Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 328 posts

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#51

Post by tablespoon »

doktorhladnjak wrote: post #24
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won’t automatically know, but: 1) Anyone in the industry presumably knows about this news. If someone’s end date at Activision Blizzard is January 2022, they’re going to have a strong suspicion. 2) Backchannel reference checks (very warranted in this case) will likely confirm it. Activision Blizzard wouldn’t confirm anything other than start and end dates and any candidate-provided references are going to say go…

A lot of companies will also say if the former employee is eligible to be employed there again. A negative on that plus a January separation date won't look good for those folks.

> A lot of companies will also say if the former employee is eligible to be employed there again. A negative on that plus a January separation date won't look good for those folks.

I suppose that may mean something if you're playing detective with a former Blizzard employee's resume, but I'd be cautious in reading too much into "if the former employee is eligible to be employed there again" generally. I know of a company where HR policy is that all involuntary separations are ineligible for rehire, including things like downsizing layoffs.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#52

Post by sydthrowaway »

dehrmann wrote: post #45
framecowbird wrote: post #33

How did it get this bad?

Lots of people want to work in the video game industry, so they'll put up with low pay, long hours, and apparently sexual harassment for a really long time.

Except there’s an overlap in low level perf tuning in AAA game engines and improving cloud workloads. These folks could easily get a job at FAANG

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#53

Post by virtue3 »

chii wrote: post #25
tjpnz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deleted my Blizzard account when they censored and banned a Taiwanese e-sports competitor for speaking out on Hong Kong. It's a shame because I had been planning to give WoW classic a try. Edit: While the tournament was held in Taiwan, Blitzchung is actually a native of Hong Kong.

while i do understand the plight of HK's fight, it does make sense that a non-affiliated individual should not be able to make political statements on someone else's platform, unless with prior consent. The competitor should be free to make his case in his own platform(s), but not on a platform he doesn't own if the owners of that platform doesn't want to affiliate themselves with the political discourse.

That would violate freedom of speech. Which is the first amendment of the bill of rights of America. And blizzard being an American company this really irked a lot of us.

"The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. ... It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely."

Freedom of speech does not protect you from harming others directly (yelling "bomb" on an airplane is not protected). But the issue with HK and China is -entirely- what the first amendment is trying to protect (albeit usually this is usually to protect Americans to complain about America).

When Americans see an American company denying someone what we perceive as an unalienable right it becomes infuriating.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#55

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

fareesh wrote: post #39

I really wouldn't boycott anything over workplace culture. If their product is good I will buy it. In the case of Blizzard their products haven't been good for a long time. I'm ok with supporting a company that's evil. I am consuming petroleum, plastic, the news media, etc. all the time. Anyone who suggests otherwise comes across as somewhat delusional and a little self obsessed to me. Blizzard would be the least of…

There are both good and bad people at Blizzard. Like each of us, they are complex and complicated and nuanced. No one and no thing is pure evil or pure good.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#56

Post by seventhtiger »

fareesh wrote: post #39

I really wouldn't boycott anything over workplace culture. If their product is good I will buy it. In the case of Blizzard their products haven't been good for a long time. I'm ok with supporting a company that's evil. I am consuming petroleum, plastic, the news media, etc. all the time. Anyone who suggests otherwise comes across as somewhat delusional and a little self obsessed to me. Blizzard would be the least of…

Reminds me of when gamers voted EA as the worst company of the year.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#57

Post by johnhenry »

fareesh wrote: post #39

I really wouldn't boycott anything over workplace culture. If their product is good I will buy it. In the case of Blizzard their products haven't been good for a long time. I'm ok with supporting a company that's evil. I am consuming petroleum, plastic, the news media, etc. all the time. Anyone who suggests otherwise comes across as somewhat delusional and a little self obsessed to me. Blizzard would be the least of…

We can improve ourselves one step at a time.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#58

Post by throwaway894345 »

chii wrote: post #25
tjpnz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deleted my Blizzard account when they censored and banned a Taiwanese e-sports competitor for speaking out on Hong Kong. It's a shame because I had been planning to give WoW classic a try. Edit: While the tournament was held in Taiwan, Blitzchung is actually a native of Hong Kong.

while i do understand the plight of HK's fight, it does make sense that a non-affiliated individual should not be able to make political statements on someone else's platform, unless with prior consent. The competitor should be free to make his case in his own platform(s), but not on a platform he doesn't own if the owners of that platform doesn't want to affiliate themselves with the political discourse.

Exercising our rights to boycott their platform isn’t denying their right to lick commie boots. :p Seriously though, this whole “you criticized their speech, but they have a right to free speech” fallacy is really getting old.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#59

Post by seattle_spring »

virtue3 wrote: post #53
chii wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

while i do understand the plight of HK's fight, it does make sense that a non-affiliated individual should not be able to make political statements on someone else's platform, unless with prior consent. The competitor should be free to make his case in his own platform(s), but not on a platform he doesn't own if the owners of that platform doesn't want to affiliate themselves with the political discourse.

That would violate freedom of speech. Which is the first amendment of the bill of rights of America. And blizzard being an American company this really irked a lot of us. "The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. ... It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely."…

You're misunderstanding how the first amendment is applied. Freedom of speech means the government cannot limit what you can say. A private entity, such as Blizzard/Activision, has no such obligation.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#60

Post by VWWHFSfQ »

CheezeIt wrote: post #35
intunderflow wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if its the same in the USA, but in Europe there are massive legal liability issues to giving a negative reference - most places give no reference or a standard set of terms because of this

The U.S. Bill of Rights [1] protects giving negative references. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights

which one protects giving negative references
Post reply on HN