Thread for Gamers IX: God Howard Starfield Edition

[Holy Tedalonia]

You can't play a desktop computer on the bus.

There is also the laptop.

I actually did do that when I was in highschool. Would still take a steam deck over a switch or laptop anyday if given the oppurtunity

[The Huskar Social Union]

Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment

Video game giant Activision Blizzard Inc., maker of games including World of Warcraft and Diablo, fosters a “frat boy” culture in which female employees are subjected to constant sexual harassment, unequal pay, and retaliation, according to a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

A two-year investigation by the state agency found that the company discriminated against female employees in terms and conditions of employment, including compensation, assignment, promotion, and termination. Company leadership consistently failed to take steps to prevent discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, the agency said.

According to the complaint, filed Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, female employees make up around 20% of the Activision workforce, and are subjected to a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture,” including “cube crawls,” in which male employees “drink copious amounts of alcohol as they crawl their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees.”

The agency alleges male employees play video games during the workday while delegating responsibilities to female employees, engage in sexual banter, and joke openly about rape, among other things.

Female employees allege being held back from promotions because of the possibility they might become pregnant, being criticized for leaving to pick their children up from daycare, and being kicked out of lactation rooms so male colleagues could use the room for meetings, the complaint says.


Female employees working for the World of Warcraft team noted that male employees and supervisors would hit on them, make derogatory comments about rape, and otherwise engage in demeaning behavior, the agency alleges.

The suit also points to a female Activision employee who took her own life while on a company trip with her male supervisor. The employee had been subjected to intense sexual harassment prior to her death, including having nude photos passed around at a company holiday party, the complaint says.

The agency seeks an injunction forcing compliance with workplace protections, as well as unpaid wages, pay adjustments, back pay, and lost wages and benefits for female employees.

“We value diversity and strive to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone. There is no place in our company or industry, or any industry, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind,” a spokesperson for Activision Blizzard said in a statement. “We take every allegation seriously and investigate all claims. In cases related to misconduct, action was taken to address the issue.”

“The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past. We have been extremely cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with extensive data and ample documentation, but they refused to inform us what issues they perceived,” the statement continued.

“The picture the DFEH paints is not the Blizzard workplace of today,” the company said.

Causes of Action: Employment discrimination because of sex; retaliation; failure to prevent discrimination and harassment; unequal pay.

Relief: Compensatory damages; punitive damages; unpaid wages; injunctive relief; declaratory relief; equitable relief; pre-judgment interest; attorneys’ fees; costs.

Attorneys: Internal counsel represents the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

The case is Calif. Dep’t of Fair Emp. & Housing v. Activision Blizzard Inc., Cal. Super. Ct., No. 21stcv26571, 7/20/21.

edit: Sorry was a way getting my second covid jab so didnt get time to add my own thoughts to this. Which needless to say, is that i am fucking disgusted over this and hope someone pays for it. In particular for the bolded and underlined allegations in the lawsuit.

edit edit: how do words good

[Ifreann]

You can't play a desktop computer on the bus.

There is also the laptop.

Tend to be quite a bit bigger and heavier than a handheld device.

[Bralia]

The agency alleges male employees play video games during the workday while delegating responsibilities to female employees . . .

Looking at the bright side, this allegation shows that all the credit for Blizzard's success goes to the women.

[Ifreann]

Don't know if it's really the bright side that the people doing all the real work are on the receiving end of all of the abuse in addition to being underpaid.

[Holy Tedalonia]

Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment

Video game giant Activision Blizzard Inc., maker of games including World of Warcraft and Diablo, fosters a “frat boy” culture in which female employees are subjected to constant sexual harassment, unequal pay, and retaliation, according to a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

A two-year investigation by the state agency found that the company discriminated against female employees in terms and conditions of employment, including compensation, assignment, promotion, and termination. Company leadership consistently failed to take steps to prevent discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, the agency said.

According to the complaint, filed Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, female employees make up around 20% of the Activision workforce, and are subjected to a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture,” including “cube crawls,” in which male employees “drink copious amounts of alcohol as they crawl their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees.”

The agency alleges male employees play video games during the workday while delegating responsibilities to female employees, engage in sexual banter, and joke openly about rape, among other things.

Female employees allege being held back from promotions because of the possibility they might become pregnant, being criticized for leaving to pick their children up from daycare, and being kicked out of lactation rooms so male colleagues could use the room for meetings, the complaint says.


Female employees working for the World of Warcraft team noted that male employees and supervisors would hit on them, make derogatory comments about rape, and otherwise engage in demeaning behavior, the agency alleges.

The suit also points to a female Activision employee who took her own life while on a company trip with her male supervisor. The employee had been subjected to intense sexual harassment prior to her death, including having nude photos passed around at a company holiday party, the complaint says.

The agency seeks an injunction forcing compliance with workplace protections, as well as unpaid wages, pay adjustments, back pay, and lost wages and benefits for female employees.

“We value diversity and strive to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone. There is no place in our company or industry, or any industry, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind,” a spokesperson for Activision Blizzard said in a statement. “We take every allegation seriously and investigate all claims. In cases related to misconduct, action was taken to address the issue.”

“The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past. We have been extremely cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with extensive data and ample documentation, but they refused to inform us what issues they perceived,” the statement continued.

“The picture the DFEH paints is not the Blizzard workplace of today,” the company said.

Causes of Action: Employment discrimination because of sex; retaliation; failure to prevent discrimination and harassment; unequal pay.

Relief: Compensatory damages; punitive damages; unpaid wages; injunctive relief; declaratory relief; equitable relief; pre-judgment interest; attorneys’ fees; costs.

Attorneys: Internal counsel represents the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

The case is Calif. Dep’t of Fair Emp. & Housing v. Activision Blizzard Inc., Cal. Super. Ct., No. 21stcv26571, 7/20/21.

edit: Sorry was a way getting my second covid jab so didnt get time to add my own thoughts to this. Which needless to say, is that i am fucking disgusted over this and hope someone pays for it. In particular for the bolded and underlined allegations in the lawsuit.

edit edit: how do words good

Is it just targeting the company? Honestly I wouldn't mind seeing the ones who did the acts to be sued into the ground.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment



edit: Sorry was a way getting my second covid jab so didnt get time to add my own thoughts to this. Which needless to say, is that i am fucking disgusted over this and hope someone pays for it. In particular for the bolded and underlined allegations in the lawsuit.

edit edit: how do words good

Is it just targeting the company? Honestly I wouldn't mind seeing the ones who did the acts to be sued into the ground.

I think its just against the company yeah.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Deadspace remake teaser trailer

[Herador]

Deadspace remake teaser trailer

After the way EA did Visceral with Dead Space 3, hard pass.

[Just-An-Illusion]

Started playing Skyrim again and recently installed a mod that makes Serana become a more interesting character and makes her a love interest. The mod basically gives Serana new lines which are fully voiced by someone who almost sounds like the original VA.

Honestly I'm glad that I downloaded this mod.

[Minoa]

There is also the laptop.

Tend to be quite a bit bigger and heavier than a handheld device.

Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinion/ ... pc-4151847

I think success of the Steam Deck seems to depend on how many games will adapt their controls to the console.

[Holy Tedalonia]

Tend to be quite a bit bigger and heavier than a handheld device.

Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinion/ ... pc-4151847

I think success of the Steam Deck seems to depend on how many games will adapt their controls to the console.

Get a monitor, keyboard, and mouse for the more keyboard heavy games. Problem solved. Something tells me your looking for a reason for this to fail.

[Ifreann]

Tend to be quite a bit bigger and heavier than a handheld device.

Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinion/ ... pc-4151847

I don't doubt that there will be people dismissing the thing because it's not a "real PC", and this article typifies that attitude, but the much vaunted PC gaming master race might wish to consider that they are not, in fact, the primary demographic of videosgame players. Look at the Steam hardware survey. How many people are using the latest Nvidia 30 series cards? 3090, 0.35%. 3080, 0.87%. 3070, 1.52%. 3060, 0.54%. 3060 Laptop, 0.53%. 3.82% all together. Whereas the GTX 1050 is at 3.73%, a card that was bottom of the mid range when it was released five years ago. The most used card is the GTX 1060, 9.88%, second is the 1050 Ti, 6.46%. Now, I will grant that there has been a massive shortage of new graphics cards because of cryptominers and scalpers buying them all up, so there are people who would be using a 30 series card if they could get one for something close to the RRP and didn't have to fight through a crowd of bitcoin weirdos for it. But even so, far more people are using mid range cards from two generations ago. Even the 970 and 960 are each over 1%.

I think it's a mistake to look at the Steam Deck as a competitor to a top of the line desktop machine, or even to a modest gaming laptop. People aren't going to buy a handheld device expecting a comparable experience to those kinds of machines, they're going to buy it so they can do a Slay The Spire run on the toilet while they regret last night's curry.

I think success of the Steam Deck seems to depend on how many games will adapt their controls to the console.

A very big draw for the Steam Deck will be, I suspect, that potential customers already own a library of games they can play on it.

[The Huskar Social Union]

A fella from that last of us 2 subreddit sent himself death threats and tried to frame a youtube review channel for the threats. He then threatened them with legal action over said death threats, all because they liked The Last of Us 2 and the subreddit he is part of of has a hate boner for them.

Some people need dragged out of their houses and forced to touch the grass.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Deadspace remake teaser trailer

After the way EA did Visceral with Dead Space 3, hard pass.

Very fair response. Im very on the fence if i would get it or not, probably not but might just watch someone else play it when it comes out.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Just found out they are making another Jurassic World Evolution game. Hope it goes a bit more in-depth than the first one. I really enjoyed it but it felt like it was lagging in certain areas like interactions with the visitors and staff. I remember an older Jurassic park game called Operation Genesis which had different types of visitors with different interests etc but in evolution they were like all the same from what i remember.

[Just-An-Illusion]

A fella from that last of us 2 subreddit sent himself death threats and tried to frame a youtube review channel for the threats. He then threatened them with legal action over said death threats, all because they liked The Last of Us 2 and the subreddit he is part of of has a hate boner for them.

Some people need dragged out of their houses and forced to touch the grass.

Are people still angry about Last Of Us 2? It's been a year since the game came out, it's time to move on already.

Don't really care much about the game considering I'm a Xbox Gal. But people just need to shut up about it already.

[Ameriganastan]

Are people still angry about Last Of Us 2? It's been a year since the game came out, it's time to move on already.

Cause if there's one thing gamers are known for, it's being rational and letting things go...

[Bralia]

A fella from that last of us 2 subreddit sent himself death threats and tried to frame a youtube review channel for the threats. He then threatened them with legal action over said death threats, all because they liked The Last of Us 2 and the subreddit he is part of of has a hate boner for them.

Some people need dragged out of their houses and forced to touch the grass.

Find a wife.

[Herador]

A fella from that last of us 2 subreddit sent himself death threats and tried to frame a youtube review channel for the threats. He then threatened them with legal action over said death threats, all because they liked The Last of Us 2 and the subreddit he is part of of has a hate boner for them.

Some people need dragged out of their houses and forced to touch the grass.

Are people still angry about Last Of Us 2? It's been a year since the game came out, it's time to move on already.

Don't really care much about the game considering I'm a Xbox Gal. But people just need to shut up about it already.

I didn't like it too much either, but fucks sake this is too much, it's a video game.

[Holy Tedalonia]

Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinion/ ... pc-4151847

I don't doubt that there will be people dismissing the thing because it's not a "real PC", and this article typifies that attitude, but the much vaunted PC gaming master race might wish to consider that they are not, in fact, the primary demographic of videosgame players. Look at the Steam hardware survey. How many people are using the latest Nvidia 30 series cards? 3090, 0.35%. 3080, 0.87%. 3070, 1.52%. 3060, 0.54%. 3060 Laptop, 0.53%. 3.82% all together. Whereas the GTX 1050 is at 3.73%, a card that was bottom of the mid range when it was released five years ago. The most used card is the GTX 1060, 9.88%, second is the 1050 Ti, 6.46%. Now, I will grant that there has been a massive shortage of new graphics cards because of cryptominers and scalpers buying them all up, so there are people who would be using a 30 series card if they could get one for something close to the RRP and didn't have to fight through a crowd of bitcoin weirdos for it. But even so, far more people are using mid range cards from two generations ago. Even the 970 and 960 are each over 1%.

I think it's a mistake to look at the Steam Deck as a competitor to a top of the line desktop machine, or even to a modest gaming laptop. People aren't going to buy a handheld device expecting a comparable experience to those kinds of machines, they're going to buy it so they can do a Slay The Spire run on the toilet while they regret last night's curry.

I think success of the Steam Deck seems to depend on how many games will adapt their controls to the console.

A very big draw for the Steam Deck will be, I suspect, that potential customers already own a library of games they can play on it.

Pretty much this. I may have a high end pc, but I'm not looking for it to replace my pc, but be a substitute for the road. The fact I can play steam games means that games that have been sitting in my 350+ library that I've put off in the past, because I wanted to play more "high end" games will finally be touched on. Slay the Spire being one of them. It also helps I travel a lot throughout the year, and will be getting good mileage out of the system.

I also like the idea I can bring this tiny handheld, instead of hauling a big ass pc or a console from place to place. Which means all I need to set myself up when I visit something like my grandparents condo, is to plug it into a pc. Not to mention because you can get out of, or even uninstall SteamOS, you can use gamepass and do xcloud.

I've never bought a valve product, but I heard great things about the index, and the steam controller. So I'm willing to go out on a limb, because of how good the product is to me and because the company is atleast competent with hardware. Im not going to get it until q2, so if it turns out to be shit, I can just cancel the reservation.

[Sincluda]

Olympics and Vidya Games
Google's Doodle for the Tokyo 202(1) Olympics is Their Biggest Yet - a Complete JRPG
and
Final Fantasy and Other Video Games Make up the Opening Ceremony Soundtrack

[Ifreann]

A fella from that last of us 2 subreddit sent himself death threats and tried to frame a youtube review channel for the threats. He then threatened them with legal action over said death threats, all because they liked The Last of Us 2 and the subreddit he is part of of has a hate boner for them.

Some people need dragged out of their houses and forced to touch the grass.

It's really wild to contrast the news coming out of the game dev industry and the things Gamers™ concern themselves with. Even where people aren't being sexually harassed they're being made to crunch until they burn out, or they're just being fired when the CEO needs to make the numbers look good to the shareholders. But the Gamers™ are out here faking death threats to themselves over someone liking a game that they don't like.

---

I don't doubt that there will be people dismissing the thing because it's not a "real PC", and this article typifies that attitude, but the much vaunted PC gaming master race might wish to consider that they are not, in fact, the primary demographic of videosgame players. Look at the Steam hardware survey. How many people are using the latest Nvidia 30 series cards? 3090, 0.35%. 3080, 0.87%. 3070, 1.52%. 3060, 0.54%. 3060 Laptop, 0.53%. 3.82% all together. Whereas the GTX 1050 is at 3.73%, a card that was bottom of the mid range when it was released five years ago. The most used card is the GTX 1060, 9.88%, second is the 1050 Ti, 6.46%. Now, I will grant that there has been a massive shortage of new graphics cards because of cryptominers and scalpers buying them all up, so there are people who would be using a 30 series card if they could get one for something close to the RRP and didn't have to fight through a crowd of bitcoin weirdos for it. But even so, far more people are using mid range cards from two generations ago. Even the 970 and 960 are each over 1%.

I think it's a mistake to look at the Steam Deck as a competitor to a top of the line desktop machine, or even to a modest gaming laptop. People aren't going to buy a handheld device expecting a comparable experience to those kinds of machines, they're going to buy it so they can do a Slay The Spire run on the toilet while they regret last night's curry.


A very big draw for the Steam Deck will be, I suspect, that potential customers already own a library of games they can play on it.

Pretty much this. I may have a high end pc, but I'm not looking for it to replace my pc, but be a substitute for the road. The fact I can play steam games means that games that have been sitting in my 350+ library that I've put off in the past, because I wanted to play more "high end" games will finally be touched on. Slay the Spire being one of them. It also helps I travel a lot throughout the year, and will be getting good mileage out of the system.

I also like the idea I can bring this tiny handheld, instead of hauling a big ass pc or a console from place to place. Which means all I need to set myself up when I visit something like my grandparents condo, is to plug it into a pc. Not to mention because you can get out of, or even uninstall SteamOS, you can use gamepass and do xcloud.

Situations like that are the kind of thing that this paragraph...

In the same vein, anyone who played PC games would already have the setup to play games on their PC, so the ability to connect your Steam Deck up with a mouse and keyboard comes off as fairly useless. Honestly, anyone who wanted to do that would already be able to.

...misses entirely. No one is going to use a Steam Deck in their own home, plugged into the TV and with a keyboard and mouse, instead of their existing gaming set up. But they'll bring it on trips to visit family and friends so they can play from the couch.

I've never bought a valve product, but I heard great things about the index, and the steam controller. So I'm willing to go out on a limb, because of how good the product is to me and because the company is atleast competent with hardware. Im not going to get it until q2, so if it turns out to be shit, I can just cancel the reservation.

I doubt I'll get a Steam Deck, my laptop is portable enough for my needs, but I have a Steam controller and I've never had any problems with that, so I expect the Steam Deck will work as advertised. It might be a commercial flop, the ways of the market are mysterious, but for people who want a handheld PC it'll probably do the job nicely.

[Imperial isa]

So what is the mod people are using to turn cyberpunk console commands on?

[Ifreann]

Activision Blizzard staff are staging a walkout today because of, you know, the whole thing where their company is terrible to them. ActiBlizz are apparently going to consider this paid time off, a pretty clear PR move. They'll probably make some statement committing to do better, maybe drop some cash on some sexual assault charities, and then not actually do anything beyond fire a few scapegoats.

Might not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but I won't be crossing the picket line by playing any Activision games for as long as industrial action continues. Not that that's much of a sacrifice, I'm this close to just uninstalling Warzone anyway. Still, playing something else this evening is quite literally the least I can do.