Yes, I feel that way. Looks like I'll refrain myself from buying anything from WB Games until this gets properly resolved. My support goes to the victims.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Variety Report: NetherRealm Studios allegedly a sexist & toxic workplace
- Thread starter ket
- Start date
Like SinkFla said earlier in this thread, I've always been a big fan of NRS's games (both MK and Injustice), so it's disheartening and disappointing to hear that the studio culture is so messed up. Especially, since they seem to be leading the fighting game space in making their games more progressive (a low bar, I know). To hear that they're internal culture betrays that image is really disappointing, and I hope that the recent exposés result in fixing the company culture and leading it in a positive direction.
User Banned (1 week): Excusing homophobia over a series of posts.
exactly. Well from time to time I start wondering if some people just like to play the victim
Pleas expand this to your local church, grocery store, barber shop, etc this isn't a Games industry issue, though this is a game forum so it's laser focused, but the reality is as a species we humans are petty, scared, judgemental, and ignorant to other humans and creatures.
What I hope happens is this is exposed in EVERY sector of humanity and than maybe than people will slowly expand their thoughts. It's been happening for thousands of years so expecting it to change overnight with some law or other forced method isn't the answer. Expose the darkness to the light and hopes that it begins to Writher in the exposure.
That's not acceptable regardless of their weak ass excuses. I've managed QA devs in the past who've worked 70+ hour weeks during regression testing and I would fire their asses in a heartbeat if I heard of this happening under my watch.
This is why Ed Boon doesnt get a pass from me. He is a straiaght white male, and a household name. He has the power to prevent this.
Unfortunately this isn't a game industry specific issue though. This is a corporate issue in general. You'll find similar if not worse stories coming out of the film and music industry for example where sexual harassment and abuse are rampant. It's something that needs to be dealt of at a societal level on all fronts.
In going to say this is probably most companies. Whatever is better for their bottom dollar. Great time to remind everyone that companies aren't your friends and they dont care about you.
What does being white have to do with it though? I've worked with some raunchy ass black and Latino coworkers as well.
Yeah same with me. I work in a different industry and it's hard to imagine any of this stuff being tolerated. Gaming industry has a long ways to go.
Still get it if you want. A dev around the RDR2 stuff answered a question in regards to the crunch and Rockstar stuff. Someone asked if they should get the game still. The dev said to get the game and push back and be vocal about the culture and toxic nature that's out because it makes the good people who did work not have their work thrown to the wayside. It also shows that the bad practices won't stand. That's how I view these things.
I found the Waypoint article on whether you should buy certain games or not still. They ask multiple devs.
https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/art...-on-how-to-make-their-industry-a-better-place
Anyway glad WB is stepping up early but idk. This stuff is straight horrific. Like, they literally gotta rebuild from the ground up. I couldn't even finish the article due to the content. We gotta be as vocal as possible.
Last edited:
But there are laws and policies in place to protect against things happening at the studio.... the change is there it is just not being properly enforced or taken seriously.
"Seniors might not even be aware of this happening."
I was waiting for you to get to this, but even so, it is a pretty poor excuse/explanation that shouldn't be said. You can't look at this as "something that just never reached the top so nothing was done", this is an issue that has specific departments dedicated to handling the issues in the work environment. This is an issue that many companies still have, I know, but Netherrealm has a greater responsibility as they were at the forefront of progressive changes in fighting games.
It really undoes the good intent they had and it SHOULD be more surprising to you guys given what they are representing with MK now.
I'm sure you have, but he lack of racial and gender diversity is a big contributing factor. Unless you're trying to suggest that the video game industry being over represented by white, straight middle class men isn't an issue?
Not saying it is THE problem, but it is A problem partly contributing to the issues highlighted in this thread.
Do you think this is because of the industry? I mean they are all grown people. If i were gay and one person or two would laugh at me, i would simply defend and say , yeah I'm gay i love boys anything wrong with that?
And where is the boss in all those scories, arnt there some sort of respect standard?
If i were to bully someone at my job, my boss would immediatly say you are suspended for 3 days straight.
Seems like HR was just straight-up ignoring their complaints. Pretty shitty company to work for.
No it's misunderstood my english is not always perfect. The joke we did is, we were for the rare time, 4 men working at the kitchen this day and my collegue said , dude take a picture of us for the rare time we are 4 guys and no women... Well 3 real guy and... We all laughed, we all know it's a dumb joke we respect everyone we're pretty much a famill at this point.
And most of my friends are gay, so I'm totally being poked from time to time because I'm straight.
Self mockery is a good thing.
Like I said, managers aren't just hovering about waiting for things to happen, and no way in hell are HR doing the same.
These "specific departments" don't do overtime and don't sit in the office all hours like QA would do. I've worked QA before and done countless shifts until 1am, and HR would clock in at 9am and leave at 5pm. Nobody else would be in the whole building after 5 but QA, not even QA managers. That leaves plenty of time for a lot of shit to kick off, and I bet you that people being cunts will be acting the cunt more often after managers have left the building.
Your post reads like wishful thinking but you have to realise the reality of things. These behaviours are being performed in departments that aren't respected. Nobody is keeping an eye on them unless results begin to slip, and even then, they won't think of how staff might be disrespecting each other, they'll just assume they need to put more hours in and will schedule more crunch time. People will be afraid to report this kind of thing because it could put their job at risk.
I've been a fan of Mortal Kombat since... well, MK1. I was a moderator on mortalkombatonline for many years. I even learned game development and applied to work at NRS once before.
I made so many friends through this community from all walks of life, so many great members of the LGBTQ+ community. My wife and I had dates where she kicked my butt as Kitana (I knew I found the one...) and how happy the series made her to have other women so passionate about the lore, story, and characters.
So... it does suck to hear stories about how the product we got isn't reflective of the behavior or staff that made it. Whether it was "catering" or not, it's been appreciated to see the series grow more progressive and respectful of its playerbase and how it presents itself to the masses.
I hope they can pull it together. The games themselves are great!... but it's not impossible to have them remain so without the stigma of toxic and harmful development dragging it down. MK is going to be fine, but the people who are hurting to make it may not be.
Do them right. Everything else will work itself out.
I made so many friends through this community from all walks of life, so many great members of the LGBTQ+ community. My wife and I had dates where she kicked my butt as Kitana (I knew I found the one...) and how happy the series made her to have other women so passionate about the lore, story, and characters.
So... it does suck to hear stories about how the product we got isn't reflective of the behavior or staff that made it. Whether it was "catering" or not, it's been appreciated to see the series grow more progressive and respectful of its playerbase and how it presents itself to the masses.
I hope they can pull it together. The games themselves are great!... but it's not impossible to have them remain so without the stigma of toxic and harmful development dragging it down. MK is going to be fine, but the people who are hurting to make it may not be.
Do them right. Everything else will work itself out.
Yes, it is probably in part due to the industry. Gaming has grown in part out of the tech sector. The tech sector has historically been anti-corporate - in terms of self-image, anyhow. One of the ways they've commonly expressed that is trying to aim for less stuffy, restrictive workplace environments. That can lead to environments where abuse is tolerated or encouraged because it's presented as humorous or jocular, and so welcome in a deliberately unprofessional environment.
Following up on that:
It isn't specifically a white issue, but part of what allows it is that it's the sort of environment that's most attractive to people with privilege. The people in the majority are free to target people who aren't, which can be seen as liberating and unrestrictive if you're not the one being targeted.
Consider Michael from The Office.
I've never worked in the gaming industry, but I feel like the HR departments at the companies I have worked for would've taken similar complaints seriously.
I HAVE worked for bad managers, though, and it's incredibly frustrating and draining to have to work harder to overcome their ineptitude.
I've seen more people fired for complaining about abuse than abusers themselves.
All good than I'm just pointing out that we all say things that are improper myself included way to often but not as a means for being rude instead for a stupid laugh usually at the expense of someone else's feeling. I have to be a better person than I have been.
Don't know if it really matters but I believe Ed Boon is latino.
Yeah. After the main office hours hit it's free roam. I had a corporate job that operated like this. As soon as 4 hit, the salary people dashed so the issues you had you'd have to wait until the morning.
The plethora of crypt glitches, the way loot works making hard or impossible to collect everything (when you get a dupe, it's treated like a new unlock), the towers had super unfair modifiers and prereqs for char towers.
The "tourney" variants for many characters are surprisingly bad and IMO not played with by or against knowledgeable players. Hitstun on D1 that makes opp crouch and your follow up miss.
The gameplay is ace, the training mode is ace, the tutorials when they worked were ace.
Foh with the "hyperbole" at me. You said added "really" buggy, not I. All I do is sink 1000 hours into fgs offline and online vs people at home or locals.
Edit: No comment on the online issues that others have had with the game like rewards or dc'ing.
Gonna bet ol Quarterpounder is going to use it as some sort of dumb "see, all she's are faking it for attention" video.
Yeah, I've worked plenty places where every rule goes out the window after the managers leave. People still get shit done but there's music blaring, people chucking stuff around the room, shoes off with feet on tables, takeaways ordered in by the truckload, people setting up games consoles or laptops to play games in downtime, etc.
Its not hard to understand that most of the bad behaviour noted in these articles will be getting performed out of hours. Its still not an excuse but a tired and worn down workforce won't keep to morals and ethics as often as a workplace where people are respected.
I have been wondering if Ed Boon will even show up this year. Jeff is not know for asking soft balls.
I don't really care for the Krypt and Towers so I guess that's why I haven't ran into any issues.
That's exactly how it is. Even when I worked my first job at Target this happened. Dudes turned the TVs to music videos, had music blasting, just stuff like that. It's crazy how common it is at jobs. Most establishments I've seen as like this.
Ahhh fuck...this is disappointing. I never knew about all of this. I almost picked up a Netherealm Studios hoodie last month too..
Jesus christ NRS. Ed Boon and everyone in management, it's just not enough that you overwork your employees, you also have to perpetuate a culture that degrades women and lgbtq+ folks that make your games too, huh? Y'all should be fucking ashamed. Zero surprise now about casting Ronda Rousey, too.
More gaming outlets need to echo this and shine the light even brighter on NRS' shitty workplace conditions. Fucking grill their ass on the heat. Game journos, critics, and personalities who are fans of the games shouldn't let "game is gud tho" keep them from mentioning this important issue every single time they cover MK11 from here on out. I don't think I can stand to hear praise for that game anymore without the HUGE CAVEAT that it was made in disgusting work conditions.
More gaming outlets need to echo this and shine the light even brighter on NRS' shitty workplace conditions. Fucking grill their ass on the heat. Game journos, critics, and personalities who are fans of the games shouldn't let "game is gud tho" keep them from mentioning this important issue every single time they cover MK11 from here on out. I don't think I can stand to hear praise for that game anymore without the HUGE CAVEAT that it was made in disgusting work conditions.
It's almost surreal to hear about this happening because everywhere I've ever worked, and particularly where I am now, if this went on it'd be grounds for immediate dismissal for everybody involved.
Very disappointing to hear and they need to sort that shit out. I don't want to support a studio knowing that this is going on.
Very disappointing to hear and they need to sort that shit out. I don't want to support a studio knowing that this is going on.
Probably different individuals were in charge of the design that presumably don't have these views.
Yea its not white male dominated environments. Shoudldve just stopped at your first statement
Are you serious? Male dominated environments in general is a problem, look at Japan for instance. However, in Europe and the USA white male dominated environments is also a huge contributing issue.
Why should I have stopped? This is literally an big topic of discussion within the game development right now.
Which is why i said you shouldve stopped after saying male dominated enviroments are an issue. To single it to white males is just stupid
lmao What is this post
I could have thousands of hours of free time at my workplace and not devolve to these kinds of conversations. Maybe your workplace is the kind that would, if your excuse makes sense to you and you think it's okay to joke about homosexuality just because they laugh along?
Totally makes sense now, it seems.
I wouldn't expect any comments on this coming from Boon himself. HR would typically want to handle this and damage control for the company if needed, and try to get everyone else to be mum.
You mean the dipshits that promoted and cultivated this behavior are in charge of investigating the dipshittery?
Why is it stupid? I'll repeat what I said earlier. It is not THE problem, but it is A problem. A big one, which is contributing heavily to a lot of the toxicity you see within this industry. Look at the nonsense that happened at Riot with people freely using the N word for example.
Feel free to tell me I'm wrong though.
Im not saying you're wrong about male dominated enviroments. Im saying singling out one race as a bigger problem ia dumb. I can easily tell you that working in a male dominated enviroment the people ive met that have been the most transphobic, homophobic and sexist people were never white. Racist? Yea id agree that white males would take that.
