nerftheredteam

[nerftheredteam]

This but also their use of the word "openly" implies the existence of characters who are non-openly queer...imagining them and their little diversity stat chart at a pitch meeting going "yeah this one's gay but like closeted about it"...saving them coming out in their back pocket for when the CEO is being tried for murder or something...

#overwatch critical #fuck blizzard

[nerftheredteam]

man, it really just... doesn't matter, huh. people just don't care. activision blizzard killed a woman and nobody cares.

#overwatch critical #activision blizzard #blizzard entertainment #overwatch #overwatch 2

[nerftheredteam]

So like, Overwatch is in the near future, but Japan is in the Edo period, and has active yokai and magic? And there’s an uplifted hamster in a ball? What is this setting, what is the tone

#overwatch critical

[nerftheredteam]

guy at blizzard watching the companies stock tick down: its time for desperate measures [hits the big red OPERATION FURRY PORN button on his desk]

#overwatch critical #literal first time i see people challenging the japanese fetishization and orientalism in overwatch

[nerftheredteam]

So, not to make too much of this blog about particular products (reminder: Fuck Blizzard, change in management isn't magic) with the pending release of Overwatch 2... basically a relaunch over Overwatch with a different (presumably as predatory) pricing model, they've announced a new character: Junker Queen [intro here]

It's a great example of how sincere Blizzard's alleged attempts to engineer metric diversity in their products.

Seriously this seems to be their default for "we need to prove we're not shitty! Release a new diversity character!"

Now, glossing over those details... her overall appearance is kind of familiar... in more ways than one...

...and that they seems to be trying to rip off Borderlands vibe...

...and of course a dash of Mad Max: Fury Road.

And if you were curious if Overwatch 2 was going to be any less profit driven and predatory, the answer is no, definitely not.

-wincenworks

#overwatch critical

[nerftheredteam]

or its harassment problem towards its female employees

yea cool new hero but has overwatch fixed its same face syndrome with the female heroes

[nerftheredteam]

Actvision Blizzard decides to "improve" diversity in their games by quantifying things like ethnicity, culture and sexual orientation.

Just another, sadly unsurprising step in Blizzard's long, long journey of promising a more diverse respesentation followed by more sexism and tokenism every time.

If you don't see what's wrong with that picture, please stop to ask youself how you'd represent something like ethnicity or gender on a numeric scale. And what would 0 on that scale be.

Thankfully, most of the fandom and media seems to react to this idea with well-deserved bewilderment and mockery (like comparisons to pheronology, a racist pseudoscience). Also with obligatory mentions of how this does the opposite of improving the company's image in the light of their bigoted, toxic work culture and corrupt business practices.

Moreover, despite now edited-out claims in the official announcement about the diversity tool, Overwatch 2 developers deny using it or even knowing about it prior to the media buzz.

If we could put a number on how out of touch this is, ActiBlizz PR would score off their little dystopian charts!

But hey, it's not like we've been pointing out for years that Blizz seems to do diversity by begrudgingly ticking off boxes on a list of superficial character features (and only after ticking some boxes multiple times), right?

~Ozzie

Media reporting on the matter:

Activision Inexplicably Introduces Tool to Rate Character Diversity Metrics - FanByte

Activision Blizzard Discusses Tool to Calculate Diversity in Video Game Characters, May Also Be Investing in Lab Coats - The Mary Sue

Activision Blizzard's New Diversity Game Tool Comes Across Terribly & Activision Blizzard’s Diversity Tool Has A Long, Even More Embarrassing History - Kotaku

Activision's "Diversity Tool" Is F*cking Awful - The Jimquisition (video)

#everybody patting the overwatch teams ass bc 'they didnt do this they didnt know abt this' #needs to read this blogs critiques of overwatch female character designs

[nerftheredteam]

Ohhh, Blizzard is union busting one of their game studios, thats why they posted the phrenology tool, as a distraction.

https://www.gamebyte.com/activision-blizzard-union-busting/

[nerftheredteam]

Also someone pointed out how in one of the screenshots it shows that theyre still internally calling him McCree

[nerftheredteam]

so I know I've made my share of jokes about blizzard going down a diversity checklist to make their tokens, but I don't think anyone could've predicted how fucking literal it is lmao

#cringe

[nerftheredteam]

big cringe to see people licking their chops that activision blizzard is gonna get bought by microsoft like that's going to make everything okay. one, corporate monopoly over the video game industry is not actually a good thing. two, no amount of "cleaning house" (assuming microsoft cares to do that) is going to actually make recompense for all the harassment that went on there. the fact that microsoft considers it desirable to buy activision blizzard is merely proof that no amount of workplace inhumanity will actually tank their business the way they deserve.

#activision blizzard #boycott blizzard #sexual harassment tw #suicide tw

[nerftheredteam]

Tips for gamers

[nerftheredteam]

#riot games #league of legends #activision blizzard #boycott blizzard #but.... god... dont bother boycotting blizzard if youre just going to go to RIOT....... #please......

[nerftheredteam]

(The tags are just to get this out to as many people as possible)

[nerftheredteam]

Yeah, no.

Blizzard is done and if you give them money you're a shithead.

If you wanna play WoW and you're not on a private server anyways you're not having fun.

This isn't up for debate. If you give Blizzard any money now, knowing this, you're a fucking clown.

[nerftheredteam]

no idea why I still follow overw*tch on Instagram but something about this is.... foul to me??? Like "hey let's do an in game event to celebrate the fact that we were forced to change the name of this character because we originally named him after a sex offender that harassed dozens of our employees haha please come back to our game and spend money on lootboxes to feed our multi-billion dollar wallets and allow us to continue to abuse and exploit our workers please please please we're so desperate"

#fuck blizzard

[nerftheredteam]

not pictured: a single braincell wheezing “don’t deadname my cowboy uwu”

#cole cassidy #overwatch #ow2 #blizzard #boycott blizzard