Pros
-Generally fun place to work, or at least a fun place to claim to work. -Pay was decent by my standards, I was throwing away excess cash left and right and still had more to spare. -It's a positive "work experience" on a resume, though I have yet to benefit from that. -Free WoW -Above average benefits packages -At least HR goes through the motions of providing access to resources. -Morhaime is a saint, get him in your corner if you can. - No drug screen or random testing
Cons
-Training is short and virtually pointless. They'd almost be better off just throwing people in without it. And their "on-going training" is a joke, it's like a pep rally. They teach you things that barely apply out on the floor, it's a waste of time. They could save oodles on lost productivity by stopping these failed ventures. -Their practices of hiring temps borders on the unethical. While I was there, the on-site temp hiring manager was discovered to be discriminating against perceived undesirable new hires and setting them up for failure. He was specifically doing things like forging attendance records to get people fired. "Wet Blanket Steve," thankfully, lost his position due to this coming to light, but it still took like 2 years before that happened. -Ever-changing and conflicting expectations and policies contribute to a labyrinthine work environment - expect to get lost and left in the dark. I couldn't speak with my managers about real issues for fear of reprimand, suspicion or getting ignored. -I think I met the HR lady twice; once at hiring, and once for filling out 401k stuff. -You're never good enough to promote; you literally have to be top dog, volunteer for 60 hour weeks, and kiss every ass over your head. 99% of Blizzard employees are destined to become former employees one way or another. The 1% that's left gets fat, overpaid, and arrogant. -The typical corporate attitude of money before people permeates this company to the core. They laid off in late Febuary. It's early August and they're hiring temps again... and apparently they have a problem with rehiring ex-employees. -You're strongly encouraged to shut up and do your job. Doing anything to better yourself or your environment detracts from your productivity, making you look bad. This even makes kissing ass a risky endeavor. -There's definitely more than a few bad apples in mid and upper management. Firing people for minor offenses makes them look good. When Seniors Game Masters get promoted to Lead Game Masters they tend to go two-faced. The longer they're there, the longer they will stay, and the more corrupt they get. I'd say 4/5 Lead Game Masters end up leaving the company for better opportunities and to escape the toxic environment. While the main supervisor I had for the majority of my time there was great and at least half the Senior Game Masters were amazing, everyone else sucked and was sour and disrespectful. -The customers and management make the work toxic. Long exposure will eventually break your morale and get you fired. You'd think Blizz would support their employees on this front, but the sad truths of capitalism's backwardness prevail. -There's a lot of cronyism within the management. During my time there there was an influx of ex-Dell hotshots among others cycling in, hiring each other, tag teaming through positions, using all their corporate experience to iron post-merger Blizz flat and soulless. It all looks good on paper, but when dude comes in for 6 months to give the company a patented corporate facelift and then runs off with a cool couple million $ in stocks and upper management pay, it makes you wonder what the world is coming to.