Blizzard President Apologizes for Hateful Blizzcon Video

[The Madman]

I'm more annoyed that Blizzard have just completely given up trying to remain impartial in the whole Alliance/Horde thing. The actual insults were generic stuff, I can't really find myself getting upset over them or their meaning. But the implications franchise-wise do kinda sting as a one time Warcraft rts enthusiast and ex WOW player.

Still, in the end it's only a game so who cares. Besides what would you expect from a guy named 'Corpsegrinder'? I mean really, you don't hire a guy with a name like that for their charming and thoughtful personality.

 

[gallaetha_matt]

Was it at least funny? Obviously Blizzard is a big company and doesn't have the luxury of being edgy or offensive in that way without significant backlash, but if it was funny, it makes it slightly less terrible.

Of course, now I'm just thinking of this:

Pretty much this. The word ****** isn't strictly a slur for gay people, it can be used in that context but I don't think it applies in Blizzard's case. I don't think they sat down and tried to target gay people with a slur. "How can we really piss off those gay people? I just hate them so much, I just want to moderately offend them all!" And if they did, you think they'd use a better word than ******. They're a multi-million dollar company, they probably have a whole department dedicated to inventing new swear words for them. They've probably got ways of insulting the koreans that you or I will never see.

How I envy them.

(That's a gold farming joke, I don't know any koreans - just thought I needed to point that out.)

It's all about context. Louis C.K put it better than I ever could "I wouldn't call a gay guy a ******, unless he was being a ******."

 

[Shameless]

Is there anything that WON'T offend people anymore? with all due respect some people are just cry babies.

 

[Loop Stricken]

I look forward to the day when words like "******" have no power. That will only happen when people decide to stop giving it power by being extraordinarily offended by it.

No, and that's a silly thing to say. The word '******' will lose its people power when subhuman bigots stop screaming it at homosexual teenagers as they're beating them bloody. Being offended by it is perfectly understandable, and quite frankly, we should all be bloody offended by it. Telling people to simply "get over it" is also, by the way, offensive.

Spoiler: No, we really shouldn't, because it doesn't mean what you think it means.

****** or esp (US) fagot (ˈfæɡət)

?n
1. a bundle of sticks or twigs, esp when bound together and used as fuel
2. a bundle of iron bars, esp a box formed by four pieces of wrought iron and filled with scrap to be forged into wrought iron
3. a ball of chopped meat, usually pork liver, bound with herbs and bread and eaten fried
4. a bundle of anything

?vb
5. to collect into a bundle or bundles
6. needlework to do faggoting on (a garment, piece of cloth, etc)

[C14: from Old French, perhaps from Greek phakelos bundle]

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Spoiler: No, we really shouldn't, because it doesn't mean what you think it means.

****** or esp (US) fagot (ˈfæɡət)

?n
1. a bundle of sticks or twigs, esp when bound together and used as fuel
2. a bundle of iron bars, esp a box formed by four pieces of wrought iron and filled with scrap to be forged into wrought iron
3. a ball of chopped meat, usually pork liver, bound with herbs and bread and eaten fried
4. a bundle of anything

?vb
5. to collect into a bundle or bundles
6. needlework to do faggoting on (a garment, piece of cloth, etc)

[C14: from Old French, perhaps from Greek phakelos bundle]

English as a language is constantly evolving, dictionaries do not always update fast enough to keep pace with that. Just because one particular book says otherwise does not mean that the word has a different meaning to a vast number of people.

 

[TaboriHK]

God, it's nice to live in a country where we have the luxury of caring about things that don't matter on any conceivable level.

 

[The Madman]

Spoiler: No, we really shouldn't, because it doesn't mean what you think it means.

****** or esp (US) fagot (ˈfæɡət)

?n
1. a bundle of sticks or twigs, esp when bound together and used as fuel
2. a bundle of iron bars, esp a box formed by four pieces of wrought iron and filled with scrap to be forged into wrought iron
3. a ball of chopped meat, usually pork liver, bound with herbs and bread and eaten fried
4. a bundle of anything

?vb
5. to collect into a bundle or bundles
6. needlework to do faggoting on (a garment, piece of cloth, etc)

[C14: from Old French, perhaps from Greek phakelos bundle]

English as a language is constantly evolving, dictionaries do not always update fast enough to keep pace with that. Just because one particular book says otherwise does not mean that the word has a different meaning to a vast number of people.

You're quoting the wrong person, although out of curiosity how did you even manage that? I mean you've got the right words but the wrong person, intriguing.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

You're quoting the wrong person, although out of curiosity how did you even manage that? I mean you've got the right words but the wrong person, intriguing.

What the...I honestly have no idea. Although the site has been going a little odd for me recently, posts not appearing, edits not working and so on.

Time for a second attempt.

 

[UnravThreads]

So apologies are no longer acceptable for mistakes that truly didn't "hurt" or "wrong" anyway. No particular person was harmed by this event, so you want millions of dollars to go to someone. Why doesn't someone feel they are always entitled to money. Call them on their mistake, make them own up to it, hope they never do it again. Then let's move on to the bigger issues of the day. I am not saying ignore it. (I don't like it when people think only the biggest issues should be addressed). Just let's fight the real fights with the real bad guys.

Just because it didn't hurt someone, it doesn't mean it was right.

If Blizzard donated even just a few thousand to charity, it would look like they were more serious about not causing offence or perhaps even just serious about apologising.

I don't know what you call a "big issue of the day", but I think teens committing suicide because of people acting like that guy from Cannibal Corpse or the hundreds/thousands of homophobic, insulting, disgusting people in WoW is a pretty big issue.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I look forward to the day when words like "******" have no power. That will only happen when people decide to stop giving it power by being extraordinarily offended by it. Insults are thrown around constantly. Insulting peoples' intelligence, social status, physical looks, you name it, it gets insulted.

I may be a white, straight male, but I'm also a redhead, and I have to go through life listening to peoples' tired jokes about how I "have a short temper" or "eat too many carrots" or I get asked "are your pubes red too?" If I were to somehow take offense to this, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it, as the thing that makes ME different isn't a sexual preference or skin color. It's a hair color. (No, I do not get offended by the redhead jokes.)

Sigh, I told myself I wouldn't drop the disclaimers, but here goes. No, I do not "hate gay people." No, I don't use the word "******" in a derogatory manner. No, I do not think Blizzard made a smart move, because they'll unfairly be labelled anti-gay by people who use their emotions, exclusively, rather than careful forethought. Truth be told, I don't give that much of a shit about LGBT issues. Live and let live. By the same token, EVERYONE should live and let live, i.e. don't go out of your way to be offended at words.

Except that the issue here isn't really about how thick skinned people should be. The issue was that, in a professional capacity, Blizzard aired a video showing someone pulling off the kind of trash talking that is theoretically against the terms of service, and then invited him up to play with their employees, in a way that basically condones his trash talking behaviour. That's some pretty serious hypocrisy from Blizzard. He wouldn't get away with posting it on their official forums, so why should he be able to air it at an official Blizzard conference?

 

[Alar]

This is a much better apology, and I'm glad Mike put this out there. What went on at BlizzCon was pretty damn sad, I'm sorry to say. This helps.

 

[Robert Ewing]

I look forward to the day when words like "******" have no power. That will only happen when people decide to stop giving it power by being extraordinarily offended by it. Insults are thrown around constantly. Insulting peoples' intelligence, social status, physical looks, you name it, it gets insulted.

I may be a white, straight male, but I'm also a redhead, and I have to go through life listening to peoples' tired jokes about how I "have a short temper" or "eat too many carrots" or I get asked "are your pubes red too?" If I were to somehow take offense to this, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it, as the thing that makes ME different isn't a sexual preference or skin color. It's a hair color. (No, I do not get offended by the redhead jokes.)

Sigh, I told myself I wouldn't drop the disclaimers, but here goes. No, I do not "hate gay people." No, I don't use the word "******" in a derogatory manner. No, I do not think Blizzard made a smart move, because they'll unfairly be labelled anti-gay by people who use their emotions, exclusively, rather than careful forethought. Truth be told, I don't give that much of a shit about LGBT issues. Live and let live. By the same token, EVERYONE should live and let live, i.e. don't go out of your way to be offended at words.

So true... I can't wait for the day it looses meaning...

 

[Fearzone]

First, they announce an expansion that is sure to bring a smile to the majority of gold farmers out there, and next, the put on a show to prove that they are cool with all the XBLA shitheads. Well that's unfair, trade chat proves WoW has plenty of it's very own shitheads.  Glad to know they are as welcome as ever. Who are you going to impress next Blizzard?  Wall Street CEOs?  Convicted felons?  You have me on the edge of my seat!  Never a dull moment with Blizzard around.   

 

[draythefingerless]

metal band using extreme slur?

SOMEBODY CALL THE WAAAMBULANCE.

 

[Speakercone]

I'm reminded of a south park episode oddly enough.

Spoiler: warning, contains the offending word

Seriously though, you'd think that their PR department would have caught this before they went on stage. Might just be that the CEO is part of the band and the PR guys didn't feel like telling their boss that the band couldn't play some song.

 

[Sewer Rat]

No... Sorry, that's not enough. Clearly Blizzard should have known better. They knew what they were doing, They made a conscious decision to put that up, it's gonna take a lot more than a "my bad" to fix that.

 

[The Lugz]

well, once you've reached the top the only place to go is down i guess

besides, night-elves are very effeminate.