Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
California Files Lawsuit Against Activision Blizzard, Alleging Sexual Harrassment, Unequal Pay And '
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Seems like former supermodels move into finance once their career takes a downturn, especially in areas like sales or marketing. Tech, not so much.
Let's be honest, good looks still factor into many hiring decisions especially in certain fields. You ever notice some of the medical reps that walk into your local Drs office? (Well, B-4 Covid and they were allowed to)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
As a gamer though. do people really stop and say "You know I just cant support WoW because of Blizzard's hiring practices". 99.9999% of the time we have no idea what happens behind the doors of these companies we are giving money to for their games.
I'm in no way justifying or defending this. I'm just kinda fascinated by the fact that it seems like a massive portion of people are just now realizing that devs aren't your pals and mega gaming corporations are dirt bags just like every other industry.
All States have lots of corruption; if you think one or two get a pass, you are mistaken or not an American. I don't live in California because too expensive but If anything at least they have more consumer protection laws in place. Down south you are SOL and on your own.
Digital age or not, getting a job, in your field, in the area you live in, is often times a very limited option.
Also, not everyone has the ability to just pack up and move for a job. NGL, I think you must be very lucky to not need to worry about relocating for a job, but a lot of people in the states live with their parents because they can't afford to pay rent, and thus can't afford to pack up, travel several hundred miles away and pay rent somewhere else for a job.
And, Keep in mind, even a poor paying job in the tech field might still be better than a lot of other job opportunities in that region, that in no way changes that you are being underpaid, overworked, and treated like shit.
Think of all the people that work in Walmart for decades, you think any of them work there because they love the job?
That is the most out-of-touch and self defeating argument I have read in a long time.
I also live in California. "I don't live in California...too expensive...consumer protection laws..." It's like you're circling around an epiphany, but you can't quite reach it.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
As far as a negative impacts on Blizzard, I doubt any will persist and may perhaps barely occur to begin with. People have really short memories and gamers are willing to ignore a whole lot so long as what they enjoy keeps coming.
Paragraph 48 is particularly disturbing.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I think it is healthy to always question versions of events which you have no direct experience of, regardless of who is telling you what happened. So I don't have faith in the employees or employers version, which I think is the reasonable way to approach this.
I take your point on "what we don't want to see or acknowledge", but I counter that with "what we do want to see and acknowledge". It does seem to me that many people want to believe such allegations, while I am sure you see this as many people not wanting to believe such allegations. The truth as so often happens lies somewhere in between.
But I ask you to think about what seems more reasonable; certain individuals where behaving in this appalling way or this was a "corporate frat boy culture" with every man into it. Bearing in mind many women work there and seemingly have no issues.
Also I would ask you, have you seen anything like this in your working life? So often our own experiences are dismissed as anecdotal, in todays age of media hype and obfuscation I think they are more important than ever.
I assume there are former private actions/tribunals, presumably these women got a fair settlement then? It is likely this state action will be used as a platform to launch more private cases against Activision.
To me the women involved deserve a fair settlement, they may have already got one or be fighting cases now, we don't know. Beyond that to me this goes into media hype and politics unless you think states don't make decisions for political reasons, so there I am rather cynical.
I also agree that this event wont, directly, be something that keeps people away in the long term. The second I saw this story, my first thought was "People will get over this once they have something new to be outraged about.
That said, this is different from the HK protest thing because there will be a correction by Blizzard. The inevitable overcorrection and the sterile games that result from it, will however, be the nail in the coffin imo.
But hey, still no state income tax as the government makes bank fleecing tourists
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Why would there be an inevitable over correction if there is little to no long-term impact from the lawsuit outcome. Blizzard will take heat for a bit. They will put out something shiny. The majority will no longer care and shortly after no longer remember the lawsuit in any meaningful way.
Blizzard is nowhere close to being in a coffin. There is nowhere for a nail to be driven. Cases like this don't bring down major corporations regardless.
In the worst case scenario the company expresses how very, very sorry they are, a couple sacrificial lambs are slaughtered, and the remaining staff will have to do awareness training. After that penance, if it even gets to that point, it will be yesterday's news and all but forgotten.
Ok, not disabled just looks like it is, odd.
That's some creative sleaze.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
California SAs are pretty well known for making huge allegations for media attention and in the end their case is shallow. The damage is already done through court of public opinion regardless if any of the parties are proven innocent. This happened recently with Riot CEO Nicolo Laurent with kotaku etc spreading damaging articles calling for resignations only to find out his accuser has a history of trying to pump people for money then crying foul when she gets cut off. The allegations towards Blizzard are a bit more sinister and I'd hope they're not true just for humanities sake but I'm gonna wait until more than just state attorney allegations are in play before frothing at the mouth.
If roles were reversed I bet men would call that sexual privilege.
People were outraged twenty years ago by Janet Jackson for about five minutes, but the overcorrection resonated through media for years.
I don't read (non-horror)comics, but does anyone even remember what people were mad about that led to the obvious change in direction that has led to a further decline in book sales? I sure don't.
In a vacuum, this would go away, but I think this is going to resonate through the whole industry - at least in the West. I also think in ten years most people won't remember why they were angry to begin with.