RipTen Videogame Blog » Freedom-of-Speech

Activision CEO Talks About Transparency, Getting Past the Modern Warfare 3 Leak

Chad Lakkis — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:48:09 +0000

Current Activision CEO, Eric Hirshberg, gave an interesting speech at Advertising Age’s Creativity and Technology event during CES this year, one that focused on the company’s approach when dealing with the massive Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 leak that hit the web in a big way back on May 13th, 2011.

He talked about fans of the franchise, and how they had every right to enjoy the information and discuss it via the multitude of online social outlets that propigate the web today. He went on to say that he implored his team to embrace the leak and live on, to view it as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Eric called a meeting within Activision to answer one simple question, “if this leak had never happened, we would not have been able to do what?” The answer in short, revolved around the concept of welcoming “transparency” and being “straight with people.” He often used the term “lean into it,” telling his team to embrace the fire, to embrace the discussion. To ask themselves why they would normally rejoice at the notion of millions of fans discussing their game, but with this instance found themselves cringing at it simply because they did not control the moment and means which it was revealed.

Ultimately, Eric and his team decided to use the social media avenues, he described as a “blessing,” to reach out to their fanbase, admit the leak was not something they wanted to see happen, and release a teaser trailer they had planned to debut on television 4 weeks later, via the internet at that very moment instead. Traditional means such as radio and television were replaced with Facebook and Twitter.

While I think Eric’s candor and willingness to think outside the box is refreshing to say the least, some may not fully understand the lesson to be learned here for the next company that finds themselves in the same unfortunate situation. Is he suggesting they offer up their shirt when caught with their pants down? Is he asking that they openly embrace defeat, by changing their outlook? Does he want them to use Jedi mind tricks to shrink what most would see as a massive problem into something that could easily be tucked into the category of “don’t sweat the small stuff?”

The comic in me compares this to an individual realizing that there’s a burgler in their home as they head down to the fridge for a midnight snack, and instead of calling 911 (or shooting him between the eyes) they ask him if he needs a hand carrying their 60′ flat screen out the front door. Why? Because they’d rather get back to eating left over chicken wings in their bunny slippers.

On one level, yes, they didn’t allow the effort of another individual to ruin their “Feng shui” as they approached a highly anticipated product launch, but on the other, they broke away from their rollout strategy, essentially waving what some will deem a white flag to an internet community that, while great in a many ways, is often guilty of harboring criminals for their own informational gain.

Eric and his team had a choice. The freedom to decide whether or not they were going to let a situation that was clearly out of their control steer them off course. In the end, they found a way to rise above it all despite the disappointment they undoubtedly felt at the time of the leak.

Years ago, a friend of mine, who now runs one of the biggest movie blogs on the web, was approached by (let’s call him a thief) who had lifted information off the set of a blockbuster movie prior to it’s release. He approached my friend and asked him if he would be interested in purchasing said information for publication on his site. My friend said he would think about and call him back. Instead he contacted the studio and arranged a sting operation of sorts, after convincing the individual that he was interested in making the deal. Police apprehended him and my friend was later rewarded with an exclusive director sit down session by the studio for doing what he believed to be the right thing.

On a day where many sites, including RipTen, are making black out tributes in recognition of SOPA and PIPA protests, Eric’s calm approach to his company’s dillema and my friend’s clear conscience decision regarding his own, are prime “reaction” and “action” examples pertaining to both the “outcome” and “opportunity” of unlawful information distribution and the internet freedom we all stand to possibly lose.

It’s my belief that the majority of the problem lies in the choices we make, not in our right to make them. Regardless of which side of the information we find ourselves on, we should always strive to make sound decisions that we’re not afraid to stand behind, and fight to preserve our rights, not because we hope to someday abuse them, but because we truly believe we’ve earned them.

Fired Nintendo Blogger Speaks Her Mind – An Interview with Jessica Zenner

Andrew Podolsky — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 03:44:30 +0000

Earlier this week, news broke that Nintendo contract worker Jessica Zenner was fired for keeping a blog called “Inexcusable Behavior” where she made comments about herself (using the name Jessica Carr) and various co-workers (who were not named).

Jessica considered the blog to be entertainment, but Nintendo took offense and fired her. Jessica has since announced that she will be contributing articles to Ripten.com, and here for the first time is Jessica’s side of the story in her own words.

Q: What are your feelings on the video game industry currently?

A: My take on video games is a dismal one. Computer and video games have been the subject of controversy and censorship, due to the depiction of graphic violence, sexual themes, consumption of illegal drugs, consumption of alcohol or tobacco, or profanity in some games. I believe that generally speaking, gamers have sadly taken on some of the traits that are portrayed in fictional games.

With that being said, there is a lot of good that is coming out of the gaming industry, like the Nintendo Wii and their DS game Brain Age. Wow, Nintendo can make people smarter and more physically fit! They are breaking new ground. Actually, in all seriousness, I do enjoy video games, but I do believe that there should be a delicate balance when it comes to the time played.

Q: What was the nature of your job at Nintendo?

A: I work in the staffing industry, more specifically in the Enterprise Software world. Nintendo was actually the first gaming company that I’ve ever recruited for, and they brought me on as a Technical Recruiter. From a recruiting standpoint, recruiting in the gaming domain space is a completely different animal from the Enterprise and/ or Proprietary Software world. For one, I’ve found that the majority of gaming companies are running their internal IS departments with open source technology, and we all know why that is.

Q: Why’s that?

A: Linux is freely-distributable open source operating system that runs on a number of hardware platforms. Because it’s free, and because it runs on many platforms, including PCs and Macintoshes, Linux has become an extremely popular alternative to proprietary operating systems. The reason why it’s become a popular alternative for major gaming companies is because, in my opinion, of their competitors.

Generically, any database management system that can respond to queries from client machines formatted in the SQL language would be categorized as a SQL Server. When capitalized, the term generally refers to either of two database management products from Sybase and Microsoft. Both companies offer client-server DBMS products called SQL Server. Do you think that Nintendo would want to support a competitor? An extremely large number of companies that I’ve worked with are running everything on a Microsoft platform, and are using Microsoft SQL Server.

Q: So Nintendo doesn’t want to use any Microsoft products in-house?

A: I’m not going to say that, but you do the math.

Q: Did any of your colleagues at Nintendo know about the Inexcusable Behavior blog early on?

A: I had one friend, whom I still consider a friend, and I am 100% positive that he/she didn’t leak it. To clear the air, I never logged on to my blog or checked my personal email at work. To be honest, I have no clue how they found my blog. When I asked how they found my blog, they responded with “that doesn’t matter”.

Q: Did Nintendo make any effort to shut down the website, or give you any warning, before they fired you?

A: No. They called me on my way to work to tell me that I was fired. I had no clue that they were snooping around the Internet looking for a reason to fire me. Ironically, about a week prior, I was commended for a job well done on a specific project.

To be honest, I wasn’t talking about my boss. I was very disappointed to hear that she thought I was talking about her. I really enjoyed my boss, and she is a very pleasant person. It’s a shame that she had to fire me in the way she did, otherwise I might have had the opportunity to explain that I wasn’t talking about her.

Q: Do you believe that blogs should be considered protected speech?

A: Yes. In my case, 85% of what I said on my blog was exaggerated for entertainment purposes. For all they know, I could be leaking chapters out of a new book, a book that is written in a first person, diary voice. With that being said, even if [the blog] was true, it never would have any effect on Nintendo.

Q: If you had told them it was fiction, would they still be able to fire you for keeping the blog?

A: I don’t know… I wasn’t able to get a word in edgewise. Seriously, by reading my blog would you think I would work at a gaming company? Of all places to guess where I work, do you think my readers would say, “Ah ha, she works at NINTENDO!”

Q: You didn’t mention Nintendo by name?

A: No, of course not. As a matter of fact, not all of the content that was written was drawn off experience at Nintendo. Maybe a sliver was.

Q: Does Nintendo have a company policy on personal blogs?

A: No, but according to the PR rep they do. I was never aware of it until after the fact. If there was a company policy in place, I would have never accepted a job there.

I am not going to sit here and act like some of the stuff I wrote wasn’t inflammatory. But there wasn’t any proof in the pudding of me supposedly referring to Nintendo. If there was, that would be a completely different story.

Q: Do they claim the right to determine what is and is not acceptable blogging?

A: I don’t know, to be honest. Lately, I’ve heard some rumors of them instating some sort of blog policy. I guess I’m the poster child for that one.

Q: Could you have made your blog private, for friends only? Or did you want to allow a wider audience for your blogging?

A: I never thought that there would be a reason to make it private. I didn’t expect for someone to go searching for it. [Microsoft Live] Spaces doesn’t have a robust searching feature. You would literally have to know someone’s name or URL to find them.

Q: Is Nintendo trying to be outwardly “family friendly”?

A: You know, I don’t think that Nintendo wants the same audience as Microsoft or Sony. I get that they are marketing to children. The majority of their games are E or T. Their consoles are extremely user friendly, and technically speaking are extremely elementary compared to Sony.

Xbox may have had the recall, yes, but they make a pretty good product. I gotta admit, I like Halo, and Madden.

Q: So is Nintendo’s corporate culture sort of “E for Everyone” also?

A: I think that would be safe to say. In my opinion, I think that they are a generation or two behind Microsoft’s corporate culture.

Q: What are your career goals following your departure from Nintendo?

A: I want to write. I enjoy dabbling in online media.