A computer game job applicant claims his final interview was made up of nothing but political questions, nothing about actual job skills.
A developer for the game program “Dragonpunk” lamented via their official @DragonpunkGame Twitter on March 3 that most game developers don’t openly discuss the bias of the game industry “because they don't want to get blacklisted.” This unnamed developer tweeted a copy of a rejection letter from Gearbox, claiming that the final interview featured “only political questions — not a single game or technical question!”
The computer game industry is just as much a political minefield of bias as the rest of big tech. Conservatives and even centrists who try to join find themselves at the mercy of liberals and those who agree with them. One employee @HBS_Kiva from game studio Harebrained Schemes warned “If we look up your Twitter activity and see that you’re a shitgoblin, we’re not even going to bother contacting you. That’s not just [Social Justice Warriors] like me. No company wants that hassle.”
One of the Google hiring managers cited in the James Damore lawsuit expressed a starkly similar opinion, “If you express a dunderheaded opinion about religion, about politics, or about ‘social justice’, it turns out I am allowed to think you’re a halfwit… I’m perfectly within my right to mentally categorise you in my [d*ckhead] box… Yes, I maintain (mentally, and not (yet) publicly).”
The unnamed developer @DragonpunkGame who accused Gearbox of bias elaborated further that he/she tried to take a centrist approach to the needlessly political interview questions. The developer alleged “I was trying to be honest, but tactful. Take a centerist [sic] approach. Apparently, that wasn’t enough for them.”
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Former Blizzard developer who Produced demonslaying classic Diablo 2 asked “If it was political, isn’t that illegal to screen for?” to which @DragonpunkGame replied “Yes, and so is discrimination, but now they just say ‘not a good culture fit.’ You can literally rule anyone out by saying that. Also, who would ever hire me again if I went to court?”
Another user responded to that by lamenting the modern state of the game industry which allows identity to trump actual merit, “Politics are 100% ruining the industry, every industry. It shouldn't matter what "side" you're on, the only things that SHOULD matter when it comes to any job are your skills and experience. That's it.”
“Totally agreed!!!” @DragonpunkGame replied.
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