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This Week in Games - Burn It All Down


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Sailor Sedna





PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:30 pm Reply with quote
I never played any games from Blizzard and now that this happened, my desire to play any game from them has been destroyed (haven't gotten any new Activision ones neither). fudge Blizzard, fudge Activision and all evil corrupt corporate scumbags who abuse their employees and try to sweep it under the rug. If they go bankrupt, I'm not giving two shakes of a lamb's wool maggoty tail about it.
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rizuchan



Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 980
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 1:23 pm Reply with quote
I was of course shocked and appalled by some of the more serious accusations in that lawsuit, but, I also found myself shocked at how surprised and upset people were about the things like pay discrepancy, lack of advancement and networking opportunities, and male coworkers that are hostile, non-cooperative with, and/or take advantage of female coworkers.

Like... all of that stuff is completely normal tech industry stuff, in my experience. And I'm not saying that to be dismissive by any means. I'm glad that because it's the game industry, it's getting media attention. But these are just normal, every day things for women that work in male-dominated fields. Stop pretending this is just a problem with immature gamer bros or Silicon Valley start-ups. This is a problem everywhere, and it's not because women are hiding it, it's because no one is listening to us.
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Triltaison



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
Posts: 794
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 2:34 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for that Aquario interview! I've never heard of it before, and now I'm excited for its release. That style of action platformer and art style of the 90s is definitely my jam. Here's hoping it makes a Western release.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2342
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 2:55 pm Reply with quote
-Burn it all down: And salt the earth it stood upon. I'm not really sure what other words I could say that could properly convey my contempt for ActiBliz. This is just another example of how rotten Western AAA gaming has really become and how it refuses to fix its problems. And it also shows how long it's been going on; as noted in the file, one of the guys identified as a predator had been with Blizzard before the merger so this isn't just Bobby Kotick's influence, this had been going on at Blizzard long before his soulless, rictus-inflicted face came along. A lot of people who were formerly associated with Blizzard have been spilling tea. This has been endemic to the industry for years, decades even.

And it needs to stop. This can't go on, whether it's sexual harassment, racism, nonsensical crunch time, or undisciplined management, it's very clear that AAA game development can't keep going on like this. This isn't just a few pissed off employees filing a suit either, the Cali government is suing because Blizzard refused to address their problems. And considering the clear desperation in that press release, Blizzard knows they're in trouble. I have no illusions of this breaking them up, but quite frankly I would settle for making a few miserable good old boys sweat.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3822
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 3:35 pm Reply with quote
Triltaison wrote:
Thanks for that Aquario interview! I've never heard of it before, and now I'm excited for its release. That style of action platformer and art style of the 90s is definitely my jam.


Same here. I didn't know about this, but now kind of want to pick up the CE lol

Not having played the game though (and it could end up just being very short) I think I have to hold back. Maybe if the reviews are good and it's still in stock I'll reconsider. Otherwise there's always digital Smile

Quote:
Here's hoping it makes a Western release.


There is: https://clockworkaquario.iningames.com https://store.strictlylimitedgames.com/collections/clockwork-aquario
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AmpersandsUnited



Joined: 22 Mar 2012
Posts: 633
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:01 pm Reply with quote
Blizzard sure has been in a state of total freefall this past month. An awful 8.1 patch for WoW, players leaving for FF14 including tons of big streamers and content creators, and now this. I used to only play WoW Classic myself, but they pretty much ruined that with TBC changes. I would say it'd be no big loss if the company implodes at this point.
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Themaster20000



Joined: 05 Aug 2014
Posts: 871
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:21 pm Reply with quote
I thought Ubisoft was as bad as it could get. The whole bit of the male employees getting hammered and going cubicle to cubicle, harassing female co-workers made my skin crawl. Seems like every few months we have these horror stories coming out from these AAA studios. They don't care as long they hit their profit margins. As reported, Ubisoft hasn't made any major changes since the news broke last year.
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meruru



Joined: 16 Jun 2009
Posts: 475
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 7:07 pm Reply with quote
AmpersandsUnited wrote:
Blizzard sure has been in a state of total freefall this past month. An awful 8.1 patch for WoW, players leaving for FF14 including tons of big streamers and content creators, and now this. I used to only play WoW Classic myself, but they pretty much ruined that with TBC changes. I would say it'd be no big loss if the company implodes at this point.


Not to mention the Oct 2019 scandal with banning the one gamer from competition for saying "free Hong Kong," and the terrible Jan 2020 remake of Warcraft 3 missing the ladder system, among other complaints. Blizzard also made sure to remove the ladder system from the original version of Warcraft 3 too. So more like, a free falling year and a half at least.
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 28 Oct 2018
Posts: 642
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:37 pm Reply with quote
As they say in Harold and Kumar, "Pookie! Let's burn this mother****er down!". It's disgusting to hear about that crap coming from Blizzard, on top of how easily they got away with the Blitzchung crap from two years ago. I hope this sticks, not so people can lose their jobs--but so the execs at the top whose crap rolled downhill can be thrown out on their butts.

I want justice for the people who've been hurt.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar


Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 16963
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:41 pm Reply with quote
rizuchan wrote:
I was of course shocked and appalled by some of the more serious accusations in that lawsuit, but, I also found myself shocked at how surprised and upset people were about the things like pay discrepancy, lack of advancement and networking opportunities, and male coworkers that are hostile, non-cooperative with, and/or take advantage of female coworkers.

Like... all of that stuff is completely normal tech industry stuff, in my experience. And I'm not saying that to be dismissive by any means. I'm glad that because it's the game industry, it's getting media attention. But these are just normal, every day things for women that work in male-dominated fields. Stop pretending this is just a problem with immature gamer bros or Silicon Valley start-ups. This is a problem everywhere, and it's not because women are hiding it, it's because no one is listening to us.


My gf works in IT and has been a manager in various roles. I can attest first hand, via her, to that sort of treatment. Which is why she personally has "suggested" I never go to any company event/dinner/etc of hers. I'd not be able to keep my mouth shut and she'd like to keep her job.

I agree with the notion that it's nice people are paying attention, seemingly, to this news about Blizzard, but I also can't help but shake my head. How many reports like this does it take for people to take them seriously or believe this sort of shit happens daily? It's not as if it started overnight, or people haven't been complaining about it forever.
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Nate148



Joined: 24 May 2012
Posts: 509
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:05 pm Reply with quote
all this and we missed the olympics game music stuff so yay next week will start with another needed take down of DQ man
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thedarkemissary



Joined: 07 Apr 2010
Posts: 88
PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:29 am Reply with quote
Quote:
frat boy culture


I had assumed Activision was started in a frat house. Don't all these "frat boy culture" claims get aimed at companies that are made up of actual "frat boys" that make it big and successful? I ain't excusing the behavior, but how is any of this a surprise? And, isn't that how a frat house works, "Oh, we've always treated women like this and they just keep coming back." Well, yeah. They do, in fact, keep coming back. Weird.
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Triltaison



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
Posts: 794
PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:34 am Reply with quote
Covnam wrote:
Triltaison wrote:
Thanks for that Aquario interview! I've never heard of it before, and now I'm excited for its release. That style of action platformer and art style of the 90s is definitely my jam.


Same here. I didn't know about this, but now kind of want to pick up the CE lol

Not having played the game though (and it could end up just being very short) I think I have to hold back. Maybe if the reviews are good and it's still in stock I'll reconsider. Otherwise there's always digital Smile

Quote:
Here's hoping it makes a Western release.


There is: https://clockworkaquario.iningames.com https://store.strictlylimitedgames.com/collections/clockwork-aquario


Oo! Thanks for the heads up and link. That is a truly tempting CE. The whole project really seems to be a labor of love here, and I think I'll be picking up a copy after deciding which system to get it for.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2675
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:01 pm Reply with quote
thedarkemissary wrote:
Quote:
frat boy culture


I had assumed Activision was started in a frat house. Don't all these "frat boy culture" claims get aimed at companies that are made up of actual "frat boys" that make it big and successful? I ain't excusing the behavior, but how is any of this a surprise? And, isn't that how a frat house works, "Oh, we've always treated women like this and they just keep coming back." Well, yeah. They do, in fact, keep coming back. Weird.


Activision is literally the very first third-party video game company ever, formed in 1979 by Atari programmers who left the company after Atari refused to let their work be acknowledged by name. Namely, David Crane, Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead, & Larry Kaplan, all of which are generally considered really nice people.

That being said, that Activision effectively died in 1988, when it changed its name to Mediagenic & tried doing things outside of gaming. It wasn't until 1992 when Bobby Kotick became the CEO & changed everything back to Activision that it eventually became the company we now have, and I can totally believe that Bobby Kotick (who's still the CEO) was a "frat boy".
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14886
PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:22 pm Reply with quote
Much ado about nothing

Murder, She wrote:
Oopsies, looks like SNK un-privated this week's King of Fighters XV character reveal earlier than they should have! Or maybe they were trying to beat out the Guilty Gear Strive reveal. Who knows! But guess what, Tizoc's back in the ring!
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