Laura Fryer gives a fairly scathing review of HR’s encroachment and obvious power grab to be less “day to day” and more to (verbatim) be “at the same level or above the CEO”.
Video goes into how HR makes toxic work environments that demonize ever speaking out or questioning anything, and the toxic positivity that holds games back.
From HR -> “People and Culture” -> “Chief Disruptors”
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Laura Fryer just gives fuel to the gamer gate fire. Most of her stuff is just conjecture and speculation. She hasn’t been in the industry for a decade.
I wish there was a transcript I could read. I’m intrigued by the topic. Gaming has long had a real problem with interpersonal issues and toxic work culture - it’s very understandable why HR became a more important part of the industry. Certainly HR is overstepping by trying to run the entire company so to speak, but I don’t want to speak too much without taking the time to watch the video.
Whoops, I spoke too soon - there is a transcript!
Edit: Oh Jesus Christ, someone in HR really fought back against the term “Senior Technical Artist” because it might offend elderly people? The pendulum swung too far smh
“You see, from my persepctive, what happened is that HR decided that the day-to-day work of actually helping people wasn’t enough. They wanted a seat in the executive meetings and they got it. Today, most executives have HR sitting in influencing decision and driving cultural change and a lot of them want to run the entire company.”
Oooooook…HR aren’t the decision makers here. The executives are. @[email protected] is correct on this - the directives are coming from C suites that fear controversy and risk.
If game makers don’t want endless meetings about safe spaces, maybe they shouldn’t force their women coworkers to crawl around on the floor so they can upskirt them like at Blizzard? Source
A complaint, filed by the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing on Wednesday, alleges that Activision Blizzard Inc. “fostered a sexist culture” where women were paid less than men and subjected to ongoing sexual harassment including groping. (Activision and Blizzard Entertainment merged in 2008.)
Officials at the gaming company knew about the harassment and not only failed to stop it but retaliated against women who spoke up, the complaint also alleges.
This was only 5 years ago.
Honestly I have worked at companies where the head of people and culture is in the room with executives, they are at the top levels and involved in PR/marketing. I think Laura here has a point, HR was needed for exactly what you said with the Blizzard type situations. Obviously horrible, and should be stopped. However, the bell has swung the in the other direction now, to the point that nothing can be done without sixteen layers of approval. I think that’s very bad for a creative medium, and needs to come back to somewhere in the middle.
However, the bell has swung the in the other direction now,
I’d like to see some sources on this proving that the rampant sexism and toxic work environments have been done away with in the last 5 years before being this confident about it.
There’s room to have a discussion here, most certainly. But not in a way that scoffs at the entire idea of needing to be respectful of others in a work environment.
Who said they’re done with? You’re pulling out just as many extreme examples as you say the video is. God forbid I talk about a nuanced subject where the answer can lie in the middle somewhere. Why must everything here be that there are two polar opposite views and nothing can ever exist beyond those two? I’m not interested in having a conversation with you are going to keep arguing that if I have this position that I must have the most extreme version of the position.
I’m having a conversation with you. God forbid I reply to your points.
The video is very strongly opinionated about HR being useless now and that HR is ruining games. It completely ignores WHY HR became so involved in the gaming industry at large. I’m trying to have a conversation with you about it.
She keeps using the words “safe space” but it’s clear she doesn’t know what they mean
Women like this are gender traitors imo. She’s got videos literally claiming that DEI has killed the fun in video games. She’s sold her soul to shill for Microsoft.
Yeah embrace that internalized misogyny, queen! Tell those men that they don’t have to treat their peers that are women with respect, they have ART to make!
This is disgusting Scrubbles. Why did you post a fascist to propagandize capitalist’s vanguards are “the problem?”
HR were created by capitalists to oppress the proletariat. They are quite literally doing their job: protect the interests of capitalists.
Capitalism has always killed games. It is in their very political praxis to ruin social past times.
No capitalist is for gaming. Gaming is their enemy.
