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

[Kaleredar]

I know you are used to corporations deplatforming those you hate, this must be a new feeling for you. It will pass.

You didn’t exactly address my point.

And, point of order, look at the contrast in reaction. Facebook bans nazis and white supremacists to pretty sound applause.

Meanwhile, blizzard capitulates to an authoritarian regime and is met with intense vitriol.

Maybe it’s because the context is different. You know, context? The thing that keeps things from being the abject black and white you pretend they are?

Also, you seem to imply you “hate” pro-democratic Hong Kong protesters. Alright. Noted.

[s_bushido]

blizzard capitulates to an authoritarian regime

Qualify for the Hearthstone Grandmasters. Make it to a player interview at the end of a broadcast. Show up on camera wearing an antifa mask/hoodie and declare how terrible Trump's administration has been for the country. Get banned. Condemn Blizz for "capitulating to an authoritarian regime." Profit?

[DarkTZeratul]

so according to this video at 13:55 it's being reported that some people can no longer delete their accounts by any of the 4 methods available to them.

The person who reported that was able to do so successfully about an hour later. It looks like - big shock - the error message he received was, in fact, just that.

Frankly, Blizzard was thrown into an absolutely shitty, impossible situation here. They had very few options, and none of them were good. It's easy to sit here and say that Blizzard is a terrible company that supports authoritarian tyranny and hates human rights and should have told China to fuck off because it's the right thing to do, but that's not remotely a realistic option. Remember, they're a publicly traded company. Such a decision simply isn't theirs to make unilaterally. If Blizzard sided with the player - and let's be clear, doing nothing would absolutely have been taken by China as tacit endorsement - and China revoked their license as a result, Blizzard's shareholders would be absolutely justified in demanding their heads for cratering the company's earnings. And that's beyond the fact that they would almost certainly have to lay off everyone associated with the Chinese market.

Don't mistake me here; China's government is absolutely authoritarian and tyrannical, their human rights abuses are monstrous, and the protestors in Hong Kong are absolutely in the right. I 100% support the statement the player made, especially given that it was made knowing full well the consequences that would likely befall him. I'm not saying that Blizzard didn't make a shitty call, I'm saying that every call they could have realistically made in this scenario would have been a shitty call. People would have gotten fucked over no matter what. In a perfect world they could simply warn him not to do it again and everything would be alright, but sadly we don't live in a perfect world.

[shadowmatrix]

so according to this video at 13:55 it's being reported that some people can no longer delete their accounts by any of the 4 methods available to them. not sure if it's true or not but there it is. also looks like another hearthstone caster has quit in disgust over the situation. sorry if the video has been linked already.

So people are deleting their accounts knowing they will turn around and ask for them back in a month or so? Sigh.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Uninstalled the remaining Blizzard games I had on my computer (uninstalled WoW awhile ago). I wasn't playing them so it doesn't really matter, but their games are gone from my PC. Same with Call of Duty and anything associated with activision, since they're the same company basically. Don't forget your activision games, if you guys are actually protesting this. Destiny, Call of Duty, etc.

[breadisfunny]

The person who reported that was able to do so successfully about an hour later. It looks like - big shock - the error message he received was, in fact, just that.

did you read the sentence below that?

- - - Updated - - -

So people are deleting their accounts knowing they will turn around and ask for them back in a month or so? Sigh.

well if they want to do that more power to them.

[THE Bigzoman]

We truly are living in clown world now. Who would've guessed that it would be Blizzard that bring Republicans and Democrats together

Right?

How shitty do you have to be to stop the right and left from launching passive aggressive shitposts at each other?

[Cthulhu 2020]

Right?

How shitty do you have to be to stop the right and left from launching passive aggressive shitposts at each other?

About as shitty as Classic WoW.

[Thepersona]

About as shitty as Classic WoW.

My dude, this shit made me agree with Marco Rubio. I kid you not

https://twitter.com/marcorubio/statu...56058659135488

[Kereberus]

About as shitty as Classic WoW.

But Classic WoW sold gangbusters and is still doing well? I don't understand

[THE Bigzoman]

About as shitty as Classic WoW.

Okay, there's reason number 2 why I don't like you.

But let's shit on Blizzard and the chinese first. We can settle this later.

[Jastall]

The person who reported that was able to do so successfully about an hour later. It looks like - big shock - the error message he received was, in fact, just that.

Frankly, Blizzard was thrown into an absolutely shitty, impossible situation here. They had very few options, and none of them were good. It's easy to sit here and say that Blizzard is a terrible company that supports authoritarian tyranny and hates human rights and should have told China to fuck off because it's the right thing to do, but that's not remotely a realistic option. Remember, they're a publicly traded company. Such a decision simply isn't theirs to make unilaterally. If Blizzard sided with the player - and let's be clear, doing nothing would absolutely have been taken by China as tacit endorsement - and China revoked their license as a result, Blizzard's shareholders would be absolutely justified in demanding their heads for cratering the company's earnings. And that's beyond the fact that they would almost certainly have to lay off everyone associated with the Chinese market.

Don't mistake me here; China's government is absolutely authoritarian and tyrannical, their human rights abuses are monstrous, and the protestors in Hong Kong are absolutely in the right. I 100% support the statement the player made, especially given that it was made knowing full well the consequences that would likely befall him. I'm not saying that Blizzard didn't make a shitty call, I'm saying that every call they could have realistically made in this scenario would have been a shitty call. People would have gotten fucked over no matter what. In a perfect world they could simply warn him not to do it again and everything would be alright, but sadly we don't live in a perfect world.

Yeah, there's no realistic world where Blizzard would choose one guy, and maybe a week's worth of good PR, over the entire Chinese market. We can sit at our computers after work and decry their decision, but we don't have a significant portion of our asset and most of our future growth tied up in said market. It's easy to be morally principled when there's nothing at stake.

They may have been overzealous in their response, or at least the China branch of the company was which seem to be the people who called the shots in this little crisis. But there are plenty of companies that are far, far more in deep with the Chinese government than Acti-Blizz and some people here are only noticing now because the controversy affects their vidya gaems. You can't even do business in China without being in deep with the government in the first place at any rate.

[Thepersona]

Okay, there's reason number 2 why I don't like you.

But let's shit on Blizzard and the chinese first. We can settle this later.

May i say something controversial here?
i'd prefer a TBC classic than a vanilla one. That being said, fuck blizzard, private servers for the win!

[Deja Thoris]

I'm in shock that Marco Rubio said something I wholeheartedly agree with.

Shame hes more flexible on others principles than he is his own.

[jeezusisacasual]

China is the new land of gold so any and all corporations will do as they are told with regards to them, this is capitalism. If something was similar in India the same thing would have happened due to the growing income available to the citizenry and every company will do their best to make sure their bottom line ( which is the most important line mind you ) is in the best place.

China is a horrible actor on the world stage and i am not a fan would like to starve them as i have mentioned numerous times but it does not take a degree in economics to understand why Blizzard did and will do more in the future with regards to them.

[THE Bigzoman]

In solidarity for the protesters in Hong Kong i'm T-bagging and performing a fatality on EVERY Liu Kang, Kitana, and Kung Lao player I body.

[Kaleredar]

Qualify for the Hearthstone Grandmasters. Make it to a player interview at the end of a broadcast. Show up on camera wearing an antifa mask/hoodie and declare how terrible Trump's administration has been for the country. Get banned. Condemn Blizz for "capitulating to an authoritarian regime." Profit?

I actually doubt blizzard would do that. Because they don’t have to worry about stepping on eggshells to ensure they can function in the US, because somehow China’s government manages to have a thinner skin than trump.

[Graeham]

I just hope the backlash doesn't lose momentum. I fear a lot of people will stop caring after a while and get lured in by announcements at Blizzcon so they end up throwing money at Blizzard once more.

[Theodarzna]

Blizzard is in a difficult situation. Much of their current revenue and plans for future revenue are rooted in China. They are yet another case of western countries wanting that sweet China market.

I don’t think Blizzard can do anything but hope people forget. Their strategy now seems to be silence. It's a strategy that worked for them before. WoW is as addictive as Mexican Black Tar Heroin it seems, so how many unsubs are real is hard to say. Last BlizzCon they insulted their fans with the "Do you not have phones?" and numerous PR Blunders. But this is a bit deeper shit than that. Disgruntled fans and protesters will continue to troll them and this coming BlizzCon will be a shitshow of trolling.

Blizz's inability to clamp down on criticism could cause China to punish them or push Blizz to do ever more insane shit to show their loyalty. If the trolling and unsubbing lasts and becomes a bigger problem they will feel pressure from CCP to clamp down since CCP doesn't take to insults.

[Saucexorzski]

You didn’t exactly address my point.

And, point of order, look at the contrast in reaction. Facebook bans nazis and white supremacists to pretty sound applause.

Meanwhile, blizzard capitulates to an authoritarian regime and is met with intense vitriol.

Maybe it’s because the context is different. You know, context? The thing that keeps things from being the abject black and white you pretend they are?

Also, you seem to imply you “hate” pro-democratic Hong Kong protesters. Alright. Noted.

lmao, yes me, who dislikes you authoritarian left wingers also support the authoritarian communist government of china. What ever. i'm no longer surprised at the ridiculousness of the accusations that spout from your fingers.