuff then it can become annoying, but to have a depression over it? Seems to me like he might have had other stuff/issues happen and this was the drop that made the bucket bust. It doesn't excuse her attitude tho.

Ultimately, People say stupid shit. If you're going to take everything personally, then life is going to be very hard for you. I hope he got/gets help tho. Depression is not fun.

Click to shrink...

that's not how it works. you need to educate yourself re: depression and mental illness, because you're pretty misinformed.

 

[headspawn]

Had a very similar situation at an old job of mine and my take away is that a lot of people don't take it seriously when these types of complaints come from men.. they just don't know what to do, don't care and don't take it seriously - moreso when they are in a position of power; though my situation involved an actual owner so that was a completely dead end situation from my perspective.

 

[Buzzman]

I feel very sympathetic about this mans problems, and it sucks that he had to go through all this. But for the life of me I can not understand why he decided to publish this in response to the announcement of Soldier 76 being gay.
There's been tons of stories about how people in the industry were being overworked and abused, and they didn't make him feel like he should speak up then?
I don't know if these are just my internal biases, but that feels like a strange reason to reveal all this.

Again, what this man went through is horriffic , and it reveals how terrible the working conditions can be even at one of the "better" studios.

 

[PrimeBeef]

I don't know about that necessarily. Employee vs employee situations are HR jurisdiction. A union will never do anything to endanger a dues paying member or to cost them their job. Which in this case what the accused of is if there was one. However, unions will support you in terms of making sure the right parties such as HR do their due diligence.

Click to shrink...

That actually depends on the rep and what was negotiated. While I understand, I know personally, that my father would bring grievances against other union members that were actively engaging in racism and physical violence when he was plant steward for UAW at his Chrysler plant.

 

[mutantmagnet]

Damn. He named names. Not sure how I feel about that. He's basically destroying his employability sadly.

Click to shrink...

Blizzard opened themselves up to a lawsuit so it can balance out. Who knows if it will because he clearly has shakey health.

Ultimately, this is was a failure from HR. But surprising to see names in these accounts. Most of the time, they're kept anonymous.

Click to shrink...

Dude was suicidal. Not surprising he put his demons on blast.

 

[Deleted member 1476]

I feel very sympathetic about this mans problems, and it sucks that he had to go through all this. But for the life of me I can not understand why he decided to publish this in response to the announcement of Soldier 76 being gay.

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Because it is an example of how all that inclusiveness that they want to parade is bullshit. Easier to give someone a background than to fix your company's own problem.

 

[mutantmagnet]

I feel very sympathetic about this mans problems, and it sucks that he had to go through all this. But for the life of me I can not understand why he decided to publish this in response to the announcement of Soldier 76 being gay.
There's been tons of stories about how people in the industry were being overworked and abused, and they didn't make him feel like he should speak up then?
I don't know if these are just my internal biases, but that feels like a strange reason to reveal all this.

Again, what this man went through is horriffic , and it reveals how terrible the working conditions can be even at one of the "better" studios.

Click to shrink...

He explicitly said he was triggered by Blizzard pr claiming they are an inclusive company. He was reflecting on the reality of blizzard as a company, not why blizzard made that statement in conjunction with s76 reveal.

 

[Chris McQueen]

Fuck, that was a deep read.

 

[Deleted member 50374]

Yep, boycotting Blizzard until I get closure on this. This hell is just about the contrary of what I'd call "inclusiveness". I don't care one bit about who is doing it to who - harassment goes in any direction. "Thick skin" based victim blaming is just more toxic masculinity on top of the already toxic power play.

Just today I was talking with my girlfriend of how gay S76 almost felt like good PR for a game that seemingly is getting more and more toxic and less and less interest from the masses.

 

[Laughing Banana]

I feel very sympathetic about this mans problems, and it sucks that he had to go through all this. But for the life of me I can not understand why he decided to publish this in response to the announcement of Soldier 76 being gay.
There's been tons of stories about how people in the industry were being overworked and abused, and they didn't make him feel like he should speak up then?
I don't know if these are just my internal biases, but that feels like a strange reason to reveal all this.

Again, what this man went through is horriffic , and it reveals how terrible the working conditions can be even at one of the "better" studios.

Click to shrink...

Because all that "inclusiveness" thing with the whole Soldier 76 being gay is just a farce, at least as far as he is concerned, since it contradicted with what he experienced in Blizzard?

 

[kyorii]

That actually depends on the rep and what was negotiated. While I understand, I know personally, that my father would bring grievances against other union members that were actively engaging in racism and physical violence when he was plant steward for UAW at his Chrysler plant.

Click to shrink...

I suppose so. The unions ive been with, basically the rep would lose their job if they did anything that would get a member in trouble. Since it's supposed to be fair and equal representation as both parties are due paying members.

 

[Deleted member 2840]

I don't know, I am Italian in origin and I literally always get people telling me stuff like "oh you're in the mafia", or were all fat and hairy, shit like that. I've never thought anything of it tbh. I certainly didnt do a depression over it. I'm none of those things so why should it bother me?

Obviously if she's always saying the stuff then it can become annoying, but to have a depression over it? Seems to me like he might have had other stuff/issues happen and this was the drop that made the bucket bust. It doesn't excuse her attitude tho.

Ultimately, People say stupid shit. If you're going to take everything personally, then life is going to be very hard for you. I hope he got/gets help tho. Depression is not fun.

Click to shrink...

"JUST GET OVER IT BRAH"

Also " I certainly didnt do a depression over it"

Depression isn't an "ouchie". What the fuck.

Jesus Christ the fucking insensitivity in this fucking forum.

 

[Absolute]

What in the living hell? Does Blizzard not have an competent HR department? This harassment and bullying from that women should have ended ages ago. Any decent and proactive HR department would have launched an investigation and/or transferred one of the two until the investigation was finished to not incite any more occurrences of bullying or ethnic discrimination.

Click to shrink...

HR is there to protect the company not the employee.

 

[Razgriz417]

HR is there to protect the company not the employee.

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Sometimes protecting the employee protects the company.

this reads like textbook hostile work environment, looks like their HR dept opened themselves up to an EEOC investigation and lawsuit, good job