• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Blizzard now removing references to Jeff "Tigole Bitties" Kaplan from Overwatch

ManaByte

Member

Despite being fairly well loved by fans of Overwatch, Kaplan hasn't been without controversy, which could have something to do with the removal. Like Alex Afrasiabi, Jeff "Tigole Bitties" Kaplan was also an extremely outspoken Everquest guild leader before joining Blizzard, prone to vitriolic rants very unlike the mild mannered Papa Jeff persona known today. While angry rants from 20 years ago are hardly indicative of the person he is today and there haven't been any public allegations of wrongdoing on Kaplan's part, it seems likely that Blizzard is simply removing any overt developer references as a preemptive measure - it's hardly a major part of the game, so there's no real loss from its absence, and it avoids potential future embarrassment if something tragic should unfold. This seems like the most likely explanation and while it may be the safest option for Blizzard, it's a shame to see references to such an influential member of Overwatch history removed. Even more curious is that it only seems to have happened in Overwatch - there are still employee references to former leaders like Morhaime, Metzen, and even Kaplan in World of Warcraft, so it's strange that his name would be scrubbed from one Blizzard game and not the other.

Stick a fork in Blizzard, they’re done. They’re now erasing people just on the possibility that the mob would dig up something from 20 years ago and get mad.
 
Mr Rogers Clown GIF


What a fucking joke of a company
 

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
Well, the guy haven't been "officially" canceled yet, right?
Clearly ActivisionBlizzard know something about the man we don't.

Or they just remove all references to real people from their games.

Because you know, they're all potentially evil and un-christian!
 



Stick a fork in Blizzard, they’re done. They’re now erasing people just on the possibility that the mob would dig up something from 20 years ago and get mad.

Blizzard isn't the first or the last company to be proactively protecting themselves, can you really blame them? Anyone who spends the slightest amount of time on the internet is aware of the lunatics and the "power" they wield, it only makes logical sense as a for profit company to be staying ahead of the mob. I'm willing to bet these companies aren't actually "catering" to the mob so much as they are just trying blend in with the crowd and hope they don't come after them. So they'll virtue signal and be proactive.

Though this also brings up the notion that they will never be happy, but when you've got shareholders to speak to it's best eliminate as much friction as possible don't you think? Not saying that I agree or disagree with the decision, I can just see the logic behind the move.
 
Last edited:

elliot5

Member
I don't see the big deal. Their new policy is to not include references to real people in their games to avoid the same shit that's going on now down the road. It's not because they had a falling out with Jeff and are scrubbing any reference to him out of spite.
 

Interfectum

Member
I don't see the big deal. Their new policy is to not include references to real people in their games to avoid the same shit that's going on now down the road. It's not because they had a falling out with Jeff and are scrubbing any reference to him out of spite.
So bottomline is no one is safe from the woke's ever-changing purity test so we can no longer celebrate the designers within the game. No personal stamps allowed because one day someone on Twitter may dig up something offensive and chaos ensues.

How long before we start changing lore as well? The "Horde" sounds offensive, gotta change it.
 
Last edited:

Notabueno

Banned
This is terrifying, and shouldn't be taken with a laugh.

The fact is we can't even blame SJWs on this one (although for the antecedent), Blizzard is abusing it's corporate power and removing the original creator's print under non-substantiated pretence. But then for some reason (one can guess) the government still hasn't acted and regulated those abuse wether on Twitter, in medias or in corporations...
 
  • Thoughtful
Reactions: Isa

Interfectum

Member
This is terrifying, and shouldn't be taken with a laugh.

The fact is we can't even blame SJWs on this one (although for the antecedent), Blizzard is abusing it's corporate power and removing the original creator's print under non-substantiated pretence. But then for some reason (one can guess) the government still hasn't acted and regulated those abuse wether on Twitter, in medias or in corporations...
This works out very well for big gaming publishers because they'd rather no gamer know who makes these games. It removes power and prestige from the individual. Maybe they can even scrub people's names from the credits or have no credits at all. The game came from space.
 
Last edited:

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Just imagine if game makers were movie makers or song writers.

Everything would be sanitized and old works would be re-edited and re-released. All cursing, T&A and dopey jokes would be banished.

But ultra gore, drugs and killing cops are a-ok. So for violence fans and drug users, nobody seems to care about those issues.

Amazing how tiny balls most game companies have. At least R* seems to keep true to their works (I think?).
 
Last edited:

01011001

Banned
Well, the guy haven't been "officially" canceled yet, right?
Clearly ActivisionBlizzard know something about the man we don't.

no, they said they will not have references to employees anymore in any game they make.
so Overwatch 2 will be the first new game to be fully sanitized
 

Interfectum

Member
Just imagine if game makers were movie makers or song writers.

Everything would be sanitized and old works would be re-edited and re-released. All cursing, T&A and dopey jokes would be banished.

But ultra gore, drugs and killing cops are a-ok. So for violence fans and drug users, nobody seems to care about those issues.

Amazing how tiny balls most game companies have. At least R* seems to keep true to their works (I think?).
Oh it's happening everywhere. No industry is safe from the fear of the Twitter mob:

 

th4tguy

Member
At this point it wouldn't surprise me if most studios come up with a no references to real people policy in their games. No references to devs, celebs, etc....
Honestly, I don't see a harm in this. It was simply neat easter egg level of stuff that Blizz devs had references to themselves in the games. It went under the radar for most and it's just not worth the trouble.
 

Interfectum

Member
At this point it wouldn't surprise me if most studios come up with a no references to real people policy in their games. No references to devs, celebs, etc....
Honestly, I don't see a harm in this. It was simply neat easter egg level of stuff that Blizz devs had references to themselves in the games. It went under the radar for most and it's just not worth the trouble.
It's not going to stop at 'Easter eggs' though. Think about what you are cool with giving up... the creators of a product can no longer put a personal stamp on it because big corp fears they may be cancelled someday on Twitter. This is where we are at now.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
no, they said they will not have references to employees anymore in any game they make.
so Overwatch 2 will be the first new game to be fully sanitized
At this point it wouldn't surprise me if most studios come up with a no references to real people policy in their games. No references to devs, celebs, etc....
Honestly, I don't see a harm in this. It was simply neat easter egg level of stuff that Blizz devs had references to themselves in the games. It went under the radar for most and it's just not worth the trouble.
Well, if that's the directions companies want to go that's fine. It'll be more akin to every other industry. You dont see hidden meanings and people buried on a Pepsi label.

It makes it more professional, but media is something that has historically had easter eggs, symbolism and people getting cameos for sake of fun. Most people wont even notice it unless it's an obvious thing like Stan Lee getting a 5 second cameo acting as a bus driver or something.
 

Phase

Member
Just imagine if game makers were movie makers or song writers.

Everything would be sanitized and old works would be re-edited and re-released. All cursing, T&A and dopey jokes would be banished.

But ultra gore, drugs and killing cops are a-ok. So for violence fans and drug users, nobody seems to care about those issues.

Amazing how tiny balls most game companies have. At least R* seems to keep true to their works (I think?).
Movie producers
Suspicious Monkey GIF by MOODMAN
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Again I ask. How does this make the game better? Much less a game so far that is in dev hell and is vaporware?
 

ManaByte

Member
They got it from this interview:



And as they always do they twist it into something sensationalist and false. If that were true, none of the X-Men movies would be on Disney+ and the streaming service wouldn't have an X-MEN section of avatars for people to use. Marvel's likely to introduce them as THE MUTANTS before any specific team name is used.

We Got The Covered is a garbage site that makes up bullshit for clicks. Like when they said Chadwick Bosemen was fighting over his salary with Marvel, when in reality the guy was dying from stage 4 cancer.

 

th4tguy

Member
It's not going to stop at 'Easter eggs' though. Think about what you are cool with giving up... the creators of a product can no longer put a personal stamp on it because big corp fears they may be cancelled someday on Twitter. This is where we are at now.
This isn't some kind of slippery slope thing though. These are references to real people that are being scrubbed from games. Names usually.
What kind of personal stamp are you worried about being removed? I honestly can't think of any kind of example so I'm genuinely asking.
 

Interfectum

Member
This isn't some kind of slippery slope thing though. These are references to real people that are being scrubbed from games. Names usually.
What kind of personal stamp are you worried about being removed? I honestly can't think of any kind of example so I'm genuinely asking.
Yes it is. Literally the only reason this is happening is to stop Twitter outrage. Once everyone's name is scrubbed they'll just move on to something else.
 

Interfectum

Member
And as they always do they twist it into something sensationalist and false. If that were true, none of the X-Men movies would be on Disney+ and the streaming service wouldn't have an X-MEN section of avatars for people to use. Marvel's likely to introduce them as THE MUTANTS before any specific team name is used.
Suspect source or not, straight from the horse's mouth the term is being questioned. I doubt we ever here the name "X-Men" in MCU. Disney isn't going to rename old movies but moving forward no doubt that name is gone.
 
Last edited:

kiphalfton

Member
I am missing the PS2/GameCube/Xbox era more and more, as time goes by. Mainly because games were delivered complete, there wasn't barely any pandering, and once the game was out in the wild, well too bad so sad (as devs couldn't keep making changes to the game after the fact, and only thing that could be done is to stop production of the game altogether).
 
I read 'big ol' titties' in the title. Would be a fitting pseudonym.

Edit: Oh, he's not one of the many morbidly obese at Blizzard. Ignore me.
 
Last edited:

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
Wonder when they are gonna remove Bobby Kotick for allowing/ignoring/downplaying all of this @ blizzard

Kotick must have so many layers of management and bureaucracy between himself and the day to day operations of Blizzard that even if he was aware of every single detail no one would be able to prove it. If Activision isn't going to remove all of the long time leadership at Blizzard, they sure as hell aren't going to challenge their own CEO - who strikes me as the exact type of fabulously wealthy asshole who would strangle his own company with the tendrils of the legal system just to save face or spite them.
 
Top Bottom