Update from July 23, 2021:
The serious allegations that Activision Blizzard is currently facing have also sparked reactions within World of Warcraft. As an expression of their protest, hundreds of characters had started yesterday to sit down and at the same time to collect donations for the organization “Black Girls Code”. This is committed to teaching young girls programming.
The action was apparently initiated by the role-playing guild “Fence Macabre”. Impressions from the sit-in protest were given on a regular basis on Twitter posted. On the Fundraising-Plattform Tiltify the clan takes a clear stand on the allegations in the room:
“As customers and members of this community, we protest the unethical treatment of employees at Activision Blizzard and demand that they make transparent and ongoing changes within the company and its brands.”
As things stand now, a little more than 9.200 US-Dollar in donations together. The in-game event lasted the entire Thursday and took place at the Idyllia stairs in Oribos.
Also in WoW-Subbreddit it’s hot. Of course, the allegations are also being discussed here, and very actively: already over 6,300 comments
Original message from July 22, 2021:
That California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, who makes serious allegations against workplace culture. Women are exposed to sexual harassment, unequal pay and other disadvantages in the company.
That is the result of a two-year investigation. The company paid women less and ignored promotions for fear of pregnancy. If women picked up their children from care, they were also criticized f or it. Other women were allegedly thrown out of breastfeeding rooms to use as meeting rooms for male colleagues.
At the same time, according to the lawsuit, the approximately 20 percent female employees had to deal with sexual harassment. Male employees are said to have “crawled drunk through the office while doing so-called cube crawls and behaved inappropriately towards the women there.”
Men would also sometimes play during the day, so pass their tasks on to female colleagues and make lewd jokes or joke about rape.
Women are said to be exposed to constant harassment
Numerous allegations are also directed at the team behind the MMO World of Warcraft. According to the complaint, female employees were exposed to attempts to check-in from male colleagues or supervisors, derogatory comments about rape and other degrading behavior.
An employee is said to have even taken her own life during a business trip with a male boss. She was exposed to extreme sexual harassment before her death. The lawsuit reports that, among other things, nude photos of her were passed around at a company party.
Actively take action against the misconduct, was not possible according to the women of the lawsuit. Anyone who complained obviously had to expect negative consequences such as a transfer or dismissal or a complaint was not treated confidentially.
What is the aim of the lawsuit?
The California Department of Fair Employment is the state agency designed to detect and prevent discrimination in the workplace. The aim of the lawsuit is an injunction after a failed out-of-court arbitration procedure, which requires Activision Blizzard to comply with occupational safety and health.
It should also force outstanding wages, salary adjustments, back payments or other lost benefits to female employees are paid. According to the authority, the management level at the publisher has consistently failed to take action against discrimination and to protect women in the company against harassment and acts of revenge.
What does Activision Blizzard say about it?
Activision Blizzard stated in a statement that one does his own research and does not tolerate such behavior in one’s own company:
“We value diversity and want to create a workplace that includes everyone. In our company or in the industry there is no place for sexual misconduct or any kind of harassment. We take the allegations very seriously and investigate each and every one of them. Measures have already been taken in the event of specific missteps seized. “
At the same time one criticizes the claims of the authority. With their statements, they put Blizzard’s past in the wrong light in many cases. They worked closely with them in the course of the investigation and provided them with a large amount of data.
However, they subsequently refused to share the problems found directly with Blizzard. The representation in the lawsuit does not correspond to the current workplace culture at the publisher. Similar allegations have previously been made against Ubisoft and Riot.
Swell: Bloomberg Law, My MMO, Aboutlaw
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