• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Activision Blizzard Is Sued by California Over Workplace Culture

Felis Leo

Moral clarity is needed
DP Veteran
Joined
Mar 27, 2018
Messages
14,057
Reaction score
20,946
Location
California
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Slightly Conservative

A California state agency is suing Activision Blizzard, the video game maker that produces Call of Duty, over claims of sexual harassment and discrimination.
After a two-year investigation, the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court that Activision fostered a “‘frat boy’ workplace culture.” Executives sexually harassed women, the agency said, and male employees openly joked about rape and drank alcohol while engaging in “inappropriate behavior” toward women at their cubicles during events known as “cube crawls.”

The lawsuit added that women were routinely paid less than men for similar work and were less likely to be promoted.
Activision’s workplace “is a breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women,” the agency wrote. “Female employees are subjected to constant sexual harassment, including having to continually fend off unwanted sexual comments and advances by their male co-workers and supervisors and being groped at the ‘cube crawls’ and other company events.”

In one case, the lawsuit said, a female employee died by suicide during a business trip, as a result of her sexual relationship with her male supervisor. Before her death, male colleagues allegedly shared explicit photos of the woman, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit, which was reported earlier by Bloomberg Law, said the company’s executives and human resources department failed to address misconduct when they were informed of it.

In a statement, Activision said the “picture D.F.E.H. paints is not the Blizzard workplace of today,” adding that the company tries to pay employees fairly and has worked to address its culture and improve diversity in recent years. Activision employees for years have undergone anti-harassment training, and the company said it had created a confidential reporting hotline and team that investigates employee concerns, among other changes.

It appears that Activision Blizzard, the game publisher/holding company behind World of Warcraft, Diablo III, the Call of Duty series, and Overwatch was possessed of a culture of rampant workplace abuse against female employees, to the point that after two years of investigation the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing the company on behalf of its employees.

I must disclose that I have particular contempt for this company and its leadership because they are now openly bought and paid-for minions for the Chinese government, booting competition players declaring their solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters. I personally hope the Department of Fair Employment bankrupts them and better companies buy up the IP, or at least makes Activision Blizzard a radioactively toxic brand like that of The Weinstein Company. Unprincipled, Un-American, misogynistic scum.
 
Last edited:
It appears that Activision Blizzard, the game publisher/holding company behind World of Warcraft, Diablo III, the Call of Duty of series, and Overwatch and was possessed of a culture of rampant workplace abuse against female employees, to the point that after two years of investigation the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing the company. I must disclose that I have particular contempt for this company and its leadership because they are now openly paid shills of the Chinese government, booting competition players openly mentioning their solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters. I personally hope California of Fair Employment bankrupts them and better companies pick up the IP, or at least makes Activision Blizzard a radioactively toxic brand like that of The Weinstein Company. Unprincipled, Un-American, misogynistic scum.
I didn't know all that. Im not a big gamer but I've been a big blizzard guy for decades all the way back to the original Diablo and Starcraft. Still the only two games I play from time to time (current not original).
 
I didn't know all that. Im not a big gamer but I've been a big blizzard guy for decades all the way back to the original Diablo and Starcraft. Still the only two games I play from time to time (current not original).

I grew up playing the original Warcraft and Starcraft strategy computer games along with Diablo. They are a part of my childhood. Just like several great Weinstein Company films are. But I will not make excuses for the "eccentrically predatory auteur." Plenty of decent men and women work in game creation just as any other artistic field. We do not need sanctuary industries for dens of misogynistic predators like those running Activision Blizzard.
 
@Felis Leo you ID as a conservative but lo and behold, what you're cooking up smells and tastes like a yummy liberal cause to me.
Congratulations on respecting and holding a broad palette of views encompassing a wide swath of the political spectrum.
Cheers, mate 😎
Much respect.
 
It appears that Activision Blizzard, the game publisher/holding company behind World of Warcraft, Diablo III, the Call of Duty series, and Overwatch was possessed of a culture of rampant workplace abuse against female employees, to the point that after two years of investigation the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing the company on behalf of its employees.

I must disclose that I have particular contempt for this company and its leadership because they are now openly bought and paid-for minions for the Chinese government, booting competition players declaring their solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters. I personally hope the Department of Fair Employment bankrupts them and better companies buy up the IP, or at least makes Activision Blizzard a radioactively toxic brand like that of The Weinstein Company. Unprincipled, Un-American, misogynistic scum.
Blizzard used to be a highly valued company within the gaming community, ive spent countless hours on their games but yeah i agree the company needs a reset of management or something
 
As an artist, sometimes young aspiring artists ask me about future employment opportunities, and I rarely have inspiring answers for them. The fine art/gallery world is a total shit show, and I can’t confidently tell them to go into cgi because I know very well how horribly cgi artists are treated in the movie industry and especially the gaming industry. But young aspiring artists generally don’t want to be told to go into medicine or computer programming instead.

I know that may seem like a tangential rant, but the OP just compounds for me how horrible working for gaming companies is all around. Of course it’s awful for female workers because…gaming companies and the cgi world in general.
 
Last edited:
@Felis Leo you ID as a conservative but lo and behold, what you're cooking up smells and tastes like a yummy liberal cause to me.
Congratulations on respecting and holding a broad palette of views encompassing a wide swath of the political spectrum.
Cheers, mate 😎
Much respect.

Much appreciated. But I think that there is a conservative tradition of being a gentleman, or as my grandfather would say: being a mensch. A gentleman shows respect to his female coworkers and certainly does not think to abuse his female subordinates (or any subordinates for that matter). These men strike me as the kind of guys who never got a proper talking to from their fathers (or a solid smack upside the head). Or worse, whose fathers modeled this same kind of piss-poor abusive behavior to their sons.
 
Much appreciated. But I think that there is a conservative tradition of being a gentleman, or as my grandfather would say: being a mensch. A gentleman shows respect to his female coworkers and certainly does not think to abuse his female subordinates. These men strike me as the kind of guys who never got a proper talking to from their fathers (or a solid smack upside the head). Or worse, whose fathers modeled this same kind of piss-poor behavior to their sons.

Sounds familiar to me.
Don't forget, I am 64 years old.
I wish you could meet my son, he's 25 but even though he uses some of the silly jargon of today, he's a gentleman, he has real class.
The two of them (him and our daughter) were trying to explain all the cis-gender this and what not, and after a long winded explanation I figured out what "cis-gender male" meant:

"Oh crap, so you're saying I AM A REGULAR GUY!" 🤣🤣🤣
Major eye-rolling...but it's the truth...and I told them that overly complicated gibberish names cooked up in the faculty lounge will never last.
And it won't...in five years people will have forgotten all these stupid ultra-politically correct terms for stuff we already know in English.

But hey, that's kids for ya.

We have our fringey kooks just like everyone else.
They do not define us.
 
Sounds familiar to me.
Don't forget, I am 64 years old.
I wish you could meet my son, he's 25 but even though he uses some of the silly jargon of today, he's a gentleman, he has real class.
The two of them (him and our daughter) were trying to explain all the cis-gender this and what not, and after a long winded explanation I figured out what "cis-gender male" meant:

"Oh crap, so you're saying I AM A REGULAR GUY!" 🤣🤣🤣
Major eye-rolling...but it's the truth...and I told them that overly complicated gibberish names cooked up in the faculty lounge will never last.
And it won't...in five years people will have forgotten all these stupid ultra-politically correct terms for stuff we already know in English.

But hey, that's kids for ya.

We have our fringey kooks just like everyone else.
They do not define us.

Haha, I've heard you speak about him often. It sounds like you have raised a lovely young man, your son. I shall be waiting with bated breath (if not mute horror) over the incomprehensible jargon my son will have to explain to me and my wife twenty years from now.
 
Last edited:
Haha, I've heard you speak about him often. It sounds like you have raised a lovely young man, your son. I shall be waiting with bated breath (if not mute horror) over the incomprehensible jargon my son will have to explain to me and my wife twenty years from now.

His ticker's still ticking...he dropped about eighteen pounds the last six months so his cardiologist is as proud of him as we are.
He's a natural comedian.

Daryl21stBD2 (2019_02_27 17_41_55 UTC).png
 
I grew up playing the original Warcraft and Starcraft strategy computer games along with Diablo. They are a part of my childhood. Just like several great Weinstein Company films are. But I will not make excuses for the "eccentrically predatory auteur." Plenty of decent men and women work in game creation just as any other artistic field. We do not need sanctuary industries for dens of misogynistic predators like those running Activision Blizzard.
Yeah I used to do WoW. Too much of a life-sucker.
 
It appears that Activision Blizzard, the game publisher/holding company behind World of Warcraft, Diablo III, the Call of Duty series, and Overwatch was possessed of a culture of rampant workplace abuse against female employees, to the point that after two years of investigation the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing the company on behalf of its employees.

I must disclose that I have particular contempt for this company and its leadership because they are now openly bought and paid-for minions for the Chinese government, booting competition players declaring their solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters. I personally hope the Department of Fair Employment bankrupts them and better companies buy up the IP, or at least makes Activision Blizzard a radioactively toxic brand like that of The Weinstein Company. Unprincipled, Un-American, misogynistic scum.

I mean I think video games should be strictly regulated and the industry should be functionally destroyed just because it’s a waste of time and encourages men to waste their lives and not become fathers. It’s kind of like porn in that it has the same addictive and soul destroying effect, imagine playing a game and being like “yeah I’m saving my buddy in ‘nam” and then you get out in the real world and are like “but I don’t have a buddy in ‘nam”

So these companies should go out of business. But not because of alleged “misogyny” is really just predictable behaviors that stem from a culture of easy sex and sex integration. Which i think both these things are negatives in modern society. And even better, because we know putting men and women in the same workplaces where they spend more time together then married spouses will create sexual tension, we’ve also passed bad laws in order to monetize it!
 
I mean I think video games should be strictly regulated and the industry should be functionally destroyed just because it’s a waste of time and encourages men to waste their lives and not become fathers. It’s kind of like porn in that it has the same addictive and soul destroying effect, imagine playing a game and being like “yeah I’m saving my buddy in ‘nam” and then you get out in the real world and are like “but I don’t have a buddy in ‘nam”

So these companies should go out of business. But not because of alleged “misogyny” is really just predictable behaviors that stem from a culture of easy sex and sex integration. Which i think both these things are negatives in modern society. And even better, because we know putting men and women in the same workplaces where they spend more time together then married spouses will create sexual tension, we’ve also passed bad laws in order to monetize it!
I bet you get to go to all the good parties!

:cool:
 
It appears that Activision Blizzard, the game publisher/holding company behind World of Warcraft, Diablo III, the Call of Duty series, and Overwatch was possessed of a culture of rampant workplace abuse against female employees, to the point that after two years of investigation the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing the company on behalf of its employees.

I must disclose that I have particular contempt for this company and its leadership because they are now openly bought and paid-for minions for the Chinese government, booting competition players declaring their solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters. I personally hope the Department of Fair Employment bankrupts them and better companies buy up the IP, or at least makes Activision Blizzard a radioactively toxic brand like that of The Weinstein Company. Unprincipled, Un-American, misogynistic scum.
It sounds like a fun place to work.
 
I bet you get to go to all the good parties!

:cool:
I do, in fact. I go to fun Parties, just not the kind where people are drinking and trying to pick people up. Which are not fun
 
This reminds me of the gamergate controversy from back in 2014.
 
And their "defence" letter backfired. As a response on the letter they posted in their defense were they implied that the DFEH for not making an accurate investigation and for using an employees suicide in an appalling matter. Now, in response of their letter their employees has made a letter of their own. 2000 of them has signed it...

 
And their "defence" letter backfired. As a response on the letter they posted in their defense were they implied that the DFEH for not making an accurate investigation and for using an employees suicide in an appalling matter. Now, in response of their letter their employees has made a letter of their own. 2000 of them has signed it...

Why should a private company be on a “quest for equality” equality is just a code word for communism and it’s a failed ideology
 
So let me get this straight; some women who chose to work at a video game company full of adult/juvenile virgin men who live in their mother's basements, and collect Star Wars action figure dolls, were upset to learn that their fellow male workers had a low opinion of women?

What were these women expecting their experience was going to be? This would be like somebody suing the garbage disposal truck company after they got a job driving the garbage truck, because they had to smell garbage all day long.
 
So let me get this straight; some women who chose to work at a video game company full of adult/juvenile virgin men who live in their mother's basements, and collect Star Wars action figure dolls, were upset to learn that their fellow male workers had a low opinion of women?

What were these women expecting their experience was going to be? This would be like somebody suing the garbage disposal truck company after they got a job driving the garbage truck, because they had to smell garbage all day long.
Sometimes the choices are one job or no job (unemployment). What do you think they should choice? (It is after al your tax money)
 
So let me get this straight; some women who chose to work at a video game company full of adult/juvenile virgin men who live in their mother's basements, and collect Star Wars action figure dolls, were upset to learn that their fellow male workers had a low opinion of women?

What were these women expecting their experience was going to be? This would be like somebody suing the garbage disposal truck company after they got a job driving the garbage truck, because they had to smell garbage all day long.
Kind of sounds like you're the one with a low opinion of women if you think they should either put up with work place harassment or gtfo. Does mommy let you use internet in the basement?
 
I grew up playing the original Warcraft and Starcraft strategy computer games along with Diablo. They are a part of my childhood. Just like several great Weinstein Company films are. But I will not make excuses for the "eccentrically predatory auteur." Plenty of decent men and women work in game creation just as any other artistic field. We do not need sanctuary industries for dens of misogynistic predators like those running Activision Blizzard.
Some fantastic games. I've played a bit of both, but being 23 my predominant exposure to Blizzard was Overwatch. Also a good game (though not as timeless as WoW or Starcraft).

However, I completely agree that we should take strong action against them. Both reasons you laid out are strong cases. Selling out to China and the banning of competitive players was very disappointing to me. When the workplace culture stuff came out I lost all respect for them.

Sometimes you have to separate the art from the creator. They produced great media. I still enjoy many of their works. But there are also video game studios that produce great content that have healthy workplace culture and don't fold to the discriminatory requests of the CCP.
 
Seems like a lot of the complaints in the lawsuit are petty nonsense.
 
Based on what evidence?
Based on the complaints in the lawsuit. A lot of the complaints here sound like they’re coming from women who belong to some sort of tight ass club. They definitely don’t fit into the company culture which, in my experience, is normal for a privately owned corporation.
 
Back
Top Bottom