On June 18 we published a post that suggests that Whoopi Goldberg is a gamer. The post was made following her spate with Blizzard Entertainment. Days after sharing her first video expressing her frustration on realizing that Diablo 4 was not playable on Mac, she shared a second video saying that she was still angry with Blizzard and that no one from the company has reached out to her.
In the video Whoopi Goldberg shared on June 7, she spoke passionately about how she was a gamer and how Mac was her favorite playing machine and Diablo her favorite game. However, most of our readers failed to agree that Whoopi Goldberg is a gamer—and offered good reasons to backup their observations.
Just a bit of a backstory for those that missed the earlier post. Whoopi Goldberg said she bought Diablo 4 after the game was released on June 6. However, she later discovered that the game was not playable on Mac, unlike its predecessor.
Realizing this, Whoopi made a video asking Blizzard to either refund her for the game or make a Mac port for the game. Apparently, no one from Blizzard reached out to her forcing her to post another video ten days later to express her growing frustration and anger.
Whoopi Goldberg finally gets a refund for Diablo 4
It appears Whoopi Goldberg has finally made peace with Blizzard. On the morning of June 22, the Oscar-winning actress shared an Instagram Story announcing the ceasefire. She used her Instagram Story to announce that she has received her refund.
“I just wanted to let everybody know that I got a refund for my Diablo game,” she wrote. “Blizzard, you stepped up and I thank you so much for it. I really wish you’d been able to make it accessible for Apple, but I understand that it’s out of your hands now because it belongs to Microsoft.”
The tone was a little different from what we saw in the two previous videos she had earlier shared on the platform. Although she was refunded, Whoopi is pleading that Blizzard should do the same for every Mac user that bought the game.
“I always thought you guys were stand-up people and it turns out that you are. Everybody, they gave me my deposit back. I’m hoping that yours is on the way. Again, thank you, Blizzard. I very much appreciate it.”
Whoopi Goldberg via Instagram Story
3 Reasons that suggest Whoopi Goldberg is not a gamer
Firstly, we think that Blizzard Entertainment shouldn’t have allowed the issue to escalate to the point it did. It simply shows that someone in the PR department is not doing their job effectively. If they were, someone should have reached out to Whoopi to offer some explanations after the first video surfaced.
“Activision Blizzard are really the ones dropping the ball here”, said Bruce Woodcock, the owner of SirBruce’s Spellbook. “While Whoopi did make a mistake, many companies would still refund a normal consumer in this case. But even [when] you have a policy against such refunds at the customer service level, you should still have an executive support team available to handle exactly this sort of issue.”
Even though the way that Whoopi Goldberg went about her complaint may not have been palatable, the PR department should be up and doing to catch potential actions that may smear the image of the company and nip it in the bud. We can bet she only got a refund because of her celebrity status.
Nevertheless, celebrities should learn not to abuse their position. Companies have customer support channels for a reason—and Blizzard Entertainment has one. From all indications, it didn’t seem like Whoopi reached out to Blizzard customer support before posting her first video.
“Whoopi is an adult and her $70 is just as valuable as the next person who bought the game,” said Jeremy Cavender, a Game Designer at Cinderblock Games. “Should she get a refund? Maybe, it is up to Blizzard to issue it if they deem it necessary to keep a customer happy but just because she is a famous celebrity doesn’t mean she should get automatic special treatment and simply releasing a game on another platform isn’t as easy as flipping a switch.”
Come to think of it, the mistake was solely hers and not the fault of Blizzard. Therefore, she would have first sought a quiet resolution before making a public scene. Well, that is part of the reason why our readers are skeptical about her gamer status. Below are the three reasons why we think she is not a gamer.
1. Real gamers look at system specifications
The first thing that a gamer—especially those that play on PC—would do before purchasing any game is to look at the game’s minimum system requirement to know whether their PC can handle it. The fact that Whoopi Goldberg ignored this basic step is a sign that she may not be familiar with how games work.
“Definitely Whoopi [is guilty] for not reading the instructions,” said Sean Christian Bellinger, a Lead Weapons Artist at Activision – Solid State Studios. “She would have known on what systems Diablo 4 would’ve been released.”
2. Real gamers using dedicated gaming PCs
There is a reason why PCs designed for everyday use and those designed specifically for gaming are different. Most modern triple-A games are graphics demanding which is why gaming laptops come with a dedicated graphics card. NVIDIA GeForce has become a sort of holy grail for gamers when it comes to graphics cards. Mac doesn’t come with it.
In fact, most games are only released on selected consoles and Windows PC. To avoid the complicated steps required to get games running on Mac OS, most gamers simply stick with a gaming laptop.
“Probably cost her more to complain about it than to just buy a laptop that can play it,” said George Arnold Hall, a writer, producer, and artist that goes by the pen name Zhao Jian Mu.
“Anyone who uses a Mac to game isn’t a real gamer,” concluded Daphne Boyce, a Customer Happiness Guru.
3. Real gamers know that the Microsoft-Activision deal is not concluded
More than once in her videos, Whoopi Goldberg made reference to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision. She insinuated that the deal was already concluded and that Microsoft now owns all the games from Blizzard. She went ahead to suggest that the exclusion of Diablo 4 on Mac was an attempt to get people to purchase Xbox.
Well, real gamers know that the deal is far from done. In fact, some gamers, especially those on the side of PlayStation will not want that deal to be completed because of the potential consequences it will have on their game catalog in years to come.
Final Thoughts
There are different types of gamers, career gamers, recreational gamers, and accidental gamers. Career gamers are the type of gamers that make a living from playing video games. A lot of YouTube channels are owned by career gamers. Diablo 4 is not one of the games you will likely see elite career gamers publish on their channels.
Recreational gamers are those that game for fun. Unlike career gamers, recreational gamers have no preference. They will simply hunt down any and every new release and have a taste of it. While career gamers will aim to complete every game they play, recreational gamers can abandon the game after a few minutes or hours if it doesn’t give them d thrill they hoped for.
Accidental gamers are not real gamers. They are those that stumble on a game and often stick to that game for life. Maybe they were at a low point and the game helped them to overcome that state, they will come running back when they hit another low. To them, gaming is just a form of therapy and they will most likely stick with just one. Perhaps, Whoopi Goldberg belongs to the third category.
Do you think Blizzard did the right thing by refunding Whoopi Goldberg? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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