Nevalistis worked at Blizzard first in CS for years before a layoff in 2012. Then again in Community as a Diablo Associate Community Manager.
No, she did not really experience the serious sexual harassment. But she had very significant thoughts on that and the rest of the professional culture. Particularly the disregard for parts of the team
Note, when she left she was the only Community person there. They replaced her with 3-4 people. It was not the first time she did everyone elses job while trying to support the players.
Readā¦it also addresses the Diablo Immortal stuff. I get why I was left to tank the forums after she was forced to post the legal/pr response.
I have an immense amount of respect for Brandy. And she never shared most of this while she was working. I only realized much of it because it happened to me in a tangential field.
I honestly hope her new dream job at Wizards of the Coast on D&D treats her as the amazing person she is!
Itās terrible that she was continually passed up for promotions but whatās even worse is knowing that if she did get them there would end up being those types who try to invalidate it by saying she mayāve slept her way up the totem pole
I have had a similar experience. Not as intense or as long standing as hers, but similar. It happened when I was working as a dispatcher for a limousine company in Burbank, CA. I was overworked, underpaid, and looked at as āset dressingā for the office. One of the staff hit on me in the parking garage, and my boss had the demeanor of a lounge lizard. When I gave my notice and quit, they refused to pay me what they owed and I had to go to the state labor board to get it. The whole situation was a nightmare, so I completely understand Brandyās view of things.
There were coworkers who would push back on this āspecial treatment.ā I noticed that, after I was drugged and went to to the emergency room during a party at PAX West,
What the heck? Seriously, what the heck?
Also I hope people here who used to insult Nevalist openly and harshly due to Immortal fiascos at 2018 should feel āproudā and āhappyā now for their inconsiderate actions at that time. People knew she was a scapegoat in that incident yet people still keep harassing on her merciless. It was fortune she didnāt commit suicide at that time.
I was kinda sad when she left Diablo and Blizzard at that time because she was my favorite Diablo CM as she shared a lot of neat information about D3 development at Reddit Diablo in the past but now I am happy that she left Blizzard after learning how bad was the working environment and condition at the Blizzard.
This is why trade unions should be a thing in the industry, and in the US overal. A third party advocacy could help the workers a lot in such maters. Specialy whit in big companies like Actiblizzard.
Iāve always admired Nevalistis/Brandy during her tenure here as a CM. She was not only professional, but aimed to be as friendly to the community as much as she can in spite of all these things happening in the background.
So sorry to hear this coming from her, and she definitely deserved better. Also wow, sheās now at Wizards of the Coast? Thatās neat!
I am always sceptical about these women/equality issues because from my personal experience they dont not exist where I live really and often it is just about special treatment and attention seeking and then we also had real cases of false accusations that went to court and even tho the person was proven innocent, they still lost their job/reputationā¦
But I do not live in the US and therefore it is a very different enviroment.
So after reading this statement and some other stuff I have to ask:
WTF is wrong with you americans and disrespecting women?
I dont know a single company in my country where alcohol at work would ever be allowed (other than construction) or any of this mentioned behaviour and I myself worked for several female supervisors/managers and I was always treated fairly and vice versa.
The toxicity that comes out of the US nowadays is just unreal.
Its like you still living in the dark ages.
I really donāt know her that much. Watched a couple of videos and read some messages. But she seemed like one you would talk to from Blizzard. The passion I got from her, was the thing I knew I would seek out if I would associate with Blizzard.
I am a feminist myself and stands for equal rights. So, even with these extremely bad things have happened, I am also glad they came out, so they can be adressed and be used to build a better foundation
Clearly youāve never lived or worked in most of the Asian countries, as I have, where toxic male work culture has flourished for many hundreds of years. Stop bashing America just because itās politically convenient. And, btw, if youāre crying about the dark ages, spill your tears on any or all of the mid-East countries.
Uff, so they really wanted to show D4 @ Blizzcon but decided otherwise and left the CM to burn. Developer Ego seems to be problematic. Even If good feedback is provided, then they wonāt change based on feedback given, cause it would hurt their Ego. How they just care for investors they showed clearly with pulling the plug out of HotS. Whilst not telling pro gamers, CMs and own developers. And She got almost no support. Just can hope that things will change now to the better. And the new CM Team will get more support. Actually Iām missing community events like play your way and other stuff. And a toxic environment kills creativity.
One thing I just donāt get is this concept of party and drinking to blow off steam because the job is āmentally draining and very poorly paidā
I work in care, 12 hour shifts looking after elderly people with dementia for little over minimum wage.
It can be extremely mentally and physically exhausting, often just 2 of us on a night shift where we have to look after up to 20 challenging individuals.
The last thing I want to do when I get home is party, often I want to crawl in to bed and cry but just try to relax and play video games instead.
It seems to me that this would be some essential pre-reading for anyone that is trying to stay up-to-date on what the specifics are with the lawsuit. Up until a few days ago I was not aware that anything was amissā¦ I decided to take a look at the official Diablo forum, just to see if I could get some info about a few things I had missed. I saw a post about the lawsuit, and started doing some research online with āreliableā sources (i.e. Kotaku), and Iāll just say that I was totally blown away. The picture of Bill Cosby is nothing short of mortifying in any social setting, let alone a work setting.
While the post by Nevalistis is totally valid as a piece of damning evidence of the toxicity of the video game industry, it also serves as documentation of the āno seriouslyā¦ women do have it worse in the workforceā discussion in a general sense. I have two daughters that verbally smack me over the head occasionally for my lack of seeing things from their perspective. They are both at the entering-the-workforce age, and they are both short. From my male perspective, that āshouldnāt make any difference,ā but they are quick to point out that they feel intimidated by men, and they have to step it up to compensate. Although I donāt (and canāt) see it from their perspective, I believe them, and I have adjusted my thinking, behavior, and overall attitude because of their forthrightness.
Back to Blizzā¦ Iāve been a fan of this company since SC1 was sold in boxes. In all honesty, I will continue to play their games, but I will be watching this lawsuit closely. Iāve been saying for a long long time that video game armor differences between male and female characters is not at all what fans care about. The sexualization of female characters is not what people play games for. Sure, that might be one aspect of a game that a certain breed of person pays attention to, but if the gameplay is good (in Blizzardās case, very good), then people will log in each day and do their rifts, heroics, etc. I bring this up because it has occurred to me in the last few days that Iāve been reading about this that the āfratboyā sensibility seems to be reflected in the armor decisions. I mean, I wondered about that before, but now it seems like a totally valid point.
Anyway. This is a long post, and Iām sorry for that. Misogyny sucks, and I have a lot to say about it
Everyone is different. You probably have introvert inclinations where social interaction or high activity situations drain you. They may be extroverted, where they need the social interactions and high activities events. Iām sure some of it is peer pressure, my friends are doing it so I need to as well. After a long stressful day, like you, Iād rather just come home and chill on the couch.
I sent her a note once and tried to encourage her to not be discouraged by some of the comments that she was reading on this forum. I also gave the new CMs a heads up that they would need to be thick skinned when it came to some of the goofballs on the forum.
A fascinating (but frustrating) read about the behind-the-scenes Diablo. I always suspected the D3 developers were the problem. Developer Ego, or what I call (Not Invented Here - NIH) is a real thing, to no oneās surprise. No wonder our feedback is circular-filed and the devs donāt even seem to know how the game works (re: MotBC, Etched Sigil or Winter Flurry).
I apologized to Brandy for any stress I placed on her via Twitter.
While I get your daughters want you to see things from their perspective, and you should at least to examine (nothing says you have to automatically accept their view), have you ever asked them to look at things from your viewpoint?
An all together truthful statement about Asia. I know Japan way too well.
In Japan, office ladies are not expected to most beyond being office ladies. They are expected to leave before they hit 30 so they can get married and have children. And yes, I phrased that right, they are expected to leave, not choose to leave.
Until a couple of decades ago, it was legal to date and jump in bed with any person over the age of 16. Many rich business and political men were known to pay teenagers to be friends. Then outside pressure made them change the laws to placate them. It still happens.
If you ever hear prostitution does not exist there, ask yourself where the term āred light districtā comes from. A lot of it goes on under other terms, like special hot water baths.
America is not unique in what it does. Males being the highest on the totem pole is instinctual. In some species, it is the reverse.
However, humans have made the decision to start working against that and letting females show just how good they are. Since they can be just as good as males, this is a very good thing to reach for. But there are so many who just want to be animals that we have to remind them that some of the greatest discoveries made were done by women. Marie Curie is one of the most well known and shows why women deserve respect.
I want to write a good ending here, but my own emotions on this topic make me want to write an end that demonizes Blizz as much as I can. So, I will leave it with this; if you think women get too emotional or cannot act properly for a position, then why are there so many male executives who are brought in for drugs, underage prostitution, and assault?
