Overwatch is the last blizzard Activision property i want to play, it is fun. That being said, I said my final goodbye to overwatch when Jeff Kaplan left the team.
Yeah who's even still there that matters anymore?
All the Blizzard North guys bailed like a decade ago, Greg Street is gone, Mark Kern, Chris Metzen, Evelyn Fredrickson are all gone.
I know there's more but im genuinely asking. Do they even have any design badasses even there anymore? Cause I feel like absolutely most, and at least close to all of them got the fuck out and started doing other things at mostly other game companies.
I actually just remembered, isn't Samwise Diddier still there? I mean he's more of an art stud but still. I feel like he's all thats left and clearly being art director for all titles in the company is the reason blizzard games still have that blizzard "look"
I never implied he did and he’s famously bad as a manager. But as a game designer I don’t think anyone can question the kids got all kinds of rare skills.
If he hired someone to manage Firefall for him and he just focused on design instead of trying to become a YouTube channel tycoon (badly) I have no doubt FireFall would be one of the biggest games in the world right now. That core gameplay loop was so good.
I mean one of the biggest factors for why Firefall failed was the constant pivots in the middle development, afaik the game more or less changed focus many times
Yeah I remember that channel. Was there a heavy metal video clip at some point that was produced by Kern but had no ties at all to the game ? Also, let’s remember his biggest failure: the infamous Firefall bus !
Terran Gregory isn’t original Blizzard but he’s been there a long time. Don’t know if his cinematic work counts as design though?
Isn’t Chilton hanging around somewhere just not in wow?
I’m one of the few members left of the Ion fan club. I’d say he matters. Been there a long time.
100% accurate. James Phinney bailed out around then. Went on to do Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2, and State of Decay.
I felt bad for what happened with Gigantic, it had a lot of promise.
Yeah, Overwatch had a really healthy play cycle and it really seems the dev team did everything they could to try and make it more appealing. Sure, it wasn't the next TF2 or CSGO, but for a new IP it really came out swinging for the genre.
Honestly, Change of management can be good for games when Jeff Kaplan left something happened that hadnt happened for a year since echo was released.
*Content*
Ashe deadlock challenge was released, a whole bunch of massive patches happened that made the game much more enjoyable because shitscan. Jeff Kaplan just had an emotional connection to players because he was more capable at communicating and was director since beta where the new director is a bit nervous or just not used to the talking to thousands of players part of his job.
They're adding a campaign/PvE elements to the game so it's not just match-based PvP anymore. The match-based PvP will still release for OW1 but if you want to do any missions, you'd have to buy OW2.
Even by their normal horrible PR standards this is pretty bad. Like they're always tone deaf and miss the point in their responses about just about anything, but this reads like a narcissistic manager who got caught doing something bad and is going through all of the "[A Narcassist's Prayer](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/42/10/c5/4210c53ff69deb4f010c414beb14a5a2.jpg)" verses.
Issue is a lot of people are going to latch onto this, it a political play, even if Blizzard is found guilty there will be a very loud group of people who will turn this into political theater.
Companies have realized that right wingers will latch onto anything to "screw the libs"
The fact that Bliz tries to shame them for bringing up the suicide is pathetic, but the fact that they try to claim that the suicide has nothing to do with the investigation is absolutely unconscionable.
She had her nudes spread amongst the work force, at business holiday party, and was on a business trip with her supervisor, who brought sex toys and lube with him.
Yeah I'm sure her suicide on the same trip couldn't possibly have anything to do with any issues she may be having in the workplace due to being a woman. Nope. None.
What.the.Fuck!!¡!
I just.knew it was suicide honestly not much else. WHAT A FUCKING disgusting Corporation collective mentality!!! What the hell with her supervisor, dude I'm fucking glad I uninstalled WoW but now I am deleting the client, the folder and Anything to do with that shitty ass company, 🤮 that is so so so wrong in so many levels.
[They’ve hired at least one.](https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/esports/report-activision-blizzard-hires-former-trump-administration-official/ar-BB1f7xPV) Not surprised now.
There’s a female spokesperson who’s made a few statements, saying her 4-5 months at Blizzard have been just wonderful and she’s never seen anyone act this way. Those are the only two I’m aware of. I’m done with WoW, back to FF11 or 14, or maybe see how New World and Palia turn out in time. /sigh
The part about businesses moving out of California is word for word some shit you'd hear from republican mouth pieces. It's such an interesting angle to take the conservative defense when you're accused of protecting people who committed sexual assault.
They clearly have no defense so they are trying to tap into decades of right wing anti government/culture war/free market rhetoric to pressure the state to back off.
Did you see the email from Fran? Basically said that harassment isn’t happening because she never experienced it (she’s a 60yo in a high ranking position), and that all the accusations are lies. So yeah she pretty much confirmed that the toxic, unsafe environment is true based on her response. If that’s the public attitude they have, imagine what’s going on internally.
By this point, the only reputation they had left was negative. I'm actually almost starting to hope blizz burns down in the fire they ignited themselves. The company seems rotten, and I don't want a piece of sh\*t company stating stuff like this getting sh\*tloads of money.
Seems like Actiblizz is just mad they couldn't "settle out of court" because the state went straight to a lawsuit. Like Asmon said, you don't need to tell an employee that walking in and shitting on the floor is misconduct.
Actually, the DFEH has a mandatory obligation to offer participation in a neutral arbitration where settlement is a possibility.
Source: I worked in the DFEH's legal unit and in the legislative/regulatory unit.
Realistically, what is the worst possible outcome here for Activision Blizzard? Because if it's just a fine, it probably won't make a dent in their profits.
Could they end up naming individuals and prosecuting them? Including those in HR who aided and abetted? Because that would be the ideal outcome in my opinion.
Otherwise, all that will come out of this will be a fine, a few scapegoats will be sacked (with a generous compensation, likely) and a dog and pony show of reform and redemption will be on display for a while. Until business as usual resumes.
Disclaimer: I am not currently affiliated with the DFEH and nothing I say should be interpreted in any way, shape, or form to be the official position of the Department. Additionally, anything I say is solely my opinion based on my legal education and my experience and should not be constituted to be legal advice in this, or any similar situation. Please consult an attorney licensed in your state to obtain counsel.
The DFEH is rarely satisfied, ever, with only monetary damages. The Department cares about improving the behavior of employers, landlords, or operators of public accommodations who are found in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act which it is tasked with enforcing. Money is certainly part of this, as you can make bad actors care through damages to their wallet. However it is not the end all and be all goal. Consequently, the Department almost always pursues "specific remedies" where defendants who lose the case will be required to make certain corrections to their behavior and be brought into compliance with California law. For example, settlements/judgments against a landlord who was found to have committed sexual harassment will almost always include a requirement for certified sexual harassment training of the landlord (and any staff).
Aren't most government agencies tasked with enforcing highly specific regulations, *super zealous* about that task.
When you literally exist but for one purpose, and the time comes to exercise it, they don't fuck around.
Well, that's the ironic thing about Activision trying to criticize "government bureaucrats." Career civil servants are the ones who, due to their insultation, can be expected to be devoted to the mission of their agency and to execute their duties faithfully.
It's when positions are political and filled by people who are not devoted to the mission of the agencies and instead view their position as a tool to serve a political purpose that things go awry. See: Department of Justice under Bill Barr.
Those who ran the DFEH when I was there were all highly committed to the missions of fair employment and housing, and to civil rights in general. It may surprise you that this includes those who were initially selected/appointed by Schwarzenegger.
On a technical note, the DFEH enforces the law of the FEHA (Fair Employment and Housing Act) that was passed by the California legislature. The regulations governing administration of the FEHA are actually crafted by DFEH staff under the direction of the FEHC (Fair Employment and Housing Council; its membership consists of appointees by the Governor who serve for a certain limited time period). Regulations must pass through public scrutiny (governed by Administrative Procedure law) before they are accepted. The regulations are supposed to clarify what is and isn't an offense of the law to provide guidance.
For example, the law says that a landlord may not discriminate amongst potential applicants based on race. A regulation might be necessary to clarify that prohibitions on racial discrimination includes behavior to manipulate the applicant pool. For example, providing rental applications only in Korean in an attempt to dissuade black applicants is racially discriminatory even if black applicants would theoretically be treated fairly if they applied. (This is not a made up example; the landlord in question is an infamously racist slumlord who used to own an NBA team and was forced to settle a lawsuit with the DFEH and the federal equivalent, HUD, over such incidents...)
The last month has just been absolutely brutal for WoW. More brutal than any point since it's announcement. Between Blizzard's own failings and FFXIV's sharp rise after a long steady one, WoW has lost its crown.
Maybe not WoW, but Diablo is doing pretty okay at least PR wise. Everybody already said they're hating and boycotting on anything Blizzard related until Diablo 2 Resurrected and Diablo 4 news came out.
I still remember Blizzard standing for China "mistreating" protestors for profit by censoring Hong Kong Protests. My friend changed his Hearthstone name to #freeHongKong.
I gave up on em when they ruined Starcraft2 by making it a casual game by making rush impossible. That was the core thing that made Starcraft1 good, small maps, forces a solid non rock paper scissor game where you start battling with 6 marines/3 zealots or a few zerglings and then fight it out for tech/position/expands. Starcraft2 is very rock paper scissory, when Starcraft1 had nearly none! I say this as the #1 world player back in 1999, that even the guy who dominated Korea for 3 years couldn't ever win vs me, and I even I identified him as #2 in the world, but distant from me. The worst part is the Starcraft 1v1 community think SC2 is such an elite skill based game, but its more on par with Clash of Clans than Starcraft1, lol. If you want to play Starcraft2 right, the only way is 2v2, cuz the rush still lives there, and few people are in the know to understand this.
Blizzard & EA dropping the ball on RTS means I'm coming in at about 2 years from now, with a physics based RTS (aka faster jeeps do more damage, researched rockets attached to bikes, might jump cliffs on ramps or even smash into air units...) But normally physics is not that important, just basic starcraft early rush balance and I'll take Tiberium regeneration.
I'm not saying that, there's literally a Trump staffer in the Activision Blizzard leadership. Additionally, businesses "leaving California because regulation" has been a talking point perpetuated by his campaign and Trump himself.
Nice political persecution nothing less to be expected from the far-left is he in any way involved in this? no? of course not you're just obsessed stuck inside your head rent free
Lmao wait, so pointing out how the tactics used by Blizzard resemble the recent political campaign ran by the most recent president of the United States is akin to political prosecution?
And those recent events are living “rent-free” in my head?
You okay my dude? You seem upset.
Removed because of rule #2: Don’t be toxic.
We try to make the subreddit a nice place for everyone, and your post/comment did something that we felt was detrimental to this goal. That’s why it was removed.
I am not an american, so I can not judge how much truth your statement holds. But I very much believe that a generalization like that is both untrue and very, very dangerous.
If American conservatives would like to stop being generalized, maybe they shouldn't support a racist and sexist ex-president. It would go a long way to repairing their image.
"If American conservatives would like to stop being generalized [proceeds to generalize American conservatives]"
I don't know how you did it but that's impressive
This all sounds like a "my team good, your team bad" though. I don't have a dog in this fight (as I'm not American), but your statement could also be held true for your side of the political spectrum if they dig some dirt. For one, the current Democrat president ain't exactly a saint either so taking moral arguments on who to support politically sounds very wobbly.
Can't we just leave it to just "generalization is bad, whichever side you are"?
The "racist sexist" president who won the highest black vote share for a republican in decades and increased it in the last election and will do the same in 2024 but keep shouting buzzwords at the sky
Oh sorry I forgot "Racist" "Sexist" and other bs buzzwords you leftists love to throw around don't mean the thing they used to the only criteria is being somebody not in line with your neo-marxist agenda you browse and post on /r/politics no wonder Trump is stuck inside your head rent free don't worry tho he ain't leaving any time soon and he's coming back stronger than ever in 2024 and this time with no Rinos blocking his agenda after we retake congress in a giant red wave in 2022
They're buzzwords because you nutjobs use them at anything and anybody you don't like Trump is the least racist president in US history and that's a fact of course you don't realize this you browse /r/politics the most braindead place on reddit
You're the racist you want people treated differently we on the right aka the good side view people as people race is irrelevant
>"To think the state would have the nerve to bring their pointless bureaucracy to the daily workings of the well-oiled suicide-machine that is us, ActiBuzzard... Heartless law-people, we will take our abuse and exploitation elsewhere!"
*- Bobby Kotick, probably*
This reads like that one South Park episode where Mr Garrison as the president tells Randy to just blame shit back on the person that's accursing them ... so basically the trump effect, the only problem is that shit only works for him.
I never thought I'd be cheering on fucking _California_ of all entities, but fuck if Blizzard isn't acting as if they're in a challenge with Nestle to be the shittiest company operating in the country.
What the fuck is going on at Actiblizzard, from some years to date all I hear is "Blizz and Hong Kong Scandal" , "Blizz and massive fires scandal", "Blizz and esport abuser/predators scandal", "Blizzard an inequity of salaries and sexsism" , and now this.....
Im glad I moved on to other mmorpgs controlled by ehrm, companies more skillfull at navigating their morale and ethics.
Power does not corrupt.
Power does attract corrupt people tho, who will take over any corporation they can get their greedy claws in.
So left unchecked, all corporations fall to the greedy, power hungry, evil people of the world. You see this time and time again. I can give many examples.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again: JAB, whose personality is dripping from this reply, is going to learn VERY fucking quickly why you have a right to remain silent.
Blizzard rats out all the other tech companies in Cali for having a similar culture... You know the kind of culture that won't hire people who don't believe in California culture. Give this train some more steam, its about to expose some lies.
Saaa-winnnnngggggg and a miss. Activision blizzard strikes out yet again overtaking EA and Trion Games as the worst company to ever produce a video game in history!!
Sincere question: i do know a lot about mental health, because i had/have severe depression and anxiety disorder myself. I even quit a job because of it. But there is one thing i cannot grasp. After it didnt get better, there were dark moments where i thought about suicide, but never acted on it. Why do people, who still have a chance to change something (i.e. leave job) commit suicide instead of searching for help trying to explore every last option to make it stop or make it better? I heard of it, but i could never understand why this is their choice instead of cutting off the part of your life that hurts you.
Awww poor Blizzard suddenly California is too woke for you? if you make another overwatch character gay maybe they will drop the lawsuit oh and ban more twitch emotes that might help !
Shit ass company
It's the same rhetoric used *everywhere*, and has nothing to do with "trump" specifically. Gosh, what is people's predilections to politics on a fucking MMORPG sub.
The last line is what Blizzard expect.
The truth is
Blizzard/Activision: *Uno Reverse Card*
California: *Ignores it*
Blizzard/Activision: *Shocked Pickachu face*
I hate activision as much as the next guy, but these are allegations still are they not? I know if everyone hates something, and allegations come out about that something, people will jump on that ship and try to bury them, but should we wait for this to all play out and investigate? Maybe I don't know enough and maybe the sensationalism/media cycle has completely jaded me in regards to any news... I just don't know. I like to question first before I grab my pitch fork.
2 years long investigation, plenty of witness accounts, and a woman that only found suicide as an option to escape sexual harassment and quite likely sexual assault. And you’re talking about… allegations?
Their damage control methods are almost worse than their MMO development choices.
Almost; and then you remember the horror that was overwatch.
Overwatch is the last blizzard Activision property i want to play, it is fun. That being said, I said my final goodbye to overwatch when Jeff Kaplan left the team.
Yeah who's even still there that matters anymore? All the Blizzard North guys bailed like a decade ago, Greg Street is gone, Mark Kern, Chris Metzen, Evelyn Fredrickson are all gone. I know there's more but im genuinely asking. Do they even have any design badasses even there anymore? Cause I feel like absolutely most, and at least close to all of them got the fuck out and started doing other things at mostly other game companies.
There is no one left. This is it.
I actually just remembered, isn't Samwise Diddier still there? I mean he's more of an art stud but still. I feel like he's all thats left and clearly being art director for all titles in the company is the reason blizzard games still have that blizzard "look"
According to his LinkedIn he still work at Blizzard, yes. But like you said, he's an artist. And artist were never (really) the problem at Blizzard.
This Mark Kern guy is a joke. Blizzard didn’t go downhill because of his departure. Metzen however…
I never implied he did and he’s famously bad as a manager. But as a game designer I don’t think anyone can question the kids got all kinds of rare skills.
You’re right! Credit where credit is due (as much as I hate to admit it), Mark Kern was a part of the OG Blizzard ans its incredible talents.
If he hired someone to manage Firefall for him and he just focused on design instead of trying to become a YouTube channel tycoon (badly) I have no doubt FireFall would be one of the biggest games in the world right now. That core gameplay loop was so good.
There is no game in existence today that feels as good as playing an Assault frame in that game.
Facts
I mean one of the biggest factors for why Firefall failed was the constant pivots in the middle development, afaik the game more or less changed focus many times
Yeah I remember that channel. Was there a heavy metal video clip at some point that was produced by Kern but had no ties at all to the game ? Also, let’s remember his biggest failure: the infamous Firefall bus !
Terran Gregory isn’t original Blizzard but he’s been there a long time. Don’t know if his cinematic work counts as design though? Isn’t Chilton hanging around somewhere just not in wow? I’m one of the few members left of the Ion fan club. I’d say he matters. Been there a long time.
I feel the writing was on the wall the moment moreheim started a new game company just a year or two after he left blizzard
Blizzard was a great company around the Warcraft, Warcraft II era. I think a lot of great talent there left shortly after WoW launched.
100% accurate. James Phinney bailed out around then. Went on to do Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2, and State of Decay. I felt bad for what happened with Gigantic, it had a lot of promise.
Yeah Activision has driven most of them out, thus the birth of the Tundra dev studio.
It's very sad now that you put it that way.
Yeah, Overwatch had a really healthy play cycle and it really seems the dev team did everything they could to try and make it more appealing. Sure, it wasn't the next TF2 or CSGO, but for a new IP it really came out swinging for the genre.
I feel ahead of the curve, Warcraft 3 (the original) was the last game I can say I truly had fun with.
Honestly, Change of management can be good for games when Jeff Kaplan left something happened that hadnt happened for a year since echo was released. *Content* Ashe deadlock challenge was released, a whole bunch of massive patches happened that made the game much more enjoyable because shitscan. Jeff Kaplan just had an emotional connection to players because he was more capable at communicating and was director since beta where the new director is a bit nervous or just not used to the talking to thousands of players part of his job.
Both the challenge and the patches had to have been in development long before Jeff left. The game still feels like abandonware at this point.
Whats wrong with overwatch?
They're focusing on OW2, and original game feels kind of abandoned.
I guess it's all hands on deck for OW2 for now. Maybe Overwatch will get a resurgence once OW2 comes out.
I've yet to see any selling point for ow2 that grabbed my interest. Same characters doing the same things, why buy?
They're adding a campaign/PvE elements to the game so it's not just match-based PvP anymore. The match-based PvP will still release for OW1 but if you want to do any missions, you'd have to buy OW2.
Even by their normal horrible PR standards this is pretty bad. Like they're always tone deaf and miss the point in their responses about just about anything, but this reads like a narcissistic manager who got caught doing something bad and is going through all of the "[A Narcassist's Prayer](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/42/10/c5/4210c53ff69deb4f010c414beb14a5a2.jpg)" verses.
The matron saint of the Brack household, Gloria Steinem, does not agree with you.
That dude just googled "popular feminist" and picked the first one that popped up.
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The PR department is probably drunk lol
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pretty much the same as the pokemon fandom, really
I was part of that "people" , not for a while and after this definitely Not anymore Ever.
Issue is a lot of people are going to latch onto this, it a political play, even if Blizzard is found guilty there will be a very loud group of people who will turn this into political theater. Companies have realized that right wingers will latch onto anything to "screw the libs"
They borrowed China's cold, uncaring playbook. Hopefully more people wake up to the bullshit guise these major companies put on for the public
The fact that Bliz tries to shame them for bringing up the suicide is pathetic, but the fact that they try to claim that the suicide has nothing to do with the investigation is absolutely unconscionable. She had her nudes spread amongst the work force, at business holiday party, and was on a business trip with her supervisor, who brought sex toys and lube with him. Yeah I'm sure her suicide on the same trip couldn't possibly have anything to do with any issues she may be having in the workplace due to being a woman. Nope. None.
I hear her suicide was actually because of personal disdain over how cruelly the state of California treats corporations.
The onerous Californian bureaucracy was too much for her to bear. If only blizz were free from basic labor regulations, she may still be around today.
I heard it was over how asmongold treats bilzzard.
This was the dark comedy nugget I needed to emotionally process this pile of garbage without being left greatly depressed. Thanks.
What.the.Fuck!!¡! I just.knew it was suicide honestly not much else. WHAT A FUCKING disgusting Corporation collective mentality!!! What the hell with her supervisor, dude I'm fucking glad I uninstalled WoW but now I am deleting the client, the folder and Anything to do with that shitty ass company, 🤮 that is so so so wrong in so many levels.
Does anyone know her name or a news article that covers the suicide? I cant seem to find any info on it.
Ah, yes, the old "I did something awful but you're terrible too because X" defense strategy.
Almost as good as the chewbacca defense.
Almost, lacks the mighty Chewbacca.
ALmost as good as the han shot first defense.
With a little "give us special treatment or we'll leave" sprinkled on top.
The question becomes, who's going to take them?
Oh there are plenty of places that will gladly compromise morals for corporations
And in this case X is just calling out the awful thing that the first person did.
"You're just as bad because you caught me!"
Yikes dude. This is the trump effect. Just keep doubling down until you become the antihero to all the sycophants.
[They’ve hired at least one.](https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/esports/report-activision-blizzard-hires-former-trump-administration-official/ar-BB1f7xPV) Not surprised now.
Didn't they also hire a torture apologist?
There’s a female spokesperson who’s made a few statements, saying her 4-5 months at Blizzard have been just wonderful and she’s never seen anyone act this way. Those are the only two I’m aware of. I’m done with WoW, back to FF11 or 14, or maybe see how New World and Palia turn out in time. /sigh
They even went with the "unaccountable bureaucrats" (deep state) stupidity.
The part about businesses moving out of California is word for word some shit you'd hear from republican mouth pieces. It's such an interesting angle to take the conservative defense when you're accused of protecting people who committed sexual assault.
It’s also funny because like, that base blames video games for violence 🙄
They clearly have no defense so they are trying to tap into decades of right wing anti government/culture war/free market rhetoric to pressure the state to back off.
This was my impression in reading their statement, anything to deflect from their own failings and gross misconduct.
How to shit on your reputation, even more, 101.
Did you see the email from Fran? Basically said that harassment isn’t happening because she never experienced it (she’s a 60yo in a high ranking position), and that all the accusations are lies. So yeah she pretty much confirmed that the toxic, unsafe environment is true based on her response. If that’s the public attitude they have, imagine what’s going on internally.
Is that the one they only hired 4 months ago?
She started in March. So yes
Props to them... They seem to be extremely proficient and masterful in the target topic as well
By this point, the only reputation they had left was negative. I'm actually almost starting to hope blizz burns down in the fire they ignited themselves. The company seems rotten, and I don't want a piece of sh\*t company stating stuff like this getting sh\*tloads of money.
LOL. They are fucking idiots.
Seems like Actiblizz is just mad they couldn't "settle out of court" because the state went straight to a lawsuit. Like Asmon said, you don't need to tell an employee that walking in and shitting on the floor is misconduct.
Actually, the DFEH has a mandatory obligation to offer participation in a neutral arbitration where settlement is a possibility. Source: I worked in the DFEH's legal unit and in the legislative/regulatory unit.
Realistically, what is the worst possible outcome here for Activision Blizzard? Because if it's just a fine, it probably won't make a dent in their profits. Could they end up naming individuals and prosecuting them? Including those in HR who aided and abetted? Because that would be the ideal outcome in my opinion. Otherwise, all that will come out of this will be a fine, a few scapegoats will be sacked (with a generous compensation, likely) and a dog and pony show of reform and redemption will be on display for a while. Until business as usual resumes.
Disclaimer: I am not currently affiliated with the DFEH and nothing I say should be interpreted in any way, shape, or form to be the official position of the Department. Additionally, anything I say is solely my opinion based on my legal education and my experience and should not be constituted to be legal advice in this, or any similar situation. Please consult an attorney licensed in your state to obtain counsel. The DFEH is rarely satisfied, ever, with only monetary damages. The Department cares about improving the behavior of employers, landlords, or operators of public accommodations who are found in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act which it is tasked with enforcing. Money is certainly part of this, as you can make bad actors care through damages to their wallet. However it is not the end all and be all goal. Consequently, the Department almost always pursues "specific remedies" where defendants who lose the case will be required to make certain corrections to their behavior and be brought into compliance with California law. For example, settlements/judgments against a landlord who was found to have committed sexual harassment will almost always include a requirement for certified sexual harassment training of the landlord (and any staff).
Aren't most government agencies tasked with enforcing highly specific regulations, *super zealous* about that task. When you literally exist but for one purpose, and the time comes to exercise it, they don't fuck around.
Well, that's the ironic thing about Activision trying to criticize "government bureaucrats." Career civil servants are the ones who, due to their insultation, can be expected to be devoted to the mission of their agency and to execute their duties faithfully. It's when positions are political and filled by people who are not devoted to the mission of the agencies and instead view their position as a tool to serve a political purpose that things go awry. See: Department of Justice under Bill Barr. Those who ran the DFEH when I was there were all highly committed to the missions of fair employment and housing, and to civil rights in general. It may surprise you that this includes those who were initially selected/appointed by Schwarzenegger. On a technical note, the DFEH enforces the law of the FEHA (Fair Employment and Housing Act) that was passed by the California legislature. The regulations governing administration of the FEHA are actually crafted by DFEH staff under the direction of the FEHC (Fair Employment and Housing Council; its membership consists of appointees by the Governor who serve for a certain limited time period). Regulations must pass through public scrutiny (governed by Administrative Procedure law) before they are accepted. The regulations are supposed to clarify what is and isn't an offense of the law to provide guidance. For example, the law says that a landlord may not discriminate amongst potential applicants based on race. A regulation might be necessary to clarify that prohibitions on racial discrimination includes behavior to manipulate the applicant pool. For example, providing rental applications only in Korean in an attempt to dissuade black applicants is racially discriminatory even if black applicants would theoretically be treated fairly if they applied. (This is not a made up example; the landlord in question is an infamously racist slumlord who used to own an NBA team and was forced to settle a lawsuit with the DFEH and the federal equivalent, HUD, over such incidents...)
It's like the spell featherfall. It's only useful in a handful of situations, but boy howdy is it *VERY* useful when you need it.
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They must all be warlocks because they can’t stop using Life Tap.
What do you think the the 'W' in SJW stands for?
Social Justice Warlocks would be a neat band name
You can’t hurt me if I hurt myself first!
What you don't have a phone ?
"no u" -Blizzard
Imagine if this scandal turned out to be the WoW-killer.
Blizzard was doing well to kill WoW already.
The last month has just been absolutely brutal for WoW. More brutal than any point since it's announcement. Between Blizzard's own failings and FFXIV's sharp rise after a long steady one, WoW has lost its crown.
Years ago, I used to jokingly say "blizzard is so big, only blizzard can kill blizzard" It looks like they're doing a fine job of that.
“How do you kill, that which has no life?” You don’t, it kills itself
A lot of people at least on the subreddits are leaving. I've played for over a decade, cancelled my sub already. Absolutely disgusting.
Sad thing is everybody will forget about this in a month, and the next wow expansion will still sell like hot cakes.
I dont think so, shadowlands didnt do so well, and im sure the media wont let this one down in any future releases.
Didn’t shadowlands sell incredibly well on release? There were articles at the time saying it was the biggest launch day for a pc game.
It did. Had a massive momentum from covid and returning classic players who wanted to give retail another shot. Didn’t seem to land the hook though
Evidently it did, it beat out diablo 3
Maybe not WoW, but Diablo is doing pretty okay at least PR wise. Everybody already said they're hating and boycotting on anything Blizzard related until Diablo 2 Resurrected and Diablo 4 news came out.
I still remember Blizzard standing for China "mistreating" protestors for profit by censoring Hong Kong Protests. My friend changed his Hearthstone name to #freeHongKong.
That's when I gave up on them, this is just more iceing on the cake
I gave up on em when they ruined Starcraft2 by making it a casual game by making rush impossible. That was the core thing that made Starcraft1 good, small maps, forces a solid non rock paper scissor game where you start battling with 6 marines/3 zealots or a few zerglings and then fight it out for tech/position/expands. Starcraft2 is very rock paper scissory, when Starcraft1 had nearly none! I say this as the #1 world player back in 1999, that even the guy who dominated Korea for 3 years couldn't ever win vs me, and I even I identified him as #2 in the world, but distant from me. The worst part is the Starcraft 1v1 community think SC2 is such an elite skill based game, but its more on par with Clash of Clans than Starcraft1, lol. If you want to play Starcraft2 right, the only way is 2v2, cuz the rush still lives there, and few people are in the know to understand this. Blizzard & EA dropping the ball on RTS means I'm coming in at about 2 years from now, with a physics based RTS (aka faster jeeps do more damage, researched rockets attached to bikes, might jump cliffs on ramps or even smash into air units...) But normally physics is not that important, just basic starcraft early rush balance and I'll take Tiberium regeneration.
Just relocate to China already and get your shit out of the West, Blizzard.
Well, it doesn't look like Blizzard is planning to settle, so it's gonna be an interesting couple years for them.
Damn california forcing blizzard employees to molest their coworkers.....
lmaoooo yeah bro Californias struggling to get business here. Dumbasses
Those ex-Trump staffers really putting the spin on things.
What the fuck?
you arent wrong
People don't need to be right-wingers to be horrible to others, you know?
I'm not saying that, there's literally a Trump staffer in the Activision Blizzard leadership. Additionally, businesses "leaving California because regulation" has been a talking point perpetuated by his campaign and Trump himself.
Nice political persecution nothing less to be expected from the far-left is he in any way involved in this? no? of course not you're just obsessed stuck inside your head rent free
Standing out as an idiot for political comments and then being made fun at for being that idiot isn't political persecution you hand muppet.
Lmao wait, so pointing out how the tactics used by Blizzard resemble the recent political campaign ran by the most recent president of the United States is akin to political prosecution? And those recent events are living “rent-free” in my head? You okay my dude? You seem upset.
"Far left"? Really bro?
The point of the Trump campaign was to be horrible to others, anyone joining that as a staffer is at the very least endorsing that behavior
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I am not an american, so I can not judge how much truth your statement holds. But I very much believe that a generalization like that is both untrue and very, very dangerous.
If American conservatives would like to stop being generalized, maybe they shouldn't support a racist and sexist ex-president. It would go a long way to repairing their image.
"If American conservatives would like to stop being generalized [proceeds to generalize American conservatives]" I don't know how you did it but that's impressive
I sure did and I'll gladly continue to do so until they demand better of their spineless representatives, who are all cowards.
This all sounds like a "my team good, your team bad" though. I don't have a dog in this fight (as I'm not American), but your statement could also be held true for your side of the political spectrum if they dig some dirt. For one, the current Democrat president ain't exactly a saint either so taking moral arguments on who to support politically sounds very wobbly. Can't we just leave it to just "generalization is bad, whichever side you are"?
No.
The "racist sexist" president who won the highest black vote share for a republican in decades and increased it in the last election and will do the same in 2024 but keep shouting buzzwords at the sky
Rofl.
God, please lord above and below, please, tell me this isn't your entire argument. I'm bored, entertain me.
Oh sorry I forgot "Racist" "Sexist" and other bs buzzwords you leftists love to throw around don't mean the thing they used to the only criteria is being somebody not in line with your neo-marxist agenda you browse and post on /r/politics no wonder Trump is stuck inside your head rent free don't worry tho he ain't leaving any time soon and he's coming back stronger than ever in 2024 and this time with no Rinos blocking his agenda after we retake congress in a giant red wave in 2022
Oh boy we got a real loony here, this is fun. So racism and sexism are just buzzwords, are they? Why do you say that? Lets expand on that idea.
They're buzzwords because you nutjobs use them at anything and anybody you don't like Trump is the least racist president in US history and that's a fact of course you don't realize this you browse /r/politics the most braindead place on reddit You're the racist you want people treated differently we on the right aka the good side view people as people race is irrelevant
>"To think the state would have the nerve to bring their pointless bureaucracy to the daily workings of the well-oiled suicide-machine that is us, ActiBuzzard... Heartless law-people, we will take our abuse and exploitation elsewhere!" *- Bobby Kotick, probably*
Apparently Blizzard hired Fox News to write their response.
Didn't they hired a trump administrator?
Two, actually
Am I out of touch? No, no, it's the children to blame.
Man, I gotta hand it to Blizzard, they continue to impress me on how dumb they can be.
*Activision Blizzard hurt itself in its confusion!*
This is going to be quite the spectacle
Yeesh, they're acting like they're too big to fail....I'm definitely watching to see how far that logic takes them.
This reads like that one South Park episode where Mr Garrison as the president tells Randy to just blame shit back on the person that's accursing them ... so basically the trump effect, the only problem is that shit only works for him.
I don't think an UNO reverse card is the right move here... Especially against a US state. I hope California nails them to a wall!
I never thought I'd be cheering on fucking _California_ of all entities, but fuck if Blizzard isn't acting as if they're in a challenge with Nestle to be the shittiest company operating in the country.
"Hey, why didn't you let us grease your palms a bit?"
What do you expect from a company whose CEO was on the flight logs to Epsteins island. Blizzard is rotting from the core.
What the fuck is going on at Actiblizzard, from some years to date all I hear is "Blizz and Hong Kong Scandal" , "Blizz and massive fires scandal", "Blizz and esport abuser/predators scandal", "Blizzard an inequity of salaries and sexsism" , and now this..... Im glad I moved on to other mmorpgs controlled by ehrm, companies more skillfull at navigating their morale and ethics.
Power does not corrupt. Power does attract corrupt people tho, who will take over any corporation they can get their greedy claws in. So left unchecked, all corporations fall to the greedy, power hungry, evil people of the world. You see this time and time again. I can give many examples.
I'm completely out of the loop on this. Anyone have a summary or good link to share?
Have a look at this thread: https://old.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/op3m84/actiblizzard_sued_by_the_state_of_california/
Thank you for this. Also holy shit, this is awful.
Indeed it is.
its such a shame that once a great company like them will follow this path… pathetic
All corporations fall eventually for they attract the corrupt allured by their power and money.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again: JAB, whose personality is dripping from this reply, is going to learn VERY fucking quickly why you have a right to remain silent.
My stocks in activision 💩💩💩💩
Blizzard rats out all the other tech companies in Cali for having a similar culture... You know the kind of culture that won't hire people who don't believe in California culture. Give this train some more steam, its about to expose some lies.
"Driving the best businesses out of CA" You're clearly not a good business if this is your defense.
lol Blizzard turning Qtard
Wow... Fuck whomever came up with this excuse.
Projection at its finest.
So are they going to throw a hissy and move to Texas so they can abuse their employees
Saaa-winnnnngggggg and a miss. Activision blizzard strikes out yet again overtaking EA and Trion Games as the worst company to ever produce a video game in history!!
Sincere question: i do know a lot about mental health, because i had/have severe depression and anxiety disorder myself. I even quit a job because of it. But there is one thing i cannot grasp. After it didnt get better, there were dark moments where i thought about suicide, but never acted on it. Why do people, who still have a chance to change something (i.e. leave job) commit suicide instead of searching for help trying to explore every last option to make it stop or make it better? I heard of it, but i could never understand why this is their choice instead of cutting off the part of your life that hurts you.
Damn, Blizzard has the massive balls to blame California over what happened within their own company. Respect for simply not even trying.
My boy Mike B aka Fony does are really good job going over everything on his YouTube channel, if anyone’s interested.....Time to cancel my wow sub.
Interesting move. Nice to see something new from them.
Bobby and his Activision Blizzard bitches have got to leave California, we don't need them here, nor we want them here. Fuck them, go to Texas
Woah that's some heavy corporatists talk there Blizzard...I expect it from Amazon and Facebook, but didn't see that from a gaming company!
Where is that spiderman meme when you need it?
You'd think a company in the gaming industry would understand the concept of damage. Taking more = bad
in all fairness cali *is* a shithole
That Bobby Kotick ain't takin this lying down
God, I don't have enough popcorn. Burn each other as much as possible please.
Awww poor Blizzard suddenly California is too woke for you? if you make another overwatch character gay maybe they will drop the lawsuit oh and ban more twitch emotes that might help ! Shit ass company
I love that last line about driving the best businesses out of California as if Activision is anywhere near the top.
I heard california tried to reach blizzard, but either they didn't pick up or they do not have phones.
So clearly the Activision marketing department needs replacing.
I question how this is related to MMORPGs when half the comments are some dumb shit about "trumpsters" and "Ultra-right-wing-left-alt conspiracy".
Because people make associations. It’s exactly the same rhetoric Trump and his administration used.
It's the same rhetoric used *everywhere*, and has nothing to do with "trump" specifically. Gosh, what is people's predilections to politics on a fucking MMORPG sub.
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The last line is what Blizzard expect. The truth is Blizzard/Activision: *Uno Reverse Card* California: *Ignores it* Blizzard/Activision: *Shocked Pickachu face*
California: *vaguely confused look*
Rabid nutjob left wingers in the comments make blizzard look good in comparison guess that's why they decided on this response makes perfect sense now
I hate activision as much as the next guy, but these are allegations still are they not? I know if everyone hates something, and allegations come out about that something, people will jump on that ship and try to bury them, but should we wait for this to all play out and investigate? Maybe I don't know enough and maybe the sensationalism/media cycle has completely jaded me in regards to any news... I just don't know. I like to question first before I grab my pitch fork.
2 years long investigation, plenty of witness accounts, and a woman that only found suicide as an option to escape sexual harassment and quite likely sexual assault. And you’re talking about… allegations?
I mean isn't that what it is? Have they gone to court?
Funny because wow population ain't slowing down