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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

#511

Post by belorn »

cletus wrote: 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 find it greatly insightful that when the Swedish government studied gender segregation in the education system, the most common reason men left the profession was "culture fit". It highlight how culture fit is not specific to one industry or one gender, but rather as an universal aspect and likely major root cause in gender segregating behavior.

The issue goes much further than simply "we like you". How safe one feel in ones choices and decision is heavily influenced by choices of peers. If other Stanford grads work at the same place I do, then how bad can the decision to stay be? Similar, if every Stanford grads left, then is the decision to stay still safe or am I missing something.

The relation between culture fit and the probability that someone will commit a crime (like sexual harassment) seems less direct but I suspect there are an connection there. At a society level we know that mixing demographics will reduce trust, and with reduced trust we see an increase in crime.

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

#512

Post by yarg »

scotuswroteus wrote: post #479
yarg wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She'd dress up for christmas and halloween, nothing that bad. Other than that she sat in the corner (nearish the pool table) being inoffensive. The second edge: there is the risk that healthy aspects of a prevailing culture will be eroded for the sake of an overly vocal regressive minority.

OR some of these squabbles over lifestyle preferences should not be contested in an office space because people should not be living out their personal lives through office decorations or in anyway identifying with the office in such a way that the hefty and meaningful word "culture" implies. Everyone should have ample personal space and personal time and lives of their own. You shouldn't remember whether the office…

No it's not; it's a moment of shared levity - a respite against the uniform tedium of repeated daily drudge.

It's a hint of humanity in the belly of the beast that eats our daily lives.

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

#513

Post by ev1 »

somehnacct3757 wrote: post #435
0x500x79 wrote: post #13

This seems to largely match a lot of the same things that happened with Riot Games over the last couple of years. I am hoping that these actions can help spread awareness of any issues that may be present at Blizzard and past, current, and future employees won't face the same issues. It is a long road to be traveled to get there. I hope that the current WFH situation doesn't detract from the walkout. A lot of the vis…

The industry is broken. Self-identifying gamers are one of the most toxic online communities long preyed on by groups like pick-up artists and men's rights activists. The games targeting this group of self-identifying gamers have overindexed on machismo for decades. Every problem can be solved with violence and the reward is fame, money, and women. Why is there Overwatch porn and not Candy Crush porn? For marketers t…

As a counterpoint to this, Among Us and Roblox porn exists and is quite heavily viewed.

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

#514

Post by borodi »

tolbish wrote: post #484
borodi wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Atleast inside the mmo community streamers are very relevant. On the start of july a famous streamer started playing FFXIV and look at google trends https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=%2Fm%2F064ln09

Are people within the streaming community considered "average gamers"? Would the average gamer even care anout streamers?

Whether we like or not, streamers are very influential to the gaming community, all of the games that blew up in the pandemic (among us, fall guys...) Blew up because of streaming.

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

#515

Post by greycol »

dougmwne wrote: post #469
Cosmin_C wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of a practice a recruiter used to boast when I applied for a job - throwing half the applications in the shredder without even reading them because they didn’t want to work with “unlucky people”. Albeit I was mildly curious about what mental gymnastics the person did to end up with such a frivolous way of not doing his job, I never left a building quicker ever since.

This is an old hiring manager joke that's been around for enough decades that someone was sure to try it.

Yeah, with the additional punchline that "the lucky ones were the half that got shredded as they didn't need to deal with the hiring manager."

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

#516

Post by pseudo0 »

nineplay wrote: post #485
dougmwne wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is a much more valid reason if people were being absolutely honest. Powerful and privileged people have spent generations spilling blood and other less violent measures to get on top and stay on top. Being on top only happens through threat of force and excercise of power. The people at the bottom will replace the people at the top if presented with the opportunity. Even if most people are content to li…

You make very good points - sometimes the best discussions are well down in the comments. Currently, while men hold the majority of the economic and political power in the US. From a purely Machiavellian viewpoint, why should they hire anyone besides other white men? They only stand to lose if business and politics become more egalitarian. What's changed in the past century or so is that it can no longer appear blata…

It seems more like a prisoner's dilemma situation, where hiring from an in-group only works if you trust other members of the in-group enough to return the favor. Otherwise they could "betray", hiring a better candidate from outside the group who will perform better in the role. The person betraying would get both a better employee and the social kudos of having a diverse hiring record. I'd expect the trust strategy is a lot more common among fraternities, religious groups, diaspora communities, etc where community bonds are much stronger.

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

#517

Post by [deleted] »

rdaystrom wrote: post #411
yarg wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Culture fit doesn't have to stretch that far - it does not need to be pervasive and it does not need to be toxic. We had a guy from Gaza in our office - he complained about informal emails sent to invite people for drinks because it was sinful, he complained about a manikin that got dressed up at special occasions because it was immodest. I don't know what lines to draw here - but be careful when playing with double-…

Aren't all swords double-edged? I would think that a single-edged sword would simply be a knife. Or an axe.

[deleted]

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

#518

Post by greycol »

eloff wrote: post #356
cletus wrote: 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.…

> Oh and whoever wrote and sent out that statement about how the state was pursuing this was why so many businesses are leaving California needs to be fired. It was so utterly tone deaf and irrelevant. It is tone deaf and irrelevant, but they should not lose their job over that. Let the person who has never held a poor opinion throw the first stone.

If I was a PR person and I had the choice of not doing my job and agreeing with toxic boss that "California is forcing businesses out by not ignoring my type of toxic behaviour, put that in!" or being bullied and possibly fired for raising the point that they are maybe not 100% right...

Not that this is what happened, still bad bosses reap bad behaviour.

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

#519

Post by 0x500x79 »

ttyS1 wrote: post #482
0x500x79 wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Roblox is as big based on revenue, Unity has a very different development model, but the others seem a lot smaller than Riot/Activision-Blizzard. My point about the C-Levels is that it is primarily 1 C-level who is being spoken about: The COO. While there was an allegation against the CEO earlier this year, it was found to be unsubstantiated and thrown out because the claimant was proved to have stolen money/…

I can't find anything about "thrown out because the claimant was proved to have stolen money/scammed Riot and falsified the claim"; the closest was Wired in March ('The three-person special committee, a part of Riot’s board of directors, is made up of Youngme Moon, a professor at Harvard Business School and the only publicly-named member of Riot Games’s board. She is joined by two male C-Level executives at the Chine…

It is in the court filings, they are spread out and hard to find sometimes. In particular there is a link https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/13558/riot-games-ceo-fi... which outlines evidence of witness tampering, and other actions of the plaintiff. I believe some of the other filings have more information.

I honestly don't know, but I do think there is something with Riot/Blizzard culture that might make this type of behavior "normalized?". I guess my questions are more surrounding DFEH and tech in general. I don't know if Riot/Blizzard are the worst companies in the state, or are they?

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

#520

Post by sangnoir »

munk-a wrote: post #442
sangnoir wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He should have insinuated being a recovered alcoholic instead, that works for me when I feel I'm being unduly pressured. As someone who doesn't care for drinks, the quickest way to shut-down all that drinks-are-vital-to-our-culture talk is to declare that I used to have a problem with the drink, but I'm sober now, and watch them stammer something about the event being optional.

Honestly - some people just don't like the feeling (me) and some other people (south east asians in particular) are allergic and overly sensitive to booze. There are really, really easy ways to talk yourself out of drinking situations.

> There are really, really easy ways to talk yourself out of drinking situations.

Absolutely, but in my experience no other reason shuts down attempts at negotiating/cajoling/follow up questions/suggestions to "just show up and grab a soda" faster than pleading the alcoholism. It appears AA gets more unquestioning deference compared to any other personal/health/religious reasons

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