A recent lawsuit accuses the WoW team of being part of a "frat boy culture" - does that impact the story?

You bet, this kind of scandal in the era of the #Metoo CAN sink a company faster than we can say “I told you so!”.

If anything I think A LOT of executive heads will roll after this. And not in obvious ways, this will happen just the same as Afriasiabi´s: quietly.

Well, Valko, this will indeed be the “trial of fire” for the game community. Actual commitment to personal morals vs. game addiction issues.

The ones that care enough about this will leave and the ones too attached to the game won´t, period. His “shilling” won´t be terribly influencing as it is.