World of Warcraft Players Are Protesting in-Game Following Blizzard Allegations

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard due to repeated cases of harassment and discrimination against female employees, which became known after a two-year investigation. The lawsuit states that about 20% of the studio's employees are females who were denied a pay raise due to possible pregnancy and criticized for leaving the office to pick up the kids from the kindergarten. The company accepted the lawsuit and said it would do everything to eliminate such cases. However, this was not enough for ordinary players.

After the Blizzard allegations, some players decided to protest against the publisher's products. First, the players of Call of Duty, Hearthstone, and Overwatch were outraged. They started canceling their paid subscriptions and leaving the game servers. Now World of Warcraft players have joined.

Hundreds of World of Warcraft players staged a sit-down protest in the fantasy city of Oribos in the Dark Lands on the Moon Guard and Wyrmrest Accord servers. World of Warcraft players have canceled their subscriptions as well. The most active players are now using forums. They urge other players to cancel their current World of Warcraft subscription and let others know about harassment and inappropriate treatment of employees at Activision Blizzard.

The protest action was organized by a role-playing guild called the Fence Macabre. The guild representatives noted that it is difficult for some to leave the game, but the majority of the participants have already made their decision. Their profile status is “sub-locked,” which means that the paid subscription has been canceled, and access to the game will be prohibited after the prepaid time ends.

Along with the protest itself, the organizers also launched a charity fundraiser for the Black Girls Code. This non-profit organization that helps educate girls from 7 to 17 years old in programming and digital technology.

Gamers also drew attention to the former Activision Blizzard employee Alex Afrasiabi. Blizzard veteran has been in the studio since 2004 and was former World of Warcraft senior creative director. Afrasiabi was accused of harassment and suffered no consequences for it. And since one of the characters in World of Warcraft is named after him, players demand to remove him, because this offends the game itself.