In all my years of activity on this forum, I have only ever talked about one thing. Anyone who knows me knows the subject of which I speak, even if they do not know what I am talking about. And most of the time, I feel like William Shatner in “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” claiming there is a gremlin on the wing of a my plane to the deaf and disbelieving ears of other passengers and flight crew.
Being joined by others in my cause makes me feel less alone and less crazy. I want to thank HULK, ŘïĝĜèĐ, and Bro who have taken up the torch in recent days, and shared with me the terrible burden of shedding light on the dark operations of modern game holding corporations. I want to thank all the hundreds (thousands?) of players who added their voices over the years to reject the use of Bayesian skill scoring frameworks and algorithmic handicapping in online games.
Please keep it going, everyone! When your voices die down, Activision/Blizzard can pretend that the matter is settled; that we consent to be exploited and abused in perpetuity. Don’t get caught up in emotionally and intellectually exhausting arguments with your detractors. Don’t burn out and stop participating in discussion. Don’t stop logging in to the forum and keeping tabs on the threads. Don’t stop holding votes on the issues that matter to you, even when online game publishers remove their forums’ polling features (cough, Activision).
But most of all, don’t give up, I need your help. Help me keep the word going here, and help me reach the influencers on social media. We need to keep caring, and we need our statement to go viral or nothing will ever change. Please share our argument and my own thread and video with whoever you can.