Activision Blizzard, the game giant best known for its blockbuster Call of Duty and World of Warcraft games, is in turmoil amid accusations of a “frat boy” company culture rife with sexism and sexual harassment. More than 1500 workers at the company walked out earlier this week, angered by company management’s belligerent response to the accusations, detailed in a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
You can read more of the sordid details here or here; click here to learn about the company’s notorious Bill “Cosby Suite,” which is pretty much as disgusting as you might expect.
After sorting through the voluminous media coverage of the mess, I found myself wondering what the self-declared ethicists of the movement once known as GamerGate had to say on the subject. So I went to the KotokiInAction subreddit, the favorite online hangout of the GamerGate dead enders. Here’s some of what I found.
A commenter called RedditIsTraitorous was, lets say, skeptical of the reports of sexual harassment:
oh boohoo, some of the radfem gamer grrlz at blizzard could only fuck their way to lower middle management, and had to pick from only the soyest, meh of “men” available since everyone with a fucking shred of T left long ago.
cope harder bitches. the entire company is a dumpsterfire of franchise corpses and fucked up dye jobs. Kick the entire thing off a cliff and find better games from more stable devs imho
Personal_Cicada886, meanwhile, is skeptical of anything that comes from a woman’s mouth:
it’s feminist whining about nothing. I categorically refuse to believe women. I don’t get weak in the knees and start tipping fedora to m’ladies every time some bint files a frivolous lawsuit
ironwolf56 declared himself skeptical of the entire west coast. (Activision Blizzard is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.)
When I lived on the West Coast I learned that they virtue signal so hard over there because so many of them are soulless scumbags in ways that it matters. It’s like the Secular Humanism version of medieval Catholic indulgences.
FarRightTopKeks suggested the real problem stemmed from hiring any women at all.
As usual this just sounds like people who never really belonged there trying to make it their space rather than going somewhere else.
Can’t imagine why it used to be so common for office jobs to avoid hiring women
Safebrowse offered a similar, er, analysis:
Men aren’t allowed to have their own space anymore and when women forcefully enter it, they cry when some of the men do retarded things. I don’t think anyone should be harassed really ever, but a lot of these old Blizzard employees are male Gen Xers who grew up getting absolutely shit on by people for liking video games. Now that it’s safe and mainstream to like them, everyone wants a piece of that pie. I am in no way condoning the harassment, but people need to realize that these women entered a space where there’s a lot of socially inept men and then wonder why they’re being harassed.
I see. He’s not condoning the abuse but the women brought it on themselves.
Dnile1000BC, like many of his colleagues in the subreddit, seems to think that the real problem isn’t that Activision Blizzard has a “frat boy culture” but rather that it was too “woke” to begin with.
Virtue signalling woke Blizzard turns out to be a real slimeball. Just like male feminists, who would have guess it?!
YetAnotherCommenter also took umbrage at the mention of “frat boy culture.”
Calling things “frat boy culture” is an attempt to blame masculinity (or a particular version of masculinity/male culture) for the problem.
But Harvey Weinstein wasn’t all men. Nor was he particularly macho. He opportunistically exploited the power he had in Hollywood.
Its much easier – and more politically correct – to blame “toxic masculinity” (however defined) rather than to look at a complicated situation of perverse institutional incentives, a culture of entities seeking to perpetuate themselves and their own prestige and wealth, and how such cultures can facilitate the behaviors of opportunistic predators.
Some thought that the lawsuit was actually just part of a vast, if somewhat nebulous, conspiracy against Activision Blizzard.
Klaus73 spelled out his dumb theory:
This is about infiltrating blizzard – read the wow [World of Warcraft] forums where there are calls to replace the leadership – which likely had zero fucks to give about this and even less authority until this had went to court. …
Now the goal is to drag blizzard in the public stocks – to force social pressures to get rid of people in positions of authority so they can be replaced with “the right people” – which will then be used to REALLY push the social agenda.
Klaus explained further in a followup comment:
Its all a effort to put the right people into a very successful and established gaming company.
I got no love for blizzard for many years – but this is all about putting the cult inside of a very successful economic engine that Cali government can count on.
Heck just read what people are saying – its clear the goal is to take it over with the woke-sjw cultists as a good pet for the Cali gov.
Go home, GamerGaters, you’re drunk.
Kinda OT, but I wasn’t sure of a better place to put this.
It seems the TERF/”gender critical” crowd has decided that Terry Pratchett would be on their side. There has been a mighty outcry from the Pterry fans who have read Equal Rites, Feet of Clay, Monstrous Regiment, and Going Postal, among other books. But two voices are especially worth listening to. Pterry’s daughter Rhianna:
https://twitter.com/rhipratchett/status/1421250250019426305
And oh yeah, the official Terry Pratchett Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/1421460295604637700
Somehow the TERFs are still shocked that Pratchett wouldn’t be One of Them.
I’m cis, so I don’t want to try and speak for any transfolk who have something to say about Pratchett. I will say that I thought he did a great job writing characters who did not always present according to a culture’s rules about gender, including some of my favorites, and for that reason alone the TERFs should stop trying to drag him into their circle.
GNU Sir Terence David John Pratchett
@Victorious Parasol: Especially the character Cheery Littlebottom comes to mind. She defies the dwarven standard of beard and helmets by combining them with pursuits deemed more feminine.
Also, I recall one book having a very sympathetic take on Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. The Last Continent, I believe. I don’t know if I’d always say his takes are accurate, but they definitely come from a place of empathy and acceptance.
This passafe from Feet of Clay is relevant:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E7k6jUrWYAkgL7f?format=png&name=small
@Battering Lamb
Cheery, and Pepe from Unseen Academicals (a pretty genderfluid character, as I recall) and most of the cast of Monstrous Regiment, and Gladys from Going Postal (a book which features another character who polices restrooms) and and and and and.
Or take Lady Sybil, who is cis female but doesn’t fit a lot of “lady” stereotypes but eventually found true love with Vimes and sisterhood with the other dragon breeders.
I was briefly popular once, for like a week, because a couple of the kids in my math class found a copy of Dungeon Master installed on one of the computers and I knew how to make potions. But then after I copied my list of potions for them they stopped talking to me again. Because I was weird. I was bullied over everything about myself but video games wasn’t one of them even though it was one of my main escapes and I was obsessed with them.
Oh and the cool kids hung out at the arcade. In fact, the arcade crowd was kind of hostile to nerds.
I’m Gen X. This obviously varies a lot from one group of students to another.
@Vicki
I endorse this comment from the Twitter thread:
@Victorious Parasol
I seem to recall, in response to someone asking about Pepe, that the response to questions of their gender was “Pepe is Pepe”. So yeah…and this is being said by an openly female dwarf to boot, which was still…somewhat scandalous but not nearly as much as before.
Off Topic, but I just want to say thank you to all you people on here. I’m having a hard time with all the new announcements about the Delta variant basically ignoring vaccinations and realizing there is probably going to be another year of me hiding from the world while most everyone else I know flips masks the bird and does whatever the hell they want.
I have been a shut-in my whole life and started to open up and seek out friends, look for a girlfriend, etc, literally a couple of months before word of some virus in China started floating around. I know it is incredibly self-centered of me to say this, but to have spent my entire life in lonely depression just to have the door slammed in my face as soon as I try to change things… well, as I said, I’ve been having a hard time.
Long story short, I appreciate coming here to this little website and finding people who give a damn about Covid, the world, the people in it, etc. I feel very alone and you help. Thank you David for running this place. Thank you everyone for being part of it. You all are awesome. Hell, even the trolls are entertaining sometimes. A shout out to them too.
@.45
For what it’s worth, I don’t believe that’s self-centered. Or if it is I don’t care and I’m guilty too. I feel the exact same – and I also had a major breakthrough only a few months before life stopped… and then back to the old normal. Just because you’ve been isolating WAY longer than the rest of the world doesn’t mean you can “just handle it”. And yeah, it feels incredibly unfair, especially when people who’ve only been at it since last year keep whining about haircuts or whatever. Especially when you can’t even say what you had planned, that got interrupted. Especially when the strength you have is fleeting and could leave you at any moment. And especially when you can’t help but feel like it’s your fault, like you wasted your time while you had it. Take a wild guess at whether that’s actually true (it’s not).
I had another breakthrough last week, at the end of an absolute meltdown caused by miscommunication between docs which led to a bad interaction between meds… it was very ugly. And then it wasn’t. I wasn’t around here commenting at the time, been hiding for a while now, but it’s this community that saved me, and that’s why I’m back in the open now ! And soon, hopefully, back out into the world.
Please hold on to that strength you found until the time comes. It will come and the only thing that matters is whether you’re ready when it does. And if you are, the next pandemic won’t stop you.
@All
I wanna echo .45’s thanks. Y’all are the best.
What does this even mean?
That’s not what I was saying at all. Not even remotely. In all the years I’ve been commenting here, when I have ever expressed the opinion that if someone is bullied or abused it’s their own fault? You seem determined to take what I’m saying as uncharitably as possible for some reason.
Kids who are a little awkward or weird or whatever get picked on for that reason. Bullies will find any excuse to mock them, and I’m sure video games can be one of them, but I got picked on for wearing for wearing a tee shirt dress once. I’m not out saying that people who wore tee shirt dresses are a marginalized class and that it’s now my right to bully others who are wearing a tee shirt dress but not to my satisfaction. And that is my point. There’s no systemic issue of kids getting picked on for playing video games, which have mainstream forever. It’s a fiction gamergaters invented to excuse their behavior. They’re trying to equate being a gamer with actually marginalized groups and it’s bullshit. And you know it.
OT, but why are case counts in Ontario creeping upward again? Over 60% of the population fully vaccinated now. It shouldn’t be able to spread easily with 3 in 5 people it encounters being immune.
@Surplus
I don’t think the delta variant cares about the vaccine.
@ Sinkable John
“Especially when you can’t even say what you had planned”
Actually I can. I was going out, socializing, talking to people, trying new things… I was having fun. I was running into some hurdles, but I was improving and enjoying the process. This wasn’t theoretical, I was doing it.
@ Surplus
Yes, but you are assuming that people are randomly distributed in any given encounter. One could readily theorize that the vaccinated are more likely to be avoiding encounters, as they already cared enough to get the vaccine, leaving the careless unvaccinated to happily spread things.
I got made fun of for playing video games, but that’s because I have TERRIBLE hand-eye coordination and have sucked at all of them from Pong till now. But at least it means my money doesn’t go directly to companies like this, because I know my limitations and don’t play them.
@.45: Yeah, the careful people are staying home or at least restricting their outside exposure again, still, more.
Meanwhile the yahoos are all running around maskless and unvaccinated and breathing on each other in large groups. Plus the vaccines keep people from getting sick or dead, but it looks like Delta can be spread by anyone. It laughs at our puny vaccines. So the unmasked/unvaxed are still picking it up and making the numbers go up again. Even those who had it, say, last year, can be getting it again.
In the Before Times, I spent most of the time hanging around the house, so I thought it’d be NBD. But, damn, nearly 18 months of this is tiring. Before, I’d at least go to restaurants, movies, hang out with friends at restaurants or parties, or pop out for some recreational shopping.
I guess it’s good I had 2 restaurant excursions last month. I think we’re going to go to a movie mid-week, mid-day, sit by ourselves, wear masks and coat ourselves in hand sanitizer next week if the theaters are still open.
@Full Metal Ox: I was so disappointed with Harlock’s English dub voice. Nowhere near as cool as the original Japanese guy; I first saw it subbed, yay.
@Surplus
The new Delta variant seems to be able to evade the tactics of cells the vaccine creates. Plus it looks like at least the Pfizer vaccine will need a booster after about 6 months. Turns out that the vaccine wasn’t the silver bullet we were hoping it would be. Which makes sense seeing as this is a strain of the Coronavirus, which is usually is one of the viruses associated with the common cold. A rapidly mutating virus like this is going to be very difficult, if not impossible to completely pin down. It’s completely possible that this is going to be the new normal, or it will at least take the rest of this year to pin down.
Re: Bullying over gaming…
Technically speaking I qualify as Millennial apparently. As such being bullied for being into video games, even being known as a gamer, wasn’t really that much of a thing. Almost everyone was into gaming to some extent in my sphere growing up. Anyone who would pick on someone for gaming, would pretty much be immediately shunned as a pariah. With taunts like “oh you too poor to play video games?” or “don’t your parents love you enough to get you games?” Which in retrospect was pretty toxic. I always did my best to hold out the olive branch to those who were would be bullies, unless they proved themselves completely irredeemable in their behavior.
What was a lot more common was the SEGA vs Nintendo and eventually the SEGA vs Nintendo vs SONY rivalry. Considering I consistently had an up-to-date PC at the time, along with all of the relevant consoles, put me in a weird space. Since it resulted in me playing Devil’s advocate on the pros and cons of every system. I was pretty privileged in that regard, because my uncles on my dad’s side and my dad were techies. As a result I had more hardware for games than basically anyone I ever knew. Obscure computers, old consoles, discontinued handhelds, the stuff that was considered cool I pretty much had all of it. Which combined with having learned the ins and outs of being a computer technician from dad, basically put me in the “geek” category. Which resulted in my being frequently enlisted by peers to help them with hardware woes. People seen as nerds on the other hand, they were the book smart types. So they were often approached to help others who were facing academic woes. I think part of that is because most teachers only taught out of the book and with stuff like GOALS 2000 didn’t have time to help those lagging behind. Being halfu and visibly Asian looking, I was often approached to help classmates and their friends grasp math and science.
When it came to bullying in regards to games, it was more a case of stigmatization for what you didn’t have. I think the best example would be kids who didn’t have the current generation of Pokemon games at the time. Even then, it was more, or less just being ignored and brushed off for not being with the times.
I think I must have been exceptionally lucky though. I was known to be trans at the time and that’s what the bullies attempted to target me for. It’s just that the bullies were basically the most hated group in the schools I went to. Being mean for social points, trying to brute force their way into the more popular social groups, and such… They were total pariahs.I was mostly a part of the weirdo/outcast group, comprised mostly of kids who weren’t trendy. We still got along with like the jocks and preppy kids. Didn’t mix much, but we weren’t actively targeted. I even helped reform a few of the bullies, by bringing them into our group. It’s amazing how much the philosophy of “don’t be a jerk” mattered in my peer group. Since outside of the bullies and the really snobby fashionista girls(another relatively excluded group), the worst you’d see was lighthearted teasing. If someone’s feelings were really hurt though, you’d usually see an apology. Those who stuck to an example of being overly mean would see their social status drop.
The worst place for bullying was my summer sessions in Japan. Where if you didn’t conform to the class entirely… Your life would be hell. My natural auburn red hair was paradoxically a means of intense bullying and attempts at befriending for status chasing. Which felt gross.
All said and done. I think in situations like these are very variable based on region and age range. At least in my age range video games were something everyone could get together on and bond over.
@surplus
Right now you U.S military is using my husband and other troops a lab rats to see what exposing people to delta variant after they have been vaccinated will do to them. Because the delta one doesn’t care about the vaccine.
I have no idea if manga was popular in Quebec before it took off in English North America. But a lot of anime got played on the French network of the CBC from the ’70s on. That was how I got exposed to it in Saskatoon in the late ’70s, because when you only have 3 TV channels you watch stuff on all of them.
@Natsume:
The worst place for bullying was my summer sessions in Japan. Where if you didn’t conform to the class entirely… Your life would be hell. My natural auburn red hair was paradoxically a means of intense bullying and attempts at befriending for status chasing. Which felt gross.
As far as the status-chasing went, let me guess: “exotic” is something you’ve gotten from both sides?
@Victorious Parasol: I haven’t read monstrous regiment yet (I read them in order of publication). But yes, there are a lot of characters who buck social norms and it is glorious. Even Nobby, of all people, coming out of a crossdressing experience with a newfound respect for women. Which is quite at odds with how TERFS view crossdressing.
@WWTH, it HAS been ages it seems, a whole trash fire presidency pretty much! Ever so glad you’re still here along with a lot of the gang! Everything seems like it’s mostly back on the rails at this point, so glad to be back <3 I hope the trolls have been entertaining in my absence.
@.45, I really feel the same anxieties as you do. This pandemic has been terible, not for the disease itself (though yes that’s awful) as for the way it revealed how many selfish, short-sighted, mean people there are out there. People unwilling to so much as put a mask on they faces to stop a literal plague. It’s so shattering to know that your life’s been stopped in its tracks, and it’s because of that sort of selfishness. We’ll get through it <3
Wear a mask, keep your distance, gently encourage others to do the same. That’s really all we can do. Our governments have largely abandoned us to this.
As for video games and bullying; I wasn’t ever bullied for video game playing, but kids will basically bully one another for _anything_, because the topic doesn’t matter. It’s the bullying itself that’s the goal. The social conflict. So yeah, I can totally imagine that happening in places. It’s awful :\
@Full Metal Ox
Being essentially a ginger, with a hair color you can’t get out of a bottle, and violet eyes is something I’ve experiences on both sides. But being visibly Asian wasn’t exceptionally exotic where I grew up in the US. As few as we were in that area of the west coast, we weren’t seen as especially exotic.The closest I ever came was when a social studies class I was in played a really dated “educational” film about Japan. Mostly I was subjected to helping peers grasp school work, because of the stereotype that east Asians are extra smart.
In Japan I was often picked on for my hair and eye color, partially because it was out of the norm, partially because it marked me as gaijin. By the same token a lot of kids wanted to be my friend because I’m fluent in English. I’m at least thankful that I didn’t go to a school where they forced kids to dye their hair black to meet uniform code. Although I did have the issue of proving that it’s my natural hair color. Also that I wasn’t wearing colored contact lenses.
Haven’t heard much about gamerbros of late. I guess it’s more because of other stuff like the former prez and the lasting problems he’s caused than anything else, though. Not buying the nonsense that some of them didn’t know about Cosby’s shenanigans.
Husbeast and I got vaxxed as soon as we were able and have not changed our behavior much since then; still wear masks when out in public and don’t go out in public much. The only real change is that we grocery shop weekly again because 1.) we’re vaxxed and 2.) I’m absolute crap at meal planning and shopping for two weeks at a go hasn’t worked out that well for me.
We have also had a friend here since February because they have a neck issue and can’t ride in a car much without a lot of pain. They live way out in the desert and have to get to the coast for treatment, which is several hours from home with favorable traffic conditions.
I really feel for the folks who were just getting out into the world; I was there, too. Husbeast spent a lot of time trying to get me to do stuff after my dad passed and I was even starting to enjoy some of the get-togethers he cajoled me into. Trouble is, I have always been very content with my own company and pursuing my own interests solo. The shutdown hasn’t made me unhappy much at all. But I know now that being social is good for my depression and look forward to doing that again someday.
Also seconding thankfulness for the wonderful commentariat here and David for posting, hosting and nurturing us.
Re: Pratchett and genderbending themes
I’ve only read Monstrous Regiment in Finnish translation. At one point I nearly died of laughter, because there was an idiom based joke and I could guess what the original was and it was perfectly substituted with a related but more raunchy Finnish idiom.
Also, it was hilarious to see Borogravian soldiers speaking Finnish military slang, especially when they were apparently inspired by British military and presumably originally spoke corresponding slang.
Apparently the president of Blizzard will be dismissed. That’s a good step insofar that as a president he have a responsability to not let that happen, but that’s also nowhere near enough.
… Brack ? Really !? *to google !*
Oh wow. They fired Brack, ahahah. Okay so that guy was kind of a clown, but this is a reminder that Bobby Kotick is not getting fired, and that’s the guy who once asked “the internet” to please stop photoshopping pictures of him with devil horns, cos it makes dating difficult for him. Maybe Activision just has a problem with women.
This guy. Now personally I think photoshopping his face onto a Reaper from Subnautica would be a lot more appropriate, he’s got the smile and the behavior. And I’ve spent the last few years choosing to believe they were very much literally designed after him.
@Sinkable John
When walking into activison-bizzard HQ
PDA: Detecting multiple leviathan class lifeforms in the region. Are you certain whatever you’re doing is worth it?