"Blizzard Turned Game Developers Into Rock Stars"

Going over more information regarding the Activision-Blizzard lawsuit, including new stories and context about the company culture and other employees involved in the allegations.
"Managers set the tone by hiring mostly men, stoking their egos and dating women in the company, current and former employees said."
Fantastic article by Jason Schreier, I highly suggest you check it out at the original link :
www.bloomberg....
And his twitter:
/ jasonschreier
Follow my twitch! / kiraonttv
Join My Discord! - / discord
GET NORDVPN and help support me:
go.nordvpn.net...
USE COUPON CODE: kiratv
Want to support me further? I now have a Patreon.
/ kirayt
------------------------------------------------------------
#mmorpg #blizzard #worldofwarcraft

[@KiraTV1]

Thanks for all the congratulations messages on the 100k subs guys. I can't believe we are here in such a short period of time, hopefully i can continue to provide content that holds some kind of value to you. Weird video to have this message on but I'll have something dedicated to talking about it in the next few days. Thanks ❤

[@Gazunga1]

Gz on 100k

[@movros99]

Congrats on 100k subs mate! Very well deserved indeed.

[@sheewrath]

Gratz man!

[@barrybludgeon7448]

Congrats mate

[@xellios]

100k subs is awesome and it is very well deserved. I'm really happy for you, congrats brother.

[@sunrisezone1062]

i made a comment like that in some blizzcon show 6-7 years ago."look at them how they behave like rocks stars" i thought it was so ridiculous and that they looked like clowns.especially when they offended so many ppl with their behavior and their taunting responses to some of their fans questions

[@VindensSaga]

I hoped they were joking on Blizzcon but they were actually real.

[@alexo2303]

@@VindensSaga you blind af boi

[@VindensSaga]

@@alexo2303 *facepalm*

[@astanex4662]

I canceled my WoW subscription and uninstalled Battlenet. I will miss Diablo and WoW, but I refuse to give them a dime more of my money. This needs to be snuffed out completely.

[@sezmra]

I've seen this "rock star" mentality in lesser studios; I can't imagine how much worse it got at ActiBlizz...

[@TheAngrySaxon1]

Game devs do think rather highly of themselves, unfortunately. A common problem in general with office workers.

[@ItsSwissBeatz]

@@TheAngrySaxon1 Game devs is one thing but office workers? I've worked in several offices and if anything people working in the office think rather little of themselves.

[@ItsSwissBeatz]

@@PEEERRRR Well Blizzard offices is a whole different scenario right now. But like people who work normal office jobs, from what I've experienced tend to not think too much of themselves. I think it heavily depends on the field of work and position within the company though.

[@spamquisition4046]

​@@ItsSwissBeatz I think it's because most people in normal office job (accounting, legal, business, etc etc) are at least self-aware enough about their work. On the other hand, the Game Devs gets a loooot of positivity and attention from their fans and that might've stoked their ego. Imagine if a random accountant or salesman gets the same thrill that they get from thousands of fans that love their work instead of, at best, an approving nod from their superior and coworkers. Of course, not all game devs are like that and a lot can stay humble and/or separate their work from their personal lives and also separate the fans from their lives as well. But, considering how the culture in Blizzard went down...

[@ItsSwissBeatz]

@@spamquisition4046 That's definitely one of the factors, I agree. They just let the fame and adoration of their fans get to their heads. Although I want to believe that most people have the decency and mental capacity to stay level headed even under such circumstances, Blizzard is a prime example of what happens when they don't.

[@OverseerXIII]

Blizzard is like a gold-plated turd left to the elements: the gold plating is scraping off and the turd inside has begun to show

[@ShinmotoGaming]

I personally enjoy these kind of videos more than the ones about game content. Getting an insight into the businesses from a rational arguing guy is really cool. Keep on going!

[@BodieB]

Agree but I like switching up types of videos too...keeps it from becoming stale content

[@kanjonojigoku8644]

Check out Jim Sterling they do a lot of these types of videos

[@joeltangjerd2828]

Let's all laugh at an industry that never learns anything te-he-he!

[@ShinmotoGaming]

The sad thing is that we as customers are all supporting them as long as we buy their stuff. So to be honest, we can influence on that and just start carrying about gaming companies like we pretend we care about companies damaging our environment/planet. I personally won't buy any Blizzard/Activision Games for the next years, because i know how big companies work and they won't change their culture just on behalf of a lawsuit or some allegations. What hurts the most i cutting the profit by not buying their stuff.

[@natwon633]

A fellow person of culture. I will have to check now if Yahtzee covered this

[@joeltangjerd2828]

@@natwon633 He's definately covered John Romero's "rockstar" antics. Jack Packard has written an article, but it's not the same without the jingle.

[@straef1042]

@@natwon633 They've gone into it on the Escapist, though not nearly as much as Kira, Josh Strife Hayes, or others.

[@jmel1000]

@@ShinmotoGaming "The sad thing is that we as customers are all supporting them as long as we buy their stuff" - There's still so MANY innocent people who arnt involved in this, and some poor women who's still at the company might be on edge with her bills and everyone boycotting blizzard will result in the thing people are trying to protect, instead they lose their job and become homeless.. Think outside the box.

[@chrlorez]

It's depressing that it seems like fans are only now done defending Blizzard because the quality of their products has been too low. But even as an outsider looking in, who never grew up playing Golden Age Blizzard, and who had been turned off by their games since the Diablo 3 controversies, I'm still disgusted by the extent of what Blizzard got away with.

[@falkreon]

It boils down to the same thing though. If you don't value your employees' talents and provide a welcoming environment for them, for reasons as stupid as gender, don't expect to see that talent borne out in your games. You will never succeed at making really special, landmark games in a frat house. I just hope that people are now realizing the source of the quality problems they're mad about.

[@igoronline]

As someone who did, it was blatantly obvious by Wrath-D3 at launch that the company was only interested in quadrupling down on all their most exploitative elements, across all their games.

[@khronin]

The more they went woke the worse it got also.

[@Jorendo]

But that goes for every business. People don't care about the employees and their work environment, as long as they get a quality product/service. Can you honestly tell me that when you go to a store, you are gonna think to yourself "Should I support this store? How are they treating their employees? Are the people working here getting treated well or is there a toxic work environment?". In my line of work we had massive strikes a few years ago, why? Cause the companies (whole sector wide, so everyone in that business was going on strike not just us at our company) put way to much pressure on the employees in the field, hardly gave them time to go to the toilet, hadn't increased the income of their employees for years while everything became more expensive every year. Now I live in a country were we hardly go on strike, it's a last resort thing, unions tend to negotiate till there are no other options, this isn't France of Belgium were people go on strike just because the employer sneezed too loud. Seeing I'm in the public sector, people suffered from it cause they could no longer use the services we provided and they needed them to go to work, go to places, etc. Now you go make a guess how much sympathy we the employees got from the public view. Yeah many people stood behind us the first few day's, after that it became annoying to them and we were the bad guy's, if we don't like our jobs we had to look for other work, the standard bullshit you get. Why? Cause people don't give a fuck that you and your coworkers are litterly worked to death. Stress in the west is the biggest killer after cancer, it's no joke but certain political leanings want to make it come over you are a pussy if you suffer from stress, cause these political leanings are very invested in corporations and their right to make ultimate money while giving nice well paying jobs to the politicians in that certain stream. People don't give a damn you can't go to the toilet, that you have to reach goals in a unfair amount of time otherwise you get fired. People say "Go find a new job" even though people worked there for 30+ years and can't go switch to another career due to their age or them simply not knowing anything else and this is all they can do, plus it pays better then any other job at that level. People are selfish, it's all about what they can get. You give them a product/service they like and they are happy. No one cares about the employees, no one. Not you, not me, that's how our mind works. You might say now "Yes I do care" but you really don't, you really aren't going to any place and think first "Do they treat the employees well?". A lot of employees face toxic work places every day. Go work in retail, the company will fire your ass if you are ever rude to a customer, meanwhile you get called everything horrible at least a dozen times a day cause customers aren't happy about some store policy that you as employees don't control, have no say over but you are the face they see so you will be the asshole. When I worked in retail I was told to die, get a decease, being a massive asshole, over hte price of a product as if I was responsible for that. But o boy if you said something that upset the customer, then HQ would get angry at you, cause you have to take it with a smile for a minimum wage, all the while your manager is another asshole/bitch who has some powertrip syndrom thinking they are gods.....Do you think about that when you buy some food or a new shirt?

[@AbstractType1]

@@dartheverstar9564 in the same position, but which developer though? Many are too similar regarding treatment of staff or their products are poor. It's a sad state of affairs

[@spurtikus1]

"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely"

[@tavirosu25]

TL:DR: If you are a Chad singer you can sleep with your groupies! If you are an average Blizzard dev, you can't sleep with your fans! Wooosssh the men bashing is strong in all the anti-Blizzard articles 🤷‍♂️

[@HeatherKayagi]

@@tavirosu25 I feel like women getting a job at blizzard aren't doing it to be sexually harassed by men, just a thought. I can't speak for all groupies, but I imagine there's a lot more choice going on with Singers.

[@spurtikus1]

@@tavirosu25 Getting drunk and going around an office hitting on all the female employees is not the same as sleeping with groupies. Everyone deserves to feel safe at work. Imagine if that was your sister or mother getting hit on by their manager? "men bashing is strong" ffs, how many places have you worked where the women are sexually harrasing the men? I've managed a pub, and had many very attractive women working for me. Never would I cross that line because it is unproffesional and quick way to lose respect. You sound like the fangirls that excuse "popular" youtubers that have gotten caught with underage fans. You are star struck with Blizzard devs and have lost your objectivity.

[@shanbannan17]

@@tavirosu25 there was also men who got sexueallyharased but sense everyone that reports on this seem to be far left they dont care about that its only about the females lol what a simp world we live in

[@VindensSaga]

@@tavirosu25not the same thing. This is some really bad reasoning on your part bro.

[@bitterpickles]

So apparently 'Revenge of the Nerds' was more of a documentary than I thought

[@jaylapointe4907]

Congrats on 100k!! I've been part of notification squad for a while, it's been quite the journey so far!! You can only go up from here!!🤙🏻🎉

[@Wolar94]

So people blaming Activision ruining Blizzard all those years when in fact, Blizzard was much worse to begin with.

[@roetheboat1]

Ironically (at least for me), I was actually really looking forward to the Diablo 2 remaster because it WASN'T being done by Blizzard. It was being done by Vicarious Visions, another studio in Activision before it got merged with Blizzard either late last year or early this year.

[@BygoneUser1]

TBF having a terrible and sexist work culture doesn't necessarily mean your product is bad. Likewise, you could potentially be the most egalitarian, forward thinking business and still have a shit product at the end of the day lol. The artist and the art are not the same thing. One can be bad and the other good. Sure, it's hard to reconcile sometimes, but that's reality. But yeah, WoW ruined Blizz & the MMORPG genre long-term, so I'm def not blaming Activision. They kind of lost their way. Maybe D IV will be good. If so, that will be the first genuinely good game by them in ages in my opinion.

[@mrskira8163]

Finally 100k! PROPER CELEBRATIONS ARE IN ORDER! SEE YOU IN 2 WEEKS!! Love you 💛

[@KiraTV1]

[@culture3125]

This one was hard to watch. Thank you for sharing this and reporting on many other issues within the gaming industry.

[@chriswinner2096]

Love how you cover these topics! Forget making 100k you're gonna make 1 million!!! But gratz on the 100k! You totally deserve it!!!

[@KiraTV1]

Thanks a lot Chris. 100k achieved , long road to a millie here we come

[@awb2498]

I feel like YT should play a little "ding"

[@derf85]

Never trust a corporation with anything. It's hard, I know they encourage emotional investment in their product, but never give your heart and soul to an entity that has neither.

[@Jokoko2828]

Like, they've got whole research departments on how to create emotional attachment to their brand, this is all manufactured, big companies don't care about you, they care about your money.

[@tombooker2679]

Thank you for covering this - this is so important to keep in the public eye, to put pressure on these companies to change.

[@IlseMulAuthor]

First, congrats on reaching 100k subs! That's awesome! Next, thanks for sharing this article with us! I'll certainly read it in its entirety later today. It's shocking what the men at Blizzard have done. It's a digusting culture they've created! Let's hope these lawsuits will make for a new era where these kind of things will not happen anymore!

[@oliver_twistor]

I hope so too. This is an example of why a team of roughly half men and half women is preferably, at least in my experience. When the men to women ratio gets too high, the bro culture will eventually pop up. I went from a workplace of around 20 men and one woman to a workplace with about 60 % women and 40 % men, and the culture and atmosphere at that later job was so much better.

[@renuvatio9986]

HR departments in companies are there for the company not the employees

[@johnathancraig14]

Respect for pushing out these videos for us even though you know they will be demonetized.

[@larunasoftpaw570]

This actually made me feel sick. I feel sick thinking that I almost applied there years ago. I really have no words.

[@michaelbeleut6480]

Hope you found a better place to work.

[@larunasoftpaw570]

@@michaelbeleut6480 the reason I didn't apply to Blizzard was because I already found a job offer with my current employer. So yes, I did. :)

[@LadyScriben]

Thank you for covering this, it needs shouting from the rooftops and I hope it leads to change so folks can make games without fearing for their safety.

[@Fangoram69]

Honestly it's just a case of power corrupts. This shouldn't shock anyone and you know for a fact every single company has this to varying degrees.

[@WCCXtra]

Totally. The steady accumulation and concentration of power has an inflationary effect on a lot human's egos.

[@mtbarnes1]

dating a coworker and sexually harassing a coworker are two different things. A lot of people date coworkers without it being an issue. Studies show that around 40% of people have dated a coworker and around 14% of those get married; according to a survey done by careerbuilder in 2019. Other studies fluctuate in those numbers but its always within 5%, give or take.

[@Kiwirnango]

Reminds me of that South Park episode. "The Principal and the Vice Principal? But you two work together!" *queue vomiting*

[@r00tyschannel52]

I actually think the points made are that they're dating a subordinate. Which is a no-no. Companies (at least larger ones) usually have policies that force one of you to change department if it's the case that one person is subordinate to the other, for example.

[@Keldiur]

I think its a case by case basis. All the examples he put up lead to Marriage. A long ass term commitment that I do not believe in as an institution, but basically signaling they got along in one state or another. Not clearing any name for marrying someone, but putting cases of marriage and basically dating in the same terms as harrassment boggles my mind. And if the idiots who abused these women point to these cases, they are obviously too stupid to tell the difference between mutual flirting and harassment. You know, kinda like a rockstar mentality.

[@Solrac-Siul]

the author was trying to make a Res ipsa loquitur point (the thing speaks for itself ) yet I agree it was not a good one. All of those 3 married and at least that we know of, continued married and even have kids. Futhermore we are talking about things that often were almost 15 to 30 years ago ( nerds creating blizzard and so on) and evaluating those events based on current views. I am 45 today. Some of the stuff mentioned in the article, like the somewhat patronizing description of the first blizzard female employee , or someone dating and marrying a co-worker was common 20 or 30 years ago . Hell, my parents meet at work.

[@mira12825]

Dating a coworker is one thing, but dating someone that works under you is at best highly questionable.

[@Nanorix]

Heh it's funny how different culture is in different companies / countries. I'm a Hungarian working as a developer (not in the gaming industry) and not that long ago a new female colleague have joined the team I belong to. She once told us while having lunch that she hated her last workplace because most of her coworkers were females and they were manipulative, scheming, gossiping assholes and that she likes working with males more because we just work and play games.... lol : D

[@spaceranger7683]

I think Hell will freeze over before we see a lawsuit against a toxic female-dominated workplace. And they are not as rare as the white knights would have you think - health care is a prime example of such industries. For example, if your female boss is into you, then you're in deep shit if you rebuff her advances. Better to just quit at that point, because she and her allies will do their best to make work miserable until you do.

[@Nanorix]

@@NowhereBeats I hope they don't sabotage you :D + it's good to see you actually enjoy it :D Btw pls be careful out there and if you can migrate to somewhere like US or Europe do it (just don't come to Hungary... this is a s**t place, I plan to move somewhere else too...). Anyway take care we are worried about you guys.

[@Amoreyna]

I don't doubt it and I'm American and a woman. Most of the time at work it's be friendly, helpful, but do my job and go home - I'm not there to make outside friends (I work in nursing). And the amount of backstabbing vindictive crap I've seen women pull over the years is mind boggling. I also saw it in the military years ago. To be honest, I distrust being around women co-workers more then men. Sure, you may met a skeevy dude every once in a blue moon, but seeing women be nice to someone and then turn around and throw them under the bus for some perceived slight makes me simply not get close to people I work with at all. I prefer to work with men myself and 99% of them are polite, respectful and kind.

[@Zyrodil]

I used to work as a support teacher for special needs teenagers and I just have to mention that both men and women have different ways of being assholes in the workplace. None of those ways are nice, it's all really, really bad. Long story short, nobody gave a shit about the students trying to learn. They talked shit behind their backs about the students and severely misunderstood their problems - something that I managed to figure out by just talking to them a little bit. When I voiced my opinions on the matter, the boss' boyfriend showed up and took my job. During this entire time, no one ever talked to me, no one ever treated me like a fellow dude in the office. It was just girly women talking about series and macho men not talking at all, until one day they told me that "you don't have any hours anymore, why don't you sit on standby and we'll call you if we need you." That was 4 years ago. On paper, I still work there.

[@Zyrodil]

Oh, I didn't mean to invalidate your hardship in the workplace, I really hope you're better off now 11 months later, OP - best of luck from Sweden.

[@thelonesomewanderer8359]

the twisted irony in all of this is that gamers are supposed to be anti - bro / frat culture, we're all nerds, yet somehow blizzard turned into the thing that most even slightly hardcore gamers hate.

[@VincentADK]

Congrats on 100k!

[@tyraelpl]

Gz on 100k! Lemme quote transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. "I rise, you fall."

[@KiraTV1]

🙏

[@OverseerXIII]

@@KiraTV1 I'll also quote that movie for you hitting 100k: "GIVE ME YOUR FACE!"

[@vulgaritar48]

Cool to see these guys in the comments who badger, harass, and pressure uninterested coworkers for dates outing themselves by asking what's wrong with it.

[@KiraTV1]

Yeah , I'm banning the particularly disgusting ones. These videos are good because while they get a lot of dislikes , I also get to root out the crazies and make sure I never see their opinions again.

[@gnerkus]

How do you know they are guilty of harassment?

[@toadbard]

@@gnerkus Well, it's not a 100%, but when someone doesn't see what's wrong with a certain action, they see it as normal. And people usual do things that they see as normal (and vice versa).

[@gnerkus]

@@toadbard Are you saying people are likely to do the things they express in KZbin comments?

[@stairmasternem]

Classic Blizzard, full of bikini clad female characters. Even Sarah Kerrigan couldn’t escape that in Zerg Queen form

[@orkinho1]

100k!! That’s great man

[@elitereptilian200]

What a delightfully wonderful workplace Blizzard has been..

[@TheNoirMirror]

'I'm not going to label everyone with a broad brush, but I'm going to label everyone with a broad brush.' Such a reliable and unbiased narrator.

[@KiraTV1]

Reliable commenter saying someone said something they didn't.

[@TheNoirMirror]

@@KiraTV1 12:40. You're not being clever or vague when you say 'Not all, BUT'.

[@KiraTV1]

I don't think I need to be clever or vague. I think what I said is pretty clear and if you want to take it a different way than it is intended thats entirely on you. Perhaps you're taking it a little personal.

[@TheNoirMirror]

@@KiraTV1 How is it taking what you said a different way when you literally stated that not all male groups are the same yet immediately walk it back with a completely different anecdote.

[@KiraTV1]

Alright mate , best of luck with the narrative.

[@steph101dk]

Great video and read Kira,,However im pretty stunned every single article fails to mention Diablo was NOT made by Blizzard but by Blizzard North

[@SockLove]

Would expect this type of behaviour from a company that is going down, not one that is making a bunch of money. The gaming industry has come a long away since the 2000s boom, but still has much to go.

[@Andre-oh7rp]

Gratz on 100k!!

[@Turbo-bs7ok]

well deserved

[@AluviumOSRS]

Grats on the 100k Kira. Think I started watching you when you had around half that. Shows your content is valued and is always informative. Appreciate you bro, I wish you nothing but continued success as a creator.

[@ColonelHess]

I dont really aggree that woman should be hired just to keep the numbers up. Again I dont really like this company, I think they suck, and I would not be suprised if they did stuff like this, but this artical is full of assumed out comes like "woman are out numbered so this lead to them being treated poorly" which makes no sense. Bad leadership lead to that, bad discipline lead to that, not just woman being out numered that's an absurd statement to make.

[@LadyScriben]

Bringing in more women diversifies teams, provides a greater breadth of viewpoints and lived experiences, and will likely put off would-be harassers if the ratio of men to women is more equal.

[@OmegaGamer04]

@@LadyScriben Or results in hiring untalented sjws that ruin the company within a couple of years with hostile work environments where you cannot give a complement to someone because some banshee is going to scream straight to HR because of misogony or some other BS term.

[@LadyScriben]

@@OmegaGamer04 looks like we don't need SJWs to ruin ActiBlizz, they've done it by themselves perfectly fine

[@ColonelHess]

​@@LadyScriben Diversity is not much improved by adding people for physical reasions, its improved by adding people with different ideas, and you dont need to be a man or a woman specifically to have those. Also, saying Actiblizz does not need sjw's to ruin themselves its weird, it assumes they are not already sjw, and engaging in the typical male sjw behavior of creeping on woman.

[@LadyScriben]

@@ColonelHess I don't like the sjw term, people throw that around for any reason they disagree with. More women means a greater breadth of lived experiences, and also means there are fewer male creeps. I get that you disagree with that, but it's simple maths.

[@AngelaMerici12]

I hope Riot cleans its house of this behavior for their own good.

[@titansquirrel4408]

My gf was hesitant to play DND with our friends online because the first time she played the guys she played with back then forced her character (a rogue) to strip and dance to "distract" a noble character while other NON ROGUE characters stole the nobles stuff

[@KiraTV1]

Sounds about right. Pretty sad when you think about it

[@VentDeux]

14:58 Oh Ok....you wearing shorts to the office?????? Not gonna lie, ThaT just discredited all the complaints. ....SHORTS IN THE OFFICE .....LMAO HILARIOUS .

[@henrik1743]

I started voteing with my wallet many years ago, I hope more do the same.

[@Jwalker1919]

Same

[@mareksozolins6347]

Yes this is right to do: vote with your wallet and company will see product is worth or not worth in market.

[@seansopata5121]

I hope not. Further victimizing the women of AB isn't really a great solution in my opinion

[@johnathanera5863]

They wont lol. If they make good games again their fanbase will come back.

[@BrooklynKing]

Disgusting behavior! Like you, I am not shocked, given that I have been in a room full of the stereotypical nerds. This is absolutely disgusting 😤

[@TrueKripp]

We made it bois. 100k. You deserve it Kira.

[@dojjin1334]

Hard to not get enraged by all this coming to light. A company that was held so high has fallen so low. It's like a beautiful camp fire that slowly starts to burn into an incontrollable wild fire that everyone sits back to watch and wait until everything is gone. Money Corrupts.

[@AmaterasuJunia]

I've been telling people for years that the problem was always Blizzard, not Activision, but people just didn't want to hear the truth. Blizzard is a consistent gold mine and they weren't gonna risk messing that up. The only reason they interfered with Reforged is because they never planned on it selling well to begin with and weren't gonna waste anymore resources on it than was necessary.

[@bloodlustshiva1]

Both of them are to blame. I've hated both companies going on for 20 years now, even when my friends were pre-ordering games like Diablo III or continuing to pay subscriptions to WoW. Once a company starts doing the sort of shit they do, I'm done with them. Ten years, twenty, doesn't matter. I blacklist them and make sure they never get a single cent from me. I won't watch the movies, play the games, nothing.

[@Aelnas1988]

GZ on the 100k Kira! Love from The Netherlands

[@KiraTV1]

Thanks bud!

[@UrbinoZokin]

Holy shit. That last bit about changing performance review structure for basically force lower bonus payouts hits me hard. My workplace came under new management and the exact same thing happened.

[@lolimmune]

Everyone share this video, don't let KZbin bury stuff like this

[@slytube801]

Congrats on 100k Subs Kira 🔥🙏

[@frenchdoge]

My man about to have his KZbin plaque congrats Kira !

[@Br1cht]

Funny that people who used to be very wary of "Gaming" media now swallow everything they report, complete with anonymous "sources" and all. Some caution is warranted imo, no matter Blizzard being sheit.

[@KiraTV1]

Who is swallowing "everything they report"? I think this particular journalist does good work and his stories always check out. Especially this since we have many different sources to check. Believe what you want but anonymous sources are how journalism works, not understanding that really discredit your opinions.

[@zemperish]

thank god my company does gender segregated teams, put an insufferable women with an insufferable man and the troubles multiply, I know the video calls out the blizzard male employes as ridiculous sex fiends but there is always a catalyst on the other gender that is just as crazy

[@saederkrupp]

To be fair, finding love at a job where you spend +60h/week is not that weird. Claiming this normalizes harassing women is skipping some essential steps. The fact that they didn't crack down on relationships, doesn't mean that they oked some idiots to act like predatory assholes.

[@KiraTV1]

No one said they okayed it. But when you have executives and managers openly pursuing lower ranked employees and people see that , it creates a normality to pursuing your subordinates.

[@Balthuzar]

gz on 100k bro. very well deserved!

[@maxm2639]

Glad you're highlighting this!

[@Ithirahad]

Fired? it sounds like a few of these people ought to be arrested... Not big on the idea of what people "deserve" but beyond Blizzard, the industry as a whole and society at large don't need that sort of scum walking among them.

[@NomNomNom1989]

I worked for multi billion dollar companies my entire life because the work I do is only needed by them (if Startups would need me I would be gone long ago). And the worst part for me is that you have no support by the HR-Department although they should support you. They could solve so many problems if they wanted but every HR-Manager i met was literally a scared dog who was trying to keep himself/herself out of problems. There should be a law that HR has more rights and should be neutral towards the highers and lowers. And the highers shouldn't be allowed to kick them out for non plausible reasons.

[@brandonsmith4183]

Seems like the gaming industry would be a good choice for unionization.

[@Blackreaper95]

Won't help honestly, look at public schools which are unionized.

[@iamjustkiwi]

@@Blackreaper95 main issue there isn't that unions are ineffective, but that teachers unions generally have to appeal to the local community and governments, who then will only propose taxes as solutions, and everyone wants to help teachers and kids until it comes to actually paying more for them, sadly.

[@nunyabeezwax3043]

@@iamjustkiwi like the teachers union he mentioned the real problem is unionizing in any field that doesn't require sweat will just lead to a 95% female work force who do the brilliant things that teachers unions do. and they achieve this by bringing unnamed and unprovable accusations against anyone who challenges them.

[@iamjustkiwi]

@@nunyabeezwax3043 I'm sorry, I'm not going to engage someone so blatantly functioning from raw hatred towards women. Its really sad you think the world works that way, and also very pitiable. I hope you get better someday.

[@kormurg5971]

@@iamjustkiwi There's also the difference between the global and US definition( or legal obligation) of unions. While I'm not sufficiently informed about either tipes of unions to point to exact differences , US unions seem to be more driven towards market monopoly (pop culture references to construction unions and breaking kneecaps, police unions with shifting 'problematic' officers between departments,...) then their global counterparts. Quite few biggest gaming companies are located in US, so their union standard would apply to them. Which doesn't seem to solve their predicament.

[@timelytim]

Oh, I am inclined. Take that algorithm. Great content as always.

[@samisuhonen9815]

I am in a university currently studying HR among other management areas.... And I understand that HR won't fire employees or take immediate dramatic action, as soon as an employee claims they were bullied, harassed, etc. I do however expect the HR department to take the claims seriously and investigate the matter. I would call several employees from different sides into interviews and inquire for more knowledge of this behavior. I would suggest to employees there would be reward for evidence of prohibited behavior, like harassment and bullying. I'd send people, or personally investigate the matter. The job of HR is to make sure that every human being in the company, is giving 100% to their work. Harassing other employees is not giving 100% to their job. The people harassed can give even less of their 100% to their job, as they have to worry about bullying/harassment. Such an issue is a HUGE drain on the company's most valuable resource, the human resource. It baffles me how incompetent the HR and marketing departments can be in large companies. I am a mere student in those subjects, but I feel like I am infinitely more qualified than say, Activision's HR and marketing are. They make such beginner mistakes, first day of school teaches you to avoid those things.

[@WaterCat5]

Yeah, but now imagine that you actually do it, and everyone hates your guts because you're rocking the boat. All of a sudden you end up getting ostracized and not able to give 100%. That's how it ends up really working in many cases. Not to mention your proposed actions wouldn't even work in a remotely toxic environment. You think you can just call people up and get the truth? They will lie their asses off on both sides of the issue. Reward people for giving evidence of bad behavior, and they'll use that to gang up on people. After all, what constitutes evidence? If 15 people say someone is being an asshole, how do you know they aren't just trying to harass that person?

[@iamjustkiwi]

I don't know about companies you've worked for, but my personal experience has been more that HRs job is not to actually worry about the employees and more to protect the company from the consequences possibly brought by the employees. They would generally gloss over reports of harassment or other issues or, more often, outright dismiss complaints. It takes a unified effort by the staff to accomplish anything and fortunately its pretty easy for companies to cut out people they thunk are stirring the pot. All the stuff you said sounds good in theory but in the real world it rarely actually works out that way. Peer pressure is a bitch.

[@cracmar03]

That's what HR was meant to be, but sadly that's not HR has became for many companies. No wonder since company leadership is meant to control HR. They can't control Union's, but Union's issues are whole different thing.

[@tyrindel]

congrats on 100k , best mmo news channel out imop

[@harambe4267]

Also Nicki Broderick complaining about having to compete is moronic. That's literally the default state of collegial relations, especially if promotions are involved.

[@cracmar03]

Not when there is misbehave to all women involved. Then you should be encourage to cooperate with other employees to make chance for change of culture. Instead on purpose company divided them into competitors. Just like one woman mentioned how 'lonely' it felt being in company. That's the reason. The useless rat race to stop people from communicating and for example discovering unequal salaries, misbehaves etc. And honestly ... is rat race really necessary in workplace which needs creativity ? How can you be creative when you are obssessed with competition instead ?

[@manamejeffbeezos]

Congrats on 100k!! Long overdue :)

[@Pixx2266]

Grats on 100k! Now on to 500k! :)

[@carlosquintela3444]

This is disgusting, almost cant believe they made us all dream with their well writen games and story arcs.... Grats for the 100k ;)

[@PantsuMann]

I think theres one word to describe Morhaime and that is a door mat. Maybe he was the nice one of the bunch and probably ignorant of what was actually happening letting coworkers walk over him. I dont know all the details on him, maybe he was an ass like everyone else, I dont know, but his award in 2018 and the comments afterwards just proves he's a simple door mat. Sad.

[@ConstantBufferCast]

Congrats on 100k. Well deserved

[@Sharlenwar]

I agree with you, the corporate culture is killing the gaming industry. To be honest, it ruins every industry because of large companies. All about the bottom line.

[@anthyl5364]

Gratz on 100k subs Kira!! You deserve it very much!

[@DarthYogurt]

Gratz on 100k! Love your work dude.

[@TacBlades]

Makes me wonder why there isn't more legal cases against rock stars.

[@photonwerewolf9740]

Congrats on a hundred k followers, Kira! You really worked hard for it, well deserved! hope you continue to grow and improve as you!

[@kodykelsay8009]

Have loved your content for quite some time. Congrats on the 100k, big day!!

[@RaysOfAten]

That thing about harassing a pregnant woman and threatening her...Wow. Horrible.

[@strawbarry7834]

congrats on crossing over, knew you could do it! keep up the excellent work and you'll be double this in half the time.

[@Droodude]

Good article, though the harassment aspect is only really half the issue, and a bit of a deflection I think. That is relatively simple to solve compared to the mass layoffs, fewer staff doing more work, salary which is not proportionate to that work, crunch... (etc).

[@nothanks4317]

"female employees had to compete not only with men employees, but other females as well" - welcome to the workforce, I say

[@Kavou]

In shorter words, yes it is the best time to leave WoW.

[@bladeandcloak666]

Just set up my 6 month sub

[@ostsweinen5240]

@@bladeandcloak666 That sounds terrible

[@harambe4267]

Anybody who didn't see this coming or thinks the old Blizzard was somehow completely different is stupid. It is exactly this libertine, bohemian attitude coupled with the massive success of their games that made this happen. DnD and EQ nerds who before likely never even smelled a woman suddenly became massive stars in their industry to the point of pulling off a dedicated convention to themselves and their company, and at said cons they had lines of fanboys AND fangirls ready to jump onboard. Of course the men at the top of the world with a STILL unbeaten record concurrent players would act like rockstars, especially if they're ocnstantly surrounded by fans and it's the fans who apply it work for them and the money keeps coming in bigger and bigger vans.

[@cracmar03]

Honestly sad part about all of that is fact, that even if woman is interested in same stuff as these nerdy guys - they are never feeling welcomed. So they gave up even dreaming to try it. That's how I never even tried DnD despite loving role playing.

[@LetoZeth]

I don't really think that meeting someone at work and marrying is a bad thing. It's not great for the company for various reasons, but it's not like it's a scumbag thing to do. A lot of workplaces allow this, and a lot of workplaces disallow this. And honestly, that's how it should be in my opinion. Up to the business to decide. That said, drinking and openly flirting and courting AT work, is not ok. Having a friendly talk, seeing if the other person is interested and maybe making plans after work, perfectly fine.

[@RickBomhof]

Congrats Kira! ONWARD TO 200 :D:D

[@Essobee]

Good stuff as always. Grats on 100

[@steffiesing5449]

100K sub's congratz , i been watching it grow from 92K ..

[@Feydraen]

Congratz on reaching 100k subs ! I really hope that those people will pay for what they've done. This is, like you said, really sad to read / hear...

[@primusro]

I have a very strong feeling that just how Blizzard lost its way and not due to Activision, Bioware lost it's way and not due to EA. These superstar game companies had a toxic behaviour from the get-go and going big only made this much worse. Anyone else curious about Rockstar Games?

[@bloodmushroom1145]

sorry about the demonitization, good topic and info

[@salbill4484]

Strange when we talk about sexually assault it's "frat boy culture" and "locker room talk" people actually get hurt from such behaviors... It's a shitty thing that sexual assault is expected of frat boys and locker rooms... absolutely disgusting.

[@zibix4562]

honestly it is retarded that it is even called those things. this is beyond fraternity stuff or locker rooms.

[@hexi1722]

Grats on the 100k subscribers, you really deserve it

[@KiraTV1]

Thank you!

[@chazdoit]

Dating or marrying a coworker is not part of a rockstar culture and Im not sure why it was included in the article but everything else is pretty terrible, I dont understand how these people couldnt just keep their hands to themselves.

[@Morrodin182]

Congratulations on 100k! :)

[@happy_camper]

Definitely your best thumbnail yet. Congrats on 100k! I remember happening upon your channel thanks to Cryy. I think you had something like 13k subscribers at that time. It's been nice to see your channel grow so quickly. You've really earned it.

[@Sylcatam]

Thanks for keeping this highlighted and why are you being demonitized? btw grats on the 100K.

[@RDaneelLovecraft]

This is just insane, Imagine what we will find when and if the court case goes to discovery .....

[@PerryC-ul6ec]

Congrats on 100k man!

[@teadreamin9827]

Yay! You reached 100K subs. Congrats!

[@herald_ow]

Out of interest, why have the videos been demonetised? Is it because they are dealing with copyright material or something like that?

[@sroubletome]

100k !! gz dude

[@_Just_John]

Congrats to 100k, mate. Keep the videos rolling!

[@miklov]

I am slightly curious about the changes with performance reviews. I remember a Dilbert episode where they introduced a performance gradient to prevent the managers from marking all employees as "good performance". Pretty sure that joke was taken straight out of the real corporate world, as many other in that show/comic. Anyway, I enjoyed the content here, thank you!

[@medea27]

Sounds like they introduced the same 'categorised' performance reviews that a lot of corporates started doing post-2008 crash - it's the exact same principle as bell curves used in college/university entrance exams where you have limited degree slots, and it's unfairly misused (from both a fair remuneration & a mathematical standpoint!) to limit the bonuses paid out to the bulk of staff. They started being seen as acceptable because workforce changes left people leaders without the time or ability to properly assess their own staff performance - hence the Dilbert joke. But it's a grossly inequitable performance & remuneration system - ridiculously easy to corrupt & is overwhelmingly bias towards your Type-A narcissist employees who can talk themselves up even if their performance is lacking (hence Blizzard adopting it). Essentially they create several performance categories (such as 'high performer' - 'just doing their job/average' - 'low performer' - 'needs improvement'), then they give each people leader a number of employees in their team that they must place in each category. So instead of each staff member's performance being assessed on their own merits they become ranked from 1 to X across their team (sometimes even multiple teams who don't even do the same job, so how can you compare them?!) and their bonus eligibility becomes a matter of their 'rank', not their actual performance. And because you will always have the issue of 'too many' employees meeting or exceeding any benchmarks or number targets you're using (like a sales target or % compliance) they always include a highly subjective & grossly unfair 'behaviour' component that gives the corporate a way to bump people between performance groups. So you're automatically encouraging behaviour of sucking up to the boss & never raising any issues because the boss might have one too many employees who fit into the 'high performing' category & be looking for _any_ excuse to bump someone down to 'average' (and therefore not pay a bonus). If you've ever wondered how the standards of _any_ big corporate has dropped so dramatically & why there are so many toxic work environments that go unchecked, look no further than this piece of absolute shite performance system. It does nothing but reward people who don't perform but can talk big, and drives out the staff who are actually doing an excellent job but don't have the personality to self-promote (and frankly, shouldn't have to).

[@miklov]

@@medea27 That's such a crazy system. Even if you could get rid of biases and brown noses, you still could end up in the situation where you actually have a great team where everyone is contributing more or less the same. It probably also causes managers to lose what little humanity they had to begin with when they need to follow orders from above if they realize how silly they are. This also reminds me a bit of a lot of companies that really dislike the whole remote work thing and implement all kinds of weird invasive way to "track metrics" instead of figuring out how to track the deliverables. Lots of pretty dang silly things going on >.