Polygon article

Community General Discussion
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Well surprise, surprise!

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Gasp

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Blizzard went from most beloved company, to most toxic and deprived company. Least they’re still the best at something.

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All these workers can expect change the same time Amazon improves the conditions of their Warehouses :laughing:

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So I got to ask. If the job is horrible, under pays, you get treated like garbage and you have months of going unpaid, then why in god’s name are you still working there? McDonalds starts higher then the reported pay for these workers.

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All 15 current and former employees Polygon spoke to, as well as the majority of workers that emailed statements through a representative, said that pay is exceptionally low, with rates as low as $12 an hour.

Am I misunderstanding something?

The official California website says minimum wage should be $14/hr at this point, how are they being paid $12/hr legally?

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These workers are not in CA.

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Ah ok, that would be a key factor :laughing:

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A combination of the mentality of “it will get better”, the desire to work at a dream company, and sometimes you may be desperately attempting to find work somewhere else but either no one is hiring or too many are trying to leave to find a new job. There’s also the issue of people moving to California and potentially getting stuck in leases that they can’t break because they don’t have the money to so while they’re searching for something new, they’re stuck because they need money.

It’s a pretty cruel situation to be in that I imagine those hiring at Blizzard know and recognize, and use to string people along like they’re leading a starving dog with a strip of bacon. It’s also similar to how sometimes people in abusive relationships just can’t get away. Not everything is as easy to cut out of your life.

To be fair, the article mentions the Texas and Minnesota offices, too. Texas’ minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and Minnesota’s is $10.08 an hour.

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Oof, I don’t make minimum wage anymore but I remember that pain :weary: My state only recently increased ours

It’s $9.50 now :unamused:

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A lot of those positions are in Austin Texas and in Minnesota I believe. So different minimum wages.

In Texas $12/he is actually above min. Texas uses the Federal min of $7.25/hr

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Activision-Blizzard doesn’t always mean Blizzard.

Blizzard doesn’t have offices in Austin or Minnesota. The article is directed at the Activision Call of Duty side.

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They’re in Texas and Wisconsin.

They’re making above minimum wage for Texas ($7.25), but below a true livable wage for a place like Austin.

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Yeah, I’m super happy to not be at minimum anymore (Washington is up to $13.69, which
doesn’t sound bad, but then you take a look at the cost of living and
oof).

Though I do make a decent wage, I’m running into the issue I think similar to here where the company will claim you’re making “better than minimum wage”, but the local housing and living situations are just “Lol, no.”

I feel for the employees here, though. As a QA individual, I absolutely understand many people see the job as useless or easy or like you’re not doing anything. I sincerely hope things improve for them, because it’s clear that Acti-Blizz’s treatment of QA has seeped into at least some of their games (Blizzard and their bugs, let alone subjective content issues). It makes my QA heart cry.

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The article says they see it as a way to potentially get into the gaming industry. Also many gig workers don’t have a good enough employment history to get a normal full-time job.

You hold up McDonald’s as if it’s an alternative but fast food is a dead end for most people. A few get onto management track but most employees just work the grill or window a couple years and burn out.

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because they hire people from SA to work for blizzard (from home) kek

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That’s horrible for those people. It took all this, but maybe it will change things.

And a classic divert attention from misused employees by “why not quit.” ITS not that easy. Why do so many people make it sound like it’s easy to just up and quit jobs. Most of the time they eventually do
hence the mention of a high turn over of employees?

This isn’t about quitting, it’s about having to endure it in the first place.

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They are far more likely to move into McD’s management then break into the gaming industry working as a low paid gig worker. Especially the call support staff.

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Most of these workers are probably working in Blizzard’s Austen, Texas offices. Texas minimum wage is $7.25.

People living outside California aren’t going to get California Pay.

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