Updated Nintendo Policies Push For Increased Transparency And Diversity

Will they stop using controversial parts factories and mining practices? Human rights being broken left and right.

Edit- Nintendo doesn't use conflict minerals anymore. Progress!

Good to see this so called fair policy that favours based on sexuality and only for good jobs too!

@Zuljaras What if I don't identify as a human and want to work there?

@Zuljaras “… just hire the best PERSON …” — valid request! However, men are still the ones subjectively deciding who is “best,” so the intend to change that is great!

edited: Changed the original “… just hire the best HUMAN …” to “… just hire the best PERSON …” to reflect the edit in Zuljaras post.

@Pillowpants Identify as a meat popsicle.

Nintendo can do the hiring if people want the world to stop other stuff they need to look at their own buying habits which permits those inhuman working conditions. Trying to pass that to just Nintendo is being disingenuous when making such comments.

@Zuljaras this how the goodold boys environment caused the Activision/Blizzard work conditions. Having diverse work force will put a stop to this Misogyny culture. Your comments is why we are where we are. Also changing those at the top would be a first start as well.

Good to see the "So ThEy ArE fAvOuRiNg WoMeN nOw" crowd is immediately here. Yall don't understand how any of this works. What you are saying is the equivalent of responding "why not feed all people" when someone says "we should feed the hungry" And you are talking as if women are somehow inherently less qualified too for extra points.

And you are extra hilarious in light of the blizzard thing too. I mean aside of you ignoring all the other such instances and the deep history of sexism in the industry in in society in general

Newsflash mates, you are actively part of the problem

@Pillowpants Don't worry, all pokemon, slimes and other's are welcome!

@SwitchForce As long as Nintendo is primarily an engineering company with a large work force they aren't going to be able to bring too many women in. The pool of women talent is just far too small. And Nintendo can select from top talent in Japan.

'The company respects human rights in its recruitment process, selecting employees on the basis of their competence and skills regardless of gender, age, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity'. This is how all companies should work - hire the best possible candidate. If you can't see why companies function and succeed by recruiting the best people for the post, and not just hiring people to fill quotas, then you need to educate yourself.

@Snatcher The whole popcorn thing isn’t exactly funny given the subject matter. Why not call out outright misogyny instead of pretending it’s entertaining?

As it should be, skills and merit, over ticking boxes.

I’ve always gotten the impression that Nintendo, for as weird and backwards as its public decision making can often feel, has always had its heads firmly screwed on when it comes to its workforce.

"Just hire the best person" is a pretty naïve thing to say.

Usually if you make it to the interview process you are on par with the other 5-50 interviewees, there's rarely a clear winner based on skills and merits alone. It then becomes about the ability to sell yourself and leave a lasting impression with everyone on the panel. That doesn't mean you are best for the job, you just interviewed the best. And if that panel is made up of men looking to hire a manager without a gender quota, they are more likely to hire another man than a woman, sometimes even if the woman is slightly more skilled, because the man would "fit in" with the rest of management better.

Hence why forcing a more equal presence in management is important. Because the company would make more balanced choices, rather than defaulting to Men=Management, Women=Assistants.

I'm sure this comments section is going to be just peachy keen and welcoming for marginalized readers of this site!

@Matty1988 Nintendo isn't actually doing that. The relevant report that was published found that Nintendo used no such thing (which they did by avoiding sourcing material and components from any area that has those problems, even if that area also has legitimate vendors which isn't perfect but still)

@Lordplops you do realise that you are actively implying that other demographics than the ones traditionally favoured are inherently less skilled with your comment right? You are providing less than nothing here. In fact You are actively hindering. And no one mentioned quotas either so you are twice as irrelevant

@locky-mavo you clearly don't want to understand the Misogyny history to utter such comments.

If you want to create games that speak to people beyond just those of a limited persuasion, you need to hire a diverse workforce.
If everyone involved in the process of constructing a building is a not-yet-disabled person (Most people will get there or die trying), then how can that building possibly accommodate and serve those with disabilities to a sufficient degree, and how can the world truly be equitable if it does not include disabled voices in its design? Those are the experts, anything else is lesser. Exclusion is exclusion.
Art is the same way. Since a voice nearer to my own (I have a disability) is always held away from the process, the art never has the ability to speak to me the way it may speak to others. Our ability to amass the informational capital and resources is complete disadvantaged living in a world that is designed without our voice, often ignoring our existence. Hiring those who have been marginalized, redistributes those resources and creates a world where things can be fairer, and more of the systems and art we experience is helping us get to our goals.
And even if the disparity between one who is marginalized and and the one who isn't exists, which would be fair given the barriers, it often doesn't matter, specifically in software development or anything else, where much of the job is learned on the job.
So maybe it is okay to select from those for once who voices were never heard, who live in a world antagonistic to their being, and have overcome many of these obstacles despite it so that the next generation doesn't have to deal with this unfair paradigm.

Funny how you never hear anyone moaning about diversity or inclusion in the sanitation or refuse sectors. Only in the comfy jobs.

@nessisonett Because certain camps are conditioned not to be too invested or sincere in any conversation regarding sociopolitical issues. Basically, if you care, you lose.

Cuz, heaven forbid we acknowledge that certain groups consistently get the shorter end of the stick in certain industries, much less society... Also funny how some folks in these threads will posture on egalitarianism, as if that isnt some virtue signaling in itself, rather than push for pragmatic solutions and protections for the vulnerable...

Also, cant have an honest conversation without folks resorting to the same One Joke (TM).

It's depressingly predictable at this point.

@coexist42 a voice coming from someone in the other camp that puts a perspective front and center. Well spoken keep replying as we now see Misogyny coming full force here.

@TanukiTrooper That depends on the role though - if there are way more male candidates than female, then statistically you're more likely to hire a male anyway.

You can't simple just say you want a 50:50 split or to hire more <whatever> as the talent pool just isn't there for many roles.
Obviously only from my own experience, but when I was doing my degree (Engineering) there were 3 females in a class around 30 and based on what I've seen in the workforce, that wasn't an anomaly. I doubt the university was turning away female applicants because they were female.

I work for a small company - only 10 technical staff - and they are all white males. We may not have a "diverse" workforce in the sense of the article, but between us we have a diverse range of skills and personalities - it's not as if white males are all carbon copies of each other. The last time we recruited for an engineer there was a single female applicant. She didn't get the job - not because she was female, but because she didn't have as much experience as the guy that did get the job.

Nintendo: We are committed to removing bias in our hiring and promotion decisions and making sure only the most qualified candidates are hired and promoted, and expect to see a more women working here and in managerial positions as a result.

Comment section: NINTENDO HATES MEN

They should hiring the best qualified instead of this virtue signaling nonsense.

My two cents

@dmcc0 you do know research and education has shown woman where discouraged from such degrees starting from early schooling age. So why would you think the pools of woman candid for engineering was so small. Or where you living in a Misogyny worldview-people making theses comments infuriates me and I am a guy having to educates such comments being made.

@Draz you do actually. Its just not in a videogame site. Because it's not videogames

https://www.iswa.org/women-of-waste-new/?v=f214a7d42e0d

@CharlieGirl and not a minute late the Misogyny is coming in full force to defend the oldboys group. How sad a state it has become.

@Dimitris670 I'm saying the best person should be hired for the job and gender, ethnicity etc. should be deemed irrelevant - that's a sword that cuts both ways so your accusations are completely unjustified.

"The company does not have specific targets for the appointment of women"
...
"We intend to increase the proportion of women in managerial positions from the current proportions in the Nintendo Group's principal offices globally (23.7% as of March 31, 2021) and Nintendo Co., Ltd in Japan (4.2% as of March 31, 2021)."
?????

I so often see the tired response of "just hire the best qualified!"
Why, in that narrative, does "the best qualified" have to always be a straight white man? Why, in the "just hire the best qualified" narrative, can't a gay person, or a trans person, or a person of color be considered to be the best qualified?

@Dimitris670 Yeah, no doubt someones moaning about it. But still, you got to admit, you hear stuff like this more so for cushier jobs.

Blimey, once again when it comes to discussions of this sort the Nintendolife fanbase show themselves up to be utterly locked into one way of thinking. I really hope for you guys (and gals!) that you never go under the knife of a surgeon who was hired due to pressure for more diversity as opposed to actual skills.

@Lordplops that's what is called on the job training. We all get that when we get hired. Stop trying defend the indefensible here.

@SwitchForce I'll defend wise choices all day long, just because you see it as indefensible doesn't make it so.

@Lordplops reread my statement of why there's lack of investment in the female gender starts in early education affects real world results in all work fields.

@CharlieGirl That. Is. My. Point! Blimey, if people could take off their blinkers and move away from their obsession with straight white men the world would be a better place.

@Lordplops should very rarely is an attainable goal, considering pervasive biases as well as social policy (for instance: if poorness disproportionally affects one part of society, then education will equally be hurt, and as such so will job opportunties) :V surely everyone has seen the equity versus equality diagram by now

@SwitchForce *Misogyny. If you're going to keep using it, might as well spell it right.

@Lordplops But where are you getting the idea that skills are being scarified explicitly for the sake of diversity?

It may not be your intention, but it's that kind of thinking that winds up heavily implying that one thinks women/minority hires are inherently less capable than whatever the "norm" is.

@AnnoyingFrenzy ok teacher if that's all that bothers you then I am doing a good job of getting it recognized. Misogyny it is now. You feel better now.

@SwitchForce Whether women or anyone else were discouraged from going into those types of roles in the first place is not the point - you can't suddenly make up for that by saying "hire more" if they literally can't do the job. By all means change the attitude of schools and educators for the kids that are coming through the system now, but unless you're planning on retraining people for roles they didn't want, then there's not much you can do about the current shortfall in female talent in some sectors.

@Zuljaras putting aside unconscious bias where people tend to hire people just like themselves, you shouldn't actually hire the best person for the role/job but for the team. There have been studies and diverse teams work better, produce better results and and generally more effective. Especially in creative areas like games.

A lot of places also say things like "well we interview who applies and no women are applying", but there have been studies into that too. For example if a job lists a bunch of "required experience" most women will only apply if they feel they fit all the requirements, whilst most men will apply even if they only hit 50-60% of them...which in most realities is actually all that is really required anyway. So a lot of companies are putting out roles in a way that is more likely to attract male applicants and such, and then using the excuse of "no women applied" to justify their predominantly male workforce.

Of course there are nuances and exceptions and nothing is all that simple. But "just hire the right person/human for the job" is actually a little misguided, short-sighted and glosses over a lot of connected issues.

@SwitchForce Repeatedly using words that are misspelled can harm your point more than help. It can make you come across as uneducated if you can't even spell your point correctly and thus have fewer people willing to take you seriously.

@AnnoyingFrenzy if that's all that matters then the meaning of the single word then that's a sad day for all people. If one word then if I can heat the discussion so be it. By they way spell checker doesn't recognize Misogyny spelling so you have to wonder why that is.

@dmcc0 Your sound logic will only enrage them further!

@dmcc0 everyone geta trained or retrained so what world did you come from. Why do you think companies call it on the job training or did those phrase get lost on translation.

It is very clear that the user SwitchForce has never actually worked in the education field, which is still dominated by women. As a male that works in that environment your argument that the "goodold boys" group will be broken up by more diversity (aka more women) is completely wrong as the exact opposite creates the "goodold girls" group. Stop acting like women are not capable of the same toxic work environment you suggest men are only capable of. Let's also completely ignore the fact that more women are graduating from most forms of school and more women are succeeding in the work force than men currently.

@DTFaux again, loading a comment with content that isn't there. I don't know how to say it any clearer than I already have - I'm beginning to feel like Ripley in the room with the execs in 'Aliens' - just hire the best person for the job. If it's a woman, if it's a person of colour, if it's someone in a wheelchair - fine. Do it. But do it because they're the best fit for the job, not because you feel you should. End of.

@DaTrashMan clearly the pay gap has shown all isn't as the poster wants us to think otherwise. So what part of the education do you work and how is your pay compared to a woman of equal employment. I betcha you couldn't tell us or try to rosy the numbers.

@SwitchForce Maybe the spell checker is misogynistic.

@SuperCharr Misogyny history has shown otherwise. Where diversity hiring has forced people - rather people having a diverse work environment where all voices are heard and represented in all work branch levels.

@SwitchForce Nope, those companies professed they were super diverse with their staff, and if you see their videos, they were, and look what happened. The best person should be the one qualified for the work.

@CharlieGirl They can be, it's the literal point of the phrase "hire the best person for the job". The fact that you're questioning this phrase brings in to question your own stance on equality, seemingly with a hatred for certain groups. In fact, by your comment it sounds like any time a white person is given a position you're assuming it was because of their skin colour, with no reference to their qualifications. Why is that?

@HedgehogEngine you assume everyone has full access to a full education free of bias and discrimination for that to happen. That's a world I have yet to see around the world and I'll be long gone before that happens.

@Edu23XWiiU like Activision/Blizzard management yeah that really hits the mark.

i don't really understand why people assume diverse hires are not also great or best picks for the job, it's just addressing biases in selecting and assumedly combatting tokenism (i.e.: equally great man and woman, generally man gets chosen, etc.)

@Matty1988 the issue comes in with what the interviewer views as the best person and what society considers the stock "Best Person for the Job," not to give semantic satiation with the term "biases" here but that's mainly what it comes down to

@HedgehogEngine if that was only so true around the world as you well know people around the world. If someone goes looking for jobs as well from another country and when you lack access to fulfilling education that stops everyone from benefiting. This affects all of us.

The best way to close the gender pay gap is to change your major from feminist studies to electrical engineering. Go do it! Fight the patriarchy!

@SwitchForce

The pay gap argument lol, yea I love how that falls apart when nobody can actually provide an example of a man and women, in the exact same roles, where one is getting paid more than the other. Also every year men work more labor hours, on average, than women. So the argument now has become women should be paid more or equal pay for working, on average, less hours....lol good luck with that logic.

As a strong and independent woman once said..."I have nothing to prove to you." Please go educate yourself on how the education system works and pays their staff (class sizes, extra pay opportunites, state funding, seniority, etc). Once you see the data you will realize that most educational facilities pay women more than men and there are much more female staff than male. Lets also completely ignore the fact that most teachers are backed by very strong teacher's unions (many lead by females or comprised of mostly females) that, at this point, are clearly not for the benefit of the community or student and only out to increase their pay.

@somebread In all honesty they more than likely ARE the best choice for the job given the circumstances of employment, which obvious brings in to the conversation the diversity hire practices. I'm all for this as long as it's transparent and people know what they're getting in to by applying. The real problems, in my humble opinion, are the companies that have no such policy but favour certain groups/sexes over the other. That kind of stuff needs to stop.

@somebread Misogyny mindset and hiring those that look like you or unconscious bias hiring. Either way that's how they excluded voices that can improve and inspire better work environments.

@somebread Yep, you've described what the interview process is for a job. I would be surprised if Nintendo leaves hiring and firing on one person's to do list, but open debate among interviewers is particularly common (at least in my company, which takes its hiring/interview process from a UK wide standard practice policy)

@SwitchForce Yes, people retrain all the time - I did myself - but it takes time to do, especially if you already have a job, family etc. Try applying for a job with no relevant qualifications and/or experience and telling your prospective employer you'll just train on the job and see how far that gets you.

@Dimitris670 Genuinely happy to hear that, I haven't looked in to it since 2010 or so. It's a shame they blackball entire countries but honestly it's a sign of real progress for human rights.

@DaTrashMan those are the exact lines a good oldboys camp would use. But has failed so many times to shown otherwise.

@dmcc0 this is another of the familiar lines used as excuses. When someone mentions family they are talking about the woman-we all know this. This is how people puts themselves into a corner and can't get out.

@SwitchForce

And do you have an actual rebuttal with any facts or data? Or are you going to just keep saying the same thing with no evidence? If that "are the exactly lines a goodold boys camp would use." then please provide the exact quote where that has been used by this so called "goodold boys" group. You have failed to show any evidence to support anything you claim.

But glad Nintendo is coming to address this and it's a start but we the men of this Misogyny society needs to ask ourselves and soul searching what are we teaching our boys if you can't or unwilling to talk then we are the problem

@SwitchForce

How is asking for evidence to back up what you claim a "Misogyny mindset"?

@Lordplops My point is that there is unfortunate subtext when the response to attempts to diversify a workforce is "Just hire the best person for the job!"

You don't think the cases with Activision-Blizzard, Ubisoft, Riot Games(?), and lord knows how much else in this industry alone, didn't already involve hires considered "the best person for the job"? Clearly, that's not fixing the underlying issue here...

@DaTrashMan You can't reason with these people, it's pointless trying. Just endless outrage.

@SwitchForce I'm not really sure what you're implying with this comment. My family (not just my wife) was obviously a big consideration when retraining as I'd be out at classes in the evenings and studying most weekends for a number of years.

If it had been just the two of us then I'd have done it years ago.

Just hire the best person for the job,a man or a woman I could care less as long as that person does their job.
@CharlieGirl nice victimising yourself yet again.

If their being transparent they should be honest and admit there is no situation where they would break partnership with Activision and bar them from their platform. It’s just like the NFL they all view themselves as too big to fail, the recent one with the Washington Football Team is absolutely heinous and utterly dwarfs anything going on in the games industry but there have been no consequences dealt and Disney continues to air their games.

@CharlieGirl,

No it's simple, you hire the best person for the job, and that should be the only factor.

I identify as a metal object.

Anyone who wants to play drinking game for how many time SwitchForce use the word “misogyny”? I think many would’ve been wasted by now.

I will say the same thing I said during the whole Blizzard thing:

I am a consumer, as long as the product I want is delivered with the expected standards I couldn't care less if the guy who made is a serial murderer, an alien, an AI or a stupid monkey.

@CielloArc I agree that the choice to consume is on the consumer. I personally choose to avoid consuming anything made by those who I believe are being un ethical or borderline illegal but that's on me and I should not force anyone to consume the way I do.

@SalvorHardin That's the result of companies getting too chummy with each other. CEO's and workers in general may be switching between companies over the course of their career, they don't want to be burning bridges. I wish people had more 'teeth' and wouldn't bat an eye at the thought of destroying their competition. When companies or governments start being friendly with each other, we all lose.

@CharlieGirl they disappoint me often unfortunately

@Noxide I’m a woman in a Computer Science degree and I 100% have been looked down on, people assume I know nothing, men make jokes about hiring girls with bigger tits, etc, etc.
There’s 100% a culture that’s hostile to women in programming and software. I’m not saying women are discriminated against everywhere, but in compsci they definitely are.

@kducky11 and men are discriminated against when it comes to healthcare (nurses) yet nobody bats an eye.
I've seen it with my own eyes and when I was an intern being the only male there I witnessed how toxic an almost exclusively women department can be. Toxic against eachother and towards men.

@kducky11 My partner watched this movie and said it was a great illustration of how a field can have so much working against women trying to be successful. https://www.pictureascientist.com/

You all who don't think marginalized people aren't disadvantaged, maybe you should check this out. This documentary is on Netflix and talks about yet a different perspective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crip_Camp

There are countless books, movies, articles that cover how people are pushed aside in favor of those belonging to groups in power.

No one is saying hire unqualified people. There are many people of all backgrounds who can do so many jobs. What you need to question is how the nature of some workplaces, job evaluations, and perceptions of marginalized people overall present barriers. People aren't making this stuff up. It is would be way easier not to make this stuff up. Also are employers always valuing the different things that someone of a different background can bring to the table that maybe they aren't even aware of because their environment is so heterogeneous?

Some people have mentioned the pay gap, which is super interesting in terms of software development, because success if very often determined by how much time a developer can dedicate, sometimes unexpectedly, especial in game development.

This video talks about how institutionalized expectations affect when women have time and how that might impact their earnings in certain fields. This is just a small look at the type of forces at play. There are many, but they can be mitigated. For a company like Nintendo, when they say they want more diversity, are their expectations set up in such way to allow people with a wide-array of forces working against them to be successful.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13XU4fMlN3w

This video talks about how even for the same job with the same qualifications, a women is disadvantaged.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsB1e-1BB4Y

@arenred Aya Kyogoku directed Animal Crossing: New Horizons and is credited with broadening the appeal of the game and it stands as one best selling Nintendo games ever. It is profitable to say the least, not only because, but likely benefited by the fact that as a women there is something about her experience set that unlocked something in so many gamers.

That being said you should question profit being the only motive of an organization or society. The consequences of such a mind set are dire.

@CharlieGirl the best isn’t always a white male. Every time someone who isn’t a white male has a job is an example of a white male not being the best. If you really think so then it’s just a simple matter of the majority outnumbering the minority. You see more white males around just because there are more white males around, depending on the country you’re in of course. America, Canada, UK and Europe are going to have more white males.

You can always count on the comment section becoming a dumpster fire with these types of topics.

Men or unqualified.
White or unqualified.
Hetero or unqualified.
Apparently these are the types of employees you can hire.

If we say the most qualified person should get the job are we also including all the women, who didn't get a job because they could get pregnant? All the ones who weren't able to get far in the corporate structure, because they got pregnant? All the people of colour who were never even invited for an interview because of their skin?
I've read about people pretending to have an ability during the job interview and getting hired despite lacking that ability. Like a comment above said, it's about how you sell yourself. Even knowing the right people can help you get a job. So miss me with "most qualified".

@Rin-go I'm not downplaying anything, you are downplaying me in fact. Nobody does bat an eye, it's an issue we brought up, it's widely known yet nothing has changed about it.
Also I am a "minority" but I'm not holding anyone accountable. I work hard for my benefit. If I fail then the only one to blame is myself.
Again, hire the ones best suited for the job, simple as that.

@Arkay
If you're response to someone's bad experience with men is "But women" you're downplaying.
And people bat an eye when women go through the same? How many people in history just moved on? It's also not that you didn't get hired in your field because you are a man.
Also no one was saying anything about hiring unqualified people. But I guess people are unqualified if they don't fit into the straight white men category.
A job interview doesn't even tell you how qualified someone is for a job, so there're likely plenty of times when the less qualified person might've been hired. Ever heard of nepotism?

And I don't know how naive you have to be to think you really dictate how much you achieve.

@Arkay nothing says "community" like exclusion of trans people! /s

Could be a big mistake. As most of you know these diversity policies are law in America. At the risk of exposing myself as blue collar, Let me tell you that I work in a factory with such policies. Here's my experience:

*I work with a verbally abusive black lady who berates people regularly. She's untouchable and she knows it. People who've been at this place for years tell me she's gotten at least 5 people fired for putting her rudeness back to her. Yes, you are fired for talking back to this person.

*Every single woman in this building is working an easy job. Every single hard job that literally makes you walk with a limp at quitting time is worked by a man. For the same pay at that

*LGBT people have better job security simply for being LGBT.

*These policies do very little to protect white men.

Now it isn't all bad, these policies do protect Black people from racism, but it's at quite a price. We need a better solution to discrimination

@Rin-go

As someone who actually works and doesn't just write about it I promise you women are doing just fine, women have it better than men in America by a grand margin. Read my other comment and ditch your Marxist lies.

Tbh how diverse is japan really? 98% Japanese is the answer.

@DiggleDog yes. I mean no company is perfect, and there's always room for improvements in areas, but I always roll my eyes when I see "Nintendo is an evil company" posts, when the reality is that when it comes to things like respectful treatment of their employees, they're among industry leaders

@Zuljaras You're right, we need women to be MORE equal. I agree with you entirely in this sentiment.

The comments are entirely missing that, yes, hire the best people for the job, but the workforces right now are not doing so. And Nintendo's owning up to that. They stated pretty directly they're not looking to do diversity hires or fill quotas, but by giving a diverse group of people the opportunity, you'll see talent you otherwise would not. Beyond that, increased diversity is better for a creative workplace and when it comes to problem solving due to the implicit benefits of diverse ideas, mindsets, and backgrounds alone, talent notwithstanding.

@Arkay LGB alliance is not what I would call levelheaded when that place is run by some crazy radical feminists who hates everything.

@Zuljaras " all of this should be put aside and just hire the best PERSON for the job position" <- Well... its interesting isn't it? Apparently the "best person for the job" means only 4% of woman in Nintendo Co., Ltd in Japan, considering women are 50% of the population... maybe, MAYBE... its not working as you think.

@Npnut
Are you okay? Also is your job all jobs?
What people like you seem to not understand is that you think that all these "Marxists" think women are perfect and have no flaws or something. People are people and everyone no matter their gender or sexuality etc. can be rude, prejudiced etc. Plenty of people have the same rude untouchable higher-ups in all kinds of configurations. I have also seen and heard of plenty of men who slack off but know to whom make a pretty face to.

Some users are also unwillingly advocating for diverse working environments when they say that all-women workplaces aren't great either. lol

@nessisonett Well I'm talking about the comments probably going to start saying stupid stuff, not the subject matter at hand, Sorry if it came off the wrong way LOL.

Ahh, another screaming match between two sides who can both be equally wrong in their own way, yet still have bits of valid points in the end. Otherwise known as the perfect internet battleground.

As far as I'm concerned, they should just hire the best people for the job. I don't care about the diversity of that person, or any lack thereof, just the skill, creativity, and overall mindset of that person. If we go too far towards diversity, we end up getting modern hollywood, which is more about preaching a message than delivering a good story, and if we go too far in the other direction, we never get any boundaries pushed, as we end up getting very similar people showing up again and again, causing very similar experiences to be created over and over again. So I say we go for a middle ground. Have some kind of blind recruitment process, where the only thing that the people interviewing the prospective employee have is their resume, with no name, race, gender, etc. fields existing, and the interview is done entirely via text, to ensure that a person's appearance or voice don't affect the recruitment process. From there, it just comes down to word choice, and experience. To me, that's the best of both worlds. That's just me, though, and anybody else's position can be equally valid.

@SwitchForce
”The Company respects human rights in its recruitment process, selecting employees on the basis of their competence and skills regardless of gender, age, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, conducts fair employee appraisal and treatment in accordance with the quality and quantity of skills demonstrated by employees, and helps employees demonstrate their skills even further.
The Company does not have specific targets”

I guess Nintendo is misogynistic now? Because this is straight from the horse’s mouth and exactly what I’m talking about and how it should be.

@locky-mavo "I guess Nintendo is misogynistic now?"
I mean, regardless of this quote, I would say yes, to probably a great extent, though perhaps not the worst of all corporations. It isn't Activision Blizzard, but that is a low bar. The truth is most powerful institutions are have misogynistic practices. It is the interest of capitalism to not care about inequity and demolishing power structures that are harmful to people and the planet. Those who I disagree with here have said as much themselves. Nintendo has a history of some of the most agregious anti-trust practices the gaming industry has seen. Exploitation is the goal. And if we want to have a fair shot for as many people as possible we do needto hold corportations accountable for their actions through our voices, our spending, and our laws. Otherwise disparities will exist for the less powerful. I love Nintendo games, but I will always call them out on their *****. I remember sending them a Tweet when Mr. Game & Watch in Smash Ultimate still had a racist depiction of Indigenous Americans in his move set. I imagine many did cause they changed that before release, because that crap is wrong. Having more diverse voices benefits games. Power structures don't want to do these things unless we press for it.

We live in Final Fantasy VII people. It only changes if we speak up, or alternatively some guy with a giant sword, a God complex, and mommy issues comes along.

Weird that woke people whining about white straight men being favoured at job interviews tend to be the same people that oppose standardized tests and blind auditions. Both of those recruitment strategies have helped minorities, but evidently not the right kind of minorities. Treating everyone the same is apparently racist unless everyone gets the same results.

@alexybubble
When was art ever not about that? That weird "white-washing" of art, no matter if books, movies, games or whatnot, as something devoid of a message and with the sole purpose to entertain, is bizarre.

@Euler
Perhaps you'd have a point, but if you complain about "woke people whining" you probably don't look for a proper discussion.

@Euler As a former teacher, you clearly need to read up on WHY standardized tests are often racist, because I don't think you quite understand what is going on.
https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/racist-beginnings-standardized-testing

@MrHonest you're actually right, didn't think of that.

@hymbii6 Your article quotes Ibram X. Kendi (né Ibram Henry Rogers) in the fifth paragraph.

@Arkay It’s so true I was actually gonna mention it. I have a friend who’s a gay guy and he’s studying to be a nurse. he gets so much ***** from the lady instructors it’s insane. We should all just be empathetic. People being ***** for gender role reasons should all chill. I’m not anti-guy at all. This article is just about the software industry in particular

@MrHonest true LGB alliance is like stereotypically unhinged

@Rin-go I never said that art can't have a message. What I was talking about, with respect to modern hollywood, is that they make the movie for the message, not for any kind of true artistic value. A message can be a great thing, but there needs to be something beyond the message as well. Also, they tend to really shove it in your face at some points, which really doesn't help things. In my mind, the best way to get a message across is to make a piece of art that makes you think about it critically, and that extra step reveals the true message and purpose. It makes it a lot more impactful overall than when it tries to shove it down your throat, and it makes me as a person more likely to appreciate that message, and make myself a better person because of it.

@kducky11
I'm definitely pro-empathy, though it can be a hard thing with the internet since there are so many different takes and experiences that they can often be heavily generalized to the point where it can sometimes feel like people are arguing against some vague idea rather than something people said (an example here being any time someone makes a post in the comments setting with quotes that have no actual source)

I personally dont really have any experience with work culture at all (living on disability) so i cant really weigh in on my own experiences but am all for diversity in a field, it keeps things interesting.

but yeah, it does feel like theres allot of assuming in the world, whether it be assuming someone is bad at something because of what they are, and times when people assume someone has it all going on (i remember a case of a streamer saying they dont understand how rich people can be depressed or something to that effect)

in the end the best thing we can do is talk to one another as individual people with unique feelings.

@Mgalens Great comment

@TanukiTrooper

Assuming women are as motivated at climbing the corporate ladder.

Some are, but in my experience they overwhelmingly want work life balance.

This also goes with the vast quantity of men that simply don't want the burden that comes with upper management.

@hymbii6

A racist beginning doesn't equal a racist present.

My mom, aunt, and stepdad had long careers in education. The modern social justice narrative is but a lamentation of a soldier without a war, and will stop at nothing to start one.

@Arkay

I especially remember my courier days transporting blood between hospitals, they were almost exclusively women

@MrHonest

Gone are the days of remembering Sierra games and their female lead pioneering the legendary flagship titles of the graphical adventure genre.

No, our capitalist system that requires minimum wage laws to keep them from paying us a penny an hour will for some bizarre reason pass up the opportunity to exploit women in favor of a more expensive stag party

Lotta strong opinions and heated arguing going on here. Even Arlo's Twitter post about the situation had a more harsh of a tone than I'm used to expecting from him.

I'd like to give my two cents, but I really don't want involved in any drama. Personally, I've always been of the belief that the best person should be hired for the job, regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, orientation, or any other factor. I genuinely fail to understand how deliberately hiring minorities is any less discriminatory than deliberately hiring straight, white men. Neither sounds particularly fair to me.

Activision obviously had a very toxic work culture, and systems need to be in place to prevent that. What happened--and is continuing to go on there--is beyond inexcusable. The men in power that have allowed this behavior to go on for so long need to step down, and many should probably be fired if not in jail right now.

But where Nintendo is concerned, I've always saw them as a pretty diverse company without feeling the need to boast about it. Look at the faces of Nintendo Minute. Krysta Yang is an Asian-American woman. The former president of Nintendo of America, Reggie, was Haitian. Nintendo is a Japanese-based company. Non-whites have already been at the top of the corporate ladder for a long time. Leslie Swan is a name I've seen in the credits of Nintendo games for as long as I can remember. And there are always as many women as there are men presenting games at E3 through the Nintendo Treehouse. I don't know any of their sexual orientations, but that's their prerogative and I don't really care.

I don't know his name offhand, but I know the Hispanic guy who used to be the host of IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat before I started watching it (hence why I forget his name) left IGN after being hired by Nintendo. And my favorite member of the Treehouse who recently left the company to go on to new ventures a couple years ago was part African-American.

I can't speak for the gaming industry as large, but to say this is a necessary move because Nintendo has never seen minority groups as important is ludicrous to me. If the women or minorities there are being mistreated, then something needs to change, but everyone there seems genuinely content.

This is the company who had one of the first playbale female characters in Samus--a strong, capable, independent woman who many players assume is a man until the end of the game, when your gender expectations are subverted. They did the same thing again with Sheik in Ocarina of Time. That's not to say they're a perfect company; in a game like Fire Emblem where you can change the gender of your character to better reflect yourself, it's pretty silly you can't also make their skin color darker. Some with Pokémon and Animal Crossing until recently. If you want a character to only be fair-skinned, don't make them an avatar.

So yeah, I don't know. Most things in life aren't as black-and-white (no pun intended) as people make them out to be, and I don't know that there are easy answers. In an ideal world--like the one Dr. King spoke about--none of us would judge each other by the color of their skin, but rather the content of their character. I once thought we were getting there, but I'm not so sure anymore.

(1/3)

I'm a straight, white male, but I've never thought myself particularly privileged above other demographics. Others may say this is just me being blind to the systemic advantages I have. I don't know what other people go through, so all I can do is give speak to my own personal experiences.

I'm Appalachian, and we have always been perceived as narrow-minded, ignorant, white trash. That's how the media chooses to portray us. I've worked hard to shed my country accent, as I've always been ashamed of it and didn't want people on the outside to perceive me as an uneducated hick because of my voice. If I ever left, I fully expect many employers would turn me down. Where I'm from, the economy is almost entirely dependent on coal, which is a dying industry. Going green to protect the environment is all well and good, but people around here have little opportunity to find good work now because no one will help us by bringing in new sources of revenue. The people here are poor and many of us are dependent on government food stamps to get by. Lots of people turn to drugs to cope with the hardships of being Appalachian, and without proper medical care, many of them can't get help.

So yeah, it bothers me sometimes to hear how privileged I am because I'm white. To know that even though I'm from one of rhetoric poorest communities in the country, I'm less of a priority than others when it comes to college scholarships because of white people I have nothing to do with who took advantage of the system before I got there.

Rape is one of the most disgusting things a person can do, and women have to endure a lot of crap. But being a male has its own unique challenges no one wants to talk about. White men account for the greatest number of annual suicides. When I would walk back to my dorm after one of my night classes in college, I was always very self-conscious if I saw a woman walking in front of me. Thoughts would rush through my mind like, "Am I walking too close? I don't want to creep her out or anything. Maybe I should slow down a little and give her more space. Or is that gonna look even more weird? I don't want her to think I'm gonna, like, assault her or something." Over time, these paranoias led me to feel like a genuine monster because of who I happened to be.

I'm also a Christian, and we're no minority, but I still have to see the daily "invisible fairy in the sky" and "no cussing in my Christian Minecraft server" comments that belittle my faith, because "religion is the cause of every war."

I've battled intense anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder for a long time for these reasons. I had a Hispanic friend who randomly started giving me the cold shoulder one day and wouldn't talk to me anymore, which lead me to play every past conversation with her over and over again in my head to see where I went wrong and what culturally insensitive thing I could have said to make her dislike me, which was agony. I'm still not sure what I did.

I don't say any of this for attention, because I don't want people to feel sorry for me. But I do want people to acknowledge that everyone has mental health. Straight, white, Christian males don't have everything together and live lives devoid of genuine problems. Life is hard for everybody, and I really wish we could all just come together instead of vilifying a group on Twitter.

(2/3)

I didn't intend to type this much, and I'd better stop before I get banned for flooding the comments, lol. I don't want to offend anybody. But these are my feelings, and I'm tired of living in such fear of retaliation that I can't express myself. To whomever is reading this, whatever hand you've been dealt in life, I'm sorry about your hardships. To every Asian, Hispanic, American-Indian, African, Middle-Eastern, or Pacific Islander, every woman, every person who identifies as LGBT+, every Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, or adherent to any other religion in the world...I love you. You are valid. You deserve to be alive and happy. And I want to be a friend and an ally. But being an ally isn't one-sided; it means we're all here for each other when one of us needs help, and every one of us needs help sometimes. ❤️ God bless.

(3/3)

@dmcc0 shhh you need to hire a woman no matter what

@SwitchForce

The pay gap is bologna.

If you are a woman with the exact same tenure and works the same amount of hours as other men and can objectively prove beyond a reasonable doubt you are being paid less because you're a woman, bring it to the ACLU because it's absolutely unconstitutional to pay someone less because of some sort of physical difference and has been for over 5 decades.

@Not_Soos Your 3 posts above are heartwarming, a blessing to this comment section, and I hope everyone reads them in their entirety. I would like to highlight and repeat: you have changed the way you speak to prevent discrimination!!
Terrible that you had to, but good for you. Most can’t get rid of the reason for their discrimination.

The best applicant for a position should be hired regardless of physical appearance, age, gender, etc.— but they can’t. Not as long as they are not even invited to interview. The bias comes from the mind, and it will take a long time to get rid of it. It takes awareness and the will to take action, and companies like Nintendo, with a huge platform, can provide that by just declaring intend, as is evident with the discussion here.

Thank you for speaking out!

@FantasiaWHT logged in to comment this exact contradiction.

"The company respects human rights in its recruitment process, selecting employees on the basis of their competence and skills regardless of gender[...]

As part of these efforts, we [...] intend to increase the proportion of women in managerial positions from the current proportions[.]"

the double speak is wild.

@SwitchForce and all companies that have that flag, it's only PR BS.

@Edu23XWiiU But then we have to ask how well are they at doing the right way to diversify the workplace and management. And having a Misogyny environment that doesn't admit faults doesn't help either.
For others I will follow this poster tried and true wording.

CharlieGirlYesterday, 8:08am #42
I so often see the tired response of "just hire the best qualified!"
Why, in that narrative, does "the best qualified" have to always be a straight white man? Why, in the "just hire the best qualified" narrative, can't a gay person, or a trans person, or a person of color be considered to be the best qualified?

@r0mer0

Thank you so much. It can be hard to put myself out there sometimes. Even after I posted it, I had a lot of doubts about whether I said the right thing or if I'm being "part of the problem," as they say. So thank you for putting my mind at ease about it.

Something I fail to understand is that I thought we were supposed to have laws in place to ensure companies don't discriminate on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, etc. I don't think companies are even allowed to ask for those things on an application for that very reason, so shouldn't everyone have an equal opportunity making it to the interview process, at least? After that, they could let bias effect who they hire though, and I suppose it could be difficult to prove they were hiring based on color or gender and not on merit.

So, I don't know. I guess there isn't an easy solution. I feel like there has to be a better way though. Maybe just forego being able to see applicants' faces in an interview entirely? Really, even things like the clothes you wear are superficial and shouldn't have any bearing on getting hired. A homeless person may be just as talented, if not more so, than someone else, but if he can't afford a nice suit, he isn't going to leave as strong of an impression as the applicant who came in while dressed up. Same with applicants who give a firm handshake, like, what is that supposed to prove?

@MrHonest
Shots! Shots! Shots! Everybody!

@locky-mavo Pew pew pew

Funny how the ones screaming "misoginy" and "racism" can't hide their hatred and contempt for straight white men.

The more "tolerant" ones are the most intolerant ones. Quelle surprise.

Quotas never work. Maybe for a while. But how do you expect to keep that when the majority of graduates from Engineering degrees are men? how can you balance that? That would mean, that in order to fill that quota, they will start hiring more women that are not fit for the job just because of "diversity"..whatever the hell that means.

If that enrages you, then put it this way: imagine that a hospital is commited to hire more men as nurses for the sake of diversity. How can they accomplish that when the majority of Nurses are women? Hire less skilled men as nurses just to fill a quota? yeah that will work wonders.

That's what "hire the best" means. Sorry if you wokies hate to hear that but is just the real world.

The "get woke go broke" phrase is not a myth. It's real. Because it is not grounded in the reality. It's grounded in ideology. And if you wan to see how forcing "equiality" based on ideology works, just take a look at the USSR, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and all the cemetery of "Diverse" and "Equal" paradises out there.

@DK-Fan
That’s because it’s not about helping people up, it’s about knocking people down.

@DK-Fan Yes, life would be more pleasant if everybody could turn the rhetorics down a notch, not only on this subject. Misogyny and racism are extreme terms that people can't and won't identify with, they inflame the discussion. People who acknowledge injustice and are aware of bias feel unjustly vilified. I sure do. As @Not_Soos wrote above, we wonder if we are part of the problem. The uncomfortable fact is, yes, we are part of the problem. Almost everyone is part of a privileged group, most even several. That’s okay, as long as we are aware and actively try to compensate whenever we can.

When I was in a position to hire people for the first time, I was asked to look for men because they wouldn’t get pregnant. I ignored that, and used my position of relative power to hire women, by simply stating they were the best candidate. They were not better nor were they worse. Shortly after, the employment laws changed (that was in Germany), now fathers could get the same amount of maternity leave as mothers. I hired more men again.

We don't live in a merit based society, and we most likely never will. Quotas are an attempt to get rid of a symptom, not a cure against injustice. Looking out for each other is an easy way to make the world a better place for everyone.

@r0mer0 We don't live in a merit based society, and we most likely never will. Quotas are an attempt to get rid of a symptom, not a cure against injustice. Looking out for each other is an easy way to make the world a better place for everyone.
That's easier said then done also. No the Education system in USA is always biased towards promoting male over woman-they detract woman from going for Engineering fields. While else would another poster talk about not having enough woman. It's proven time and time in position of management when a woman talk men always interrupt her as though she didn't know what she is talking about. That right there tells alot. Men never admit fault or seem to want to learn from mistakes that's something they were always taught from young age. This is where the problem starts Men needs to do some soul searching and teach their boy(s) that's not everything.

@locky-mavo That’s because it’s not about helping people up, it’s about knocking people down.
I'll admit if this is the poster mindset no wonder where in the place we are now aka Activision/Blizzard Misogyny culture. They had the power to make a diverse company with voices heard but choose not to.

@SwitchForce Men never admit fault or seem to want to learn from mistakes that's something they were always taught from young age. You are right. I used to to be unaware my privileges existed. As a teenager, I took long walks after midnight, went alone to raves and clubs. Later in life, I dozed in the park during lunch break. When I learned of the term white male privilege, it was something that made me think of abusive men, wife beaters, rapists, rich frat boys throwing roofie parties. The term did no apply to me, I thought; I'm not evil, I do no harm, I'm a good person, I'm not asking for anything. I fear my initial reaction is a not uncommon. We reject what we perceive as unjustified attack, not realising that we have something, hold on to something given to us by other white men. My non-white friends, my gay friends, my female friends, made me aware that my reality is drastically different and less dangerous than theirs. I was angry my cozy bubble got burst, my ignorance got taken from me; my world had gotten darker and scarier because of this new perspective. I guess, I was lucky this happened before social media—who knows how I would have been influenced by heated discussions like the one here.

@CharlieGirl why are you signaling out white people? Nobody has said nothing about white people until you did. Internal racism does exist so maybe you didn't notice when you wrote your comment....

@Envy I said what I said.

@CharlieGirl So if someone complains about forced diversity, and someone else use the "maybe that diverse hire was best qualified" to defend said forced diversity the narrative states that the person they defended is straight white and male? Got it. You said what you said and out equality and inclusivity your argemnt naturally included those who use such arguments to defend forced diversity. Unless ofcourse you think diversity and equality is so uninportant