wow Community Reactions to Activision Blizzard Lawsuit: Protests, Charity, NPC Despawning

[Starym 3,800]

 

The recent Activision Blizzard lawsuit is having effects in World of Warcraft as well, with many players staging various kinds of protests, including sit-ins in Oribos while raising money for charity, and checking up on a disappearing NPC.

The most prominent of the protests is from the Fence Macabre RP guild who stages a sit-in on the Oribos steps with hundreds of players, and also managed to raise a huge $9,500 for the Black Girls Code non-profit organization during it:

We have now raised over 9500$ for Black Girls CODE! A reminder that the fundraiser will be open until Monday, July 26th.

Fundraising Campaign: https://t.co/uRVkYZUcSY https://t.co/Xxq82PVQN1

— Fence Macabre Caravan (@fencemacabre) July 23, 2021

Cashed in my Shadowlands boost to get an alt on WRA to participate in the #OribosSitIn , hosted by @fencemacabre ! Worthy use of the time and boost for what's left of my sub! I love WOW dearly but change HAS to happen - now's the time when many eyes are watching! pic.twitter.com/syTnnIUu2Z

— Ryuko DragonHalf (@ryukodragon) July 23, 2021

The guild tried to get as many individual players together on the same shard via raid groups, but there were still plenty you can't see in the screenshots.

Another interesting "event" in the game is players heading to Stormwind to "check up" on a specific NPC, namely Field Marshal Afrasiabi (who is named for Alex Afrasiabi, one of the people mentioned in the lawsuit allegations, and who also left Blizzard in 2020).

The more interesting thing, however, is that Blizzard has seemingly started despawning the NPC, as he was not there when some players arrived. Players had actually been asking for the removal of all references related to Afrasiabi, so this might just be Blizzard listening, although there are other references still in-game.

And finally, a message from one group of players to the other:

In terms of actual player comments on the matter there are, of course, many more threads discussing the issue over on r/wow, so if you want to see more community reactions head on over there, with most comments in the main lawsuit thread.

[Calorat 78]

If people really wanted to do a meaningful protest, they would cancel their sub and stop playing.  As long as you are giving Act-Blizz money and playing their games, you are supporting them and telling them, no matter what your employees do, I don't care cause I will still play.  Protesting in game  but continuing to play the game does nothing and is self-serving  to just make you feel a little better about yourself, so you can tell yourself "yeah the company allowed bad things to happen, but i protested in game so it's fine I keep supporting them by giving them money." And that's why companies allow stuff like this to happen, cause they know people will still consume their product.

Edited July 24, 2021 by Calorat
addition

[Arli 9]

/sigh

Edited July 24, 2021 by Arli
I should have known better than to post this in a male dominated forum.

[Baharok 234]

15 minutes ago, Arli said:

especially when it's optional *rolls eyes*

And thats disgusting. Its a sign of "Do you care or dont you care? Anyway, do what you want! (At least we "offered" something and it set a good light on us)"

I also speak openly against racist behaviour in the companies i worked in and it is a hard and long travel, since its so deeply entangled everywhere from the past and in the heads of the people. That also brings us to the point where i got to say, that we, as humans, only can evolve / get better, if all this wrong, often religious driven, "viruses" get eliminated.

 

Sorry if that sounded harsh or something, but i definitely understand the task and fully support all work to create better circumstances for all people i have to work with and also for myself of course.  (sorry if some sentences are not correctly, im not perfect in case of english grammar and so on, but trying! 😄 )

[frisby 5]

1 hour ago, Calorat said:

If people really wanted to do a meaningful protest, they would cancel their sub and stop playing.  As long as you are giving Act-Blizz money and playing their games, you are supporting them and telling them, no matter what your employees do, I don't care cause I will still play.  Protesting in game  but continuing to play the game does nothing and is self-serving  to just make you feel a little better about yourself, so you can tell yourself "yeah the company allowed bad things to happen, but i protested in game so it's fine I keep supporting them by giving them money." And that's why companies allow stuff like this to happen, cause they know people will still consume their product.

This seems unnecessarily formulaic to me.

[Starym 3,800]

1 hour ago, Calorat said:

If people really wanted to do a meaningful protest, they would cancel their sub and stop playing.  As long as you are giving Act-Blizz money and playing their games, you are supporting them and telling them, no matter what your employees do, I don't care cause I will still play.  Protesting in game  but continuing to play the game does nothing and is self-serving  to just make you feel a little better about yourself, so you can tell yourself "yeah the company allowed bad things to happen, but i protested in game so it's fine I keep supporting them by giving them money." And that's why companies allow stuff like this to happen, cause they know people will still consume their product.

A lot of them did cancel their subscriptions. Those things still last until they run out even when calcelled. Assuming things about other people is never a good idea.

[Dejo93 1,023]

2 hours ago, Baharok said:

And thats disgusting. Its a sign of "Do you care or dont you care? Anyway, do what you want! (At least we "offered" something and it set a good light on us)"

I also speak openly against racist behaviour in the companies i worked in and it is a hard and long travel, since its so deeply entangled everywhere from the past and in the heads of the people. That also brings us to the point where i got to say, that we, as humans, only can evolve / get better, if all this wrong, often religious driven, "viruses" get eliminated.

 

Sorry if that sounded harsh or something, but i definitely understand the task and fully support all work to create better circumstances for all people i have to work with and also for myself of course.  (sorry if some sentences are not correctly, im not perfect in case of english grammar and so on, but trying! 😄 )

You sound like an annoying busybody who probably thinks raunchy jokes must be verbotten

[Dejo93 1,023]

3 hours ago, Arli said:

As a female who has worked in Tech all her life, if we all boycotted companies that discriminated against females then I think you would find there would be few companies left.  We've all had "that" misogynistic/racist/homophobic manager, worked with men who think it's ok to speak openly to each other about the way we look, what we wear;  men who openly refer to senior female managers as "that b1tch" when they are not around; and getting treated differently to male colleagues when it comes to progression within our careers.  You have to work twice as hard to be seen as equally good sometimes.

Things are improving, well, where I work anyway.  I've a great male manager, my male peers treat me as an equal, there are two females in the team and we're a multi-racial team too - which is quite something in UK tech.  

But all the anti discrimination training in the world won't fix those people (especially when it's optional *rolls eyes*) and of course the company can't get rid of them unless things get extreme, after all, they are doing the job they were employed to do

Look, no one denis that there are jerks out there, but that is life. As for other things such as complaining about female managers, be honest, if they were complaining about a male boss, would you even care? As for progression, it's a hypercompetitive environment, where results are expected. Men just tend to be more like that. As for compliments about women's looks,be honest with me, you never talked about your male colleagues with your friends in the same manner?

Now imagine how it is for a regular Joe. Welcome to equality. 

[dudemeister 12]

Lmao @ the wow woke crowd

[Lithari 194]

6 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

Look, no one denis that there are jerks out there, but that is life. As for other things such as complaining about female managers, be honest, if they were complaining about a male boss, would you even care? As for progression, it's a hypercompetitive environment, where results are expected. Men just tend to be more like that. As for compliments about women's looks,be honest with me, you never talked about your male colleagues with your friends in the same manner?

Now imagine how it is for a regular Joe. Welcome to equality. 

The thing is, i said the same thing to a female friend of mine who wanted me to deck a guy in the face for saying she had a sexy *filtered* to one of his male friends and i said, 'well you do' and she was shocked and i said, 'just look at it as a compliment, now if he tried to force himself on you, then where is he, cause i will deck him in the face, besides, what do you talk about to your girlfriends when you talk about guys?' and her face went pure red and she is a red head, so it was very evident.

Ultimately she thought about it after i pointed out her hypocrisy of it all, she saw my point, now she never complains about those compliments.

Don't get me wrong, sexual harassment is a bad thing, gender discrimination is a bad thing, now if only everyone would see it from both sides, it would truly be sorted out.

[Raffinaddi 18]

I just find it odd that Blizzard would put on this "woke" look and then this drops. ?? How does that make sense?? It feels a bit like when anti-gay clerics being found out with a male prostitute or something. I just don't understand the psychology behind being super intensely one thing and then do the complete opposite. Surely they can see how ugly the combination looks?

[Dejo93 1,023]

6 minutes ago, Lithari said:

The thing is, i said the same thing to a female friend of mine who wanted me to deck a guy in the face for saying she had a sexy *filtered* to one of his male friends and i said, 'well you do' and she was shocked and i said, 'just look at it as a compliment, now if he tried to force himself on you, then where is he, cause i will deck him in the face, besides, what do you talk about to your girlfriends when you talk about guys?' and her face went pure red and she is a red head, so it was very evident.

Ultimately she thought about it after i pointed out her hypocrisy of it all, she saw my point, now she never complains about those compliments.

Don't get me wrong, sexual harassment is a bad thing, gender discrimination is a bad thing, now if only everyone would see it from both sides, it would truly be sorted out.

What is this? A polite conversation which didn't devolve into insults and name calling? I think I just found a Unicorn here. Mad respects.

Oh and I forgot to add, grats on your new job. You shouldn't stick to a workplace that sucks even if the pay is good 😉

[Dejo93 1,023]

6 minutes ago, Kakistocrat said:

I just find it odd that Blizzard would put on this "woke" look and then this drops. ?? How does that make sense?? It feels a bit like when anti-gay clerics being found out with a male prostitute or something. I just don't understand the psychology behind being super intensely one thing and then do the complete opposite. Surely they can see how ugly the combination looks?

Bro, at this point there are more feminists exposed as creeps than there are anti-gay conservatives exposed to be in the closet. As this comic points out perfectly. Whenever you see someone acting holier-than-thou, you know they are full of it

[Lithari 194]

18 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

What is this? A polite conversation which didn't devolve into insults and name calling? I think I just found a Unicorn here. Mad respects.

well, we have known each other since we were in primary school, she is happily married with kids now, so good for her.

[Baharok 234]

1 hour ago, Dejo93 said:

You sound like an annoying busybody who probably thinks raunchy jokes must be verbotten

I dont even know what it is or what you try here, but i understand it as an insult and that for no reason. If you call it annoying, that someone resist and fight racist behaviour in workenvironments, then you should probably check again, what i wrote and what the core of my comment was. Do not flame people for minor reasons or because they do not share your point of view.

 

But anyway, probably you can explain what you wanted to tell me, since i dont know about the stuff you call "busybody", "raunchy jokes" and "verbotten".

 

And finally again:

I have enough experience in terms of psychological and physical violations in workenvironments and someone telling that it is "annoying" to fight against all this, should probably take a look in the mirror and ask some serious questions of his own behaviour to himself. 😉

But hey I rather be annoying to some disrespectful people and be true to myself instead to leave all this things as they are.

Edited July 24, 2021 by Baharok

[Kopuliak 17]

Blizz should stay away from this marxists crap destroying US and some western countries in Europe.

[Dejo93 1,023]

50 minutes ago, Kopuliak said:

Blizz should stay away from this marxists crap destroying US and some western countries in Europe.

Hungary and Poland have already banned it. And many parents in the US are against it

[Arcling 898]

8 hours ago, Calorat said:

If people really wanted to do a meaningful protest, they would cancel their sub and stop playing. 

You are generalizing a lot, you also come out as conceited, to put it mildly. Eh, game boycotts simply don't work as numerous examples have proven. People who are invested in those things are always a minority, majority doesn't follow those news or just doesn't care. Besides, average spender is immediately invalidated by whales, one of them can spend many times more than a guy who simply buys the game or sub. Subs don't mean much as they used to, also those with longer subs can't cancel anyway. News are talked about for a few days, weeks at best, then another "important thing" happens. For example, who cares about Blitzchung at this point?

Edited July 24, 2021 by Arcling

[Migeru71 15]

4 hours ago, Kakistocrat said:

I just find it odd that Blizzard would put on this "woke" look and then this drops. ?? How does that make sense?? It feels a bit like when anti-gay clerics being found out with a male prostitute or something. I just don't understand the psychology behind being super intensely one thing and then do the complete opposite. Surely they can see how ugly the combination looks?

Nothing odd about it. Getting on the woke bandwagon is just optics to make more money. These corporate PR goons are no different than politicians. It's a calculated load of absolute BS used to manipulate brain-dead donkeys into thinking they're virtuous, and the donkeys drink up all that kool-aid while mostly doing the same thing themselves.

I don't oppose the idea of being socially conscious or working to create some positive change. What I oppose is the utter dis-ingenuousness of wokesters. They hardly ever actually do anything to make the world a better place (which is really a process that must start from within), but they certainly will spend a lot of time on social media virtue signaling. It makes me want to vomit.

[Ragingwolf 310]

It's your money and your account you can see however way fit to utilize it at your own discretion.  But it won't justify or correct what has already been done.  It won't erase the trauma or the drama that has been created and it won't be forgotten by those that experienced first hand. 

[Steveson 193]

9 hours ago, Calorat said:

If people really wanted to do a meaningful protest, they would cancel their sub and stop playing.  As long as you are giving Act-Blizz money and playing their games, you are supporting them and telling them, no matter what your employees do, I don't care cause I will still play.  Protesting in game  but continuing to play the game does nothing and is self-serving  to just make you feel a little better about yourself, so you can tell yourself "yeah the company allowed bad things to happen, but i protested in game so it's fine I keep supporting them by giving them money." And that's why companies allow stuff like this to happen, cause they know people will still consume their product.

That right there. These "protesters" are not particulary bright. It's more a crowd mentality to just say "I'M WITH YOU ON THAT ONE" instead of actually doing something of value.
/sigh

[Chanchi 3]

Let's protest against this company by... Paying them to play their game.

If you want to send them a message, click on "Cancel subscription"

[elmurufdd 45]

28 minutes ago, Chanchi said:

Let's protest against this company by... Paying them to play their game.

If you want to send them a message, click on "Cancel subscription"

most of them did canceled my sub 2 months ago but i still have game time left til oct . while i canceled for different reasons many did what ur asking them too and still have game time to burn off 

[Akiva 2]

28 minutes ago, elmurufdd said:

most of them did canceled my sub 2 months ago but i still have game time left til oct . while i canceled for different reasons many did what ur asking them too and still have game time to burn off 

They didn't read the article, they stopped at the headline.

And those defending Blizzard by presenting their own myopic view of the world have to be stuck in the past, because there's no way they can be considered reasonable present day.  Morhaime is the only one with a proper response, and I'm still not sure he didn't know.  Everyone leaving or stepping back/down around this same time is just too coincidental and damning.

[Bobbis 208]

1 hour ago, elmurufdd said:

most of them did canceled my sub 2 months ago but i still have game time left til oct . while i canceled for different reasons many did what ur asking them too and still have game time to burn off 

 

1 hour ago, Chanchi said:

Let's protest against this company by... Paying them to play their game.

If you want to send them a message, click on "Cancel subscription"

 

11 hours ago, Starym said:

A lot of them did cancel their subscriptions. Those things still last until they run out even when calcelled. Assuming things about other people is never a good idea.

You're all correct, however they don't report subs, they only report 2 things of interest in the quarterly reports. Monthly users, and total earnings. They don't break it down into x subs, y mtx, x game tokens.

So cancelling is not enough, logging in is showing support, and so the protest is as useful as a chocolate teapot in the desert in this respect. The money raised was good, even if I don't agree with the charity in question (purely because it's oddly specific, and there's already a different, larger push for all women in STEM, spin off charities in my experience have been rather useless).