What a literally insane response
Reasonable for burden of proof to be lower in conversation than a court of law. That said, some of you guys are ready to burn down everybody in that Cosby picture just because they were present-- with no evidence or even specific allegations of misconduct in that suite. That’s pretty shitty, but that’s what happens on the internet.
The problem isn’t the picture in isolation. It is part of a pattern of behavior. Some of the people in that picture were already named in other allegations. It isn’t unreasonable to step and say hey - maybe we should look at this as part of that pattern.
I agree, we shouldn’t immediately turn to burn them down. However, lack of allegations in cases like this is exactly the problem - we see what’s happened to those who did come forward, which is why it requires action like this to step in and review. Armchair quarterbacking by a bunch of geeks in a gaming forum isn’t going to really decide anything.
Exactly. What if, as a thought exercise, we just BELIEVED THE WOMEN WHO SAY HOW IT WAS rather than engaging in house-to-house fighting Stalingrad style in order to reject what (at least to me) seems blatantly obvious about this situation.
Oh the people here are downright reasonable compared to reddit, or god save us, twitter. Some of them are ready to burn down not only their lives, but their houses.
The party is fine. Party suite is fine. Throwing a party to drink with women and hopefully bang them is fine. That’s all fine.
“Getting women drunk”, that specific intent, that isn’t fine. Key difference between “we’re all drinking at a party” and “getting women drunk to take advantage of them”. Posting about the party and fucking women publicly while attending a company event, that’s stupid and unprofessional, but is it amoral, much less illegal? Nah. And the Cosby connection, while it looks awful today, given the timing-- it’s fine.
There are tons of specific allegations against named people who hurt their fellow employees. That should be the focus, not throwing a party to bang groupies-- unless specific allegations surface that misconduct happened at that party, of course, which is certainly possible.
I LIKE BEER.
Case dismissed.
Antics like that are why people are riled-up to assume the worst, because crap-all is going to happen regardless.
This is all correct and I think the Kotaku expose is going to save Blizzard, when their intent was to actually bury them.
Quite a lot is happening, actually. An attorney in this thread guessed Activision could face a potential 9 figure penalty. The CEO may lose his job. This heavy liability could, hopefully, trigger a change in the industry to curtail these sorts of excesses.
And to the party specifically, given the sunlight being shined on the thing, I feel like anyone assaulted or harassed at the party would feel free to come forward now, if they want to do that. Maybe they will. If that happens, then it becomes a valid focus.
The Kotaku article and focus on the Cosby party won’t save them. The lawsuit proceeds regardless. It only impacts the court of public opinion, and could hurt a bunch of innocents. It’s shitty journalism, clickbait, because that picture on the bed with Cosby’s portrait looks so damning.
How? I would be very very surprised if that Cosby thing was the only actionable item in the suit. I’d expect mountains of evidence. No public agency would file suit against a multi-billion dollar company just based on that.
It entirely depends on whether there were women employees (or, actually male employees as well) who observed this behavior and felt it created a hostile, exclusionary environment. It absolutely could be used as part of evidence to establish a pattern which could then lead to a judgement against Blizzard.
There you go:
https://twitter.com/oliviadgrace/status/1420468265781010432?s=20
https://twitter.com/skrutsick/status/1420524377293037570?s=20
Both coworkers…
I don’t think anyone in that photo should have their career ruined based on that photo. Combined with a lot of other evidence coming to light, it certainly isn’t a good look for them, though.
I’m more disgusted with Blizzard as a whole than I am all the individuals in that picture. The photo and chat log and all the allegations in the lawsuit… it just paints a really gross picture. When on the company dime, I don’t think they would be openly doing shit like that unless it was the cultural norm there, and that is the big problem, IMO.
Just looked it up, Olivia Grace didn’t work at Blizzard until 2015. Also it’s very clear she holds no ill will towards Greg Street from that Twitter thread.
Stephanie Krutsick said Afrasiabi harassed her at the hotel bar, not at the Cosby suite.
Ok, but she does mention the Cosby Suite in a 2014 tweet…
And is she joined in 2015 she IS talking about being invited to that same room (whatever the name was) then or after.
Because now they shift the conversation to how the State is exaggerating the alleged offenses. The lawsuit presents the Cosby Suite as a place in the Blizzard offices where a member of management would sexually assault employees. Turns out, it was a nickname for a party room at a conference, which literally every company has at these big cons.
All they need to do is cast a doubt and that’s enough for gamers to happily dismiss all of it to feed their WoW addictions and keep subscribing. Sure, they’ll get fined in court. Small potatoes compared to their entire division cratering due to mass exodus of disgusted customers.
It has the potential to confuse public opinion, sure. Ultimately being fined a billion dollars sends a stronger message, though.
BTW, I completely agree about the corporate culture being the problem. But we should focus on specific allegations, and not go after people just because they had a Y chromosome and were present, except to say “You must have known. Don’t be a coward next time.”
Here’s what the press release for the suit states:
Activision Blizzard, Inc., headquartered in Santa Monica, California and known for games such as “Call of Duty,” “Battle.net,” and “World of Warcraft” allegedly fostered a sexist culture and paid women less than men despite women doing substantially similar work, assigned women to lower level jobs and promoted them at slower rates than men, and fired or forced women to quit at higher frequencies than men. DFEH also alleges that African American women and other women of color were particularly impacted by Activision Blizzard’s discriminatory practices.
In addition, DFEH alleges that women were subjected to constant sexual harassment, including groping, comments, and advances. The lawsuit also alleges that the company’s executives and human resources personnel knew of the harassment and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the unlawful conduct, and instead retaliated against women who complained.
There are no allegations of sexual assault there (except groping) whether tied to the Cosby room or not. The suit alleges harassment and discrimination, not assault.
Anyone looking for an excuse to keep playing WoW will keep playing WoW regardless. What Kotaku says definitely isn’t going to impact their decision.
Another thing that’s happening is all this, which is probably more unsettling to ATVI’s board than the lawsuit from CA. The last thing they want is to have to battle dozens of additional lawsuits from investors.
Ahh, wow, was not aware of that. Now Kotick has got to be sweating.
Man, he must be afraid of getting fired and having to spend all his time swimming in his pool filled with money.
Sure, that would be very embarrassing for him. At his level the money is just keeping score, it’s all about status.