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

[Freighter]

Why shouldn't the easterners by hit over the head with the same thing?

You try being pro-lgbt in South Korea, see how well that goes.

[Wyrt]

https://www.businessinsider.com/bliz...zchung-2019-10

Blizzard now making people delete tweets apparently.

[tmamass]

At worst, Blizzard has not taken any stance on the dealings of US. With China, Blizzard is a towel.

You mean like every company that wants to make money in china?

[Santti]

You mean like every company that wants to make money in china?

Basically, yes.

[tmamass]

Basically, yes.

blizzard doesnt care for human rights: buhu boykot them!
your government shits on human rights: I dont care.....

I hope u see which one is wrong...

[Edge-]

blizzard doesnt care for human rights: buhu boykot them!
your government shits on human rights: I dont care.....

I hope u see which one is wrong...

Or...you can be critical of both Blizzard for their move in China, and the US government.

It's not really a novel idea.

Don't be this guy, dude: https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha

[Vorkreist]

The https://www.reddit.com/r/Blizzard/ is glorious.

[Wyrt]

The https://www.reddit.com/r/Blizzard/ is glorious.

I'd put my money on Blizzard just removing Mei from the Chinese version of Overwatch.

[Very Tired]

I'd put my money on Blizzard just removing Mei from the Chinese version of Overwatch.

That and Winston will be fired for bringing her into Overwatch in the first place.

[Cerilis]

The https://www.reddit.com/r/Blizzard/ is glorious.

Wow, how far people go with burning their stuff and all.

[xanzul]

The ban was rather heavy handed, I understand the reasoning from a business sense but they could have handled this so much better than they did.

What does piss me off though is people going to extremes to really fuck over Blizzard employees that have nothing to do with the decision. One of my wife's friends is a coder at Blizzard and we were having a discussion about it last night, poor dude got doxxed and now has to deal with recurring death threats. Criticising Blizzard and boycotting their products is fair game but you have to be a special kind of stupid to think death threats to Blizzard employees is a suitable way to fight injustices.

You do understand actual Blizzard employees are very unhappy about this decision by Blizzard as well right? This isn't us vs Blizzard. This is gamers including actual fucking employees of Blizzard who are upset with Blizzard. No clue what this doxxing thing is about but seems like there is a lot of misinformation being purposely being spread in this thread to defuse/deflect actual discussion of the issue.

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It is really interesting seeing how a lot of lower post count people suddenly chiming in on this topic.

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This shitstorm just makes me laugh actually. Blizzard just applied one of their rules. People didn't cared about what's going on in Hong Kong, and most of them didn't even knew what was happening until this Hearthstone player got banned. Unsub, boycott. Feel free to fight like true freedom fighters ! Just don't forget what the "Made in China" inscription on almost every electrical devices, cloths or other items you own mean. This is hypocrisis at its finest.

It is almost as if boycotting Blizzard games is possible because products aren't made with Blizzard games or something. It has been explained repeatedly why a direct boycott of China isn't realistic. Stop trolling. Better yet, mods start doing your jobs.

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Yep. Again, the reactions to this, all it does is hurt the poor guy on the ground level while the heads just laugh it off.

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Your on a high horse yourself, hypocrite. And your not making any real difference to this. Yeah it's a shit deal, but no amount of crying on Twitter or refusing to not buy clothes from China will stop its influence when the next 10 people behind you are buying stuff from China.

Because bending over and taking it in the ass has always worked so well in making change in society right? Oh wait...

Honestly you have no business posting in this thread given your appalling post history over the years against things such as gay rights, civil rights or just basic human rights. Let people waste their time if you think it is a waste of effort. It is none of your concern.

[Trassk]

Because bending over and taking it in the ass has always worked so well in making change in society right? Oh wait...

Does sending death threats and harassment to lower end staff make the world a better place? Yeah thats really advancing society with that! Oh Wait...

[s_bushido]

You do understand actual Blizzard employees are very unhappy about this decision by Blizzard as well right?

Yes, and that makes it all the more laughable. They are people who have literally profited (some for years) by being employed by a company working with China. What about this particular event is so very different from all those years of Chinese human rights violations? Because they were so ignorant that they're just now finding out about them?

[xanzul]

A lot of people seem to be being reactionary here and are talking about "unsubbing" or "boycotting Blizzard" as a form of protest.

There are a few problems with boycotting Blizzard. For one, you are punishing the artists who made the game because their bosses made a decision the artists had no input in whatsoever. This was a decision made by the upper crust executive management, who are beholden to shareholders who demand more profits year after year.

I don't buy EA or Ubisoft games because of their monetization policy (which is part of the reason but not the primary one), but because I'm simply not interested in their games. I find their works to be incredibly formulaic, stale, and shallow. There just isn't any meat for me to sink my teeth into there. As bad of a state Blizzard's franchises are in right now, I still find their storylines worth thinking about, their games still enjoyable to play, and I'm eager to see what the artists have to present at Blizzcon.

Second, why boycott Blizzard specifically? I hate Blizzard's corporate guts for sure - laying off employees not because Blizzard is struggling, but for maximizing profits, leading on Esports players only to unexpectedly kill off their league, milking their customers, disrespecting their customers, and so forth - but if I threw a tantrum over every corporate policy, I wouldn't be able to buy food from the grocery store. Everything in the world is owned by some company that is doing or complicit in something unethical. The shirts you buy are probably made by some sweatshop that uses what is effectively slave labor. The diamonds in your ring was mined by effectively slaves. The meat you eat - be it bought from the store or prepared in your fast food meal - was harvested from factory animals which had a desolate and painful short life. Your bank is a part of a pyramid scheme that lends out more money that only theoretically exists than it actually has, and may default on its debts if the system falls apart, leaving the people who bought into it left hanging. I could go on. That's where you have to acknowledge that you just can't NOT support everything unethical. You have to buy into some system that is culpable in some unethical business eventually, but that doesn't mean you can't call them out on it.

Yes folks, you can still enjoy Blizzard games and praise the artists who worked on them while simultaneously calling out Blizzard's executives and expressing dissatisfaction with their policies. The two are not mutually exclusive.

That is all well and good except for the fact Blizzard employees are protesting at Blizzard HQ. Stop defending this shit.

[Lochton]

I think I worded it badly, "of course it was going to cause waves" is what I meant. Blizzard messed up how they handled it though. They turned it from ripples to a tsunami filled with sewage.

Oh yes, it was handled stupidly but it was revealed that it wasn't Blizzard's main office but the Taipei office. Hence they are running investigations. Someone was too quick to cancel that it's now causing an effect through the Blizzard staff as well. The PR people at the Taipei office fucked up to save face without knowing the repercussions. I mean, yes, the player broke their rules but firing the two casters as well as cancelling the contract and seizing the winnings - that smells of a panic reaction.

One of the reasons I am not going to boycott the company, not just because I like the products and I don't give a rats ass about hearthstone but also because the western offices of Blizzard is showing actual reactions to this insanity. To the point where higher ups are now having to investigate.

Yes, about 5% of Acti-Blizz is owned by a Chinese company and that is maybe where it might be of value to sacrifice them to patch this up.

[xanzul]

Does sending death threats and harassment to lower end staff make the world a better place? Yeah thats really advancing society with that! Oh Wait...

Blizzard is throwing in with a communist regime that has a long history of human rights atrocities. You and others are posting literal garbage to deflect the actual situation going on here.

STOP IT.

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Yes, and that makes it all the more laughable. They are people who have literally profited (some for years) by being employed by a company working with China. What about this particular event is so very different from all those years of Chinese human rights violations? Because they were so ignorant that they're just now finding out about them?

So how much is China paying you and the other trolls here to shill for them?

Nothing you and the other trolls have posted has actually changed the actions both Blizzard and China took in regards to Hong Kong. Who the fuck are you to decide when it is ok for people to stand up for human civil rights? A better question is why are any of you fighting against human civil rights for those in Hong Kong?

[TigTone]

Man wish you all stood up and protest for all those families in cages here on US soil like you all do for a single gamer.

[xanzul]

Oh yes, it was handled stupidly but it was revealed that it wasn't Blizzard's main office but the Taipei office. Hence they are running investigations. Someone was too quick to cancel that it's now causing an effect through the Blizzard staff as well. The PR people at the Taipei office fucked up to save face without knowing the repercussions. I mean, yes, the player broke their rules but firing the two casters as well as cancelling the contract and seizing the winnings - that smells of a panic reaction.

One of the reasons I am not going to boycott the company, not just because I like the products and I don't give a rats ass about hearthstone but also because the western offices of Blizzard is showing actual reactions to this insanity. To the point where higher ups are now having to investigate.

Yes, about 5% of Acti-Blizz is owned by a Chinese company and that is maybe where it might be of value to sacrifice them to patch this up.

This is more than a little naive and ignorant. What you are missing is the potential significant increase in future profit from players in Chinese controlled territories as has been posted in this thread numerous times. Blizzard didn't make this decision over 5%. And it is cute you are attributing it to a satellite office considering this is a fairly major decision that was made and it wasn't made by PR peons.

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Man wish you all stood up and protest for all those families in cages here on US soil like you all do for a single gamer.

Oh shut the fuck up with this bullshit. Check the post histories of people in this thread. Many of them have been very active in threads about human rights atrocities in the US.

[Deja Thoris]

Blizz are missing a trick here.

I think they could garner a lot of goodwill by putting a cosmetic transmog helm in the form of a gasmask in the store with the words "free HK" on the front for only $49,99.

This would give people a way to support HK and surely be a massive win for all sides!

[Vash The Stampede]

Yes, and yes - but done so to avoid losing connection. If China doesn't like you, you lose money - a lot of it.

Looks to me that Blizzard may have the same problem with the west. They won't even let people delete their accounts. Don't know about you but I'm done with Blizzard and their products. Stick a fork in this company because they're done. The Blizzard of today isn't the same Blizzard I grew up with.

To me, memes are not a valued form of opinions but yes, I've seen them. Then again, I've seen many memes in defense of criminals too - that said, I'm not saying he is one but memes aren't a valid tool.

Tell that to the Chinese government when they banned Winnie the Pooh over a meme.

For a company, both is important. I am certain Blizzard wasn't sure of the west reaction as what they did followed the ruleset the players signed.

Because they thought Hong Kong was nothing and Democracy was nothing. Blizzard seems to make a lot of poor choices lately, because they're run by rich assholes.

So theft is more ethical than not supporting Hong Kong I hear you say?

I support Hong Kong by not buying Blizzard products. It isn't stealing because I paid like $2k into Warcraft alone since 2004. Even if it was, which I'm sure you'll make the argument that it is, I don't care. Just like Blizzard doesn't care about Democracy.

If you seek to boycot, then I suggest you do it cold turkey. Away from fansites, away with links and uninstall everything that Activision and Blizzard has had in control.

Already did that. That doesn't mean I won't look into private servers. Too bad most of them shut down after Classic was released. It'll keep me from being tempted to come back. Enjoy your Blizzard stock, I hope it collapses.