Blizzard bans Hearthstone player, casters for HK Support

Why, did they censor anybody? Or are you boycotting anything with Chinese ties? That would make life extremely difficult. Probably everything you’re looking at right now came from China.

Consumer activism doesn’t require perfect compliance across the board. Think of environmentalist that still need to drive a fossil fuel vehicle, etc. It’s about realistic incremental demand change, which is hoped to result in similar gradual supply change.

Sure, so what has GGG done to deserve a boycott?

Nothing. PoE’s business model remains unchanged, content updates continue and to the best of my knowledge nothing out of GGG has prompted any community disatsifaction outside of actual game related issues.

I’m confused on this topic.

Does Blizzard allow political statements in their venues, but just not against China?

That would be wrong.

If they don’t allow any political grandstanding during their gaming focused endeavors, good on them.

OK? It’s a global company.

Edit: I image in their heads they are tying to be like the Olympics. I bet they have some pretty big heads! :)

Everything’s political, even being neutral. But even accepting that that’s fine as a policy, as I also grudgingly accept, many believe it was too hard of a punishment, as the tournament was won fairly and had nothing to do with his politics.

Nothing, other than shitting up their game for the last year or so and the whole “Chinese companies are basically the CCP, which is evil, so fuck 'em.”

Ah, so they won fair and square and were punished for after touchdown grandstanding, like spiking the ball in a bad way.

Oh lord. Poor Blizzard company nerds. They are not equipped to take responibility for their global role. Sociologists and Cultural Anthropologists take note! Blizzard is hiring.

No offence but your posts are sounding like they are coming from someone who’ve never had their civil liberties and political rights under threat, or ever considered the perspective of people that do. The guy is from HK, it’s not like a pale white musician hanging a “free tibet” banner at a festival concert. With the protests going on and the future of his city being determined, voicing support on a Taiwanese broadcast is a matter of conscience not grandstanding. It’s something that will put him at personal risk with CCP sympathisers in his home city. It’s also a cause that isn’t divisive in any western democracy, where Blizzard mostly operates, nor in the country in which it was broadcast.

They should have just given him a warning, put out a statement saying that views expressed by contestants do not necessarily reflect the views of Blizzard, and then encouraged people to focus on game talk during the broadcasts. Instead they used it as an opportunity to grovel to the CCP and came down on him like a pile of rocks.

If anything, the company nerds appeared to have hated the reaction. It sounds like this was all the executive and PR department.

More akin to thanking God in a post-game interview and then being banned by the league and having your winnings confiscated.

Curious.

I don’t think Epic Games has yet been challenged in this regard, moreover run afoul of the CCP. I think when they do is when “it” matters most. The CCP runs a zero sum game.

Report back when the Fortnite World Champion says something like…Free Tibet, or Taiwan is an independent nation, or stop the Uyghur concentration camps, or basically Hong Kong anything right now…

This is exactly the case.

“But gay rights is a human issue, it’s not political. It’s basic human decency,” you say. Hmm…

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the serious nature of the issue. My point is that Blizzard is completely unequipped to lead in this area. Poor nerds. Found themselves with unexpected power.

Edit: who do you think is setting the Blizzard agenda? Most likely somebody who was promoted to director from the ranks, driven by pressure from some vice president…

These guys have SO MUCH FUCKING cultural power. It’s like the show Silicon Valley.

Ludicrous.

Different director and not related to Hearthstone, but good on them!

How big is Blizzo/activation? No doubt that company goes nine different directions on a daily basis.

My mother and father marched with Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery. I get it… was raised on it, in Northern California.

It’s funny. All people have a perspective and we all have a desperate need to be understood.

So apparently PewdiePie was banned in China because he mocked El Dictator with the Winnie the Pooh thing. They’ve been trying to scrub him from their Internet. How well will that go?

This is one venture I agree with Communist China on.

LOL me too!

Indeed.

I had a lengthy post about in defense of myself playing WOW classic and my fun in this new game --but I deleted it because it felt untrue – really I can’t defend myself or blizzard on their treatment of the people that are trying to protest Hong Kong.

I really am having fun with my rogue in classic. I am surprised by the NBA and Blizz for this as well… I dunno I may quit. I hadn’t looked at this issue much until congress passed the resolution and then I thought “what the sam hell am I doing”–

Freedom of speech is the 1st amendment – I defend the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th amendments. The 1st amendment is the most important one…I just cannot believe China has managed to suppress our 1st amendment. I mean I see they have – its just stupidly dumb that we sit still for it. sigh.

JM gave me shit over this a few days ago and I laughed it off because I didn’t really pay attention. But maybe he was right ….

I can’t believe Greg Popovich didn’t say more. I mean what the hell? Fred that’s the coach of the San Antonio spurs and he NEVER not says what he thinks --until now.

I should know better.