Morhaime uses Blizzcon speech to rally against GamerGate

The president and co-founder of Blizzard has become the highest profile games industry figure to speak out against online harassment.

Mike Morhaime dedicated a part of his Blizzcon 2014 opening ceremony speech to slam GamerGaters and urge people to redouble their efforts in trying to promote a friendlier, more welcoming gaming environment.

I’d like to take a moment to talk about something serious,” he said. Over the past couple of months there’s been a small group of people who have been doing really awful things. They have been making some people’s lives miserable and they are tarnishing our reputation as gamers. It’s not right.

Blizzcon is a great example of how positive and uplifting gaming can be. Let’s carry the good vibes from this weekend out into the world all year round. There is another person at the other end of the chat screen. They’re our friends, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters.

Let’s take a stand to reject hate and harassment and let’s redouble our efforts to be kind and respectful to one another and let’s remind the world what the gaming community is really all about.”

MCV has previously criticised the industry’s reluctance to speak publicly about the GamerGate controversy. Developer Zoe Quinn, herself a high-profile victim of GamerGate’s organised hate agenda, last month also urged the industry to stand up and take responsibility for protecting those being targeted.