Don’t revise history. Allegations get made all the time. Cosby was initially accused by a women who were telling stories 3 decades old with no evidence to back them up. They may have been true, but they got absolutely no traction and few people took them seriously. It looked like these chicks had engaged consensually and were trying to extort money out of a celebrity. Cosby was a family-friendly comedian many of us grew up with and thought of as his on-air character. People believed him, and not the accusers.
It wasn’t until there started to be a large pattern forming, a half a dozen of women and more coming out every day, with very similar allegations, some who shared their stories in some form at the time of the alleged incident… that’s when people started believing the claims. You can’t revise that history away. You can’t act like “everyone knew” when that was not the case at all early on. That’s how he got away with it for so long. People believed him.
Also, go back and read that timeline I linked to on ABC News so that you’re actually educated on the facts, then re-read what I actually wrote was my opinion in that same post. If you’re going to be a snarky troll, at least know what you’re arguing against. If you’re still incapable of basic English reading comprehension, I said “I don’t know for sure and I don’t believe the story I’m being told about an ugly boardroom”.
In 2005, Bill Cosby in a civil trial admitted to drugging and raping women. These court documents were not unsealed until 2015.
Blizzard now has confirmed that their own internal investigation led to Afrasiabi’s firing and has confirmed the “Cosby Suite” (see the Kotaku article). Also, group chats have also been shared that highlight what the Cosby Suite was really about for at least some of the participants. There are even photos. Facts are facts. Many allegations ultimately prove to be true.
No history revision here. Unless you lived in a cave Cosby was already been portrayed as creepy rapey man long before 2014. Sometime in the mid 2000’s maybe early 2010ish. But way before 2014.
Just because you didn’t believe the accusations, doesn’t mean a lot of other people didn’t. Everyone’s experience is going to vary and I’m really not sure why you are hell bent on trying to defend this as something else in the first place.
Yea, I remember that shocking allegation well. Things settled down until 2014 when Cosby basically tweeted “Hey internet, why not make a meme about me! Bill Cosby!”
My Initial reply was not directed at you, to troll you, but you seemed to think that was the case, so I’m sorry if you feel that way. I was generally commenting on why people would try to defend that crap and then you came along to defend it. So now it is directed at you. Which is not personal but an odd thing to try and defend.
(TLDR I was agreeing with you until you decided to flip your opinion on me)
It seems so. I don’t know him at the personal level but from his recently, Diablo Immortal videos and when he randomly joined an Immortal streamer and have a chat with the streamer for almost an hour, I can feel an air of niceness from that.
He even sent gifts with a note written by himself to those Immortal streamers recently as a thanks for testing the Alpha Immortal.
So you didn’t go back and read the timeline. I literally posted a factual timeline from a mainstream news source that gave you specific events and the years in which they occurred. I re-read the whole thing before I posted to jog my memory. I can’t discuss with you if we can’t agree on a basic set of facts and if you continue to try and twist what I said. I’m not about to get forced into defending the indefensible simply because I demand a basic level of skepticism and won’t just grab the torches and pitchforks until I see evidence that convinces me.
If you wish to persist on asserting I’m defending something I’m absolutely not, I will not waste time replying to you further, especially after you doubled down on it just now.
If I recall correctly, this was the event that changed everything, when those records were unsealed in 2015.
I think it’s pretty clear that Afrasiabi was a predator who couldn’t keep his pants zipped and his hands to himself. As the Kotaku article showed, he got fired for it by friends who made excuses for him for far too long before their loyalty finally ran out. Often times, we’re misguided and make excuses for our friends to try and help them, even when we shouldn’t. It’s certainly an understandable motive, even if it was a case of misplaced loyalties (they should’ve cared about their employees more). Afrasiabi’s lucky to have avoided criminal charges from the sound of it.
I saw those chat logs. Here’s what GC is saying: https://twitter.com/Ghostcrawler/status/1420511905886531585
Re: the group chat. Dave was talking about his own wife and a friend. It was a joke, not intended for a broad audience. But the chat is gross and I completely understand how it looks. I should have said something.
Do you believe him? Many don’t. I tend to because he’s always struck me as a very straight forward guy. He’s been clear on both his statements that he thinks he could have and should have done better. He hasn’t dodged the question or tried to deflect. My read right now is that these guys were all close friends. They needed to be to work the way they did. They knew what was going on, but friendship is such that you let stuff slide that you shouldn’t to protect your buddy. “Frat house culture” seems more and more accurate the more I read, because this does happen in houses where one creep ends up getting protected by his friends and it enables their behavior, and encourages others to try too.
If you really want to fix things, you’ve got to spend time understanding motives so you can get down to the root causes.
I heard that there are not much trade unions in the US, and none in the gameing indusrty. I don’t know how much is that true, but here, when you go to work for a company you have the option to be a part of one. They advocate for the workers rights, and force companies by legal means to make them take it in to accaunt. In this situation it would be verry much advised to form one.
This is completely wrong way of thinking, just like in “my one single vote does not matter in the bigger picture”. Every vote, every purchased product maters. Ask Netflix, who lost half a millions subscribers only in the US for the last quarter. Not buying = sending a message. And to me, Blizzard for a long time are beyond the need of being sent a message because of their behavior.
Not really, the game will not be boycotted by everyone. There is no way possible to get a majority of gamers to do this. And frankly it’s a slap to the face of thise who make games that have nothing to do with the garbage practices from above.
Like I suggested further in my post, I’ll be donating to causes that help support abuse survivors as well as playing a game I wish to play. And what message did Netflix receive? My sub fee isn’t dropping any time soon.
If even just 5% boycott a product it would be a terrible loss for the company.
I doubt 5% will end up boycotting Blizzard, but it definitely can matter, even if it is a small minority.
Yeah, unions should exist everywhere, in all industries.
I know some people are trying to get unions going for the gaming industry in US. But it is difficult. With the companies figting to prevent it. Employees should use situations like this to force the issue.
Boycitting may not be the best answer to the situation, from the consumers. You see, you won’t exactly just punish those, that are at fault, but you’ll end up punishing those that are not, and maybe even the victims too.
That is true, but sometimes it might take some collateral damage to force improvements through. If the companies are not hit on their profits, they will have little reason to ever change, unless the lawsuit can nail them.
I am not boycotting, at least not as it currently stands, but boycotting seems like a very valid response to all of this.
Ugh, speaking of unions…
The company that Kotick hired for an investigation:
One of the most valuable investments a company can make is in training managers, supervisory staff and human resources professionals on how to manage efficiently within the confines of applicable labor and employment laws. Clients look to us to provide training as a preventative measure, to help avoid litigation and minimize legal exposure, as well as to enhance the effectiveness of their managers.
Throughout the United States we offer a wide range of customized training programs and workshops at our clients’ premises, as well as seminars and innovative programs adapted to clients’ specific needs. Our training programs include: providing a legal-psychological perspective on managing employees through effective communication; preventing, identifying and dealing with sexual and other unlawful harassment; advising on union awareness and avoidance; dealing with violence in the workplace; managing the interaction between the FMLA, ADA and workers compensation; enhancing interviewing skills and hiring while minimizing legal risks; and understanding restrictive covenants (e.g. non-competition agreements). https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/solutions/labor-and-employment
Yeah, you are not helping the situation here Kotick. Seems more like a thug team sent in to stop those unruly employees. Sounds like the same company Amazon is using to make sure employees keep peeing in bottles.
Boycotts seem a whole lore more enticing once again.
Yes, that is exactly what I sent him a thank you note about. The DI hoodie and powerbank. I did not actually get to test it, because I don’t have a phone that can play it. A was able to get a close friend into the Alpha though and he brought over his iPad so I could see.
It was really strange to be included in the “gift” group. That had not happened in the 10 or so years I have been helping out.
Wyatt though, is not part of the problem that I know of. He also was not into the party and drinking culture. You know what he did in the evenings at Blizzcon? Played board games with people in public areas or talked development and design. He REALLY loves games and game design of all sorts.
Exactly. That “anti union” team is not going to be viewed as helpful by the staff. Quite the opposite. It comes off as trying to force staff into compliance with laws, without actually changing the root problems.
Heh… Sort of.
I think control of awareness or avoidance for worker unions is at the initiative of the management here, so investigation company deals the situation depending on what they’re asked for. At least I hope it will be dealt that way. Investigation company may look intimidating but if things get handled properly, I imagine it will be just fine.
I was expecting them to cave-in and never respond until the next financial quarter, which isn’t far away but responses arriving that quickly rather surprised me. I wasn’t even expecting any high chairs to take this serious at the start. I think stock going down really did a number on them.
If I get this whole ordeal right, only Blizzard employees have been dealing with this weird workplace environment. Things were fine over at Activision and King as far as I can tell for gender equality at least. Can’t say anything about salaries because I have no idea. The direct interlocutor of this file would be Blizzard only. Correct me if I’m wrong because I really haven’t read any bad memories of an Activision or King employee yet, but Activision workers also joined their colleagues protests. So when Activision take over this situation, it sounds like maybe not good, but it’s at least better than what has been going on to me.
This case explains many different things at once with what was wrong with Blizzard along all these few years. Mike Morhaime leaving before this whole investigation starting, World of Warcraft lore took many bad turns in the newest expansion packs with Afrisaibi at the lead and year-to-year growth were under expectations for Blizzard due weird workplace conditions. As the only CEO of Activision-Blizzard, it is Kotick’s responsibility to finally take measures.
Unions won’t happen in IT because IT workers are all convinced that they are so damned good that they will always be employed. Most of them think Atlas Shrugged is rational. I was explaining why they were wrong on Slashdot.org 30 years ago.
They are delusional - because management knows that IT workers at all levels are fungible, (with the exception of the folks that grok COBOL - those folks can still write their own tickets, because most of the Bet Your Business stuff still runs on it).
If they can’t get them locally, they will H1B the office. Productivity be damned.
The people who make those decisions will never be fired because of their bad decision making process.
