Blizzard Suspends Hearthstone Player For Hong Kong Support, Pulls Prize Money

[Remilia]

So...am i right or wrong in assuming this was Chinese territory?
Would "disrespecting" "actual" China in Taiwan be acceptable?

I'd go with wrong. Some weird defenders of China would probably say no but a lot of people already protest and treat Taiwan as differently anyways.
People in Taiwan shit talk China a lot. I mean a fuuuuuck ton.

[Keesasha Reborn]

Is this a parody account?

- - - Updated - - -



What?! Any links? If they did this in the EU they may well be fucked

Please tell me if anything i said is not 100% true. Did you even think about the consequences of Blizzard being banned in China and what it actually means for the players there, or just like all the other shills here you just thought it was about Blizzard losing business. But yeah not giving him the money was a massive dick move, lol.

[Kaleredar]

Don't get mad now that you all ate the bait that Activision blizzard laid out. Folks on the right have been telling you all its not sincere for years....and i dare say, blizzard is not the only company that does such..

I don’t think “see, you thought blizzard was a liberal company! Little did you know they’re actually just a republican company! A money-grubbing, communist-China supporting, good-ol’ fashioned amoral republican company!” is quite the point you intended on making.

[Remilia]

Is this a parody account?

- - - Updated - - -



What?! Any links? If they did this in the EU they may well be fucked

https://twitter.com/LoLOrcasm/status...55300683026433
https://twitter.com/Espsilverfire2/s...976423424?s=20

[Jshadowhunter]

I'd go with wrong. Some weird defenders of China would probably say no but a lot of people already protest and treat Taiwan as differently anyways.
People in Taiwan shit talk China a lot. I mean a fuuuuuck ton.

I mean can you blame them? The Communist party on the mainland is shitting all over Sun Yat-sen's legacy. They've become the very thing he revolted against.

[insert random number]

Please tell me if anything i said is not 100% true. Did you even think about the consequences of Blizzard being banned in China and what it actually means for the players there, or just like all the other shills here you just thought it was about Blizzard losing business. But yeah not giving him the money was a massive dick move, lol.

Let me check if I understood you correctly: You think blizzard suspended Blitzchung so that people in China can keep playing their games regardless of the money involved?

[Kathranis]

The "inflammatory" statement? Are you fucking serious? I'm starting to think a lot of you posting in this thread know fuck all about what the actual issues here are.

"Free Hong Kong, revolution of our time" is undeniably incendiary. It is a literal call to revolt against the government and liberate Hong Kong. I am pro-Hong Kong, and support the protests, but I'm not going to pretend that what they're doing is peaceful or safe. It's fucking dangerous.

That's nice. Blizzard Entertainment isn't based in China though and doesn't have to spread their propaganda. Yet they are. They could have banned the player and moved on but instead they actually almost verbatim took China's position on what is happening in Hong Kong.

Blizzard has subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan. And NetEase, who operates the game in China, is also based in China.

They have only issued one public statement at present, which is the ruling that states they banned Blitzchung for violating their code of conduct.

NetEase posted an extremely jingoistic message on Sina Weibo, but that's not Blizzard taking a stance.

Last report, Blizzard is "assessing the situation."


To be clear, I don't agree with their punishment, frankly would prefer they just cut ties with NetEase, cancel Diablo Immortal, and pull out of Mainland China.

But that's also not a decision I can realistically expect any company to make. And there are plenty of other major companies that are just as bad when it comes to protecting China's interests, so I think it's very naive to single out and boycott Blizzard just to score points. I don't spend money on Hearthstone anyway.

[PedroloGeo]

To all ppl who says it is right to do what they did to defend their money... should not be better to do nothing, let it fade fast and get over it?

First, now chinesse ppl who might have never heard of it are aware of it. The majority of costumers won’t care but the ones who care about their government being resisted by street masses will be suspicious of Blizzard.

Second, the western gaming comunity saw it. There are trolls and capitalists here who say that what happened is ok, but the vast majority of content creators and the comunity are at least angry with that decision. The hit Blizzard will take in the west won’t be small.

Also, I’m curious if this non politics terms are omnidirectional. If I win a tournament and I say “Go Donald Trump make America great again!” Or “Go Boris Jhonson Brexit no surrender” will I get banned for hurting others that don’t think like me?

[Jshadowhunter]

Follow-ups keep piling up.

[Kathranis]

https://twitter.com/LoLOrcasm/status...55300683026433
https://twitter.com/Espsilverfire2/s...976423424?s=20

Probably unintentionally flagging the automated account protection. Bit tinfoil hatty to assume this is part of a conspiracy.

[Jshadowhunter]

Probably unintentionally flagging the automated account protection. Bit tinfoil hatty to assume this is part of a conspiracy.

Wouldn't it be a conspiracy if they wanted to hide it?

[Big Thanks]

I'd go with wrong. Some weird defenders of China would probably say no but a lot of people already protest and treat Taiwan as differently anyways.
People in Taiwan shit talk China a lot. I mean a fuuuuuck ton.

You appear to be correct
By reading this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Taiwan

It seems there is freedom of speech in Taiwan

I dont know then...im more confused than before

[Orange Joe]

I personally unsubbed from blizzard over this. It's the only way they will get the message.

[Vash The Stampede]

Please tell me if anything i said is not 100% true. Did you even think about the consequences of Blizzard being banned in China and what it actually means for the players there, or just like all the other shills here you just thought it was about Blizzard losing business. But yeah not giving him the money was a massive dick move, lol.

Are you seriously comparing playing video games to Democracy? Didn't Liberty Prime teach you anything? He died so that Democracy could live!

[Kathranis]

Wouldn't it be a conspiracy if they wanted to hide it?

How would this be "hiding" it? It's drawing more attention. It's pretty easy to trip the account security features, it's happened to me.

[Jshadowhunter]

How would this be "hiding" it? It's drawing more attention. It's pretty easy to trip the account security features, it's happened to me.

Blizzard has been tripping ALOT lately.

[Kathranis]

Blizzard has been tripping ALOT lately.

True enough.

[THE Bigzoman]

Do you guys NOT have kidneys?

Make that a shirt.

Wear it at Blizzcon.

[Vash The Stampede]

Do you guys NOT have kidneys?

Make that a shirt.

Wear it at Blizzcon.

This man is playing with power. We need T-Shirts for the next BLizzcon that reflects their poor decisions. We should hold a contest for whoever comes up with the best slogan.

[Very Tired]

Honestly, playing it this way has brought waaaay more attention to the comment than if they had just ignored it and let it slide. Which is bad for what China wants and it's bad for what Blizz wants.

Can only hope China takes action against Blizzard anyway.