Thread by @Nelsormensch

Cosby Suite- "Where Are They Now?" edition

kotaku.com/inside-blizzar…

Where they all are now is in extremely senior leadership positions.

You know who ISN'T in those senior positions? All the women and other people excluded from advancement by a toxic culture.

It will likely come as no surprise that more than one of these people were also on that odious Blizzcon panel where they laughed like hyenas when a woman fan asked if maybe a few of the female characters in WoW could be less objectified:

https://twitter.com/Nelsormensch/status/1418618755437924357

Here's the fucking thing- whether someone got the genesis of the "Cosby" part of the joke doesn't matter. This isn't a one-off thing someone dredged up from ancient social media.

It happens to just be an almost unbelievably hamfisted metaphor for the entire god damn problem.

I mean, I was well into the industry in 2013 and have been to boozy conference-adjacent parties and never "joked" with my coworkers about "bringing hot chixx to marry (you mean fuck)" to a hotel suite

It's obvious that at Blizzard, women were not seen as equals. Period.

In DFEH's lawsuit, they specifically identify "very few women ever reach top roles at the company" and IS IT ANY FUCKING WONDER WHY?

You don't have a culture like this without realizing it. Numerous women have come forward about their callous mistreatment at Blizzard and how their reports of it to leadership were dismissed, minimized and ignored.

I'm not interested in pillorying specific individuals here, that's not point. Especially on this hellsite that's an engine for context collapse and outrage. It's a systemic problem that leadership is responsible for.

And their words in the reporting speak for themselves anyway.

This is a women who attended the aforementioned suite and this is the kind of environment that was cultivated at Blizzard (and many other studios). If you want to advance, you have to be complicit and look the other way.

I'll point back to this excellent talk that most people behave in accordance with their social environment, and leadership pushes that toward or away from toxicity and abuse:

https://twitter.com/Nelsormensch/status/1418648994259947521

But, I do have to say, it's the denialism about this that fucking kills me. From the mealy-mouthed "this story puts everyone in a tough spot..." to Activision leadership's characterization of DFEH's suit as "irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats."

I honestly believe people can grow and change and be better. But doing that requires being FUCKING HONEST about what happened.

Metzen, Morhaime, Pardo and the rest of leadership absolutely fucking knew. All the people in this photo now in senior positions knew.

And everyone who lost opportunity, was made to feel lesser and suffered abuse deserves, AT THE VERY FUCKING LEAST, honesty.

Not some weaselly minimization or vague "Some people were let down by what happened."

Maybe that's happening privately (I sure fucking hope so) but this is so large and there were so many people affected, I don't know if privately is good enough.

I certainly know that unless they are proactively cooperating with the CA DFEH and providing sworn affidavits, it's not good enough.

I'm absolutely fucking LIVID about all the women who landed what they thought would be their dream job only to have their hearts broken - AT BEST - when it was clear they were not valued or seen as equal.

All the incredible work from them we never got to see.

Women and marginalized people at Blizzard, Ubisoft and so many other places deserved far better.

I hope today's #ActiBlizzWalkout is a first step in organizing and demanding better.