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Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

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Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> is the DFEH out of line, or is the industry just that broken? No chance DEFH is out of line. The tech industry is strongly biased in the favor of white men in my opinion and video games even more so, considering women playing video games only became socially acceptable a few years ago. It's still common for men to talk down to women on video games, to the point where the overwhelming majority of women do not use vo…

> considering women playing video games only became socially acceptable a few years ago. ... In Saudi Arabia? > It's still common for men to talk down to women on video games, to the point where the overwhelming majority of women do not use voice comms or make their gender known. It's common for men to talk down to men on video games too ("talk down to" is a very mild phrasing). Turns out there are a lot of jerks who…

> ... In Saudi Arabia?

Funny you mention this: https://www.esportsinsider.com/2020/07/lec-neom-saudi-arabia...

Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#262
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are literally too many to name, but this one comes to mind[1]. [1] - https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/horizon-forbidden-west-aloy... EDIT: 4 responses within minutes of each other all pointing to a different game just underlines my "too many to name" comment.

Here are a few more... Battlefield: https://www.salon.com/2018/05/26/women-in-wwii-game-once-aga... Rust: https://www.vice.com/en/article/d7y7jj/this-game-is-forcing-... Outriders: https://www.reddit.com/r/outriders/comments/lyzmz3/srsly_so_... Horizon Zero Dawn: https://twitter.com/apexalphaj/status/1398826689992482819 Total War Rome 2: https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/total-war-rome-ii-female-cha... The Last Of Us P…

ITYM Horizon: Forbidden West. They changed Aloy's face to make it less attractive and feminine since the first game, perhaps to check some "anti-sexualization" checkbox on some designer's list. No one had a problem with her appearance in the first game, but the sudden Seth Rogenization of her face was offputting, like an actor getting plastic surgery and looking not only worse, but very not like themself.

Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still not prestigious. Joe Average envies Bill Gates. Joe Average does not envy MS programmer #7413 who does device driver maintenance.

Not entirely true, the "tax them to death" crowd in SF are very envious of "Tech Workers" who are largely programmers.

If they could create value, they would. But instead they whine.

Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#264
post #233

If you haven't read the state of California's claims here you should. It's the result of a two year investigation and the claims are.. shocking. I want to make a point about "culture fit". "Culture fit" in a company typically comes down to "we like you" and the reason why people like other people is that they are like them. Similar age, background, whatever. It's why Stanford grads probably like other Stanford grads.…

Bobby Kotick is worth $600 million according to a brief Google search. That's enough fuck you money I'm surprised he hasn't just retired yet. Of course, when you can convince the board to pay you $155 million more, that's a good incentive to keep working I guess. Especially since work at that level is probably just a handful of meetings in a boardroom and a few more on the golf course per year (I don't mean CEOs in g…

Anyone with a net worth over about 100m (and many a fir chunk lower) isn't working for money anymore. He hasn't retired to enjoy his wealth is imo because the jobs selection bias excludes the sorts of people who would do that

Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#265
post #233

If you haven't read the state of California's claims here you should. It's the result of a two year investigation and the claims are.. shocking. I want to make a point about "culture fit". "Culture fit" in a company typically comes down to "we like you" and the reason why people like other people is that they are like them. Similar age, background, whatever. It's why Stanford grads probably like other Stanford grads.…

I want to make a point about "culture fit". "Culture fit" in a company typically comes down to "we like you" and the reason why people like other people is that they are like them. Similar age, background, whatever.

There are plenty of people who like each other that have nothing in common. The idea that the reason people like people is because they are like them just feels ridiculous to me, but maybe I am an outlier. Personally, the more someone is like me, the less I like them.

But the bigger, weirder argument you seem to be making is that you shouldn't hire people that you like. I would say life is too short to be spending it around people you don't like, if you can help it.

I say that it is very possible to hire only people you like, and still end up with a diverse workplace free from abuse. You just need to start with good leaders.

Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My point is that there is any controversy when there is a game where the female main character is not explicitly sexualized Samus Aran?

Your reward for beating Metroid faster is Samus wearing progressively less clothing at the end.

[deleted]

Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> considering women playing video games only became socially acceptable a few years ago. ... In Saudi Arabia? > It's still common for men to talk down to women on video games, to the point where the overwhelming majority of women do not use voice comms or make their gender known. It's common for men to talk down to men on video games too ("talk down to" is a very mild phrasing). Turns out there are a lot of jerks who…

> 'm not sure which game you're talking about, but I suspect you misunderstand the criticism. There have been thousands of female video game characters going back to the dawn of the industry. Many titles which prominently feature female characters have done very well (e.g.., Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, etc). I'm guessing there has never been significant controversy because a video game featured a female character, th…

> I agree thought that my original post was poorly worded and not specific enough about my perceived reception of female characters in video games. I was trying to incorporate "female main character" and "unattractive female characters" into one point and failed.

Fair enough, thanks for acknowledging as much. :)

> You are absolutely right that there are beloved female main characters, but they are almost always shown and viewed in a sexualized manner rather than as a human being. And yes, there are definitely 'sexualized' men (God of War) but they never seem to be explicitly in there as sexual objects rather than as part of the story. Like, if you took Lara Croft out and replaced her with a red square, would that game be regarded as the same? Probably not.

Even still, Lara Croft seems like every bit as much a "human being" as the average male main character? And I don't buy your "red square" example--it's not like you could replace any of the ripped shirtless dudes in various video games with a red square and have the same experience either.

I actually believe that female characters are probably sexualized a bit more often than male characters, and male characters are regarded as objects of violence quite a lot more than female characters. But if there is a loser here, it's not obvious to me that it's the female gender.

Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#268

Appeal to public opinion is generally a great idea but there is a risk. Activision gets no sympathy from me, but I also don't think the answer will come from the masses. I'm not sure that most gamers really care about sexism in the gaming industry. Video games are synthetic, we don't really see the people behind them. At least in movies we see the actors. If push comes to shove, I think most gamers will still be lini…

Where they'll feel it the most is in hiring. Everyone in the industry is watching and if they don't fix their house, it will be very hard for them to hire and retain the engineers and designers who build and run their games.

They’ve already been struggling with this too because everyone knows they pay like shit and work people to death

Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#269

Appeal to public opinion is generally a great idea but there is a risk. Activision gets no sympathy from me, but I also don't think the answer will come from the masses. I'm not sure that most gamers really care about sexism in the gaming industry. Video games are synthetic, we don't really see the people behind them. At least in movies we see the actors. If push comes to shove, I think most gamers will still be lini…

The thing is, your "average gamer" won't know or care about any of this. I work in the industry and according to our own stats the "average gamer" is a 20-30 year old, owns a console, and buys exactly three games every year - fifa, CoD, and one other title that got the most advertising that year. I used to live with such guys at uni, had them as flatmates - you wouldn't catch them dead talking about video games, "ner…

>> fifa, CoD, and one other title that got the most advertising that year.

Then I am very out of touch with the average having never bought any of those games, nor do I own a console. My recent purchases would be the Valve index and subnautica. The only "AAA" title in my steam library is ES:Oblivion. I'm probably not Blizzard's target market, but I am also not a broke kid. Give me a game I want to play and I will pay for it.

Re: Video game developers at Activision Blizzard say they'll walk out Wednesday

#270

Last I heard, Blizzard was hemorrhaging WoW users as well. Not a great run for them over the past couple years, with the terrible Warcraft III remaster as well.

Hasn't WoW been "hemorrhaging" users since the days of Wrath 11–13 years ago?
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