6 ms·

Activision Blizzard Sued by California over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture

105 points by gundmc 5y ago

gundmc 5y ago
> The suit also points to a female Activision employee who took her own life while on a company trip with her male supervisor. The employee had been subjected to intense sexual harassment prior to her death, including having nude photos passed around at a company holiday party, the complaint says. Yikes. After the stories that came out about Riot Games, it seems like this sort of behavior isn't super uncommon amongst Gaming Companies.
- belval 5y ago
  This is one of those headlines where I expected the cases to be a bunch of micro-aggressions that I would not really empathize with. But no, this is absolutely disgusting.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- ivraatiems 5y ago
  What stories about Riot Games? I agree these allegations are unusually bad. Worse than I was expecting. If this doesn't get settled - or even if it does - the evidence that would be required would be pretty damming. I'd bet it exists given that this was brought at all.
  - tschwimmer 5y ago
    https://kotaku.com/inside-the-culture-of-sexism-at-riot-games-1828165483 https://kotaku.com/inside-the-culture-of-sexism-at-riot-game... https://www.wired.com/story/riot-games-ceo-culture-complaints/ https://www.wired.com/story/riot-games-ceo-culture-complaint...
  - ev1 5y ago
    > Riot’s CEO sent an e-mail to employees describing the punishment its COO, Scott Gelb, will face after multiple employees alleged that, as a comedy bit, he has repeatedly touched subordinates’ balls or butt or farted in their faces. > Scott Gelb, Riot Games’ COO, whom current and former employees allege participated in “ball-tapping” (flicking or slapping testicles), farting on employees or humping them He is still active COO.
- mabbo 5y ago
  And their response is: > We are sickened by the reprehensible conduct of the DFEH to drag into the complaint the tragic suicide of an employee whose passing has no bearing whatsoever on this case and with no regard for her grieving family.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
blibble 5y ago
that's awful and publically the company is super-woke (other than when Chinese/Russian profits are at risk) I guess it's projection...
TapWaterBandit 5y ago
Wow, pretty disgusting stuff. I suppose it isn't hugely surprising how sexist gaming companies are considering how sexist a large portion of many online games player bases are.
- jbluepolarbear 5y ago
  How’d you connect those two? Devs do not equal their toxic player bases.
  - Hjfrf 5y ago
    People working in game design choose to accept lower pay and worse working conditions than other industries offer for the same skills. That makes no sense unless they're gamers themselves.
    - hajile 5y ago
      There’s probably a couple billion gamers and less than a hundred thousand game developers of which only an even smaller fraction have been accused of anything. That’s a tiny, tiny fraction to use as the reason to assassinate the characters of everyone else.
    - jbluepolarbear 5y ago
      I’ve been in Game dev for the better part of a decade and money has never been the driving factor in what positions I worked. I have ADHD and unable to work normal dev jobs (I’ve tried and I find them too boring). The game industry is a small world the ones that are intolerant quickly find out no one wants to work with them.
- Akronymus 5y ago
  This is basically the same Argument as the one that really kickstarted Gamergate IMO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STl7-_f4_eA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STl7-_f4_eA
carnitas 5y ago
Anecdote: I work on a game team at Activision Blizzard and have seen nothing like this behavior. If anything people are terrified of creating a harmful climate because the company is so “woke”. (2 hour webcast featuring a non-binary skateboarder’s experiences growing up in the middle of the workday! [that’s just this week])
- mabbo 5y ago
  How long have you worked there, and how long has it been this way? The company has been under investigation for a long time and known it. Of course you've been subject to an oversized response: the company wants to portray that clearly they've always been ""woke"". They know that a single new incident right now, during this lawsuit, will cost them dearly.
- raxxorrax 5y ago
  Companies that present themselves as woke seem to be among the worst perpetrators.
- Comevius 5y ago
  I don't work there and I'm shocked after reading all the 29 pages, not to mention your company's response to the allegations. https://aboutblaw.com/YJw https://aboutblaw.com/YJw https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-blizzard-sued-by-cal... This investigation by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing uncovered a substantial amount of discrimination, harassment and retaliation. A female employee killed herself on a company trip, many others since spoke about their ordeals. https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/op1t7m/activision_blizzard_sued_by_california_over_frat/ https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/op1t7m/activision_bliz... If you haven't seen anything it's because you failed to notice it, just like you failed to notice that your company is currently trying to save face. This also means that the company failed to address any of the issues, otherwise there would have been a conversation about it, and not just these insubstantial exercises. You working for them, yet being completely in the dark speaks volumes.
  - ryan93 5y ago
tonfreed 5y ago
Piece of shit company that declares another character gay to cover up any bad press turns out to be a piece of shit company. Can't say I'm surprised.
- raxxorrax 5y ago
  They have to introduce a lot of gay characters to cover for this.
momodadragon 5y ago
not surprised this isn't getting that much traction here
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

105 points by gundmc 5y ago

> The suit also points to a female Activision employee who took her own life while on a company trip with her male supervisor. The employee had been subjected to intense sexual harassment prior to her death, including having nude photos passed around at a company holiday party, the complaint says. Yikes. After the stories that came out about Riot Games, it seems like this sort of behavior isn't super uncommon amongst Gaming Companies.

belval 5y ago
This is one of those headlines where I expected the cases to be a bunch of micro-aggressions that I would not really empathize with. But no, this is absolutely disgusting.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
ivraatiems 5y ago
What stories about Riot Games? I agree these allegations are unusually bad. Worse than I was expecting. If this doesn't get settled - or even if it does - the evidence that would be required would be pretty damming. I'd bet it exists given that this was brought at all.
- tschwimmer 5y ago
  https://kotaku.com/inside-the-culture-of-sexism-at-riot-games-1828165483 https://kotaku.com/inside-the-culture-of-sexism-at-riot-game... https://www.wired.com/story/riot-games-ceo-culture-complaints/ https://www.wired.com/story/riot-games-ceo-culture-complaint...
- ev1 5y ago
  > Riot’s CEO sent an e-mail to employees describing the punishment its COO, Scott Gelb, will face after multiple employees alleged that, as a comedy bit, he has repeatedly touched subordinates’ balls or butt or farted in their faces. > Scott Gelb, Riot Games’ COO, whom current and former employees allege participated in “ball-tapping” (flicking or slapping testicles), farting on employees or humping them He is still active COO.
mabbo 5y ago
And their response is: > We are sickened by the reprehensible conduct of the DFEH to drag into the complaint the tragic suicide of an employee whose passing has no bearing whatsoever on this case and with no regard for her grieving family.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

blibble 5y ago

that's awful and publically the company is super-woke (other than when Chinese/Russian profits are at risk) I guess it's projection...

TapWaterBandit 5y ago

Wow, pretty disgusting stuff. I suppose it isn't hugely surprising how sexist gaming companies are considering how sexist a large portion of many online games player bases are.

jbluepolarbear 5y ago
How’d you connect those two? Devs do not equal their toxic player bases.
- Hjfrf 5y ago
  People working in game design choose to accept lower pay and worse working conditions than other industries offer for the same skills. That makes no sense unless they're gamers themselves.
  - hajile 5y ago
    There’s probably a couple billion gamers and less than a hundred thousand game developers of which only an even smaller fraction have been accused of anything. That’s a tiny, tiny fraction to use as the reason to assassinate the characters of everyone else.
  - jbluepolarbear 5y ago
    I’ve been in Game dev for the better part of a decade and money has never been the driving factor in what positions I worked. I have ADHD and unable to work normal dev jobs (I’ve tried and I find them too boring). The game industry is a small world the ones that are intolerant quickly find out no one wants to work with them.
Akronymus 5y ago
This is basically the same Argument as the one that really kickstarted Gamergate IMO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STl7-_f4_eA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STl7-_f4_eA

carnitas 5y ago

Anecdote: I work on a game team at Activision Blizzard and have seen nothing like this behavior. If anything people are terrified of creating a harmful climate because the company is so “woke”. (2 hour webcast featuring a non-binary skateboarder’s experiences growing up in the middle of the workday! [that’s just this week])

mabbo 5y ago
How long have you worked there, and how long has it been this way? The company has been under investigation for a long time and known it. Of course you've been subject to an oversized response: the company wants to portray that clearly they've always been ""woke"". They know that a single new incident right now, during this lawsuit, will cost them dearly.
raxxorrax 5y ago
Companies that present themselves as woke seem to be among the worst perpetrators.
Comevius 5y ago
I don't work there and I'm shocked after reading all the 29 pages, not to mention your company's response to the allegations. https://aboutblaw.com/YJw https://aboutblaw.com/YJw https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-blizzard-sued-by-cal... This investigation by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing uncovered a substantial amount of discrimination, harassment and retaliation. A female employee killed herself on a company trip, many others since spoke about their ordeals. https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/op1t7m/activision_blizzard_sued_by_california_over_frat/ https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/op1t7m/activision_bliz... If you haven't seen anything it's because you failed to notice it, just like you failed to notice that your company is currently trying to save face. This also means that the company failed to address any of the issues, otherwise there would have been a conversation about it, and not just these insubstantial exercises. You working for them, yet being completely in the dark speaks volumes.
- ryan93 5y ago

tonfreed 5y ago

Piece of shit company that declares another character gay to cover up any bad press turns out to be a piece of shit company. Can't say I'm surprised.

raxxorrax 5y ago
They have to introduce a lot of gay characters to cover for this.

momodadragon 5y ago

not surprised this isn't getting that much traction here

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]