Ythisens was a community manager for World of Warcraft, and one of the more active ones on the forums. If you ever checked forum blue post roundups, you likely saw plenty of posts from him. I always enjoyed seeing his name pop up, he was the only Blizzard employee whose name I actually recognized.
He was laid off this week, like hundreds of other Activision Blizzard employees:
There was a massive outcry in the World of Warcraft fanbase, and tons of anger and confusion on reddit.
Yesterday he summed up much of what happened on Twitter, but also weighed in on what he currently thinks of Blizzard and his former colleagues.
The Twitter thread continues, but I didn't want to quote the whole thing here.
Overall I thought it was an encouraging story about a community standing up for someone, and the reaction was much larger than I expected. I imagine some people at Activision-Blizzard are feeling a little foolish about it.
Mods, if this should just be discussed as part of the group threads, feel free to close and merge it. I thought Ythisens' story deserved a highlight.
He was laid off this week, like hundreds of other Activision Blizzard employees:
As of today I'm no longer an employee of@Blizzard_Ent. Wasn't my choice. I wanted to retire here. I was just laid off from my dream job. Probably not best for me to tweet right now but it was an honor being your CM@Warcraft community. I love all of you.
There was a massive outcry in the World of Warcraft fanbase, and tons of anger and confusion on reddit.
Yesterday he summed up much of what happened on Twitter, but also weighed in on what he currently thinks of Blizzard and his former colleagues.
So yesterday was a roller coaster but here's the highlight:
Got laid off
Trended in California
My tweet was #4 on r/all
Was #1 on r/wow and r/classicwow
I got so many people from so many places messaging both with support and love as well as people from other studios trying to help find me a home.
You get a little lost in the numbers sometimes and forget how many people you actually interact with but I've been in tears constantly because I truly didn't know. Thank you seriously everyone. I have some parting words that I want to say here so lets go.
The Twitter thread continues, but I didn't want to quote the whole thing here.
Overall I thought it was an encouraging story about a community standing up for someone, and the reaction was much larger than I expected. I imagine some people at Activision-Blizzard are feeling a little foolish about it.
Mods, if this should just be discussed as part of the group threads, feel free to close and merge it. I thought Ythisens' story deserved a highlight.
Last edited: