Blizzard community,
Our world has a long history of racism. Humans create groups, and then create divisions between groups unlike themselves. Ironic how we need each other as social creatures, yet we developed the practice to ‘other’ humans who at first glance don’t look like what we see in the mirror.
I have made it a personal obligation to educate myself about trauma others endure, and to work to change those experiences for them. Many within Blizzard come from a place of strong purpose, with a will to do in order to help society.
Last year at BlizzCon, I made a commitment for Blizzard to do better. We pride ourselves on learning and growing, and doing something now that reflects our company and community values. I also said that our actions would matter more than our words—we have been publicly silent until now because action is the important part.
Let me be clear: Blizzard stands in solidarity with those fighting against racism, because racism is as dangerous as any pandemic for those affected. We stand with those fighting against social and institutional structures that promote inequality among people of color.
Last week, AB announced donations to the Equal Justice Initiative, the United Negro College Fund, and the Management Leaders of Tomorrow (MLT) to fight systemic racial inequality. At Blizzard, we are working on initiatives for our community and our workplace.
In our games: For many years, we’ve had teams working with A.I. and machine learning to reduce toxicity and hate speech, as well as to help improve the overall gaming experience. Since January 1 this year, we’ve banned over 30,000 accounts for these reasons, as well as issued more than three million total hours of player suspensions. These penalties have notably improved our game environments: over the last two years, we’ve seen a 43% reduction in poor behavior reports, and a 59% reduction in the re-offense rate. And while this is progress, we’ve identified other places where we can use this technology and have more work to continue to do toward this effort.
In our relationships: We are also reviewing our partnerships to identify opportunities to support Black-owned and diverse businesses, and to amplify the voices of Black content creators and influencers.
Juneteenth: Today at Blizzard, we are observing Juneteenth with the goal of encouraging employees to take the time to be educated. We hosted a virtual session with a leader in our home city of Irvine, California, so employees can learn more about implicit bias, implications for law and policy, and how they can get involved in local efforts to drive change. We have also provided a list of resources to help coworkers self-educate, and shared ways to get involved in advocacy.
Ongoing: We are stronger with more diverse views and experiences. We are committed to being a more equitable workplace, including how and where we recruit, our HR practices, and employee support. We will also put an ongoing employee education program into place. This program will include more training and education (with the materials purchased from Black and minority-owned businesses), and Blizzard-wide town halls with experts on allyship, advocacy, and racism.
All of this work will continue to make Blizzard better, and play some small part in a larger, positive shift.
To our Black community, colleagues, and partners, Blizzard stands with you.
Black lives matter, today and always.
- J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment
Meanwhile, in America: http://prntscr.com/t3xw91
Yeah, show me a demo and I show you some unrelated opportunists throwing stones.
It is sad to see but the more unorganised/big a demo becomes the more idiots are going to use it as an excuse to wreak havoc for fun or their personal gain.
Are you going to tell me that for example far right people voting reps are representative for the whole party?
Or far left antifa for dems?
Problem is, people aren't scared of being racist towards white people.
People always try to demonize others so that they can claim to have slain a monster and that they themselves aren't monsters. And no matter how strongly spread racism towards black people is nowadays, it still is insanely strong in people's minds. Like, when we have interracial violence and the victim was black, everyone will immediately assume the motive was racism, not anything else. Media doesn't help there either. You can't just talk about black people doing this or doing that, it's not a good story, people want to hear about the tragedy of white people assaulting black, not the other way around. This is dangerous because it helps them slip easily inside this victim role.
Note that I don't even care about statistics here. I really do think this is just how humans are. They believe it is impossible for power to shift. This is why it doesn't work if you name a group trying to fight for equality after the people it's currently fighting for. When nothing is left fighting for the group inevitably becomes a toxic mess...
Heads up to anyone who's thinking of actually posting some facts and statistics to disprove BLM - The mods here are handing out warnings for "hate speech". Of course how is calling it hate speech and us racist for pointing out fallacies disproving any of the points we make is beyond me but oh well, makes them feel powerful, I guess.
funny though, the one stat I saw (and is apparently deleted?) proved the reasoning behind BLM.
Sad would've loved to use it :<
i was like oh boy here we go 200+ messages.
after reading 2 minutes of comments i am suprised that this community have a realistic perspective on this topic.
Yeah, it's comforting to see most people understand that corporate pandering is meaningless.
Well that is the final threat. From the lack of effective leadership. Crap content. User base filled with racists. Leadership not doing anything to quash the racist comments. I'm out.
And nothing of worth was lost
No one asked, just leave.
By the number of upvotes on racist comments, I guess reporting won't do shit. Fuck this site.
Now all lives matter is racist?
Okey.
These liberals don't tolerate opposing views on the topic. Comment sections are supposed to facilitate discussions, right?
Yes it is racist or just a complete lack of understanding of what Black Lives Matter is.
your part of a cult
you'd go broke lol
So Blizz takes the knee to a far-left extremist group hellbent on toppling governments, historic monuments, and looting black businesses but wont stand up to human rights abuses by China? Okay.....
So we complained when they said nothing, and we should complain when they also say something?
Honestly I didn't think this was a bad response. Compare this to Wizards of the Coast who banned a whole bunch of cards for being 'racist' but you would have to have a PhD in wokeness to understand what was racist about any of them.
it's j.allen, though
master of virtue signaling, probably without meaning anything that he says
(more like what he's been told to say)