A video from 2010 is coming back to haunt Blizzard’s CEO. For many, this is proof: J. Allen Brack is deeply involved in the Blizzard scandal.
The negative news surrounding game developer Activision Blizzard shows no signs of stopping. A few days ago, it was announced that the state of California is filing a lawsuit. It involves sexual harassment, unequal treatment of women in the workplace, and a culture where all of this is tolerated and even encouraged. Especially former developer Alex Afrasiabi is criticized here – but also the current Blizzard CEO. J. Allen Brack stated in a statement that he condemns such behavior in the company and that it shocks him.
Now a video from BlizzCon over 10 years ago has surfaced and is seen by many as proof: J. Allen Brack is neck-deep in it and has contributed to establishing this culture at Blizzard.
Who is J. Allen Brack? He is the current president of Blizzard Entertainment – essentially the top boss. He has been working for Blizzard since 2005, initially on World of Warcraft. Previously, he was the Executive Producer and Vice President for World of Warcraft but took over the position from Mike Morhaime in 2018 when he left Blizzard.
In a statement he recently explained that he would actively stand against such a culture. A video from 2010 now provides some with the proof: His statement is not true.
What kind of video is it? The clip comes from 2010 and that year’s BlizzCon. Earlier, there was a “Q&A” panel where players could ask their questions directly to the top developers about World of Warcraft.
At 4:25 minutes, a woman gets to ask a question and expresses her happiness that there are so many strong female characters in WoW. However, she also asks if there are plans for the future to ensure that not all of them look as if they came straight out of a “Victoria’s Secret” catalog and is referring to the fact that the female models in the game often have supermodel proportions and frequently wear little clothing.
In the first seconds after the question, the woman receives a lot of applause from the audience, particularly from female voices. Shortly thereafter, however, it is drowned out by boos from a clearly male-dominated crowd.
This is followed by a small discussion among the developers with the question: “Which catalog should they come from?”, which again receives a lot of applause from the audience. The questioner is still able to laugh at that.
Alex Afrasiabi then asks: “Can you imagine Sylvanas looking any different? So… we feel what you mean, and we want to be clear that we will vary with the female characters. So… yes, we will choose other catalogs.”
Something similar happened in Hearthstone – there, Jaina was retroactively given more coverage and characters like the succubus were even completely removed.
What does this have to do with J. Allen Brack? J. Allen Brack is also sitting in the round and is having a bit of fun with the question, making a few jokes with his colleagues. For many, this is proof that he is “deeply involved” and that the misogynistic culture complained about in the indictment has been a part of Blizzard for a long time and Brack knows exactly what is going on – after all, he is right in the middle of it.
At the end of the question, he even says to Afrasiabi: “Hey, Alex, which catalog does the cow woman come from again?”
This can also be seen as mockery – or as a reference to the fact that WoW has female characters that do not conform to beauty standards – like Tauren.
How the community reacts to the video: Whether on Twitter or YouTube, the old video is being discussed wildly. There are numerous comments, many of which are quite recent. Among them:
- “A pretty clear proof that J. Allen Brack is part of the misogynistic brother culture.”
- “Just for the record, the guy far left, who mocks the woman at 4:30, is Brack. Now he claims he was unaware that there is a ‘frat boy culture’ and mistreatment of women.”
- “This is hard to watch. I mean, what kind of jerk do you have to be to respond with ‘What do you mean?’ and ‘Which catalog should they come from?’
It’s pretty obvious what she meant and that was reasonable feedback.
Just as bad are the other guys in the crowd, who boo her. ‘We want EVERY character to always be sexualized!’ really reinforces these stereotypes that WoW players have.”
The sentiment is clear: Those who behaved like that back then are part of the problem and have contributed to this culture taking hold at Blizzard.
What do you think?
The questioner visibly feels uncomfortable with this answer as she walks away. Especially the last sentence can be interpreted as mockery.
Have the female roles changed? The particularly ironic thing is that Sylvanas actually looks different years later and wears more concealing armor. Her midriff armor sparked a big debate back then.
World of Warcraft has also become more variable in its portrayal of female characters. Not all characters conform to the clichéd beauty ideal of “young and sexy dressed”, but there are also a few older or fuller women, such as Katherine Proudmoore or Lady Ashvane.
Something similar happened in Hearthstone – there, Jaina was retroactively given more coverage and characters like the succubus were even completely removed.
What does this have to do with J. Allen Brack? J. Allen Brack is also sitting in the round and is having a bit of fun with the question, making a few jokes with his colleagues. For many, this is proof that he is “deeply involved” and that the misogynistic culture complained about in the indictment has been a part of Blizzard for a long time and Brack knows exactly what is going on – after all, he is right in the middle of it.
At the end of the question, he even says to Afrasiabi: “Hey, Alex, which catalog does the cow woman come from again?”
This can also be seen as mockery – or as a reference to the fact that WoW has female characters that do not conform to beauty standards – like Tauren.
How the community reacts to the video: Whether on Twitter or YouTube, the old video is being discussed wildly. There are numerous comments, many of which are quite recent. Among them:
- “A pretty clear proof that J. Allen Brack is part of the misogynistic brother culture.”
- “Just for the record, the guy far left, who mocks the woman at 4:30, is Brack. Now he claims he was unaware that there is a ‘frat boy culture’ and mistreatment of women.”
- “This is hard to watch. I mean, what kind of jerk do you have to be to respond with ‘What do you mean?’ and ‘Which catalog should they come from?’
It’s pretty obvious what she meant and that was reasonable feedback.
Just as bad are the other guys in the crowd, who boo her. ‘We want EVERY character to always be sexualized!’ really reinforces these stereotypes that WoW players have.”
The sentiment is clear: Those who behaved like that back then are part of the problem and have contributed to this culture taking hold at Blizzard.
What do you think?
