"Let me be clear on this, I am an ex-Activision/Blizzard employee. I was a Social Media Manager. You can check my twitter at AntiFlav, which used to be ATVIFlav (ATVI for Activision) and look at my post history from a few years ago that shows I was posting for Activision.
I don’t mind posting this because I don’t plan on working in the game industry again, but the shills are real. They aren’t who you think they are though. There aren’t “special shills” that get paid by the company to professionally shill. They are usually Customer Support Reps, Social Media Managers, PR, and other employees on personal accounts. They are not “required” but “encouraged” to post pro-company messages when things like BlitzChung happen. This way it’s “not” the company itself, and it seems like it is members of the general gaming public backing the company.
We did things like this for Call of Duty, and other games, when the gaming public would start to freak out. Since it wasn’t the company directly batting away the accusations, the “flames weren’t fanned” and were expected to die down after just a few days of outrage. The shills are your salaried and hourly paid employees, though you will have some diehard fans protecting the company as well. We were encouraged to push those posts to the top and argue with and bat down any negative posts.
I’m just tired of the companies doing things like this and getting away with it. I’m tired of people bringing doubt that shills exist, we know they exist. I know they exist. I was a shill myself."
When you voice legitimate criticism of a game and its company on these forums, it’s important to be aware of Activision-Blizzard employees who might weave messages against good criticism.
Shills by game companies are very real. You’ll find evidence of this across the internet, not just in the game industry. These individuals pose as normal users in forums, message boards, comment sections, etc.
Raising awareness on this topic helps highlight gaslighting tactics, which occur in every discussion about cheaters. Shills often flood these discussions with “no one is cheating” claims, while in-game HvH (Hacker vs. Hacker) experiences are happening 24/7.