But he’s known to work as a CM for Blizz. In this world, he’s a minor celebrity.
It’s the same as when Rosanne went on Twitter and spouted nonsense and there was backlash and ABC fired her.
Whether he likes it or not, he represents his company on Twitter - whether it’s on his private twitter or on Blizzard’s twitter.
If you’ve ever worked for a big corporation, they will tell you not to get into trouble in public while wearing a company shirt (or anything that ID’s you as working for that company). They could terminate you if they feel that your actions hurts their business (we live in a world where everyone has a camera and video recorder - where everyone has access to the internet - where everyone has a bigger voice).
If he is explaining an issue or giving directions to get something done? Sure clarify away good communication is about being as clear as possible. If its some ‘random musing’ that any sensible person would in the current context construe to his disadvantage then no. Clarification after the fact in that case is covering tracks. The original statement unvarnished reveals the true thought.
That you think he only clarified as an effort to spin the perception of the statement qualifies you as extremely jaded. If you can’t or won’t see that then you are the problem right along with the others who feel the same.
The thing is you are absolutely right. I AM extremely jaded. One might even refer to me as cynical. But I have a long long history with this publishing company and this game in particular and have justification for being that cynical.
Oh yeah, there will be eye battings and mock drama queen faintings and outraged outrages and threats of lawsuits and criminal complaints and complete freak outs from the legion of wusses on the internet.
What happened to real GAMERS? Buncha namby pamby bozos playing this game since its playerbase includes Everybody.
No wonder they don’t want to engage the playerbase when people misconstrue what’s written, when they accuse them of lying when they muse about something they want to do but isn’t in the game, when people who can’t read right blast back about stuff they thought they read…Rosanne Rosanadana style.
Aye, but whether jaded or not, that doesn’t make either of our opinions fact. He clarified. Until such time as it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the clarification was not legitimate and was in fact a deflection, I plan to give him the benefit of the doubt.
When/if it comes out that such things are being said with the intent of dressing down myself or others in this game’s community, then I’ll be more than willing to jump on that bandwagon. Until then, I’m singing the Ode to Neutrality.
I might have been willing to give him some leeway if this were a first or rare devolvement into the valley of dismissal of this particular CM. However, his prior bad acts have given me reason enough to believe that he spoke his mind in the first tweet and moved to clarify after some period of reflection (and possibly influenced by someone within his chain of command) brought him to the spin zone.
Here is the problem with that. IF that was his intention, why not just make that clear in the tweet? I can give benefit of the doubt that it was overlooked, to most. However, he likes to push the envelope. And because of that, I have to believe that this was an after the fact try to save face comment. Unless the post happened at xx.04 Then the comment came at say xx.07 If that is the case I will openly admit that I took the tweet in the wrong way.
I would also like to point out the tweet does not bother me much, except the fact that
A) He speaks for the company. Having mixed business and personal into the one account brings an extra amount of scrutiny.
B) As a CM, he especially should know better the way that words act with this community. It is why we do not get exact dates on bug fixes, etc., unless they are set in stone and done.
C) He has a documented past history of pushing this envelope between players and the game and the company.
This has mattered less and less in modern media. If your account is linked to, in any way, your job account, you should expect people will get irritable.
Lore makes who he is well known, talks about his work related grievances, and is widely seen. Call it a private account all you want, if it were genuinely private it wouldn’t be used to publicly complain about players from his position of a dev/cm.
The trick with something being private is that it needs to stay private to be effective. I can’t strip naked and do illegal drugs in my front lawn, and then complain that it’s private property when I’m arrested. Private means for my use, it doesn’t protect me from repercussions. To be protected from those I need to engage in my activities where it won’t be related to the public.
TLDR
His Twitter is his personal Twitter, but it’s not private. Arguments can be made that he doesn’t speak for Blizzard, but arguments can also be made that people will form impressions of internal Blizzard workings from him regardless of the platform.
What a cm does on his or her personal account to represent themselves and their thoughts and opinions that are not necessarily representative of the companies thoughts or opinions are absolutely none of your concern.
I’m not saying that this manner of thinking isn’t fair. It is most definitely fair.
But that doesn’t make it fact nonetheless. This may seem like me being deliberately obtuse, but I’ve been the person with the bad reputation before, and my reputation wasn’t always indicative of my actual intent.
I overall agree. I think even a private• account reflects on blizzard/one’s employer, because when an employer hires an employee they hire the entire individual - which would include vetting personal• (I don’t think this qualifies as private since we all “know” about it) accounts, too.
That said, CMs are human and I think giving them some leash and having the ability to vent is important, too. Shows they’re human. Maybe we can try to appreciate where they’re coming from? Perhaps devil’s advocate of me