Activision Blizzard, video game company behind World of warcraft and Candy crush has been on everyone’s lips since last Thursday, and not for good reason. The company led by Bobby Kotick has been sued by the state of California due to alleged serious cases of sexual harassment, abuse and machismo concealed by the company, which they have collected after an investigation of more than two years.
This, we repeat, is a demand by an official institution of the state of California. With testimonies that even speak of the suicide of an employee due to these harassments, the community of players has not been slow to initiate protests against Activision Blizzard within one of its star products: world of warcraft
In PC Gamer they echo these “in-game” protests that gather hundreds of players from all factions in the city of Oribos. A crowd sitting on the steps of the city inn, and showing their fury at the cases that the lawsuit collects. This protest was organized in the first instance by the Fence Macabre brotherhood, on the Moon Guard and Wyrmrest Accord servers. A sorority that has also started a charity collection for Black Girls Code, a non-profit organization that seeks to help women of color penetrate the tech industries.
Now why did you choose World of Warcraft as the setting for your protest?
According to ‘Hinahina Gray’, representative of this brotherhood, many of the players have “blocked” the WoW subscription because they paid for a biannual subscription that cannot be refunded. “Many of us have already canceled subscriptions, we are using our remaining game time to take up server space and increase visibility [of the protests], and it’s working!” The representative claims that hundreds of players joined the protests on its first day.
The community has been very supportive. We have far exceeded the goals of the collection, and we intend to continue holding on for as long as there are people here. The general feeling is of solidarity and of strong concern for the victims and survivors of the abuses by Activision Blizzard. “The Call of Duty company became a trending topic yesterday before a community alarmed by the serious testimonies collected in the lawsuit, which they are far from being isolated cases in the industry.
Harassment cases erupted last year at Ubisoft, which led to the departure of important executives and heavyweights of the company, and accusations also surfaced against Riot Games and its CEO, another company that is often surrounded by these types of cases. Likewise, the studio behind the Darwin Project suspended its creative director and co-founder this year after another series of accusations that were proven in a subsequent investigation.
