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Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

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Re: Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

#291

Post by loourr »

I've spent a lot of time hiring software developers and I usually receive about 25 male applicants for every 1 female applicant.

Achieving equal representation across the entire industry is going to be literally impossible without a huge influx of woman into the industry.

Further, because the big tech companies are pretending this is not the reality and strive to have equal representation in their workforce it means even sub par female developers are able to get jobs at the likes of google and facebook, further depleting the remainder of the workforce and causing wage inflation disincentivizing smaller or less well funded companies from hiring them because they can find better and cheaper male counterparts.

Not defending "bro culture" but I think the industry needs to come to terms with the realities of the situations. Legal action will do nothing to change this.

Re: Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

#292

Post by AlexandrB »

pirate787 wrote: post #235
beebmam wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quote from the article: '"Wilmerhale’s own site advertises its expertise as "union awareness and avoidance."' Therefore, yes, it is accurate to define them as a "union-busting firm". They fulfill other roles than just that, but they do act as union-busters, and they even describe themselves as such.

There's nothing "notorious" about a maintstream legal practice representing corporations against unions, and "busting" is pejorative. It's opinion click-bait.

"Union awareness and avoidance" does not sound like representing corporations against unions. Rather it sounds like representing corporations against their own workforce to "avoid" their forming of a union. I.e. union busting.

Re: Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

#293

Post by bpiche »

meristohm wrote: post #208
brainfish wrote: post #26

I cut my teeth on Diablo, and played Diablo II for probably fifteen years after its release off and on as a way to stay connected with a friend who loved it similarly. More recently, I have consistently played Starcraft II since its release and enjoy a sense of mastery over that game unparalleled by my experience in any other. I haven't purchased new Blizzard products since the Hong Kong censorship debacle[1] and qui…

I got hooked on Diablo, and the memory of anticipating Diablo II (for which I built a computer) is almost tangible. WoW was the next drug/escape, and Hearthstone my last Blizzard slot-machine until I became a parent. I never thought I’d move away from games, and now I don’t miss them, turning instead to gardening and exploring with my kid. I still have a lot of emotion bound up in that game time, and perhaps they wer…

One thing about the non-rts Blizzard games, is they're basically all loot piñatas. Diablo 1/2/3, WoW, even Hearthstone to some extent are basically loot piñatas that prey on addictive behaviors in very much the same way that loot boxes and freemium mobile games do. Personally, I prefer a well crafted single player story over that sort of 'game'. And if you have your ear to the ground it's clear that they're going to make Diablo 4 a real Genshin Impact loot box nightmare as well. I don't know what demographic they think they're selling to anymore but it's sad.

Re: Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

#294

Post by cogman10 »

akudha wrote: post #254
donmcronald wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it’s just a normal thing as you get older, but knowing the company mistreated people sucks the fun out of it for me. I’m not completely against playing the stuff I’ve already paid for, but they won’t get another penny from me. I’d like to have a database that tracks the C-Suite employees. I’d personally boycott any company that hires any of them. Their careers should be over IMO. I wish we could take away Bobby…

This app has been around for a while https://www.buycott.com/campaign/browse I do not know how good it is. We should totally not give our money to shitty companies. But global commerce is so intertwined that it would quickly become very difficult to buy anything if we start closely looking at every company we give money to. I don't know what the solution is. Boycotting is a start.

Yeah, it really sucks and points to problems with our weak UN and world governments.

Sure, we may have somewhat high manufacturing standards in the US, but take a step into foreign soil and all the sudden all the rules are out the window. With companies specifically using countries with the weakest safety regs to cut costs.

It's why walmart keeps getting busted for using slave/child labor.

Re: Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

#295

Post by stale2002 »

tovej wrote: post #282
stale2002 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you missed the point. The union puts a limit on the contracts that I can make with the company. So I would be prevented from bargaining for certain contracts with a company. So me and this other company's mutual right to make an agreement would be limited by the union.

These limits are in your favor, you are free to negotiate contracts within the limits. I fail to see how the right to work for less pay than what others see as the absolute minimum fair pay is a right that's worth keeping. This is a bit like saying that criminal law takes away your right to be mugged, beaten, and murdered.

> you are free to negotiate contracts within the limits.

So then I am not free to negotiate, and me and this other company right to engage in a mutual agreement are prevented.

Yeah, that's my point.

> I fail to see how the right to work for less pay

I get paid way way way more money than the average unionized tech worker, where they exist.

So actually, my ability to negotiate for myself, outside of the restrictions of a union, has worked out pretty darn well for me.

> the absolute minimum fair pay

Oh that's funny. You aren't aware that union contracts cover much more things than just a minimum wage.

The whole point is that many union provisions can be bad for many people and are not strict benefits for workers.

Re: Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

#296

Post by lapetitejort »

ctrl-j wrote: post #173
kelnos wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand this attitude, or line of reasoning, or whatever you want to call it. Sure, if a company does something that you find reprehensible, not giving them further money (or attention) is certainly a reasonable -- and honorable! -- thing to do. But if you've already purchased a standalone[0], non-subscription product from that company, and that company doesn't gain any benefit from your further use…

One of the things that companies rely on these days is engagement and playerbase. If you don't find that compelling, that's up to you, but Blizzard invests millions every year into maintaining their playerbase - so at least they find it compelling. Just by being a part of the starcraft community, you are providing support to activision blizzard. If we were talking about offline-only non-community driven content, sure…

To play Starcraft II, one must open Battle.net, potentially exposing themselves to ads for the latest shiny game, and may lead them to break their boycott by buying said game. Having to visit the store to use the product changes the dynamic. If I bought a widget from the widget store, then found out the owner sexually harassed their employees, I would continue to use the widget while boycotting the store because I would never have to visit it. But if I had to occasionally bring in the widget for a free cleaning, I'd stop using it.

Re: Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

#298

Post by foobarian »

bpiche wrote: post #293
meristohm wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got hooked on Diablo, and the memory of anticipating Diablo II (for which I built a computer) is almost tangible. WoW was the next drug/escape, and Hearthstone my last Blizzard slot-machine until I became a parent. I never thought I’d move away from games, and now I don’t miss them, turning instead to gardening and exploring with my kid. I still have a lot of emotion bound up in that game time, and perhaps they wer…

One thing about the non-rts Blizzard games, is they're basically all loot piñatas. Diablo 1/2/3, WoW, even Hearthstone to some extent are basically loot piñatas that prey on addictive behaviors in very much the same way that loot boxes and freemium mobile games do. Personally, I prefer a well crafted single player story over that sort of 'game'. And if you have your ear to the ground it's clear that they're going to…

I just discovered Genshin Impact and enjoying the story line and combat system quite a bit. The artwork and voice acting is some of the prettiest I've ever seen in a game. What makes it a loot box nightmare? TBH Diablo 2 was a lot worse, the rarest boss drops had the ability to give a player orders of magnitude more power. GI loot scattered around the world is completely unremarkable kind of like the coins dropped by regular mobs.

I know about the wishing system but that seems to be a completely optional mechanic that allows people to gamble with money, which seems fair for a F2P game. But can be skipped and is not essential to the gameplay.

Re: Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

#299

Post by Apocryphon »

mcguire wrote: post #218
acituan wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feelings alone do not make a rational standpoint. This ex-pressing (pressing outwards) of our feelings was the problem of romanticism, and it has to be balanced with what the reality tells back at us. In other words, people don't seem to be saying they shouldn't have shared their feelings, but when they did they should have been ready to receive the criticism especially on logical results of their reasoning. Not usin…

From a rational standpoint, buying and playing games is a waste of time and money.

As is participating in a comments thread discussion such as this. Rationality is too often overrated.

Re: Activision Blizzard Hires Notorious Union-Busting Firm WilmerHale

#300

Post by 908B64B197 »

Manuel_D wrote: post #194
screye wrote: post #53

I am usually against unions in tech because the free market tends to allow a proper balance of supply and demand. However, gaming might just be the perfect sub-domain of tech to benefit from unionization. The supply is massively saturated, with dreamy eyed programmers ready to give their lives to work in gaming. On the other hand, a very small group actually gets to make any of the creative decisions that every gamer…

The supply being massively saturated is also what makes a union impossible to form. The over-saturation of supply means there's plenty of people willing to work a non-union game dev job because the alternative is no job. Also the EA-Blizzard-Activision-Ubisoft studios do consistently deliver quality games: COD, Battlefield, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, etc. Formulaic, perhaps, but it's tough to claim that these aren't…

> The supply being massively saturated is also what makes a union impossible to form. The over-saturation of supply means there's plenty of people willing to work a non-union game dev job because the alternative is no job.

Wait until you hear about the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.

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