Think we are about to see another wave.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Breakbeat

Enormous company-wide meetings at both headquarters this morning.

Though for entirely different reasons. One discussing clean-up, another preparation.

---

and likely a fair bit of "who talked?????"

Can we not make jokes about this topic please? I know these jokes are well intentioned since they are mocking Activision Blizzard. However, this is one of the most abhorrent circumstances I’ve witnessed in a long while.

For Bill Cosby people can write it off as just one evil person abusing his power who needs to get punished.

But the fact a woman at Blizzard was sexually harassed to the point she committed suicide is nothing to joke at. Her nudes were spread around the office during a company retreat for her to be humiliated in front of everyone. Her supervisor was found to have sex toys at the company retreat she committed suicide at.

This can’t just be written off as one guy being evil, there are so many people involved, I feel physically ill just thinking about it. I’m holding back tears for the poor girl.

I feel sorry for the people at Blizzard who aren't like this but I hope they take a massive hit with the lawsuit and boycott. Bobby Kotick is a freaking parasite and deserves to fall.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ftail

But the fact a woman at Blizzard was sexually harassed to the point she committed suicide is nothing to joke at.

---

This isn't a fact, and it's the kind of jump people shouldn't be making. This person committed suicide at some undefined point in the future after being on this company trip.. details of which beyond the photos (the "items" brought with may be of no significance at all) haven't been examined. This person could have been suicidal before the trip, could have been suicidal after the trip, could have been suicidal for reasons outside of the trip, or any number of a million different reasons.

Nowhere has it been reported that this person definitely became suicidal and committed suicide specifically because of the events on that retreat. We should leave it at that until we know more facts.

I'm ready for the new wave of sprouts to poke their head into the game and explore.

On a more darker note... it really sucks to know that there's such a horrific, toxic environment behind the curtain of a game that I used to love playing daily since 2004.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Garet

Agree. I read about Madeleine Roux lately and you are right, it is funny how reverse discrimination is accepted by Blizz. If she were targetting other colors and minorities in her tirade she would be all over the news etc. Sad state of racial harmony in corporate America at the moment.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lauront

From what I'm hearing coming out about the likes of some of the tech giants, they're little better. In fact many companies seem to have ingested this nonsense. Maybe they'll end up choking on it.

---

In my experience those that seem the most obsessed about things, just in general, but in this context that 'woke' was brought up, things like race, sex, inclusivity, seem to be the worst ones to represent the ideas themselves. Very much a do as I say not as I do, rules for thee not for me sort of thing. With limbo magic logic in order to suggest their fire is holy and they're part of a holy war that must be fought to the last crisp solider. You see it with people making massive simplifications and manipulations of the paradox of tolerance concept, often passed around social sites like twitter, reddit, and imgur, where they say "ey scientist says that it's okay to be intolerant if it's against the group I don't like! I'm only being logical, I follow the science (that I read only the title of)" meanwhile if they read it the author of that paradox gets very specific in what they think would justify such a situation (like physical harm, and that debates of ideas should be done openly and earnestly, and not shut down whenever possible).

"We need to make a safe and welcoming environment!" <-... sure okay.. I mean we don't want bubble boy but there is certainly room we might make things generally smoother for everyone, improve social blending, and that's good.

Next thing you read from that very person things like:

"And that's why this race / gender is not allowed ask questions, I don't call upon them, I find them a danger to society, I don't like them and they're not my friends, I will not allow them to speak at the podium, I've organized this session so that group x needs to stand in the back, and hear me complain about how ALL my problems are because of them, every single one of them, also their tears are delicious and theirs lives don't matter" (Awkwardly I've vaguely seen this argument used by not just one 'side', whenever used it's embarrassing. . )

Now of course that's a more extreme example, there is a lot of variation and nuance, that I'm sure some that are sincerely interested in the general topics find annoying to be lumped together, and boy do people love lumping the extremes in with the less extremes to make their points seem better, but it reminds me of the whole sports thing in the end. With this unfortunate consistent trait where the most active sport team is lead by the worst actors, after watching everyone long enough you just get this sense that the people making the biggest deals about anything are not worth listening to, if anything you don't want to do what they suggest because they clearly have no idea what they're talking about. "This will solve it guys! I will be your radiant savior" says the guy who is doing everything wrong.

Apathy is unfortunately non-shockingly very appealing- all the wolves leading the 'sports' teams making issues that may have had important elements to learn become blood wars instead that often hardly focus on the actual issues at hand. It's a coliseum and we're all signed up for something lol . . .

Honestly, this breaks my heart, I've been waiting to replay TBC since 2009, the TBC classic announcement made me kinda happy and i was willing to just forget all the shit that has been happening since a long time ago (you guys don't have phones, china professional player banned, warcraft 3 reforged, bots, the list is infinite) just to reexperience one of the best games I've ever played.

But there's a point where we just need to draw a line and do not accept certain things, this, is one of them.

We should always have some consumption ethics and not just because of "hey i'm just buying a game is not my problem what the company does" means we should just turn a blind eye and be part of the problem because it's only me (yeah, it's only you and that train of thoughts is shared with thousands of other people around the world, what did you expect?) that it's buying a game, what could 40$ dollars more or less do to the cause? Well, plenty actually.

I don't like FF14 as much as i do wow back in his good days, but, I'll rather support someone like Yoshi-P than a bunch of greedy pieces of shit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by twixelstix

I'm ready for the new wave of sprouts to poke their head into the game and explore.

On a more darker note... it really sucks to know that there's such a horrific, toxic environment behind the curtain of a game that I used to love playing daily since 2004.

---

Horrific, toxic work environments in AAA studios are sadly not uncommon but I am glad that people aren't willing to just accept it anymore. "People" here being the gaming culture in general. It's something worth being angry about.

Watch "The Dark Side of the Video Game Industry" episode of Patriot Act on Netflix if you can, it goes into it.

I grew up in the industry myself and have heard the horror stories but luckily the studio I currently work for is half women. (edit: As am I. That might be relevant here. I am a woman.)

To be honest. Activision Blizzard is a big company. Probably will get a sanction and move on. Maybe some "clean" and that. They will not "die" or even the reputation will be damaged. People have fish memory. In months they will forgot and return to pay for their products. And a lot of people is not aware of this kind of stuff unless they follow videogame press. Which is not too many anyway. May lost some players, sure, but not massively.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Breakbeat

Enormous company-wide meetings at both headquarters this morning.

Though for entirely different reasons. One discussing clean-up, another preparation.

---

Yeah I can imagine the damage control meetings are very big and Yoshi P is trying to figure where to buy more servers lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kes13a

in all honesty... not much will change.

will people leave? of course

but the unfortunate reality is... mmo's are a drug, and WoW has dedicated addicts, as does FFXIV, but already their forums are full of deniers, and the typical "lesson here is dont hire women" which one expects one their forums. I dont foresee a huge hit to their population. the people really leaving are fed up with the game, this just provides an extra reason to leave maybe a bit sooner than they would have. some will return, some will bounce in and out less frequently, but it is hard to just set aside that much time and emotional investment. I know, I have been there

if little else, this just reaffirms why I parted ways with them. sad to see failure at this level, but then, I am no longer invested there. I do hope they change, and survive, but really, deep down, I can honestly say, I dont care that much either way. as people say, they made their bed....

---

According to your logic then:

1) Work is a drug
2) Internet is a drug
3) Shopping is a drug
...
∞) Anything that you can get addicted to is a drug

The reality is that games are games and drugs are drugs. Both can lead to addiction. However, this doesn't mean that both are the same thing.

Just sent in a request to delete my Battle.net account, I was done with WoW anyway but this is the nail in the coffin.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kes13a

but the unfortunate reality is... mmo's are a drug, and WoW has dedicated addicts, as does FFXIV, but already their forums are full of deniers, and the typical "lesson here is dont hire women" which one expects one their forums. I dont foresee a huge hit to their population. the people really leaving are fed up with the game, this just provides an extra reason to leave maybe a bit sooner than they would have. some will return, some will bounce in and out less frequently, but it is hard to just set aside that much time and emotional investment. I know, I have been there

---

That's mainly their vocal toxic group, they have a good number who are shocked and it's hard to gauge how many are silently leaving in disgust. Normally I'd agree that not much would happen over the usual Blizzard scandals, but this is rather big, on top of a mass exodus and massive streamer influence and at a time when multiple new MMO's have launched. I doubt the company will collapse or anything, but it's going to have a big impact.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

That's mainly their vocal toxic group, they have a good number who are shocked and it's hard to gauge how many are silently leaving in disgust. Normally I'd agree that not much would happen over the usual Blizzard scandals, but this is rather big, on top of a mass exodus and massive streamer influence and at a time when multiple new MMO's have launched. I doubt the company will collapse or anything, but it's going to have a big impact.

---

oh, I agree certainly, people will cut the cord in regards to this, either vocally or silently. and it is a good time for that. I just dont see it killing off the game to the extent people think. it might, but THAT I would find surprising

I don't doubt that there will be those who leave in disgust, though personally I'd wonder why the previous controversies did nothing to persuade them to do so.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

I don't doubt that there will be those who leave in disgust, though personally I'd wonder why the previous controversies did nothing to persuade them to do so.

---

Because it was something more forgivable than what just happened, simple as that, allowing bots to run wild or microtransactions or bad story has not the same weight and seriousness as sexual harassment.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Xathyr

Because it was something more forgivable than what just happened, simple as that, allowing bots to run wild or microtransactions or bad story has not the same weight and seriousness as sexual harassment.

---

As mentioned earlier on in the thread, this isn't the first incident of discrimination taking place within the company in question. Who knows? Maybe some of this harassment could have been caught and dealt with sooner had those employed by the company previously caught using Twitter to attack men and Caucasians been disciplined appropriately.

Instead, nothing was done about the matter and that was a far more visible and public incident than the ones outlined in the legal case.

I'm against all discrimination, personally - not just selectively and I hope this won't turn into another one sided investigation where only one aspect of rot within a company is exposed and dealt with, leading to doubling down on troubling trends and the formation of convenient scapegoats. Certainly, a portion of the Twitter sphere is attempting to paint it as such!

At any rate, here's hoping FFXIV doesn't veer in a similar direction in terms of controversies. I suspect it won't, though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

As mentioned earlier on in the thread, this isn't the first incident of discrimination taking place within the company in question.

---

But it is indeed the first time it is made public after a 2 years investigation of the state agency, so is no longer rumors or accusations made by employees, made trending and happened just in a good time after some other recent stuff, this news had the perfect timing and sustended credibility to make most people realize what's going on.

Gamer boycotts don't tend to actually be effective, but who knows. Blizzard's reputation may already be damaged enough at this point for this to be significant, but I'm not expecting any real longterm impact from this. I'm not excusing the things done, but most people are generally unaware of or don't care enough about these issues so long as they're getting their games. Ubisoft wasn't exactly shut down after the allegations came out regarding their employees etc. Unless this piggybacks/combos hard off of people being dissatisfied with blizzard after shadowlands etc I don't think it will have a huge impact on their numbers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm against all discrimination, personally - not just selectively and I hope this won't turn into another one sided investigation where only one aspect of rot within a company is exposed and dealt with, leading to doubling down on troubling trends and the formation of convenient scapegoats. Certainly, a portion of the Twitter sphere is attempting to paint it as such!

---

That's the thing, taking it and turning it into some attempt to lecture from a pedestal to people who aren't inclined to behave in this way in the first place and subject them to more self-righteous rants on the topic is exactly the wrong response to it, assuming the allegations are true.

Personally I would've thought their very public and rather poor taste handling and white knighting of a very large state actor regarding a province it had its eyes on would be the breaking point, but I suppose it was not.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shougun

In my experience those that seem the most obsessed about things, just in general, but in this context that 'woke' was brought up, things like race, sex, inclusivity, seem to be the worst ones to represent the ideas themselves. Very much a do as I say not as I do, rules for thee not for me sort of thing. With limbo magic logic in order to suggest their fire is holy and they're part of a holy war that must be fought to the last crisp solider. You see it with people making massive simplifications and manipulations of the paradox of tolerance concept, often passed around social sites like twitter, reddit, and imgur, where they say "ey scientist says that it's okay to be intolerant if it's against the group I don't like! I'm only being logical, I follow the science (that I read only the title of)" meanwhile if they read it the author of that paradox gets very specific in what they think would justify such a situation (like physical harm, and that debates of ideas should be done openly and earnestly, and not shut down whenever possible).

"We need to make a safe and welcoming environment!" <-... sure okay.. I mean we don't want bubble boy but there is certainly room we might make things generally smoother for everyone, improve social blending, and that's good.

Next thing you read from that very person things like:

"And that's why this race / gender is not allowed ask questions, I don't call upon them, I find them a danger to society, I don't like them and they're not my friends, I will not allow them to speak at the podium, I've organized this session so that group x needs to stand in the back, and hear me complain about how ALL my problems are because of them, every single one of them, also their tears are delicious and theirs lives don't matter" (Awkwardly I've vaguely seen this argument used by not just one 'side', whenever used it's embarrassing. . )

Now of course that's a more extreme example, there is a lot of variation and nuance, that I'm sure some that are sincerely interested in the general topics find annoying to be lumped together, and boy do people love lumping the extremes in with the less extremes to make their points seem better, but it reminds me of the whole sports thing in the end. With this unfortunate consistent trait where the most active sport team is lead by the worst actors, after watching everyone long enough you just get this sense that the people making the biggest deals about anything are not worth listening to, if anything you don't want to do what they suggest because they clearly have no idea what they're talking about. "This will solve it guys! I will be your radiant savior" says the guy who is doing everything wrong.

Apathy is unfortunately non-shockingly very appealing- all the wolves leading the 'sports' teams making issues that may have had important elements to learn become blood wars instead that often hardly focus on the actual issues at hand. It's a coliseum and we're all signed up for something lol . . .

---

It's almost like it's a chameleon effect for such people. A way for the predator to conceal its fangs and claws.

A bit ironic we have WoW devs calling Asmongold a piece of garbage and denouncing even the slightest bit of criticism as "toxicity" yet now we see the real face of Blizzard. Not that it's ever been a surprise Blizzard and Activision are a walking hypocrisy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ForteNightshade

denouncing even the slightest bit of criticism as "toxicity"

---

Sounds like these forums xD

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami

Sounds like these forums xD

---

We don't have mods posting here though. :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

That's mainly their vocal toxic group, they have a good number who are shocked and it's hard to gauge how many are silently leaving in disgust. Normally I'd agree that not much would happen over the usual Blizzard scandals, but this is rather big, on top of a mass exodus and massive streamer influence and at a time when multiple new MMO's have launched. I doubt the company will collapse or anything, but it's going to have a big impact.

---

WoW and Blizzard as a whole will be fine if only because they're a multi-billion dollar company (or owned by one in Activision). However, I think we may genuinely see WoW finally get knocked off its throne. If Square Enix were smart, they'd invest a lot more into FFXIV than they because it has a very realistic chance of being the number one MMO within a year or two.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

I suppose this explains why the company in question was all too eager to show how supposedly virtuous it was, then.

---

No one wanted to listen to me when I said they were disingenuous, I mean who in their right mind thinks the upper echelons of corporations give a flying fuck about the people below them?

People should of known about Blizzard's crap the moment they tossed Blitzchung under the bus to appease China.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mingqin

No one wanted to listen to me when I said they were disingenuous, I mean who in their right mind thinks the upper echelons of corporations give a flying fuck about the people below them?

People should of known about Blizzard's crap the moment they tossed Blitzchung under the bus to appease China.

---

That was around the point I decided I was done done DONE with Overwatch (I had been burned out on it by then, but what happened to Blitzchung assured my sabbatical from OW was indefinite).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ForteNightshade

A bit ironic we have WoW devs calling Asmongold a piece of garbage and denouncing even the slightest bit of criticism as "toxicity" yet now we see the real face of Blizzard. Not that it's ever been a surprise Blizzard and Activision are a walking hypocrisy.

---

I honestly think it starts at the top. As a pretty uninvested observer, Bobby Kotick has always struck me as complete scum. It wouldn't shock me even slightly if there was additional 'gamesmanship' going on within his inner circle.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami

Sounds like these forums xD

---

you really dont know what you are talking about if you call these forums "toxic"

If you go to the wow forums, most of their player base is 100% ok with this. They fully support their game and it’s developers. It’s disgusting and we don’t need those people here.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami

Sounds like these forums xD

---

If you haven’t been to their forums then you really have no idea how bad wow is. This isn’t just the dev team it’s the player base too.

I mean there is a good % who are leaving the game, but if you read their forums, those people are all for it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SirCadogan

If you go to the wow forums, most of their player base is 100% ok with this. They fully support their game and it’s developers. It’s disgusting and we don’t need those people here.

---

Each to their own, I guess. The people who wish to vote with their wallet due to seeing it as a red line will do so. Others will have different opinions on the matter. It isn't necessarily callous to be indifferent - because not every single person in existence needs to follow mob rule.

I stopped supporting Blizzard a while back for different reasons. Reasons I find to be just as jarring and horrid as what is going on at present. Given that such issues were brought to the light back then, I'm not personally inclined to award points to people calling out their actions in the present unless they were doing so back during prior controversies as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

Each to their own, I guess. The people who wish to vote with their wallet due to seeing it as a red line will do so. Others will have different opinions on the matter. It isn't necessarily callous to be indifferent - because not every single person in existence needs to follow mob rule.

I stopped supporting Blizzard a while back for different reasons. Reasons I find to be just as jarring and horrid as what is going on at present. Given that such issues were brought to the light back then, I'm not personally inclined to award points to people calling out their actions in the present unless they were doing so back during prior controversies as well.

---

I actually didn't know about that previous incident (did know about Blitzchung though). Overall I was already not participating long before even that, before all the controversy I felt they occasionally had some good ideas here and there but in general just didn't have the 'magic' anymore. So it was a 'gamer' for me before it even became a moral one. I still think they occasionally show talent, some of the art in their new areas are pretty pretty, ideas here and there, but I'd also not claim talent is exclusive to a few companies, which is why I try to stay abreast even if it's not a game I'll play just so I can hope and encourage SE to both be unique and itself but also cannibalize and be a bit of a predator (in a good way lol) of the mmo landscape. It's also really helpful to see ideas actually in motion, paper and function can sometimes disagree lol - far more powerful to be like "look this works and is cool" vs "mah brahin sayz cool".

Still think there is a lot of worth in tracking and inspiring by their legacy, and talents that do remain, but it's been relatively easy to not go back when all of this happens. Certainly hurts on a childhood emotion level though, I /loved/ (in the way you'd love a game, not like.. asylum love lol) warcraft 3, and I had a great time with many of their IPs. Many fond memories with LAN starcraft, Diablo 2 parties, etc. . .

Anyway.. "dont you guys have phones?" lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kes13a

you really dont know what you are talking about if you call these forums "toxic"

---

These are indeed probably one of the most friendly forums I've ever been, after 3 weeks navigating here i still haven't seen anyone harassing, insulting or escalating things out of proportion, maybe it happened i dunno, but the fact that i still haven't noticed already means that people here are way more polite and kind that some others are on other places by far.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shougun

I actually didn't know about that previous incident (did know about Blitzchung though). Overall I was already not participating long before even that, before all the controversy I felt they occasionally had some good ideas here and there but in general just didn't have the 'magic' anymore. So it was a 'gamer' for me before it even became a moral one. I still think they occasionally show talent, some of the art in their new areas are pretty pretty, ideas here and there, but I'd also not claim talent is exclusive to a few companies, which is why I try to stay abreast even if it's not a game I'll play just so I can hope and encourage SE to both be unique and itself but also cannibalize and be a bit of a predator (in a good way lol) of the mmo landscape. It's also really helpful to see ideas actually in motion, paper and function can sometimes disagree lol - far more powerful to be like "look this works and is cool" vs "mah brahin sayz cool".

Still think there is a lot of worth in tracking and inspiring by their legacy, and talents that do remain, but it's been relatively easy to not go back when all of this happens. Certainly hurts on a childhood emotion level though, I /loved/ (in the way you'd love a game, not like.. asylum love lol) warcraft 3, and I had a great time with many of their IPs. Many fond memories with LAN starcraft, Diablo 2 parties, etc. . .

Anyway.. "dont you guys have phones?" lol

---

It's a lot like a certain major movie company to me. I have fond memories of some of the earlier stuff that I watched growing up, but I have no interest giving money to the company in the present day. It's a real shame, though - I like both Western and Eastern style fantasy games and want to partake of a healthy balance of both but it seems like, in recent years, a lot of Western companies are making some questionable decisions. The other controversies are just further baggage added on top of that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Xathyr

These are indeed probably one of the most friendly forums I've ever been, after 3 weeks navigating here i still haven't seen anyone harassing, insulting or escalating things out of proportion, maybe it happened i dunno, but the fact that i still haven't noticed already means that people here are way more polite and kind that some others are on other places by far.

---

They're a lot friendlier than other platforms for discussion surrounding FFXIV. Certainly, any major breaches of the terms of service are going to be dealt with whereas the same cannot be said of the abuse hurled at people over on Reddit and Twitter.

With that said, the aggression and hostility takes a more subtle form as a result - and there can be some strange gatekeeping at times. Furthermore, some people just choose to take their beef to third party territory instead.

Unfortunately you are correct…. I don’t mean unfortunately for the staff. I mean for wow. Maybe WOW will get bought by another company and will be made better.

It’s either that or SE needs to step into high gear to be ready for EW to propel them to King of the MMOs.

Better yet, with wow gone maybe we will get more competition and even better mmos.

It’s so nice here. Everyone is helpful etc… if these forums are "toxic" then wows are demonic.

The other half are saying "nope, these allegations are lies and we agree, women need to be……."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SirCadogan

The other half are saying "nope, these allegations are lies and we agree, women need to be……."

---

I don't believe they are lies, and I don't believe the claims are exaggerated... this isn't a normal lawsuit, it's the state doing a major 2+ year investigation and then taking a step that's just one small level short of (and may eventually lead to) criminal prosecution.

I feel about 99 percent utterly horrified by the woman committing suicide, and roughly 1 percent 'a) why did you share nude photos of yourself (and before someone loses their mind and calls me a misogynist - I don't think you should be sharing nude photos of yourself these days period; they're just going to get traded and leaked. It's inevitable), and b) I sure wish you could have held out, because you'd be a multi-multi millionaire right now if you had lived to sue the bejezus out of them.' Basically, I wish she hadn't made an irrevocable choice over a situation as fleeting as perceived personal shame :(.

Overall, my reaction is one of knowing revulsion - most of us knew Blizzard was a really jacked company; there have been little signs of it here and there. But the extent to which it was a corporate culture... is just kinda geesh.

I watched that Asmongold vid about this and man that's some crazy stuff goin on there at blizzard, People getting drunk at work functions, pregnant chicks not being able to go to the bathroom when they need to,etc.

I don't wanna write a book but sounds like they need to follow a few simple rules.

1. never physically touch a female employee, hand shakes included, with all the me to crap goin on these days you'd figure that'd be common sense, and don't make comments on a female co workers appearance, good or bad, play it safe and keep it to yourself.

2. If u have a pregnant employee then have the common sense to know she is gonna have to use the bathroom more,etc, don't be a heartless dick, she is not lazy she is showing up for work pregnant so give her a break , she's pregnant.

Dang I wrote a book, ah screw it.

I've been playing WoW almost half my life, and despite my disappointment with the monetization, BfA, Shadowlands and their horrible decision making with TBC Classic changes, I felt like they were going to eventually make something good. Despite being in multiple raid guilds where I was harassed, I'd also been in some really nice guilds with great people, albeit all before WoD.

The people I see defending Blizz even now on their forums, I'm glad they'll stay there. I'm glad that there are people who call FFXIV a weeb game and will never try it, I genuinely don't want to interact with those people any more. WoW has gone from the hobby that brought me the most joy to the one that brings me the most anger. I was recently threatened by their customer service, and now this news drops... honestly, I'm happy, cuz I've felt like they abuse their customers, and because of that their customers are constantly at each others throats in game. But I'm also so hooked that I could never stop coming back to WoW. This may have just cut the line for me, so I'm happy they've been exposed for the company they are.

What has happened at Blizzard is terrible. The problem is with western gaming company's treating customers and employees like crap and yet we reach in our wallets to pay them to treat us badly. We as customers really do have the power we just need to realize it. A company that has been as fortune as Blizzard to allow these actions should be done in the gaming world. It really not okay to treat other human beings the way they treat employees or customers.