Blizzard Watch stands in solidarity with the employees of Blizzard and will not be posting during Wednesday’s walkout

On Wednesday, Blizzard employees protesting the company’s response to the sexual harassment lawsuit filed last week are staging a walkout. We at Blizzard Watch support those employees and as a result will not be posting our regularly scheduled content tomorrow during the walkout hours of 10am-2pm PT. You can — and you should — read their statement about the walkout, including their list of demands aimed at fostering real change within the company. We believe that the focus needs to be on the issues raised by the Blizzard employees and that is why we are going dark all day tomorrow except to signal boost any news about the walkout or cover major news about the lawsuit.

How can you help? We’re glad you asked.

Though Blizzard employees haven’t asked us to show support in any particular way, many other community organizations — sites, podcasts, streamers, Discords, and guilds — will be going dark in solidarity. This includes Warcraft Radio, Perky Pugs, Girls Gone WoW, Wowpedia, Ravenholdt, Skyhold, Taliesin and Evitel, Deadly Boss Mods, Maximum, Las Aventuras de Perle, Queue for Fun, Tournament of Ages (Moonguard), Spectacular Death (Llane), TSU TAIN GUU FAITAA (Drenden), Dark Sigil (Argent Dawn), One More Light (Wyrmrest Accord), Pyreanor (Wyrmrest Accord), Bloodsail Buccaneers (Burning Crusade Classic), Sons of Figaro (Wyrmrest Accord), and Sojourner (Kargath), Oceania-Aman’thul and we’re sure this is a fraction of the events. There’s also a player-organized walkout event that many organizations plan to take part of — though it does involve logging on (at least briefly) — players will meet up in Oribos on Wednesday morning and collectively log off when employee walkout begins. Expect a quiet day in the community.

You can show your support for women in gaming and other marginalized groups by donating to any of the charities on this list recommended by the Blizzard employees organizing the walkout:

• Black Girls Code
• Futures without Violence
• Girls Who Code
• RAINN
• Women In Animation
• Women in Games International

Blizzard Watch will be donating $500 to Girls Who Code, and many other community leaders have donated as well: Complexity-Limit donated $10,000 to RAINN, Raider.IO donated $5,000 to RAINN and $5,000 to Girls who Code, Warcraft Logs donated $5,000 to RAINN and $5,000 to Girls who Code, Fence Macabre raised $13,100 for Black Girls CODE, and Games Done Quick donated $1,000 to each of the six charities. We encourage any and all to consider a donation to any of these organizations.

Another way to support the walkout is to voice your thoughts on social media today with the #ActiBlizzWalkout hashtag and a blue heart emoji. 💙 Or simply amplify the voices of those who do speak out on social channels. You can also add the blue heart emoji to your social handle.

We said it on the day the lawsuit news broke and we say it again: Blizzard Watch stands with women, both of those who have spoken out publicly and those who are afraid to speak out publicly. It’s 2021. No one should have to put up with this to be part of the gaming community.