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Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

theguardian.com

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Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#101

Post by MattRix »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #94
ecshafer wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American Left went from solidarity, going against the corporates, and better salaries and conditions to supporting whatever the latest hot political stand is.

Not sure why this is downvoted. Politics has been de-economized and the economy has been de-politicized. Not surprising given how dangerous this sort of organization is to the big corporations. Better to have people fight over gender politics than better working conditions and compensation.

People clearly care deeply about about both these things. It’s possible for the left to fight over gender politics AND working conditions.

Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#102

Post by tdeck »

ditonal wrote: post #6

Did the walkouts at Google change anything? Not only did Sundar enable the disgusting, predatory behavior of Vic Gundotra and Andy Rubin, but as far as I can tell, he’s still a darling of the press. Even on HN Sundar and Google get the kid gloves despite the abhorrence of the culture they created. Walkouts are pointless. True Employee organization and collective bargaining is the only answer to holding execs accounta…

Google removed its mandatory arbitration clause for sexual harassment cases in response to the walkout: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/tech...

> True Employee organization and collective bargaining is the only answer to holding execs accountable , whether it’s at Google, Activision, or anywhere else.

What do you imagine this path to "true employee organization" might look like, if it doesn't involve actions like these along the way?

Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#103

Post by cronix »

wbc wrote: post #86
taeric wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sceptic in me is unsure how much money this costs. They aren't an assembly line, so did any deadlines get pushed back? Similarly, they are not a services company, so no services were lost. Certainly bad press. And I hope it has impact. But I'm not seeing direct lines to it.

World of Warcraft, the cash cow product, is getting content delayed according to one of the devs: https://twitter.com/JeffAHamilton/status/1419115702569472003

Delays are common, and expected as par for the course in the game industry. No one blinks an eye at delays and most games seem to not launch when announced anyway (like most software). The question that matters is, will this actually cost them lost revenue in the long run, or just delay inevitable sales by however long the employees can hold out in a walkout/strike? A delay is just as good as money in the bank in the long run. Will people not buy the product because it was delayed? Will they care why it was delayed, or even know unless it was an in-game message? Some will, sure, but will they still make the purchase? Likely.

Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#104

Post by bigmattystyles »

taeric wrote: post #33
micromacrofoot wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walkouts are an easy way to get more attention to an issue and it costs an employer real money. A single action doesn't need to solve everything.

The sceptic in me is unsure how much money this costs. They aren't an assembly line, so did any deadlines get pushed back? Similarly, they are not a services company, so no services were lost. Certainly bad press. And I hope it has impact. But I'm not seeing direct lines to it.

Agreed, human nature being what it is, I guarantee you most of the work missed during the walk out was made up that evening by the same employees working late without being asked to do so.

Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#105

Post by missedthecue »

tehjoker wrote: post #56
wonderwonder wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"so the capitalists have no where to run" Who is going to finance the companies and workers that build those games then? These games cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, who is going to front the money if they don't expect a significant return. That is capitalism in a nutshell.

The lords of finance have historically been the enemies of the working man. All their money comes from our pockets and the people's printing press. We can run things ourselves.

If your money doesn't come from other people's pockets, I'm curious where it does come from.

Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#106

Post by toofy »

ditonal wrote: post #6

Did the walkouts at Google change anything? Not only did Sundar enable the disgusting, predatory behavior of Vic Gundotra and Andy Rubin, but as far as I can tell, he’s still a darling of the press. Even on HN Sundar and Google get the kid gloves despite the abhorrence of the culture they created. Walkouts are pointless. True Employee organization and collective bargaining is the only answer to holding execs accounta…

We’ll you’re still talking about it all this time later, so at the very least it absolutely contributed to topics being in the conversational arena.

We have to remember how many people still say “Did Occupy really change anything?” —- on its own? Of course not. However “The 99%” is absolutely a concept which every disconnected midwesterner now knows and understands what it means, in two small words. This is a concept which was not previously a dinner table conversation and Occupy flipped that on its head. And when we’re dealing with something that’s as complex and messy as superpowers and their economic systems, that is absolutely not something to hand-wave away and proclaim “it did nothing.”

None of these incredibly ingrained societal problems will be solved from one single instance of a walkout, and frankly, it would be more than a bit myopic to expect they would.

These are complex and messy issues and there isnt one single thing which will address any of them, it’s going to be a lot of single instances that add up to something over time–and I think most people understand this.

Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#107

Post by Talanes »

cronix wrote: post #103
wbc wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

World of Warcraft, the cash cow product, is getting content delayed according to one of the devs: https://twitter.com/JeffAHamilton/status/1419115702569472003

Delays are common, and expected as par for the course in the game industry. No one blinks an eye at delays and most games seem to not launch when announced anyway (like most software). The question that matters is, will this actually cost them lost revenue in the long run, or just delay inevitable sales by however long the employees can hold out in a walkout/strike? A delay is just as good as money in the bank in the…

World of Warcraft is a subscription-based product, so delays do directly lead to lost revenue as players get bored and cancel.

Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#108

Post by MattRix »

noirbot wrote: post #84
shadowgovt wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Video games are one part idea and three parts implementation. And the talent at Blizzard has no lack of good ideas.

That... seems optimistic about the state of the modern average engineer at Blizzard. Which isn't to say that folks are bad at their jobs, but it's not as if it's a company that's done well-received and breakthrough modern game design in the last 5 years. If anything, the folks who made the company what it was either were the people being protested or left 5-10 years ago, or both.

This ignores how Blizzard works. They operate on glacial time scales. They released, Overwatch five years ago, which was fantastic. They haven’t released any new games since then.

Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#109

Post by toofy »

bulek wrote: post #60
smnrchrds wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A major global publication has written an article about it. Spotlight is shone on Activision Blizzard's culture. We have seen that the only way to get any sort of customer support out of big tech companies is making noise on social media. And it works when enough noise is made. This is the next level of that: making noise in publications with global reach. The management will be wise not to ignore it.

The Guardian will be tuned out as noise by anyone who doesn't already agree.

There is almost nothing which would change the minds of the people who don’t already understand these as problems.

No one seeking change is targeting them as the audience. Though, in their own heads, they probably delude themselves into believing they are.

Re: Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture

#110

Post by jwilber »

elefanten wrote: post #96
jwilber wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not disagreeing with your larger point, but what grinding exists in Starcraft 2? Been playing for a decade and can’t think of anything. I’m not sure who invented loot boxes, but that’s another (unmentioned) issue entirely.

Hm, not sure what I had in mind - I may be misremembering. Thanks for the correction. I guess you could argue league systems are a pvp grind, but that's not quite the same as my original point. Competition naturally includes (relative) ranking.

Yeah, no worries. Unfortunately, the fact that Starcraft 2 has no such behavior cooked into it may actually be why it’s seen such a decline in popularity :,(
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