I mean, the fact that Mike had to put a date in the title so we're clear on WHICH blizzard scandal we're talking about here... Speaks volumes you know...
Thank you Mike. I can only imagine how tough this could be when your income depends on the game. If you start playing other games I will support you all the way.
@Joe Schmoe Support doesn't necessarily mean to give money. Watching the videos and Livestreams, that have ads, can be all the support you give. But if someone feels that they get enough entertainment from a source, that they want to give them 5 dollars for their appreciation, and content can continue to grow and progress, then that is their choice. Speaking with no context of financial state or how else a person handles their money, and telling them what they should do, now that's weird.
@david C Do you watch movies? Listen to music? Watch sports? If so, you are actually supporting other rich people that would do nothing for you if roles were reversed. Just because someone supports another in an industry you don't understand doesn't mean you aren't already doing the exact same thing.
@david C same thing would happen though. You could help those people but who's to say they help you in return later? No matter how you play it its always going to be this way you have absolutely no idea if you support a person they will support you later on. Even family fails at this sometimes. Its part of the reason why donations are so meaningful bc you give your support willingly knowing you will only lose money
Already canceled my subscription 2months ago and told myself "they have this time to make something good to change my mind" but this was the final nail in the coffin.
They knew this was coming, I truly believe that's why some high profile Devs left because they knew this was going to come out soon and they wanted either no part in the shit storm or wanted to save their own behinds, or both.
More likely they knowed they are being investigated and bailed. So far the entirety of Blizzard from 2004 management is to blame, that is when AA come in. They all knew, Metzen, Morhaine, etc. They just jumped ship before it sinked but they are as much responsible as that clown Brack.
@@AlivenReis Gotta boycott Morhaines new company now because he knew about this and left. He's just as much responsible, if not more so since he was the captain of the ship and chose to leave it.
@@blacksunshine9995 I feel like as soon as he found out he peaced, and that is the only course of action. Even if you stay and try to fix it, it's you who gets cut down in the end. The Kind King of Nerds instead created a safe haven for folks to go to - because the reason they stay is they're afraid they'll have nowhere else to go.
@@DarkScreamGames the investigation is 2 years old do started in 2019. Although that's when he left, he had actually handed in his notice a year prior and was acting as 'strategic advisor for a year to assist the hand off. So he didn't jump ship when the he knew the company was being investigated. It's also worth noting a few other things: There is no time frame on the allegations on how far back they go. And Blizzard prior to Activision merger had a awesome reputation and employees loved working there with no allegations of setup harassment when they was just Blizzard (as far as is public). So, I'm more inclined to believe that when the merger happend and Activision started putting there culture onto Blizzard, this is where it started. Although, it's all speculation at the minute, it's unfair to blame him without any proof, time will tell as this case processes further if he knew about it and didn't act (it's entirely possible, in his role, he didn't know the day to day harassment was going on with lower developers as he wouldn't be communicating with them but with the people doing the harassment who obviously wouldn't be telling him they're harassing staff).
While I am sure some, if not all of the major players had notice of the culture issues going on within their company, the one issue most are up in arms over is actually specially an activision one. The woman who killed her self on the business trip was an activision employee not a blizzard one , she was also the one whom had pictures of her vagina shown around the office by the supervisor who was sleeping with her, who brought a butt plug and lube on the trip, likely with the intent of using it on her. I think we should allow all this to sort itself out and those who are guilty or had knowledge and did nothing should r try receive the maximum punishment allowed by law for these crimes. Remember Blizzard itself employees many thousand employees and I would guess that 99% of them are honest hardworking people who are there to do the best job they can for a company they love. Hey maybe we will actually start to get inspired content again, or maybe there will be another game to step into the place where WOW once lived in our souls.
The little one at the end was the best palate cleanser. Good takes and appreciate the candidness about how you felt and what you've seen. Thanks Preach.
Maybe you have a point about predatory men sensing who would not be ok with their behavior. I have worked for a large company and something similar came out and I legitimately had zero idea anything was going on.
I had something similar, but not with work place but WoW guild. I had a group of (what I considered) great friends that I played wow with daily. We were talking for hours about everything politics included. I was sure they were nice dudes, until they got kicked from the guild over actual racist harassment of one of the trials that they knew was black. I saw screenshots of the things they did send between each other, it was crazy, not your typical 4chan edgy humor, but some heavy stuff. It literally came out of nowhere from my POV.
@@MarekPar743 Hubs was tanking for a mythic raid guild he joined earlier this year and left when the officers started a discord discussion on female drivers of middle eastern decent involving explosives. I was playing next to him and overheard. I had been internally questioning his guild for a week prior as I never heard a female voice on their discord during raids. Turns out they were a male only super "American red hats" guild.
Predators and abusers are usually very good at identifying both victims and allies. Luckily I've never had to deal with this at the workplace, but I've seen it several times in the game. As soon as certain people are offline, the toxicity comes out of the woodwork. All the female players and that one guy who minds are offline so let the rape jokes commence.
3:12 This is an interesting point and I think it's absolutely true. These scumbags are very crafty at hiding their predilections from other men who don't share them, because they need reputable, upstanding friends/peers/associates around to vouch for them when the inevitable accusations come. "Oh, I've only ever known him to be a stand-up guy, I've never seen him do any of this sort of thing, ever."
I have uninstalled everything from blizzard Activision and unsubscribed from wow. I can't and won't support in any way a company that allows such things to any human being in 2021. This is a real tragedy. 2 years investigation with proofs and witnesses... This news just made me sick... I just can't.
@@morbidgull8922 It does do something. It's a small part of something bigger. I'm boycotting Blizzard and their future games because of this too. Protests come from multitude of people with the same ideals and that itself makes a difference; it creates a voice for others to hear. "It doesn't make a difference" is complete BS.
@@morbidgull8922 well first of all why would it hurt op to not support a company they don't like? Second, what hurts the company is when they lose investors since they're the driving force of any company, but don't ignore the fact that customers and consumers affect whether an investor would like to continue supporting or would invest in the future. Lastly, even if consumers outright stop subbing, Activision blizzard is still oblige to pay their employees. Full Time employees who don't want to partake with them can leave and will actually get better opportunities to look for other companies considering what happens when there's a big crash and burn like this, companies are open arms to get folks with experience. Part time employees might take the most hit but blizzard has clearly shown they don't care about them considering that they don't rehire a lot of their contractors.
sadly education is just a tiny part of it,you can teach your kids right from wrong all you want,but if they lack empathy or dont care all that education wont matter,its like every rapist knows that rape is bad,thats not stoping them
@@deenman23 while you can't guarantee anything when it comes to child development. You can model good parenting and life behaviors. People tend to follow models they see and act in a similar manner.
6:30 Since they've been investigating Blizzard for a couple of years. Makes you worried that, are any of the top people who left recently to start their own studios did they also had these frat mentality but left on a "good note"
@@Shatamx Go back to twitter where innocent before proven guilty is left out of the discourse. You're equally as trash of a human being as method josh for putting a name to a horrendous act with 0 evidence
I gotta disagree in the sense that a majority definitely knew this was happening and said nothing. You don’t have “cube crawls” and employee kill herself and that news doesn’t get around. I don’t buy it. There’s no reason other than complicity for even an uninvolved employee to have not anonymously gone to any sort of journalist.
If the company can figure out *who* leaked that info to said journalist, you can bet your ass there would be fallout for that person. Why do you think women are so afraid to even challenge shit like this?
Of course they knew. A majority of WoW developers are incels who hate women. Ohhhh boo hoo, they weren't liked by women as a kid. Suck it up, hit the gym, find a gay guy to dress you, get some confidence, boom. Problem solved. There's no need to physically and mentally assault women for their childhood woes of chronic masturbation and women-hating.
I love mike, you know he cares because this isnt some official statement he had to make or stance on the matter, he chose to spend time on this on his stream and just have a casual real conversation about it and he was absolutely spitting in this chat as well. Good on him.
There isn't a company on the planet that is immune to corruption in some form. Thusly, raising money under the Blizzard banner to help a charity in need should have gone ahead regardless. It's simply because Mike doesn't wish to be branded "guilty by association". It's a business decision to distance themselves, not one born out of empathy. A selfish decision, but makes sense within the context of needing to raise his own family as a bread winner. Daimler Benz supplied the Nazi's with armaments in world war 2. Do people think about that when driving a Mercedes in this day an age? Of course not. Global events still use them for a sponsor though, don't they? Using the Blizzard name is perfectly justifiable if it means people that are in need are helped out of a bad situation. I don't think it's awkward at all, frankly.
As a gay male, I think just putting pride flags everywhere and making one or two characters in games lgbt doesn't really do anything. All I want is that people finally accept it as normal and don't make me the center of either super fake positive or negative (discrimination) attention. The pride flag has a purpose and it's misused by big orgs.
im against all the big lgbtq stuff, but i support anyones sexuality choices. more people should think like you, less diversity will help a lot of problems out of the world
im gay and I just see it as box ticking to make the twitter mob leave them alone in June. The flag means nothing coming from big companies its just a way of re-packaging in a time of year that there are no big events like christmas. Im actually suprised that there are no in game pride events, but then it wouldnt go down well in china who after all are their paymasters now, same reason why they have no black lead characters (china no like)
Im against political pandering for profit. Idgaf what you do with yourself. People need to identify and separate pandering from real compassion. These companies are not pinning up their pride badges up to show how loving and accepting they are of your choices. (regardless of whether you think its a choice or not is irrelevant... the over-arching point is the exact same) They are doing it purely to ride the trend and profit off of making you feel like you were "included" in something. It's actually a fucking disgusting and predatory scheme and so many of you people fall for it hook line & sinker :( The twitter mob is fucking bad for it. They are literally preying on your desire to feel normality about your identity. It's sickening. I wish people could see the blatantly obvious pandering......
I do non emergency transport and I had to spend 2 hours in the back of an ambulance with an altered woman that was extremely sexually aggressive. It was the most uncomfortable I've ever been. Can't imagine working in a similar environment for years at a time.
@@ele7d Speaking as someone who had to deal with similar sexually aggressive people in my own line of work, it's really not dude. I'm a bisexual male, it doesn't matter if they are good looking or not, it doesn't matter if I met them at a club I might be into them, when they are basically molesting you you just want cry.
So glad you talked about this Mike. Especially the part about it´s our responsibility as men to activly deal with this issue, never ever can the blame land on the women regarding this issue. Alot of workplace´s, friend groups etc. Are full of this toxic masculinity and speaking out in those enviroments aswell as good parenting is a foundation for these issues to be resolved. Amazing to see you and Emma doing your part for the women this affects.
@rick mel because in 99% of cases its men on women. Your argument would be valid if the overwhelming majority were not men. It takes away from the responsibility we have to clean our act up.
@rick mel you are missing the point, ofcourse that logic cant be Applied to everything. No one said it was, in this specific case its not relevant especially as the people in this case are women. This is the ”all lives matter” argument all over again. If you were truly concerned you would just support the people this happend to, instead you chose to argue the 1% with me
@rick mel ofcourse not. Do you not understand that if a group A is responsible for most of crime B they are the problem? If group A are the majority of victims or group D is absolutely irrelevant
Really fantastic to just hear your straight up disgust for it all Mike - the clarity with which you make your opinions clear is so refreshing, and I couldn't agree with you more. Don't be annoyed that you don't hear this stuff as often/can't stop it cause people appease you, it means you're setting an example they know they shouldn't cross, and that's half the fight. Much love ❤️
Mike and Emma I am still a fan and a supporter of Preach Gaming. Whatever content you create, it is always enjoyable to watch because you both and your team members are very talented and creative. Keep being kind and keep being yourselves.
Mike, you're such a goddamn Chad, it's amazing. Keep being awesome! And even if you stop streaming WoW, I'll still watch your content. I've said before some of my favorite videos on here are you playing games besides WoW. A big hairy bro fist, my dude.
this was great to hear your thoughts preach thanks for getting it out there, honestly reading the chat here was kinda heartbeaking, seeing a bunch of Dbags making light and calling women paranoid, fucking sucks sto ssee
@rick mel Then do something to help when that is an issue, the Blizzard case has nothing to do with men being murdered so bring that up in a different space when its relevant Thats the problem. you never see men spreading this awareness when men suffer, you only do it with women suffer to take the focus away from them
@@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz this is too accurate. I work in benefits coordination and the leader of a corporation will definitely hire like minded staff over qualified candidates. It's sad
@L M i was siding with yall on this one male feminists are always assholes dont play the oh wee ol helpless women card on me though i worked with plenty of women i know how sick and fucked up they are too
so repulsed as a female wow player by the allegations in this lawsuit. a woman literally died because these freakshows couldn't act normal. and the sexism (and racism, and homophobia...) in certain parts of the playerbase is its own issue, and i've been trying to just tune it out for way too long. canceled my sub this morning; not coming back. absolutely love your content, mike, and respect your candor here. will always be following PG
The blizz thing is just wrong, hard to say anything at all about it aside from that. The other thing later in the vid, about how women see the world, is just soooo foreign to me. I've had talks with girlfriends or female friends, and all of them had so many worries, lets take another path home, dont got through the park, lets avoid this and that and I'm like, wtf ? As mike said, it can be 3AM in the city and I go for a small walk before bed, through the dark parks and streets with headphones on and without a worry in the world. This is something that is just non-existant for them. One time I had a walk at night, maybe 11pm, and a young women crossed my path, looking nervous, fiddling with her keys and was then about to enter a building. After I walked past her, I saw her continue walking down the street, so she was afraid of me and tried to look like shes already at home. This one stuck with me. Gotta admit, I may look a bit intimidating, bearded big guy, 1,90, 120kg. Ever since I had conversations like I mentioned before as well as this "incident", I consiously try to not look or behave threatining whenever I cross paths with women later at night.
Unfortunately it just takes one guy hollering at you and following you home from work one night to make you paranoid for years. Thank you for trying your best and I hope you won't take it too personally sometimes it's really just safer then sorry.
ok so men cant be scared of going at night or something? at 3am heck even past 7pm I dont go through parks or take taxis alone, not every man is 6'2 and looks intimidating and can fend off potential attackers. Whats with you and preach treating this like only a problem for one gender or even gender itself? The example is terrible, you guys live in priviledged coutnires to be able to say that.
@@Freestyle80 Ofc you can, as you've said, I'm lucky to live where I live, where excessive crime is rare. I probably won't get raped or randomly murdered, maybe mugged but even then, I'm probably not the prime target. It really depends on where I am, currently 28years old, I still live in the same street I've ever born in, it's just my home. There are also districts in my city that are more dangerous, where I probably wouldn't stroll along oblivious to my surroundings. I'm just rarely there, for that very reason. But when I think about South America, or most of Africa as well as many countries in Asia, I wouldn't feel safe. Even in the US I wouldn't feel safe and might not visit my family there. So no worries, perfectly fine to be scared as a dude.
I have a 9 year old sister and it makes me sick to think the type of world she is going to have face as she grows older. Like idk what to do, I see this kind of stuff happening everywhere but its so hard to catch in real life and I feel like I'm being played for a fool.
Human longings cannot just be brushed away. When we buy something we can never fully ignore the person that we are interacting with. Sympathy, looks, voice etc. will all play a role in those situations, even though we dont like that thought. And as long as maximum profits are the highest ideal in capitalism and our economy, situations like Emma described, will never go away.
Ok you had me right up until you tried to blame sexual deviancy on capitalism. It has absolutely nothing to do with any economic system whatsoever. It has everything to do with the moral depravity that has existed in a subsection of the human population since humans learned what their reproductive organs were for. You can dislike corporations; I know I do. You cannot, however, blame this in any way, shape or form on "muh profits" of capitalism.
Quite honestly, the most fun I've had with your stream or videos the past year or so has been from other games. Especially RPG month. Chrono trigger playthrough was a gem.
Yeah, they're probably gonna payoff the lawsuit, and it might not be much to them. However, this will not be good for their reputation in the long term. Granted, anybody deserves a defense so justice can be served decently. Public sentiment is agaisn't Blizzard however. Blizzard probably doesn't care much about previous scandals as they kept making money after doing damage control. But you've got to wonder : at which point are those scandals and incompetence going to hit their bottom line substantially?
@@sumerian88 I think we are getting there, or at least hope so. In the past few years, since around Legion disappointment and anger at Blizzard seems to have been growing and growing, I think we're finally reaching the breaking point. But who knows, maybe they'll release something good and everyone will instantly forget about the past few years.
I don't follow you because I divorced myself from WoW and Blizz back when the Hong Kong thing went down, but if you started covering other games more I would totally resub. I like you and your content a lot, I just can't support people as awful and as committed to continuing to be awful as Blizzard and Activision have demonstrated they are.
The deflection in the chat is hilarious. As if sexual harassment being present in other companies justifies it from blizzard. That age old. Well they did it too mentality? Ok? So what? Two wrongs do not make right
Stop shaming people for quitting wow because of this. It's your choice to keep playing if you feel like it, like it's theirs to not play if they don't. I haven't played since before the middle of bfa, but if I was playing now, I'd 100% stop. Not only because of the sick shit that happens in that company, but also because if you read the whole thing, they reported that employees literally game on the job, and delegate their tasks to others. They're literally spitting on their subs, letting the game be shit as it is, to GAME ON THE JOB. And you're gonna shame people for quitting? fuck that. For what it's worth, I'd have 10 times more respect for youtubers and streamers quitting wow and going on to play something else, support them even. I mean I haven't been playing for 3 years now, have I stopped watching preach? no
@@Sharkofspace I quit because of this. Reading the story made me sick to my stomache. So when I got home I cancelled sub and deleted wow. The people who stick with the game only help with keeping these abusers in power.
I like to instead cost them as much money in customer service as possible, Preferably avoiding any of the automated channels, and have interactions with these folks where I just waste their time and talk about issues like this one. I like the game. I want the game to be good. I don't want a bunch of drunk frat boys gone mad with their success, and I don't want an uber-course corrected HR-friendly circlejerk either. I just want the game to be good.
The stuff that Emma is talking about is called “safety work” and women have to think about this just about every minute of every day. Don’t go down that alley, don’t get in a taxi alone, don’t go to parks at night alone, is someone around that corner? is my purse safe from being snatched? Is this Uber guy going to kidnap me? Is someone hiding at my car in the parking lot? why won’t this creepy guy at the bus stop just leave me alone! Where is the bus, will I be able to sit on a seat alone or will someone try to sit by me and creep? IT. IS. EXHAUSTING.
Uninstalled WoW, all other Blizzard games and Bnet. Given that they've completely decimated their customer service staff I feel like the only way I can voice my displeasure is by denying the company an MAU for a quarter or longer. Which honestly really sucks. I had a TON of fun with doing Taz hard mode and finally getting that last boss down. I've enjoyed the Torghast scoring system. I've found the new M+ affix to be incredibly nice, it's so much more relaxing to tank than Prideful and the powers are so impactful over a full run. Beyond that too uninstalling the game is like saying goodbye to a friend I've had for 15 years. Hopefully they clean house and sort their shit.
I just want to point out for anyone on the "it's just allegations" train. Yes this may be true, however I need to point out that a STATE GOVERNMENT doesn't go after a corporation in this way unless they are EXTREMELY CONFIDENT that they would win in a legal battle. Like there is probably so much actionable evidence they have that Blizzard will do whatever they can to keep it out of the courts.
Glad I've never experienced this in my career. My wife has been in education and has worked with almost entirely with woman so she hasn't had to deal with it.
"it's very few who cause these massive problems" is it though? Judging by the documents it seems to be more or less pervasive in Blizzard, and probably a lot of other gaming companies. Maybe that's why they fired and rehired so many people. Trying to purge the ranks, except the ones on top of course.
I feel so lost in todays society.. I'm "only" 30 going 31 this year but I was raised the old way and the nerves some people have to act like they do in most if not all situations in life is beyond me and it actually makes me sad. Not saying everything was perfect far back either but work ethics, respect, human decency, kindness, moral, It's like it's fading away almost reduced to gold dust in a pile of crap allready.
This isn't a generational thing, my dude. People were always garbage, generally speaking. We just have the internet now to root them out, and a culture that is increasingly concerned with holding them accountable. It may not seem like it, but this is progress, not regress.
Mike, we love ya bud. If you end up having more qualms about sticking to the game that we all once loved, don't hesitate to make content for other MMOs or games. It might be hard to rip that WoW bandaid off initially, but going from these comments it seems many of us agree that we are here for YOU and your experiences/opinions. I'm done with WoW and have been for about 2 years now because of the sad state of the game in my eyes, but I watch you anyways. I hope to see you experimenting with new types of content or new games.
The number of times, while on nights out, I’ve felt the need to pretend to know a woman (a complete stranger) because they look like they’re in trouble or walked them part way home because they’re being followed still keeps me up some nights. I’ve got 2 younger sisters who go out and I worry constantly about them.
Sounds just like fanfiction that an internet-white-knight furry would come up with. When you're so uncool in real life that you have to make up stories about yourself in youtube comment sections lmao
@@zeffey212 shit man, if that’s what you need to think to sleep well at night then you do you. I don’t need internet browny points to feel good about myself, It’s not like I go out at night dressed up like Batman looking for people to help, but I did work the doors for some clubs for a few years and I’ve seen just how fucked the world can be to women when they’re alone on nights out and drunk.
As someone that works for a big tech company (not gaming): The shift to the inclusivity topic is an industry wide phenomenon, pretty much a knee jerk reaction stemming from #MeToo. Blizz was probably just a smidge late to the pivot (OH I see Preach already addressed everyone else was doing it)
It's awful that this happened, but if there's one silver lining, it's that the news could not have broken at a better time to get people to actually listen. If we found out in 2017 - mid-Legion, HGC still running, pre-Blitzchung, nobody needed to have a phone... this would all get swept right under the rug. People would be mad for a week and then forget. We should be so so so so SO glad that the news is breaking right now, when Blizzard's reputation is the lowest its ever been and people are open to hearing that Blizzard did something awful. They can throw their lawyers at legal consequence, dump the employees who will make the best scapegoat and straighten their tie afterwards. But they can't PR their way out of a paper bag, and this is going to hit them in the one place they actually care about - their profits. Blizzard's reputation has gone from bad to worse in the last couple years, and at this exact moment, the eyes of the industry are on them. And I think everyone who was on the fence about giving Blizzard money, has now come to a decision.
It's the beginning of the end for the World of Warcraft. New World is dope, FFXIV taking over, Ashes still showing promise, Blizzard internal issues, monetizing Classic... I used to think the game would last to 2030 and beyond but every month it just seems unlikelier.
Man i never thinked about it that way...i've been trained to "handle" any problem and my worries are at maximum the police stops me on the street at 3 in the morning and i dont have a normal reason to give them..and give an entire speech..it's like girls are in a horror movie all their lives and at any time a monster can have a bad day and you can't do shit to defend yourself..but me even if a monster jumps me il fucking bite off the meat of his face if it's the last thing i do..this is the a prime example we are not equal and we never will be
@@PowerfulSkeleton Every video is whining about something. Now, in this case he's definitely got something worthwhile to whine about, but otherwise it's just constant negativity.
@@deathbower Would you prefer relentless gushing and positivity, instead? You call it 'whining', but the videos are reasonably structured criticisms on problems he's identified. He's not switching the stream on and going 'waaah, shards, waaaah' for two hours.
One time a good friend broke up with his significant other. To help him out we spent the day together played couch co-op, watched TV, etc. Man decided to show me the girl's nudes out of the blue. "Hey look at this" pointing to his phone. When I realized this was his now ex. I slapped him in the back of the head and said be a man not a twat. He deleted all of her private pics then and said sorry. It was an odd experience. This kind of thing would of never crossed my mind .
the people can beat you to death, i had that tendency to check my surroundings after army. checking who ever looks dangerous...it fades away eventually. Did for me.
I appreciate this talk Preach and I'm glad you're making this statement and talking about the way we need to listen to those affected. That idiot in chat who kept bringing up unethical practices in China used to make our computers to try an minimize this: There is lots of bad shit happening in the world and when people are trying to raise awareness and fix one of them you are not helping by deflecting away to another subject. I think we all agree it is bad and we would want change to it too. You're also failing to realise this hits far closer to home with someone like Preach who personally works closely with Blizzard. And thirdly, as Americans/Europeans, it's far easier to make the world a better place within the socio/political system we're currently part of, we can't make Xi Jinping a good person, we and the system we influence can do something about this.
the thing that baffles me the most is that when i call out my guildies on their misogyny or homophobia they get defensive and call it 'jokes', but when i complain about how they speak or behave as men, im suddenly labeled as sexist or radical. i just find unfair that its socially accepted men can do or say whatever they want but women should silently observe and just nod they heads. also im finally quiting wow in few weeks when my sub ends. ive had enough.
Don't be butthurt about every joke. There are rough jokes, but it doesn't help, people find it funny sometimes anyway. Some people just like dark humor and pretty savage jokes and if people think that a joke implies any serious intention to hate , they are just being silly.
@@spacebibba8984 sure but if it happens all the time and women or being gay is just a favourite topic of joke, its not ok. some ppl left the guild bc of this and im really not suprised.
Can't decide how I feel about still playing... .. on the one hand, it sickening me at the behaviour of some of the employees, but on the other hand, it is the only way I talk to some of my friends and I probs lose touch with them. feeling gutted and ashamed
Jesus fucking Christ, what are you feeling ashamed about? About enjoying a game that might've been partly maintained by some sleazy dickheads? Virtue signalling at its finest lmao
The main problem is it's been there for too long that most look through it or think it's "normal" these days... And the majority laugh it off like "one of the fella's"...
Kinda ironic how they made this expansion about death and suffering and torture… almost like they saw this coming and foreshadowed it with shadowlands lol
Here's some simple questions...how do you know what is true or not? Why is this a civil complaint rather than criminal? Was the investigation occurring while the alleged activity was occurring? Has anyone read the actual court filing...not the news of it? Does anyone know how DFEH works and what it's mission is? Has anyone read the official DFEH press release? Just because a State makes an allegation does not mean it is true....please remember Newsome is coming up for a recall election in 7 weeks. The worst thing is to judge before you know.
WoW Player: Blizzard is arrogant and doesn't listen to/care about its players Lawsuit: Blizzard is arrogant and doesn't listen to/care about its employees Not even remotely surprised, though. I used to live next to Activision's offices in LA and that entire place was like a frat house.
@@Freestyle80 Lol what? Activision acquired Blizzard 13 years ago. The investigation on this lawsuit started 2 years ago. It's too insane to have to explain more than that.
To the individual who states (This mentality has been ingrained for hundreds of years, and is difficult to change). So were Monarchies deposed and replaced with Democratic Republics and States. Just because it's engrained- doesn't mean it can't be changed and replaced for a better working model and future. We went from equalitarian hunter/gathering societies, where women were treated as equals and the democratic decisions and rule of the community were how a chief and society grew through merit. To an Oligarchic Patriarchy were 1% own everything and decide. Lets go back to our roots. Big words... but true.
02:00 So many men can only understand that sexual harassment is wrong when viewed through the lens of how it affects THEM. "Wouldn't I feel bad if MY sister or MY wife went through this?" Erm yes, but you should feel that way about EVERYONE, all the time!!! The games industry needs to sit the fuck down and examine how to do better than this. How to BE better. ALL OF US. I appreciate you talking about this.
I understand not everyone at blizzard is a bad person but the whole story about the object and death within the company really turns me off to playing even hots personally and i hope justice prevails. also its very strange blizzard can't stop making bad pr.
It may be the very few. But those very few are the ones in power. I agree playing it isn't the problem the problem is the Management and hr need to be replaced from the top down.
I’m sure he will keep covering all things Blizzard. I’m really noticing that the content creators that bring this air of moral superiority to this mess are also the ones that won’t do anything about it. Asmongold’s video called blizzard was the best and most mature take.
sucks that harassment happened to this extent that it just will really hurt the company, also people that need the content to make a living are going to take a hit as well and the majority of people working there as well. My mom was harassed for year at her job and it messed her up even to this day, I had no idea and she just kept it to herself for years and years to just brush it off. So its not fun and man this whole thing just makes me sick.
@King DJ I've noticed that, especially on twitter, EVERY SINGLE person defending Blizzard on this has stuff on their profile about being conservative, or that democrats/liberals are the devil, etc. It's honestly not even a coincidence at this point, but a pattern. Something about that kind of mindset drives them to defend this kind of shit, and it's not hard to see why. FWIW I'm not even the type to demonize anyone's political stances, but it's getting ridiculous.
@@heavensborne I hate that I get lumped in with conservatives (I am one) because you aren't wrong. They have misplaced all of their values in an attempt to "be right". I hate using this term, but how can someone desire "traditional family values", see something like this, and say it's fake? Stuff like this happens. Don't just dismiss it because it hasn't happened to you. Chances are your wife has complained and you told her "they're just having fun". Your wife experienced sexual harassment and you blew it off.
@@dapineaple It's up to people like you to change what your mindset is about in the public eye. Unfortunately, especially after the last five to six years, most people will believe Conservatives are like what you and I described: sucking up to big companies, desiring capitalism and money above all other things, and demanding power over minorities in order to have people to control.
The amount of people harrassing Blizzard content creaters is even more disgusting and you are part of the problem self-righteous idiots. Keyboard warriors who cant do anything else and just talks shit all day.
Look I’m a guy and I’ve been sexually harassed at plenty of jobs. Grabbing my forearms, calling me names, trying to get hugs, making jokes about manhood and so on. I’ve reported it and sometimes action is taken or the boss laughs and says you like it. So it does suck. I understand these women. I hate it for them. I’m afraid nothing will happen, but hopefully enough of us unsub and go elsewhere. Boycott all of blizzard, let them understand how wrong they are. Just a tragedy this has happen to these innocent people. Hopefully they can move on and find better environments in the future.
I do feel like while JAB and Morhaime knew, they were also led astray. When you have legions of middle management locking ranks to do bad shit to female employees (One due constantly harassed a pregnant woman and threatened to fire her for using teh bathroom too much, so she stopped drinking water and ended up in the hospital) and HR that engages in gaslighting, victim blaming and other really bad shit, the chances that the reality is making it through to the top is not at all likely. Even when it does make it through its been sugarcoated heavily, like "oh he has a very affectionate manner when drinking " "He's has a problem with personal space when drinking" "It was just a joke they were playing that got out of hand" etc. When a company blows up like they did the creatives that made it happen are protected heavily to keep the golden goose laying eggs. Unfortunately they ended up being predators, so the culture that protected them ended up predatory as well. I feel that while its Morhaime and JAB's jobs to oversee the company, they were probably misled a great deal as well. I am not a fan of blizzard, do not want to defend them and do not think this absolves them of wrong doing- Both have prettymuch said so in their responses as well, that they cant hide from blame. I just say what I say as a human being who has worked with pieces of shit many times before and knows how they operate. As Mike says, people who arent like that hide it from people they know wont agree.
It's everywhere all jobs everything in life tons of gamers I've had all kinds of nutty incidents playing wow sometimes wished I would of never spoke in discord. This just ain't a wow thing but I honestly think this is really going to hurt blizzard if it stays in the spotlight for awhile I hope it just opens a few guys eyes at least to maybe just learn to be a fucking decent guy. Then we wouldn't be stuck with the girl in sales saying I wasn't allowed to talk in person while pregnant that says it all right there
I haven’t liked the direction blizzard has been heading. With this, I won’t be spending anymore money on any of there products. I’m not even sure I will play what I own from them. There is no way the upper management had no clue about this. This culture had to start somewhere.
Real talk though, guys can’t get away with saying half of the stuff women say at work. I’ve literally seen a girl call a table the N word behind their back at a restaurant in full view of the GM AND guests and she didn’t even get written up. A friend called her the C word and got suspended for a week. She was a terrible employee. Anecdotal but let’s be a little more open about this please
hehe it's always these big fuckin companies that panders to the most cringe surface level woke shit, that end up having real skeletons in their closets
While I agree about pretty much everything Mike said here, his point about women being attacked by every guy on the street was a bit over the top. I don't walk around thinking every single car I see is going to run me over. There are many situations where women are right to feel threatened... walking down the street daily is not, and should never be one of them. We aren't some complete hellscape where rapes happen on every corner street. My hope is Blizzard burns for the shit they've done and kept quiet about in-house. If nothing improves, that'll be telling not only of the company itself... but of the justice system.
Being a father to two toddlers it genuinely scares me what world they grow up in. I was raised correctly and I believe I'm raising them correctly too. They are respectul and dont see black, white, asian, female,male etc... they see people as people. There is not enough of that in this world, everything has a label and unfortunately some people also believe because of that it entitles them to do whatever they want. Everyone can make slight changes, in this case in particular respecting women but as a general rule respect everyone. I have seen blokes abuse women and have confronted them if I know them or not. 100% of these sort of people are complete cowards, they deserve punishment to the full extent of the law. I just feel extremely sorry for any staff at blizz that tried to report this or stop it. Genuinely decent people will also take the fall due to some asshole colleagues of theirs.
I mean, the fact that Mike had to put a date in the title so we're clear on WHICH blizzard scandal we're talking about here... Speaks volumes you know...
Thank you Mike. I can only imagine how tough this could be when your income depends on the game. If you start playing other games I will support you all the way.
@Joe Schmoe I cut myself on that comment
@Joe Schmoe Support doesn't necessarily mean to give money. Watching the videos and Livestreams, that have ads, can be all the support you give. But if someone feels that they get enough entertainment from a source, that they want to give them 5 dollars for their appreciation, and content can continue to grow and progress, then that is their choice. Speaking with no context of financial state or how else a person handles their money, and telling them what they should do, now that's weird.
@Joe Schmoe you actually just lack common sense
@david C Do you watch movies? Listen to music? Watch sports? If so, you are actually supporting other rich people that would do nothing for you if roles were reversed. Just because someone supports another in an industry you don't understand doesn't mean you aren't already doing the exact same thing.
@david C same thing would happen though. You could help those people but who's to say they help you in return later? No matter how you play it its always going to be this way you have absolutely no idea if you support a person they will support you later on. Even family fails at this sometimes. Its part of the reason why donations are so meaningful bc you give your support willingly knowing you will only lose money
I watched you make scrambled eggs in the microwave, I'll still be here if you leave wow lol.
I second this statement!
I left after shadowlands was a complete disaster and Mike had shilled hard for it. I will 100% for sure come back and subscribe if he leaves wow.
In the microwave? What fresh hell is this and how do I unsub from such heresy
Already canceled my subscription 2months ago and told myself "they have this time to make something good to change my mind" but this was the final nail in the coffin.
They knew this was coming, I truly believe that's why some high profile Devs left because they knew this was going to come out soon and they wanted either no part in the shit storm or wanted to save their own behinds, or both.
More likely they knowed they are being investigated and bailed. So far the entirety of Blizzard from 2004 management is to blame, that is when AA come in. They all knew, Metzen, Morhaine, etc. They just jumped ship before it sinked but they are as much responsible as that clown Brack.
@@AlivenReis Gotta boycott Morhaines new company now because he knew about this and left. He's just as much responsible, if not more so since he was the captain of the ship and chose to leave it.
@@blacksunshine9995 I feel like as soon as he found out he peaced, and that is the only course of action. Even if you stay and try to fix it, it's you who gets cut down in the end. The Kind King of Nerds instead created a safe haven for folks to go to - because the reason they stay is they're afraid they'll have nowhere else to go.
@@DarkScreamGames the investigation is 2 years old do started in 2019. Although that's when he left, he had actually handed in his notice a year prior and was acting as 'strategic advisor for a year to assist the hand off. So he didn't jump ship when the he knew the company was being investigated.
It's also worth noting a few other things:
There is no time frame on the allegations on how far back they go.
And
Blizzard prior to Activision merger had a awesome reputation and employees loved working there with no allegations of setup harassment when they was just Blizzard (as far as is public).
So, I'm more inclined to believe that when the merger happend and Activision started putting there culture onto Blizzard, this is where it started.
Although, it's all speculation at the minute, it's unfair to blame him without any proof, time will tell as this case processes further if he knew about it and didn't act (it's entirely possible, in his role, he didn't know the day to day harassment was going on with lower developers as he wouldn't be communicating with them but with the people doing the harassment who obviously wouldn't be telling him they're harassing staff).
While I am sure some, if not all of the major players had notice of the culture issues going on within their company, the one issue most are up in arms over is actually specially an activision one. The woman who killed her self on the business trip was an activision employee not a blizzard one , she was also the one whom had pictures of her vagina shown around the office by the supervisor who was sleeping with her, who brought a butt plug and lube on the trip, likely with the intent of using it on her.
I think we should allow all this to sort itself out and those who are guilty or had knowledge and did nothing should r try receive the maximum punishment allowed by law for these crimes. Remember Blizzard itself employees many thousand employees and I would guess that 99% of them are honest hardworking people who are there to do the best job they can for a company they love. Hey maybe we will actually start to get inspired content again, or maybe there will be another game to step into the place where WOW once lived in our souls.
The little one at the end was the best palate cleanser. Good takes and appreciate the candidness about how you felt and what you've seen. Thanks Preach.
Maybe you have a point about predatory men sensing who would not be ok with their behavior. I have worked for a large company and something similar came out and I legitimately had zero idea anything was going on.
I had something similar, but not with work place but WoW guild. I had a group of (what I considered) great friends that I played wow with daily. We were talking for hours about everything politics included. I was sure they were nice dudes, until they got kicked from the guild over actual racist harassment of one of the trials that they knew was black. I saw screenshots of the things they did send between each other, it was crazy, not your typical 4chan edgy humor, but some heavy stuff. It literally came out of nowhere from my POV.
@@MarekPar743 Hubs was tanking for a mythic raid guild he joined earlier this year and left when the officers started a discord discussion on female drivers of middle eastern decent involving explosives. I was playing next to him and overheard. I had been internally questioning his guild for a week prior as I never heard a female voice on their discord during raids. Turns out they were a male only super "American red hats" guild.
of course they do. Same reason why rapist don't attack every woman but certain "type".
Predators and abusers are usually very good at identifying both victims and allies. Luckily I've never had to deal with this at the workplace, but I've seen it several times in the game. As soon as certain people are offline, the toxicity comes out of the woodwork. All the female players and that one guy who minds are offline so let the rape jokes commence.
Whoever wrote that statement by blizzard should be fired it was absolutely horrible.
I saw it on wowhead.... they need to be fired on that alone so many errors
What i find interesting is how Bellular said how "Afrasabi was made to be a sacrificial lamb for this lawsuit".
@@admiraltonydawning3847 really! I don't watch him much anymore... Interesting.
@@admiraltonydawning3847 Meaning it wasn't just him, who else is still at the company doing these things?
3:12 This is an interesting point and I think it's absolutely true. These scumbags are very crafty at hiding their predilections from other men who don't share them, because they need reputable, upstanding friends/peers/associates around to vouch for them when the inevitable accusations come. "Oh, I've only ever known him to be a stand-up guy, I've never seen him do any of this sort of thing, ever."
Thank you Mike. This was a good real talk. You had very good points and it is nice and refreshing to hear someone with their head at the right place.
“It’s really not that hard to not be a complete piece of shit.” Truer words were never spoken, Mike
I have uninstalled everything from blizzard Activision and unsubscribed from wow. I can't and won't support in any way a company that allows such things to any human being in 2021. This is a real tragedy. 2 years investigation with proofs and witnesses... This news just made me sick... I just can't.
@@morbidgull8922 It does do something. It's a small part of something bigger. I'm boycotting Blizzard and their future games because of this too. Protests come from multitude of people with the same ideals and that itself makes a difference; it creates a voice for others to hear. "It doesn't make a difference" is complete BS.
@@morbidgull8922 You have a pretty negative viewpoint. I have nothing more to say to you.
@@morbidgull8922 well first of all why would it hurt op to not support a company they don't like? Second, what hurts the company is when they lose investors since they're the driving force of any company, but don't ignore the fact that customers and consumers affect whether an investor would like to continue supporting or would invest in the future. Lastly, even if consumers outright stop subbing, Activision blizzard is still oblige to pay their employees. Full Time employees who don't want to partake with them can leave and will actually get better opportunities to look for other companies considering what happens when there's a big crash and burn like this, companies are open arms to get folks with experience. Part time employees might take the most hit but blizzard has clearly shown they don't care about them considering that they don't rehire a lot of their contractors.
You presented this so well. Delicate subject expertly handled here. I'm unsubscribed to WoW and this confirms in my head I'll never return.
Fair enough. It has come after fair few bad patches.
@@Zabzim Ofc we had bad patches. Blizzard employees were busy harassing people instead of actually working.
Look at these rank 1 parents. Teaching children correct life practices.
sadly education is just a tiny part of it,you can teach your kids right from wrong all you want,but if they lack empathy or dont care all that education wont matter,its like every rapist knows that rape is bad,thats not stoping them
@@deenman23 while you can't guarantee anything when it comes to child development. You can model good parenting and life behaviors. People tend to follow models they see and act in a similar manner.
Acquire sausages, disregard all other matters.
@@HitovsMoustache I am copying that for my parental weak aura
6:30 Since they've been investigating Blizzard for a couple of years. Makes you worried that, are any of the top people who left recently to start their own studios did they also had these frat mentality but left on a "good note"
Jeff Kaplan might be one of them. Explains his fast departure.
Looks like a couple were forced out because they were driving the culture and Blizz probably tried to get ahead of the investigation by canning them.
100% Alex Afrasiabi was removed to get ahead of the investigation. He deleted his social media.
@@Shatamx Lmao you self-important narcissists making yourself judge and jury without any evidence.
@@Shatamx Go back to twitter where innocent before proven guilty is left out of the discourse. You're equally as trash of a human being as method josh for putting a name to a horrendous act with 0 evidence
I gotta disagree in the sense that a majority definitely knew this was happening and said nothing. You don’t have “cube crawls” and employee kill herself and that news doesn’t get around. I don’t buy it. There’s no reason other than complicity for even an uninvolved employee to have not anonymously gone to any sort of journalist.
If the company can figure out *who* leaked that info to said journalist, you can bet your ass there would be fallout for that person. Why do you think women are so afraid to even challenge shit like this?
Blizzard fires 700 employees for no reason, employees out of the clique are heavily discouraged to do or say anything.
Of course they knew. A majority of WoW developers are incels who hate women. Ohhhh boo hoo, they weren't liked by women as a kid. Suck it up, hit the gym, find a gay guy to dress you, get some confidence, boom. Problem solved. There's no need to physically and mentally assault women for their childhood woes of chronic masturbation and women-hating.
@@dudeguybro lol you seem to be projecting some personal issues there. And I am sorry they didn't want to hire you. Keep trying!
Game journalists are pos that will ignore anything for money until they can't afford to stay silent anymore.
I love mike, you know he cares because this isnt some official statement he had to make or stance on the matter, he chose to spend time on this on his stream and just have a casual real conversation about it and he was absolutely spitting in this chat as well. Good on him.
"Im supposed to be doing a WoW charity" ...well this awkward...
There isn't a company on the planet that is immune to corruption in some form. Thusly, raising money under the Blizzard banner to help a charity in need should have gone ahead regardless. It's simply because Mike doesn't wish to be branded "guilty by association". It's a business decision to distance themselves, not one born out of empathy. A selfish decision, but makes sense within the context of needing to raise his own family as a bread winner. Daimler Benz supplied the Nazi's with armaments in world war 2. Do people think about that when driving a Mercedes in this day an age? Of course not. Global events still use them for a sponsor though, don't they? Using the Blizzard name is perfectly justifiable if it means people that are in need are helped out of a bad situation. I don't think it's awkward at all, frankly.
I really feel what Emma was saying. Really, really relate to it.
As a gay male, I think just putting pride flags everywhere and making one or two characters in games lgbt doesn't really do anything. All I want is that people finally accept it as normal and don't make me the center of either super fake positive or negative (discrimination) attention. The pride flag has a purpose and it's misused by big orgs.
im against all the big lgbtq stuff, but i support anyones sexuality choices. more people should think like you, less diversity will help a lot of problems out of the world
im gay and I just see it as box ticking to make the twitter mob leave them alone in June. The flag means nothing coming from big companies its just a way of re-packaging in a time of year that there are no big events like christmas. Im actually suprised that there are no in game pride events, but then it wouldnt go down well in china who after all are their paymasters now, same reason why they have no black lead characters (china no like)
@@Jamie-gd2jx sexuality is not a choice, wth...
Please let this stretch into a 500 reply twitter-tier argument.
Im against political pandering for profit.
Idgaf what you do with yourself.
People need to identify and separate pandering from real compassion. These companies are not pinning up their pride badges up to show how loving and accepting they are of your choices. (regardless of whether you think its a choice or not is irrelevant... the over-arching point is the exact same)
They are doing it purely to ride the trend and profit off of making you feel like you were "included" in something. It's actually a fucking disgusting and predatory scheme and so many of you people fall for it hook line & sinker :( The twitter mob is fucking bad for it.
They are literally preying on your desire to feel normality about your identity. It's sickening. I wish people could see the blatantly obvious pandering......
I do non emergency transport and I had to spend 2 hours in the back of an ambulance with an altered woman that was extremely sexually aggressive. It was the most uncomfortable I've ever been. Can't imagine working in a similar environment for years at a time.
@@ele7d it’s really not.
@@ele7d Speaking as someone who had to deal with similar sexually aggressive people in my own line of work, it's really not dude. I'm a bisexual male, it doesn't matter if they are good looking or not, it doesn't matter if I met them at a club I might be into them, when they are basically molesting you you just want cry.
@@tekkaoz idk man its been a hot minute, maybe we can send the sexually aggressive chicks over my way kekw.
@@youtubedeletedmynamewhybother basically we have the edgy teen Lord who wants to “shock” people. Move along ya crotch goblin.
@@craynak Ah yes, this man took personal offence. Good job sir.
So glad you talked about this Mike. Especially the part about it´s our responsibility as men to activly deal with this issue, never ever can the blame land on the women regarding this issue. Alot of workplace´s, friend groups etc. Are full of this toxic masculinity and speaking out in those enviroments aswell as good parenting is a foundation for these issues to be resolved. Amazing to see you and Emma doing your part for the women this affects.
@rick mel because in 99% of cases its men on women. Your argument would be valid if the overwhelming majority were not men. It takes away from the responsibility we have to clean our act up.
@rick mel you are missing the point, ofcourse that logic cant be Applied to everything. No one said it was, in this specific case its not relevant especially as the people in this case are women. This is the ”all lives matter” argument all over again. If you were truly concerned you would just support the people this happend to, instead you chose to argue the 1% with me
@rick mel plus the ”men are victims of murder” would hold weight of the majority of murderers were not men, see the parallell here ?
@rick mel ofcourse not. Do you not understand that if a group A is responsible for most of crime B they are the problem? If group A are the majority of victims or group D is absolutely irrelevant
This isn't "very few" who have been causing the problem. From employee accounts, this has been pervasive and ingrained in the culture for years.
Really fantastic to just hear your straight up disgust for it all Mike - the clarity with which you make your opinions clear is so refreshing, and I couldn't agree with you more. Don't be annoyed that you don't hear this stuff as often/can't stop it cause people appease you, it means you're setting an example they know they shouldn't cross, and that's half the fight. Much love ❤️
Mike and Emma I am still a fan and a supporter of Preach Gaming. Whatever content you create, it is always enjoyable to watch because you both and your team members are very talented and creative. Keep being kind and keep being yourselves.
Mike, you're such a goddamn Chad, it's amazing. Keep being awesome! And even if you stop streaming WoW, I'll still watch your content. I've said before some of my favorite videos on here are you playing games besides WoW. A big hairy bro fist, my dude.
this was great to hear your thoughts preach thanks for getting it out there, honestly reading the chat here was kinda heartbeaking, seeing a bunch of Dbags making light and calling women paranoid, fucking sucks sto ssee
@rick mel Then do something to help when that is an issue, the Blizzard case has nothing to do with men being murdered so bring that up in a different space when its relevant
Thats the problem. you never see men spreading this awareness when men suffer, you only do it with women suffer to take the focus away from them
@rick mel Im not going to continue with you as I’ve already told you the problem, this isn’t the time or place for the issues your raising
I was waiting for something worse to make me unsub, this is it. No more WoW for me
Just wanna say, you're raising your kids right. Just seeing yall get on so well and joke is the best part of this highlight. You're a good man, Mike.
Why do all these tech company employees start walking on their knuckles whenever they see a physical woman
Socially awkward man-babies that got older, got some money, a little perceived power. It’s a perfect recipe for a disgusting human.
the same reason the male feminist being a predator is a meme its always true lol
The corporate ladder favors sociopaths.
@@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz this is too accurate. I work in benefits coordination and the leader of a corporation will definitely hire like minded staff over qualified candidates. It's sad
@L M i was siding with yall on this one male feminists are always assholes
dont play the oh wee ol helpless women card on me though i worked with plenty of women i know how sick and fucked up they are too
Emma, I'm there with you. I also won't get into a taxi alone, walk alone in the evening, etc. It's both terrifying and exhausting.
sorry, on paper, be it man or woman, your mum or dad,
old nanny or grandad saying,
" you should try walks at night" isnt bad.
@L M sorry , the way you wrote this isn't very accurate,
@L M also. buy a taser if you are scared, there is nothing wrong with walking at night & no should have this taken away from them. Cherio
@@areks1547 I should not have to carry a weapon in order to feel safe. What a ridiculous precedent to set
@@areks1547 How about you shut the fuck up? You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.
just, watching this, reading the comments here & his live chat thing; humanity's stench is uncontrollable and so fucking depressing, god
Did you not take your meds today big guy?
so repulsed as a female wow player by the allegations in this lawsuit. a woman literally died because these freakshows couldn't act normal. and the sexism (and racism, and homophobia...) in certain parts of the playerbase is its own issue, and i've been trying to just tune it out for way too long. canceled my sub this morning; not coming back. absolutely love your content, mike, and respect your candor here. will always be following PG
The blizz thing is just wrong, hard to say anything at all about it aside from that.
The other thing later in the vid, about how women see the world, is just soooo foreign to me.
I've had talks with girlfriends or female friends, and all of them had so many worries, lets take another path home, dont got through the park, lets avoid this and that and I'm like, wtf ?
As mike said, it can be 3AM in the city and I go for a small walk before bed, through the dark parks and streets with headphones on and without a worry in the world. This is something that is just non-existant for them.
One time I had a walk at night, maybe 11pm, and a young women crossed my path, looking nervous, fiddling with her keys and was then about to enter a building. After I walked past her, I saw her continue walking down the street, so she was afraid of me and tried to look like shes already at home. This one stuck with me. Gotta admit, I may look a bit intimidating, bearded big guy, 1,90, 120kg. Ever since I had conversations like I mentioned before as well as this "incident", I consiously try to not look or behave threatining whenever I cross paths with women later at night.
Unfortunately it just takes one guy hollering at you and following you home from work one night to make you paranoid for years. Thank you for trying your best and I hope you won't take it too personally sometimes it's really just safer then sorry.
ok so men cant be scared of going at night or something?
at 3am heck even past 7pm I dont go through parks or take taxis alone, not every man is 6'2 and looks intimidating and can fend off potential attackers. Whats with you and preach treating this like only a problem for one gender or even gender itself?
The example is terrible, you guys live in priviledged coutnires to be able to say that.
@@Freestyle80 nobody is saying you can't just that it is a lot less common. Don't change this to be about yourself...
@@Freestyle80 Ofc you can, as you've said, I'm lucky to live where I live, where excessive crime is rare. I probably won't get raped or randomly murdered, maybe mugged but even then, I'm probably not the prime target. It really depends on where I am, currently 28years old, I still live in the same street I've ever born in, it's just my home.
There are also districts in my city that are more dangerous, where I probably wouldn't stroll along oblivious to my surroundings. I'm just rarely there, for that very reason.
But when I think about South America, or most of Africa as well as many countries in Asia, I wouldn't feel safe. Even in the US I wouldn't feel safe and might not visit my family there.
So no worries, perfectly fine to be scared as a dude.
So in the end, it wasn't another game that killed WoW, It was the sexual harassments we made along the way.
Mike, thank you and your family for posting this and have this discussion.
I have a 9 year old sister and it makes me sick to think the type of world she is going to have face as she grows older. Like idk what to do, I see this kind of stuff happening everywhere but its so hard to catch in real life and I feel like I'm being played for a fool.
Human longings cannot just be brushed away. When we buy something we can never fully ignore the person that we are interacting with. Sympathy, looks, voice etc. will all play a role in those situations, even though we dont like that thought. And as long as maximum profits are the highest ideal in capitalism and our economy, situations like Emma described, will never go away.
Ok you had me right up until you tried to blame sexual deviancy on capitalism. It has absolutely nothing to do with any economic system whatsoever. It has everything to do with the moral depravity that has existed in a subsection of the human population since humans learned what their reproductive organs were for.
You can dislike corporations; I know I do. You cannot, however, blame this in any way, shape or form on "muh profits" of capitalism.
Really appreciated this open discourse, Mike!
This does explain why Blizz was largely silent during the MethodJosh stuff. Probably all sitting around the office all
.>
They had no stake in the issue. Blizzard isn't involved in any of the RWF stuff. Why would they say anything about a random player?
"Hey Alex, Wasn't he with you in the Cosby suite just last week?"
Quite honestly, the most fun I've had with your stream or videos the past year or so has been from other games. Especially RPG month. Chrono trigger playthrough was a gem.
Multi million dollar company versus the state of California. Blizzard will be fine. Money solves everything in America.
Yeah, they're probably gonna payoff the lawsuit, and it might not be much to them. However, this will not be good for their reputation in the long term. Granted, anybody deserves a defense so justice can be served decently. Public sentiment is agaisn't Blizzard however. Blizzard probably doesn't care much about previous scandals as they kept making money after doing damage control. But you've got to wonder : at which point are those scandals and incompetence going to hit their bottom line substantially?
@@sumerian88 I think we are getting there, or at least hope so. In the past few years, since around Legion disappointment and anger at Blizzard seems to have been growing and growing, I think we're finally reaching the breaking point.
But who knows, maybe they'll release something good and everyone will instantly forget about the past few years.
I don't follow you because I divorced myself from WoW and Blizz back when the Hong Kong thing went down, but if you started covering other games more I would totally resub. I like you and your content a lot, I just can't support people as awful and as committed to continuing to be awful as Blizzard and Activision have demonstrated they are.
I worked as a bouncer for 4 years during uni, you always walked home with your wits about you every night at 3:30am.
Maybe Blizzard should focus on making a good game for once instead of sexually harassing their co workers…
Let's not talk crazy now
Time's gonna be tight when they also have to play CoD during work. Ironically it's not WoW they play, because that game is shit.
@@zenmonk6456 I like the implication that CoD isn't.
@@troqu haha
i like the part in the lawsuit where it claims the women do all the work
and with the game being in the state its in atm thats amusing
The deflection in the chat is hilarious. As if sexual harassment being present in other companies justifies it from blizzard. That age old. Well they did it too mentality? Ok? So what? Two wrongs do not make right
firing employees for doing it shouldn't be hard, under any circumstances, and jail time. people excusing or downplaying it baffles my fucking mind
What's the music at the beginning?
Stop shaming people for quitting wow because of this. It's your choice to keep playing if you feel like it, like it's theirs to not play if they don't. I haven't played since before the middle of bfa, but if I was playing now, I'd 100% stop. Not only because of the sick shit that happens in that company, but also because if you read the whole thing, they reported that employees literally game on the job, and delegate their tasks to others. They're literally spitting on their subs, letting the game be shit as it is, to GAME ON THE JOB. And you're gonna shame people for quitting? fuck that. For what it's worth, I'd have 10 times more respect for youtubers and streamers quitting wow and going on to play something else, support them even. I mean I haven't been playing for 3 years now, have I stopped watching preach? no
The constant flood of "You're free to be a terrible person if you want :)" comments don't help anyone. Stop it.
@@Sharkofspace If you feel that way it's on you, and it speaks volumes on the situation.
@@NoneNameAvailable Don't act smug as if that makes any sense whatsoever lmao
@@Sharkofspace I quit because of this. Reading the story made me sick to my stomache. So when I got home I cancelled sub and deleted wow. The people who stick with the game only help with keeping these abusers in power.
I like to instead cost them as much money in customer service as possible, Preferably avoiding any of the automated channels, and have interactions with these folks where I just waste their time and talk about issues like this one.
I like the game. I want the game to be good. I don't want a bunch of drunk frat boys gone mad with their success, and I don't want an uber-course corrected HR-friendly circlejerk either. I just want the game to be good.
Didn't this happen under Ion?
The stuff that Emma is talking about is called “safety work” and women have to think about this just about every minute of every day.
Don’t go down that alley, don’t get in a taxi alone, don’t go to parks at night alone, is someone around that corner? is my purse safe from being snatched? Is this Uber guy going to kidnap me? Is someone hiding at my car in the parking lot? why won’t this creepy guy at the bus stop just leave me alone! Where is the bus, will I be able to sit on a seat alone or will someone try to sit by me and creep?
IT. IS. EXHAUSTING.
I've cancelled my WoW account and this time I won't be back - ever.
Uninstalled WoW, all other Blizzard games and Bnet. Given that they've completely decimated their customer service staff I feel like the only way I can voice my displeasure is by denying the company an MAU for a quarter or longer.
Which honestly really sucks.
I had a TON of fun with doing Taz hard mode and finally getting that last boss down. I've enjoyed the Torghast scoring system. I've found the new M+ affix to be incredibly nice, it's so much more relaxing to tank than Prideful and the powers are so impactful over a full run.
Beyond that too uninstalling the game is like saying goodbye to a friend I've had for 15 years.
Hopefully they clean house and sort their shit.
I just want to point out for anyone on the "it's just allegations" train. Yes this may be true, however I need to point out that a STATE GOVERNMENT doesn't go after a corporation in this way unless they are EXTREMELY CONFIDENT that they would win in a legal battle. Like there is probably so much actionable evidence they have that Blizzard will do whatever they can to keep it out of the courts.
Now the big names that "left" the company make sense.
because they were involved?
Afrasiabi was sure smart, if not disgusting
It does but to be fair there are a million reasons to leave blizzard
The investigation is 2 years old, the events didn't occur yesterday...
@@Nightstalker314 Thats whats implied, lets see how the lawsuit turns out. Then we will know all the parties involved.
Glad I've never experienced this in my career. My wife has been in education and has worked with almost entirely with woman so she hasn't had to deal with it.
"it's very few who cause these massive problems"
is it though? Judging by the documents it seems to be more or less pervasive in Blizzard, and probably a lot of other gaming companies. Maybe that's why they fired and rehired so many people. Trying to purge the ranks, except the ones on top of course.
"You only need 1 little drop of food colouring to turn a clear glass of water completely red."
I feel so lost in todays society.. I'm "only" 30 going 31 this year but I was raised the old way and the nerves some people have to act like they do in most if not all situations in life is beyond me and it actually makes me sad. Not saying everything was perfect far back either but work ethics, respect, human decency, kindness, moral, It's like it's fading away almost reduced to gold dust in a pile of crap allready.
This isn't a generational thing, my dude. People were always garbage, generally speaking. We just have the internet now to root them out, and a culture that is increasingly concerned with holding them accountable. It may not seem like it, but this is progress, not regress.
Mike, we love ya bud. If you end up having more qualms about sticking to the game that we all once loved, don't hesitate to make content for other MMOs or games. It might be hard to rip that WoW bandaid off initially, but going from these comments it seems many of us agree that we are here for YOU and your experiences/opinions.
I'm done with WoW and have been for about 2 years now because of the sad state of the game in my eyes, but I watch you anyways. I hope to see you experimenting with new types of content or new games.
but if he sticks with WoW you got a problem with that right?
Hypocrite
The number of times, while on nights out, I’ve felt the need to pretend to know a woman (a complete stranger) because they look like they’re in trouble or walked them part way home because they’re being followed still keeps me up some nights.
I’ve got 2 younger sisters who go out and I worry constantly about them.
Sounds just like fanfiction that an internet-white-knight furry would come up with. When you're so uncool in real life that you have to make up stories about yourself in youtube comment sections lmao
@@zeffey212 shit man, if that’s what you need to think to sleep well at night then you do you. I don’t need internet browny points to feel good about myself, It’s not like I go out at night dressed up like Batman looking for people to help, but I did work the doors for some clubs for a few years and I’ve seen just how fucked the world can be to women when they’re alone on nights out and drunk.
As someone that works for a big tech company (not gaming): The shift to the inclusivity topic is an industry wide phenomenon, pretty much a knee jerk reaction stemming from #MeToo. Blizz was probably just a smidge late to the pivot (OH I see Preach already addressed everyone else was doing it)
It's awful that this happened, but if there's one silver lining, it's that the news could not have broken at a better time to get people to actually listen.
If we found out in 2017 - mid-Legion, HGC still running, pre-Blitzchung, nobody needed to have a phone... this would all get swept right under the rug. People would be mad for a week and then forget.
We should be so so so so SO glad that the news is breaking right now, when Blizzard's reputation is the lowest its ever been and people are open to hearing that Blizzard did something awful. They can throw their lawyers at legal consequence, dump the employees who will make the best scapegoat and straighten their tie afterwards. But they can't PR their way out of a paper bag, and this is going to hit them in the one place they actually care about - their profits. Blizzard's reputation has gone from bad to worse in the last couple years, and at this exact moment, the eyes of the industry are on them. And I think everyone who was on the fence about giving Blizzard money, has now come to a decision.
People will still be mad for a week and forget, nothing has changed
It's the beginning of the end for the World of Warcraft. New World is dope, FFXIV taking over, Ashes still showing promise, Blizzard internal issues, monetizing Classic... I used to think the game would last to 2030 and beyond but every month it just seems unlikelier.
I predict Retail will be shut down and the last team wil cycle between legacy expacs
Thank you so much for this
I unexpectedly teared up when your son showed up. I guess it felt good seeing one being brought up right.
is blizzard and method related ?
Man i never thinked about it that way...i've been trained to "handle" any problem and my worries are at maximum the police stops me on the street at 3 in the morning and i dont have a normal reason to give them..and give an entire speech..it's like girls are in a horror movie all their lives and at any time a monster can have a bad day and you can't do shit to defend yourself..but me even if a monster jumps me il fucking bite off the meat of his face if it's the last thing i do..this is the a prime example we are not equal and we never will be
Ah, this means Bellular will have grand time this weekend.
can't stand that guy as of late
he knew about it before it went public.
@@Crotes1990 Why not?
@@PowerfulSkeleton Every video is whining about something. Now, in this case he's definitely got something worthwhile to whine about, but otherwise it's just constant negativity.
@@deathbower Would you prefer relentless gushing and positivity, instead? You call it 'whining', but the videos are reasonably structured criticisms on problems he's identified. He's not switching the stream on and going 'waaah, shards, waaaah' for two hours.
One time a good friend broke up with his significant other. To help him out we spent the day together played couch co-op, watched TV, etc. Man decided to show me the girl's nudes out of the blue. "Hey look at this" pointing to his phone. When I realized this was his now ex. I slapped him in the back of the head and said be a man not a twat. He deleted all of her private pics then and said sorry. It was an odd experience. This kind of thing would of never crossed my mind .
the people can beat you to death, i had that tendency to check my surroundings after army. checking who ever looks dangerous...it fades away eventually. Did for me.
I appreciate this talk Preach and I'm glad you're making this statement and talking about the way we need to listen to those affected.
That idiot in chat who kept bringing up unethical practices in China used to make our computers to try an minimize this:
There is lots of bad shit happening in the world and when people are trying to raise awareness and fix one of them you are not helping by deflecting away to another subject. I think we all agree it is bad and we would want change to it too. You're also failing to realise this hits far closer to home with someone like Preach who personally works closely with Blizzard. And thirdly, as Americans/Europeans, it's far easier to make the world a better place within the socio/political system we're currently part of, we can't make Xi Jinping a good person, we and the system we influence can do something about this.
the thing that baffles me the most is that when i call out my guildies on their misogyny or homophobia they get defensive and call it 'jokes', but when i complain about how they speak or behave as men, im suddenly labeled as sexist or radical.
i just find unfair that its socially accepted men can do or say whatever they want but women should silently observe and just nod they heads.
also im finally quiting wow in few weeks when my sub ends. ive had enough.
Don't be butthurt about every joke. There are rough jokes, but it doesn't help, people find it funny sometimes anyway.
Some people just like dark humor and pretty savage jokes and if people think that a joke implies any serious intention to hate , they are just being silly.
@@spacebibba8984 sure but if it happens all the time and women or being gay is just a favourite topic of joke, its not ok. some ppl left the guild bc of this and im really not suprised.
Thanks Mike, and thanks for having Emma on to speak
Can't decide how I feel about still playing...
.. on the one hand, it sickening me at the behaviour of some of the employees, but on the other hand, it is the only way I talk to some of my friends and I probs lose touch with them.
feeling gutted and ashamed
Keep playing, wow has done nothing wrong, it’s people which is the problem
If you have that thought, good luck not buying Apple, Google, Amazon, Dell, HP, Coke, and Pepsi for examples
There's other games out there. Hell, other forms of social media.
Jesus fucking Christ, what are you feeling ashamed about? About enjoying a game that might've been partly maintained by some sleazy dickheads? Virtue signalling at its finest lmao
If the Free Hong Kong didn't get you to stop supporting Blizzard. Nothing will.
The main problem is it's been there for too long that most look through it or think it's "normal" these days... And the majority laugh it off like "one of the fella's"...
Kinda ironic how they made this expansion about death and suffering and torture… almost like they saw this coming and foreshadowed it with shadowlands lol
Here's some simple questions...how do you know what is true or not?
Why is this a civil complaint rather than criminal?
Was the investigation occurring while the alleged activity was occurring?
Has anyone read the actual court filing...not the news of it?
Does anyone know how DFEH works and what it's mission is?
Has anyone read the official DFEH press release?
Just because a State makes an allegation does not mean it is true....please remember Newsome is coming up for a recall election in 7 weeks.
The worst thing is to judge before you know.
WoW Player: Blizzard is arrogant and doesn't listen to/care about its players
Lawsuit: Blizzard is arrogant and doesn't listen to/care about its employees
Not even remotely surprised, though. I used to live next to Activision's offices in LA and that entire place was like a frat house.
this happened before activision dumbass
@@Freestyle80 Lol what? Activision acquired Blizzard 13 years ago. The investigation on this lawsuit started 2 years ago. It's too insane to have to explain more than that.
To the individual who states (This mentality has been ingrained for hundreds of years, and is difficult to change). So were Monarchies deposed and replaced with Democratic Republics and States. Just because it's engrained- doesn't mean it can't be changed and replaced for a better working model and future.
We went from equalitarian hunter/gathering societies, where women were treated as equals and the democratic decisions and rule of the community were how a chief and society grew through merit. To an Oligarchic Patriarchy were 1% own everything and decide.
Lets go back to our roots.
Big words... but true.
"really nice to me" narcissists and sociopaths
02:00 So many men can only understand that sexual harassment is wrong when viewed through the lens of how it affects THEM. "Wouldn't I feel bad if MY sister or MY wife went through this?" Erm yes, but you should feel that way about EVERYONE, all the time!!!
The games industry needs to sit the fuck down and examine how to do better than this. How to BE better. ALL OF US.
I appreciate you talking about this.
I understand not everyone at blizzard is a bad person but the whole story about the object and death within the company really turns me off to playing even hots personally and i hope justice prevails. also its very strange blizzard can't stop making bad pr.
It may be the very few. But those very few are the ones in power. I agree playing it isn't the problem the problem is the Management and hr need to be replaced from the top down.
“Because not being a fucktard is just too hard” could have been the end of the video. Though I’m glad it wasn’t.
I’m sure he will keep covering all things Blizzard. I’m really noticing that the content creators that bring this air of moral superiority to this mess are also the ones that won’t do anything about it.
Asmongold’s video called blizzard was the best and most mature take.
Wish he put it on main chan like other content creators did, but i know he has good connection with current Blizzard so i guess he had to juggle it
sucks that harassment happened to this extent that it just will really hurt the company, also people that need the content to make a living are going to take a hit as well and the majority of people working there as well. My mom was harassed for year at her job and it messed her up even to this day, I had no idea and she just kept it to herself for years and years to just brush it off. So its not fun and man this whole thing just makes me sick.
The amount of people crying and rushing to defend daddy Blizzard is disgusting. This company is dead in the water as it should be.
@King DJ I've noticed that, especially on twitter, EVERY SINGLE person defending Blizzard on this has stuff on their profile about being conservative, or that democrats/liberals are the devil, etc. It's honestly not even a coincidence at this point, but a pattern. Something about that kind of mindset drives them to defend this kind of shit, and it's not hard to see why. FWIW I'm not even the type to demonize anyone's political stances, but it's getting ridiculous.
@@heavensborne I hate that I get lumped in with conservatives (I am one) because you aren't wrong. They have misplaced all of their values in an attempt to "be right". I hate using this term, but how can someone desire "traditional family values", see something like this, and say it's fake? Stuff like this happens. Don't just dismiss it because it hasn't happened to you. Chances are your wife has complained and you told her "they're just having fun". Your wife experienced sexual harassment and you blew it off.
@@dapineaple It's up to people like you to change what your mindset is about in the public eye. Unfortunately, especially after the last five to six years, most people will believe Conservatives are like what you and I described: sucking up to big companies, desiring capitalism and money above all other things, and demanding power over minorities in order to have people to control.
The amount of people harrassing Blizzard content creaters is even more disgusting and you are part of the problem
self-righteous idiots. Keyboard warriors who cant do anything else and just talks shit all day.
Look I’m a guy and I’ve been sexually harassed at plenty of jobs. Grabbing my forearms, calling me names, trying to get hugs, making jokes about manhood and so on. I’ve reported it and sometimes action is taken or the boss laughs and says you like it. So it does suck. I understand these women. I hate it for them. I’m afraid nothing will happen, but hopefully enough of us unsub and go elsewhere. Boycott all of blizzard, let them understand how wrong they are.
Just a tragedy this has happen to these innocent people. Hopefully they can move on and find better environments in the future.
I do feel like while JAB and Morhaime knew, they were also led astray. When you have legions of middle management locking ranks to do bad shit to female employees (One due constantly harassed a pregnant woman and threatened to fire her for using teh bathroom too much, so she stopped drinking water and ended up in the hospital) and HR that engages in gaslighting, victim blaming and other really bad shit, the chances that the reality is making it through to the top is not at all likely. Even when it does make it through its been sugarcoated heavily, like "oh he has a very affectionate manner when drinking " "He's has a problem with personal space when drinking" "It was just a joke they were playing that got out of hand" etc.
When a company blows up like they did the creatives that made it happen are protected heavily to keep the golden goose laying eggs. Unfortunately they ended up being predators, so the culture that protected them ended up predatory as well.
I feel that while its Morhaime and JAB's jobs to oversee the company, they were probably misled a great deal as well. I am not a fan of blizzard, do not want to defend them and do not think this absolves them of wrong doing- Both have prettymuch said so in their responses as well, that they cant hide from blame. I just say what I say as a human being who has worked with pieces of shit many times before and knows how they operate. As Mike says, people who arent like that hide it from people they know wont agree.
It's everywhere all jobs everything in life tons of gamers I've had all kinds of nutty incidents playing wow sometimes wished I would of never spoke in discord. This just ain't a wow thing but I honestly think this is really going to hurt blizzard if it stays in the spotlight for awhile I hope it just opens a few guys eyes at least to maybe just learn to be a fucking decent guy. Then we wouldn't be stuck with the girl in sales saying I wasn't allowed to talk in person while pregnant that says it all right there
I haven’t liked the direction blizzard has been heading. With this, I won’t be spending anymore money on any of there products. I’m not even sure I will play what I own from them. There is no way the upper management had no clue about this. This culture had to start somewhere.
Man...when they said WoW was full of toxicity...I didn't think they also meant Blizzard HQ as well lmao.
Blizzard watching method burn themselves to the ground. Hmm that looks really bad we should learn absolutely nothing from this.
If they would not be able to hide that side to men who are not like this they would bot get in the position they are in now and would be behind bars.
Real talk though, guys can’t get away with saying half of the stuff women say at work. I’ve literally seen a girl call a table the N word behind their back at a restaurant in full view of the GM AND guests and she didn’t even get written up. A friend called her the C word and got suspended for a week. She was a terrible employee. Anecdotal but let’s be a little more open about this please
hehe it's always these big fuckin companies that panders to the most cringe surface level woke shit, that end up having real skeletons in their closets
While I agree about pretty much everything Mike said here, his point about women being attacked by every guy on the street was a bit over the top. I don't walk around thinking every single car I see is going to run me over. There are many situations where women are right to feel threatened... walking down the street daily is not, and should never be one of them. We aren't some complete hellscape where rapes happen on every corner street. My hope is Blizzard burns for the shit they've done and kept quiet about in-house. If nothing improves, that'll be telling not only of the company itself... but of the justice system.
There's probably a reason Afrasiabi left quietly and did not stay in the industry. Last I heard he went into the crypto business.
this stuff affected method and will be interesting to see how it affects Blizzard
Being a father to two toddlers it genuinely scares me what world they grow up in. I was raised correctly and I believe I'm raising them correctly too. They are respectul and dont see black, white, asian, female,male etc... they see people as people. There is not enough of that in this world, everything has a label and unfortunately some people also believe because of that it entitles them to do whatever they want.
Everyone can make slight changes, in this case in particular respecting women but as a general rule respect everyone. I have seen blokes abuse women and have confronted them if I know them or not. 100% of these sort of people are complete cowards, they deserve punishment to the full extent of the law.
I just feel extremely sorry for any staff at blizz that tried to report this or stop it. Genuinely decent people will also take the fall due to some asshole colleagues of theirs.