Stormwind has always been more “tolerant” of mages especially considering they have their own district in the city. I would like to think Stormwind humans have simply become even more tolerant as they years kept going by(not that all prejudices are gone, just that those are usually more subtle now).
Stormwind as a city now allows demon looking draenei, void using elves, worgens, demon hunters, death knights etc. At this point mages are probably “less dangerous looking” than some of the other inhabitants of the city.
The allegations in the deposition have to be backed by evidence that will hold up in court- otherwise that’s defemation, and Activision’s team of high priced lawyers will tear it apart.
Just imagine the crap they couldn’t include. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and it already looks awful. Burn it to the ground.
I think that might’ve been a sensible move, once upon a time. But we’ve all seen so many companies give the same statement so wearily often that I could probably recite it from memory. Something something diversity and inclusion. Something something taking allegations seriously, something investigation. Something something we’re hurt and sad too, please perceive us as an individual capable of emotion and not a gargantuan enterprise that treats human life like a toddler treats their least favorite toy.
Does this do anything for anyone other than further enrage them?
And that damn email making the rounds is such sanitized corporate dribble. Obviously that was meant to be shown to the public.
You know what would’ve perked my ears up? If they were mad as hell. I don’t want to hear about how saddened they are. I want someone not just promising but detailing how;
A. Heads will roll over this; we’re going to track down everyone explicitly and implicitly responsible for this and pin them to a wall. They will all be caught, and they will all be made an example of.
And
B. Here is a detailed plan about how we intend to reform things to ensure nothing even vaguely similar to this can ever happen again.
But they’re not going to do that. Because they don’t want anything to actively change. Sounds like they were having some Wolf Of Walstreet tier debauchery. They don’t want that party to end, they’re just turning down the music and the lights in the hopes the police investigating the complaints wander off.
Man, even if they DO end up doing something, they will never tell so. Again: it´s the business culture. If the mere suspicion (cause until the trial runs it´s course this lawsuit is nothing but an accusation and the acussed is still pending from their chance at defending themselves) is good enough to make some shareholders take their money and GTFO, an actual aknowledgment that those things DID happen will scare them ALL and sink financially the company faster than the Titanic.
We will never know simply because the very nature of the real business prevents so.
I don’t. I really don’t. It seems very naive to me to think that’s the case.
It seems to me like nothign changed at all… it’s still the same. It’s still happening.
Well let’s wait and see before we are getting optimistic. Didn’t see much change in the company yet. For the story? Perhaps, I think the next expansion will only revel this really. I am really not optimistic. It’s good you can be though.
Racism and sexism tend to go hand in hand too, I can’t imagine Blizzard is exactly unaware of the racial stereotypes and harmful messaging they’ve been pushing with the in-game races, particularly the horde races pretty much being inherently evil as compared to the alliance races. A topic that’s been touched on here before, but after these allegations I suspect we can start taking discussions regarding the two in WoW more seriously.
It’s also about time to trash that whole “don’t compare video game story/lore to real life” idea. As we can see, people’s real life ideologies work their way into writing.
Attendee: I love what you guys done with World of Warcraft, I love the fact that you have a lot of very strong female characters, however I was wondering if we could have some that don't look like they've stepped out of a Victoria's Secret catalogue?
Alex Afrasiabi: What do you mean?
J. Allan Brak: Wait, wait, wait-
Tom Chilton: Which catalogue would you like them to step out of?
Alex Afrasiabi: Could you see Sylvanas looking any other way? Right? So, we feel you, and, uh, we want to vary our female characters, absolutely, um, so, yeah, we’ll pick different catalogues.
J. Allan Brak: Hey Alex? What catalogue is that Tauren female coming out of?
Alex Afrasiabi: Not one you’d read.
J. Allan Brak: Sexy sexy cow business.
Tom Chilton: Some sort of agricultural…
Well, who knows if people who talk about what is right™ now will actually come forward as coherent with what they say in the future.
Will we see more of it relative to the situation unfolding?
To how the company treated its customers?
To the narrative those people create?
Or will it be “for the justice!” at the time there is demand for it, but they they will go “but actually who cares about the player grievances” or “but you know, justice is not as important when there are characters involved that we personally like”.
Likely I won’t be active on the forums by the time it will be possible to see, but the rest might keep an eye on what those suddenly vocal people will actuall do.
nah, the real victims are the real victims. and to a lesser but still true extent, the fans that were exposed to harmful messaging and narratives, in particular those of the groups that would be portrayed badly.
No one would sit here and say things like Mein Kampf or Uncle Tom’s cabin or Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” didn’t affect the reader’s view on certain subjects. The same is true of any piece of media, WoW included; even if it doesn’t have as much impact.
I don’t like this suggestion that people are unable to come to their own conclusions on things themselves and that all beliefs are the product of subliminal messaging by way of the cartoon video game. People have already been suggesting not so subtly lately that if you
A) Have anything good to say about the story, or
B) Prefer the Alliance over the Horde
Then it’s because you’re a secret racist and/or sexist or it’s because you’re receptive to racist and/or sexist messaging.
