What about D2R, D:I or any other Blizzard game?
D2R was supposed to be my last game, but now I’m not even sure about that. DI I might play if it’s cracked by Fairlight and released for computers.
I hear rumors about new Windows having native emulation support or something? So maybe down the road no cracks or emulators will be required.
I don’t have a device to play DI on either.
Native support for running the game wont help with controls though. But would be interesting with good PC support.
HR isn’t there for the humans they are there for the corporation. Sadly the overpaid HR departments are responsible for this culture. I can’t imagine trying to stay at a job if I was being treated lie Brandy was.
1 Like
Just wanted to chime in here and say Nevalistis accomplishments and lasting impact she had on the Diablo franchise is forever important.
The Diablo franchise and community wouldn’t be here without her contributions. I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to work with her but can say that she set paved the way for the current community team to do so much. I’m glad I can still keep in touch with her and I’m glad she is thriving on D&D as the Wizards of the Coast crew are close friends and rockstars!
28 Likes
Thank you MissCheetah for sharing the blogpost, it’s pretty eye-opening in terms of how people were treated, what the company culture was like, and just how toxic and mismanaged it has been.
2 Likes
I will add I hope you don’t have to suffer this same frustrations as Nevalistis did, Pez.
4 Likes
Sadly, that’s going to be management dependent. Until things improve in those parts of Blizzard where the power is, he’ll be just as limited in scope as Brandy was, despite having to do a lot more than the job title alludes to.
Activision-Blizzard is morally bankrupt and utterly toxic, and I will not be purchasing any of their future games for as long as I live.
Blizzard is dead, money ruins everything.
These issues have existed in industry far and wide with, or without, money. Money did not make people behave that way nor did it make them devalue their coworkers.
It just lets them get away with it longer.
3 Likes
I find it a little bit hard to believe that though.
3 Likes
If it took having money to make people harass, abuse, discriminate, etc - we would never have any people in jail or up for charges who were poor.
Money did not make them do that. It just lets them get away with it longer - see powerful people in entertainment, media, politics, business.
You just get called out on it/caught faster when you don’t have the money or power to protect bad behavior.
Money and power just protect people from consequences of their actions.
5 Likes
I have always enjoyed Nev/Brandy when she was on the forums and putting out videos and stuff.
I thought she was one of the best faces of the Diablo 3 community team they ever had.
After reading that post above, I am actually upset over what happened to her over her time there. That is all unthinkable!
I don’t blame her for leaving. I also never blamed her for the DI fiasco, though I knew she had to take a lot of heat over it, being the public face so to speak.
Man.
I’m just really bothered by her having to have gone through all that. Ugh.
And Cheetah has known me for a long time, I’m usually pretty hard to get that upset, but this hit me hard today.
Speaking of, one of these days we should chat and catch up… 
Game on respectfully.
3 Likes
Wayy too self-centric, perhaps that’s why it’s legit but still self-centric
There IS a sad truth in the world that we live in, not the ones that produce and care the most get the promotion, but the ones that manipulate things the most in order to get it. Also when things go wrong it’s the “freshest hired” individual that gets either the axe or the blame
If I were like her I’d have had to write 5 “essays” like these, but come on, there’s ALWAYS another position/job/company, and your new effort will probably be better than the ones previously
Some people just think expectation for perfection and justice is a norm, it isn’t, the real issue is well-described in the first paragraph, “mentally exhausting and low pay”…
Here’s a simple example at my first job lol, the very first day I showed up I was given the screwdriver and a bunch of old PCs and the task I got was “assemble something you can work on with”, then the next half-year or whatever got a task to rework 9 reports and create a new one in 4 days… Not only I did rework them but made the new one better (silly me :P), the result ?, you think I got a “bravo” or a commendation or a reward or something ?, nope, what I got is the good ol’ “why didn’t you make the previous ones with the new change” 
I mean, it’s part of the whole story, bosses, managers, e.t.c. are jerks, it’s simple as that… Kudos to the exceptions and I mean for real, but it is what it is
IDK, I won’t discredit articles on personal experience/s but kinda feels “self-centric” when the whole tone of things goes like “I’m highly qualified worker but didn’t get respected” kind of thing
Heck this year alone in a team of 4 people we got the greatest praise/commendation from the company while simultaneously I got a warning and got placed under PIP… :P, sometimes think people take “reviews and grading” and all that stuff too seriously
4 Likes
Blizzard is not the first, nor the last in this situation. This is present all across the industry, and in other indusrties as well. This feels worse, because you feel closer to the company than any other maybe. You’re free to boycott them, by never buying from them, but cosider the fact, that then you shouldn’t buy anything ever again, from other companies, because there’s a chance that those have the same issues, or other issues that are toxic and immoral, they are just not highlighted. And if after this Blizzard dosen’t need to shut down complitely, they deserve a chance to redeem themself.
2 Likes
The fact that there are a lot of bad leaders out there should hardly be shrugged off with ‘it is what it is’. People should fight to get better leaders then.
Part of Nevs post was a story about how that is not the case.
Can’t say it has been my experience either.
Definitely true. People can ‘game the system’, sell themselves for more than they are worth, but that is still quite different from the allegations described by Nev and others. Where it isn’t about some individuals being able to oversell themselves, but rather nepotism, bigotry etc. being the determining factors. Which emphasizes not the role of the person receiving the promotion, wage increase or whatever, but the person giving it.
People can take a stance against something terrible, without also having to take a stance in every single scenario in the world. Fighting one good fight is not invalidated by the existence of other problems in the world.
(please forgive this post’s length but I hope you find it passably fulfilling…)
I hardly ever post on game forums, but this issue has really irked me. Nev was treated horribly during her tenure at Blizzard…she certainly had many, many reasons to leave and I hope she’s in a much better place now (both financially AND mentally/emotionally). I’ve been stuck in some crappy jobs myself (including my current employment but I should be finally leaving for much greener pastures soon) and they are absolutely NO FUN! I’ve had many, many days where I’ve left work in a totally foul mood, and I’m sure my worst days don’t equal the torment Nev endured all these years. The true tragedy of it is that this happened at Blizzard!
Way back, when I had a (very unrealistic) dream of getting into the video game industry, Blizzard was where I wanted to go. That was where they made fantastic worlds of magic…it was supposed to be the dream destination for any gaming geek’s career. Now though, the veneer isn’t just tarnished, it has rotted into decay. Nev’s re-telling of her accomplishments at Blizzard almost mimics the toils and perseverance of the heroes in the games that Blizzard makes. She worked hard to earn her “six-piece set bonus” there; her tale of working on Team 3’s game jam sounds equivalent to mastering one of the more trying set dungeons. Yet, for all her efforts, her worth was no more than one of Warcraft’s lowly peons – ready to work hard on assigned tasks, but ultimately cheap and disposable.
I’ve largely lost my interest in working the video game industry (my artistic talent is no where near that level) but the overall glamour of that industry has also faded a lot as video games have become much more of a serious business. Blizzard now seems to have fallen from its pedestal and really can be seen as a horrible example. Blizzard used to be a special place in the video game world…they prized the control they had over the quality of their products, proudly cancelling the (in)famous “Warcraft Adventures” to avoid a potentially embarrassing blemish on their record. Undoubtedly, working at Blizzard must have been much more enjoyable back in those days as well (horror tales of the Diablo II crunch notwithstanding). Now though, Blizzard’s products have suffered over the years, and Nev’s tales of her trials reveal a toxic and discriminatory workplace.
Sadly, as others have mentioned, the workplace at Blizzard is far from a unique example and is way too common place. I’m male, and while I have not had a very fruitful career myself, I know how frustrating it is to work your butt off and never receive proper recognition (or reward!) so really feel for anyone that gets a raw deal like that…and it’s a real shame that women (and minorities too!) are so easily trapped in that cycle.
1 Like
Make yourself at home. I write longer posts than that. At least 2 screens long and are garbage, making way less sense yet people read them. Just separate long blocks to smaller paragraphs and people won’t feel like looking at an eyesore.
I can relate to your thoughts as well.
Pffft. Nobody has anything on my novellas. 