Thread by @skrutsick

I’m going to come out and say it.

I was one of these women. My incident happened in 2013 at BlizzCon. I didn’t say anything officially until I decided to leave the company last year, because of the name recognition and fear of retaliation.

https://twitter.com/zerena_hoofs/status/1418004102160654338

I also have other incidents described here, and some not, in several areas.

It was wonderful to work there; sometimes it wasn’t.

Most of my coworkers were wonderful, talented people who cared about quality games.

And some weren’t. The problem was the lack of accountability.

I want to reiterate that overall, the people who make up the teams at Blizzard are wonderful. They care about each other & their work & the games they make.

These things can exist at the same time. It’s been on a better path - I hope it keeps moving that way and that this helps.

I will also say this is the first time I’ve publicly said this name, and I still feel dread about the fact that I did. Still. It’s really difficult to not delete this thread.

Anyway, I credit Blizzard with pretty much everything good in my life. And with a lot of… this. These are not conflicting concepts. They are motivations for more of the former and reducing/removing the culprits of the latter.

PS if you think this is just a blizzard thing, you are mistaken. This is the industry, especially before 2015 or so.

Also, a lot of wonderful people still work there, including my friends and family. Pulling support from them isn’t the answer - demanding accountability from those who should be held accountable is. Support this suit and the overhaul of how women are treated in the game industry.

This is endemic to the industry, and many of the offenders are working for other companies now. Support the claim, & show that women should be believed. Support the idea that this won’t be tolerated in any company. But don’t harass people who are just trying to make games & live.

This definitely isn’t how I wanted to go viral or gain followers, but hey.

Please believe survivors and donate to RAINN:

donate.rainn.org/donate