World Of Warcraft Players Hold In-Game Protest Following Activision Blizzard Lawsuit
The recent expose that Activision Blizzard is being sued by the state of California for sexual harassment and discrimination within the company has resulted in a massive backlash from the gaming community and protests in support of the affected employees.
It’s gotten to the point that players are now boycotting the Activision Blizzard’s games, most of whom are already disappointed with the company’s policies. The fact that a well-known World of Warcraft developer was also accused of inappropriate behavior only served as the final nail in the coffin.
According to Polygon, a group of sub-locked players, or those who’ve purchased prepaid subscriptions, organized an in-game protest yesterday led by Fence Macabre, a role-play guild on the Moon Guard and Wyrmrest Accord servers. The guild is running a charity campaign to raise funds for the Black Girls Code, a non-profit organization that teaches young girls about digital technology and computer programming.
The moderators of Blizzard game subreddits are also doing their part to protest the Activision Blizzard’s so-called “frat boy culture.” The mods of r/wow, r/classicwow, r/woweconomy, r/Overwatch, r/hearthstone, r/competitiveHS, r/Diablo, r/warcraft3, r/starcraft, r/heroesofthestorm, and r/blizzard have collectively issued a statement condemning the company’s workplace behavior:
“As moderators of the subreddits for Activision Blizzard’s games, we vehemently condemn the sexual harassment and hostile working environment alleged in the recent lawsuit between Activision Blizzard and the state of California. We will not be censoring this topic on our subreddits. We do not serve Activision Blizzard; we are unpaid volunteers with no affiliation to the company. Above all else we serve our individual communities and we believe this is an important discussion to be had.
“Having said that, discussion surrounding this topic still needs to adhere to the rules of our subreddits. Victim blaming, sexism, and harassment of others will not be tolerated. We will try to keep the discussion consolidated to the existing main thread for convenience and visibility.
“We stand by the victims of this situation, and we hope that this lawsuit is resolved in such a way that justice is met for those who deserve it.
“We call for these issues to be addressed by Activision Blizzard appropriately and exhaustively. As a group of moderators, we are deeply saddened about these events and the hostile work environment created by them. We strive to make our communities inclusive and safe for all, and urge Activision Blizzard to take steps to demonstrate that they are doing the same.”
The list of affected employees to grow, in addition to those included in the lawsuit, as more and more of Blizzard’s current and former employees post their own testimonials on Twitter. The WoW subreddit has compiled a list of these tweets.
