Blunt questions - Russian access

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Five games this evening. Five games of abuse from Russian users for sporting the Ukrainian flag as my player icon as I attempt to enjoy my evening playing Overwatch. Only took 1.5 hours. That was enough for me.

So, Blizzard, I will ask you some honest questions. Why do you still support Russia? Why do you maintain Russian accounts given the genocidal actions through its warmongering? Why do you continue to provide access to your games to a country that has, by NATO standards, committed war crimes? Why do you provide access to those drowning in anti-West propaganda that leads to online abuse upon those who would support its victims? Why have you not rescinded access to Russian accounts to proportionately follow the rest of the world’s standards by providing sanctions against Russia for its actions? How many games will I, and many others, have to endure receiving online abuse from Russians before you follow the global standard? Or would you recommend we remove ourselves from the online chat functions in the meantime while you cling to the financial benefits of Russian access?

Thanks.

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I don’t work for Blizzard or speak for Blizzard but I can clarify one point about their current policies.

March 5th ATVI, the parent company over Activision, Blizzard, and King, announced a stop to all sales to Russia.

This was the internal message sent to staff that went along with it.

Team -

Throughout the past week, we have watched the news from Ukraine and the worsening humanitarian crisis that is unfolding. Our company’s commitment is to help those impacted by this terrifying violence and to provide assistance in every way possible.

Today, we are announcing that Activision Blizzard will be suspending new sales of and in our games in Russia while this conflict continues. We will continue to look at ways to support the Ukrainian people. I want to reassure you that the safety of our employees is our leadership team’s top priority. We are doing everything possible to assist employees, and their families, who are being directly affected by this tragedy. If you or a colleague needs support, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your manager or local HR leaders. I’d also like to remind you that our Employee Assistance Program is available to those who need emotional support during this difficult time.

I also want to take a moment to recognize the incredible work of our teams to support the Ukrainian people. The company is matching employee donations 2:1 to organizations providing immediate relief in the region. Together we have raised over $300,000 in this effort. Next week we plan to add additional charities to choose from for consideration and also will raise the company matching limit from $1,000 to $10,000.

I’d also like to applaud the tremendous contributions from our colleagues in Poland, where people have volunteered their time to assist Ukrainian refugees and others in need. We continue to work with them to find ways we can further assist this effort. We stand with the Ukrainian people and will provide updates on any new actions we take as this crisis continues to unfold.

Daniel

Source: Activision Blizzard Suspends Sales in Russia and Raises Funds to Support Ukraine - MMO-Champion

I obviously can’t comment about access restrictions to existing accounts. My understanding is they have not blocked accounts by IP or address at this time. They have only blocked all sales of any kind (new games, in game MTX, game time, services).

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I’m grateful for your response. However, I’m aware of Blizzard’s knee-jerk reaction of stopping the sale of new accounts. This is why my questions address the continuation of Russian access, rather than the purchasing of new accounts, as, evidently, their initial response appears to be insufficient, especially in the wake of continued abuse received from Russians.

Thanks.

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If anyone is abusing you by breaking the Code of Conduct, you will want to be sure to use the in-game reporting tools to report them. That captures name, Btag, server, chat logs, etc.

You can read over the Code of Conduct here

Again though, MVPs are other players. I can only advise you of the current policies and tools.

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Oh yes, rest assured that they have already been reported using the in-game reporting feature. However, as per the typical Blizzard format, they require several reports of the same category within a specific time span. Therefore, I do not imagine this will be especially useful as many players simply do not utilise this feature sufficiently or do not report nearly enough on abuse of others within this context.

Thanks.

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