Activision Blizzard employees walk out over harassment and ‘frat boy’ culture • Hacker News Board

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

#91

Post by discordance » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:42 AM UTC

dcow wrote: post #43

epicureanideal wrote: post #12

Is there a VC out there that can just throw a few tens of millions of dollars at these employees and literally just teleport them from Blizzard to NewBlizzard in the same roles in a new company with a culture they prefer? I'm actually surprised this isn't "a thing". If a large percentage of a well known, profitable company doesn't agree with a direction it's taking... why doesn't a VC or private equity just help fina…

I suspect it's also, in stark reality, not that many employees that would actually leave. Many people are willing to signal virtual. How many are actually willing to sacrifice? The article lists 3000 "current and former" employees. Let's assume 1000 are current and 20% are willing to leave. Blizzard losing 200/9500 of their workforce isn't that significant. Even if all 1000 would leave, that still is within bounds of…

That really depends which 200 left.

The right person will take 10 others.

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

#92

Post by alexanderdmitri » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:42 AM UTC

tehjoker wrote: post #40

elefanten wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sure as hell would accelerate the outsourcing of game development, which has rapidly growing capacity outside of the US & Western Europe. We're already very near the tipping point where non-Western studios will produce >50% of global industry revenue.

Capitalism is global so organizing must be as well. Workers must organize at their company, sectorally across the industry, and internationally with other workers so the capitalists have no where to run.

> so the capitalists have no where to run.

Curious what definition of capitalist you are using here.

Three common meanings according to the Oxford dictionary are:

1. a person who invests capital in business enterprises.

2. an advocate of capitalism.

3. a very wealthy person.

You can advocate capitalism and also support behavioral standards and worker rights in the workplace. It's not anti-capitalist to disagree with your employer's policies or culture, standing up for you and your fellow workers' bottom line can be capitalistic in of itself.

If there's a market for services to help individuals assert their rights and fight for better conditions, then investing in this market is as fundamentally capitalistic as investing in a market that services the opposite.

As a capitalist, you could even invest in both these markets at the same time. Check out this index fund:

https://www.invesco.com/us/financial-products/mutual-funds/q...

There's Altria (cigarettes) and Anthem (health insurance). Tesla (EVs) and Exxon (gasoline/petroleum). Even Activision (corporation of topic) and Stryker (actually no idea what this company does, so assuming they fund and profit off worker strykes). The thing about capitalism is that it doesn't run from conflict or mobs or regulation, it profits off the needs and desires these things create.

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

#93

Post by zdragnar » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:43 AM UTC

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.

My first thought was that can't be right, but the only noteworthy thing was overwatch in 2016.

I don't have high hopes for Diablo 4, though I'll probably end up buying it anyway...

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

#94

Post by matheusmoreira » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:49 AM UTC

ecshafer wrote: post #51

fhjkkkg wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this isn’t parody, and I am guessing it’s not, then it’s still a perfect depiction of what changed in the American left in the 1960s. Politics became more about changing the orientation of one’s mind than the orientation of one’s society. Walkouts are worthless.

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.

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

#95

Post by zdragnar » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:50 AM UTC

tehjoker wrote: post #59

oijasfpoi wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever dealt with an actual union in the US? The ones I've dealt with are incredibly sexist and racist. They work to protect harassers, and they prevent employees from taking their employers to court.

Have you ever dealt with an actual company in the US? The ones I've dealt with are incredibly sexist and racist. They work to protect harassers and they prevent employees from taking their employers to court. EDIT: To elaborate, if you are in a bind, you have usually four places to turn. The employer, the state, your coworkers and other workers in a union, and the people generally (via the media, protests, etc). Your…

Turn to any of those places while hoping to keep your job will make your life a living hell.

Speaking out against a company while not unionized means you'll have your coworkers sympathy, if nothing else. Do the same against a union in the US and you can forget having even that.

Closed shop, one-union-per-company is surely the worst of both worlds. You end up with two managerial classes that you have no power against.

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

#96

Post by elefanten » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:57 AM UTC

jwilber wrote: post #41

elefanten wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GP, while phrased a bit stridently, isn't totally off base here. Arguably, Blizzard led the charge in proliferating RPG systems into virtually all other genres and they proved the popular power of "grind" based systems. The original RTS games (Warcraft 1-3, Starcraft 1) did not really contain these systems. But virtually everything else Blizzard has produced (including Starcraft 2) has grinding & collecting in it. As…

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.

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

#97

Post by poisonarena » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:59 AM UTC

goldenManatee wrote: post #67

poisonarena wrote: post #44

From the article: "Just 20% of Activision Blizzard’s 9,500 employees are women, and leadership at the company, one of the largest video game makers in the world, is largely white and male." I am 36 years old, white male. I imagine alot of the employees there are within my age range give or take 5-10 years. For me it just makes sense. in the late 90s and early 2000s if you asked me, an obsessed computer gaming white g…

You identify with dev and gamer culture and feel that it reciprocates a sense of belonging. Therefore you have no reason to protest; all your interests align and not protesting is the path of least expended energy. The people complaining do so because they too identify with a culture of devs and/or gamers, however they feel there is an overwhelming majority that identifies its members who are alike and yet does not a…

I totally agree with you, at least the first part. I think female gamers on the EQ servers were actually treated better than the male gamers and were often 'twinked'(maybe they weren't really females).. I dont think there is anything wrong with a bunch of middle aged white men doing what they want, making a game they wanted to play when they were younger. If these 'others' (who I think are included in gaming/gamedev circles actually),are so unhappy with the state of affairs, why wont they make their own franchise. I would not be angry if a bunch of Japanese women made their own MMORPG for THEM. I think there is nothing wrong with that. What is stopping anyone from creating their own games, their own mmorpgs, their own franchises? The tools and resources are there and ready. Why shit on others work?

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

#98

Post by txdv » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 4:01 AM UTC

shadowgovt wrote: post #52

breck wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we had Freedom of Ideas, then yes, you could pull this off. But we don't have that. We have copyrights and patents. Those with capital have a lot more freedom with ideas. Those without, don't. If we abolish copyright and patent laws ( https://www.reddit.com/r/ifa ), then workers will have a lot more power.

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

they have trade marks like skeleton king, even other big companies like valve bow down to blizzard

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

#99

Post by __turbobrew__ » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 4:02 AM UTC

epicureanideal wrote: post #12

Is there a VC out there that can just throw a few tens of millions of dollars at these employees and literally just teleport them from Blizzard to NewBlizzard in the same roles in a new company with a culture they prefer? I'm actually surprised this isn't "a thing". If a large percentage of a well known, profitable company doesn't agree with a direction it's taking... why doesn't a VC or private equity just help fina…

look up Frost Giant

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

#100

Post by Jcowell » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 4:04 AM UTC

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.

They are absolutely a service company since game nowadays are live service content (I.e fortnight). In Activision’s Case, numerous of their games rely on new content being worked on for seasonal releases , bug fixes , reports etc. Time not being spent working on such causes delays which of course cost money.