Activision Blizzard wants to be diverse, gives Arabs a 7 out of 10 – Triggers a disastrous reaction

The developer Activision Blizzard (WoW, Call of Duty, Diablo) has presented a tool that can be used to display the diversity of characters in video games. Take characters from Overwatch and Call of Duty: Vanguard as an example. What was apparently well-intentioned triggers catastrophic feedback. Because Activision Blizzard assigns direct point values ​​to characteristics such as race, culture or sexual orientation.

This is the tool Activision Blizzard is showing: On May 12, Activision Blizzard published a blog post presenting a model that mobile developer King established back in 2016. The tool is said to have been used throughout the company in beta testing.

The original blog post has since been heavily modified, but can still be seen in the web archive (via web.archige.org).

The model is intended to:

“To guard against unconscious bias and exclusion inherent in the development of games and their characters”.

This tool should help all developers at Activision Blizzard to question the stuck ideas about what characters in video games should look like. The aim is to create characters that break out of the cliché and in this way better represent women, non-binary people and underrepresented minorities.

This is also badly needed, because between 2017 and 2021 in 80% of the best-selling video games the protagonists were male and white.

As an example of how the tool works in use, the various cast of Call of Duty: Vanguard is shown. It said the tool’s results were “immediate” and sparked “enthusiasm.”

Blizzard gives points for age, appearance, race

What a picture excited people? An image of the heroine Ana from Overwatch was published with a points system:

• Ana got 7 out of 10 because her culture is probably diverse enough with “Egyptian”.
• “Arabic” in race gets 7 points
• She also receives 6 points for her age “60”.
• The physical flaw “Has only one eye” still gets 4 points
• But when it comes to body shape, she gets nothing, as she’s described as “slender and curvy.”
• There are also 0 points for their social position (middle class) and their sexual orientation (heterosexual)
• The fact that she is a woman is still worth 5 points.

Then, in a chart showing her scores, you can see: She excels with scores on culture, race, and age, otherwise she’s rather “non-diverse.”

“What does that even mean, one character has a higher race than the other?”

What’s the reaction? The reaction was really bad. On Twitter, people said (via twitter):

• “You place numerical values ​​on race and culture. How can you get this far and not see how weird it is.”
• “How can you quantify race and sexual orientation – what does it even mean that one character is of a higher race than others?”
• “It’s embarrassing, just hire different people and you see different characters”

Blizzard has also been criticized for posting this while publicly opposing the formation of unions.

In a podcast we took a critical look at Blizzard’s situation after the 2021 sexism scandal:

Blizzard employees at Overwatch distance themselves from Tool

What is the internal reaction?? The reaction to the post has been extremely negative. Even Overwatch 2’s own staff distance themselves from the post.

Developer Melissa Kelly writes (via twitter):

“God, I swear our own company is trying so hard to slaughter every good intention that the devs that really make the game have built.

Overwatch doesn’t even use that creepy chart. Our writers have eyes. Our artists have eyes.”

The designer’s criticism also boils down to the fact that the tool is a “bureaucratic-technical solution” for an obvious problem.

As an author of PC gamers says, “It doesn’t take a math to see that there wasn’t a black woman in character select at Overwatch’s launch.”

Blizzard deletes all images

This is how Blizzard reacts: Blizzard heavily edited the blog post and removed all images from the blog post.

It is now said that the post has been edited to show that the tool is not used in active development.

It emphasizes that the tool is a resource, not a substitute, for “important efforts by teams on this matter.” The tool will also have no impact on hiring goals.

The topic of “diversity” is particularly important for Activision Blizzard:

The horror year 2021 at Blizzard – All incidents and the future