J. Allen Brack: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

[Odintdk]

Idiot broke the rules. Idiot got punished.

I don't watch video game tournaments, events or conferences to listen to some clown's political or ethical views. Video games, for many (including myself) are a great form of escapism. People play video games to forget about their long hard work days, their real life problems and the fucked up world we live in Today. Nobody wants ALL that bullshit dragged into our escapism space as well.

This outrage culture is is one of the biggest cancers of the internet and society as a whole.

[Kumorii]

They did exactly as I predicted and is the best choice. I commend them for not apologising as people want them to do, letting mob mentality rule and dictate what's supposed to be done and deciding who did what with what intent should never be indulged.

I see no reason to apologise for saying "hey, our entertainment events are NOT for political purposes". They overreacted with retracting prize money since that had nothing to do with the statement, but the ban is fair.

[The Butt Witch]

Blizzard should add a disclaimer to their so-called principles, that says "unless it offends China".

I think it's the most sensible thing to do.

[TaurenNinja]

It's beautiful watching the same Blizzard defense drones in here defending this pathetic bullshit.

That is a nice example of how some people have un-learned the ability to differentiate properly. In today's fast-paced world, often only extreme/binary opinions, which are usually NOT accurate, prevail because they're easy to write, short, and thus have a wide reach and are impactful. Anyway, extreme opinions are usually false either way. The world is more complex than that. People who take a specific stance are not necessarily blind to the other stances, or even blind zealots (although they could be in some cases).

In this case, it is kind of obvious that Blizzard overreacted with the former penalties. This new, reduced penalty is more in line with what is reasonable.

What people like you might forget in this case, is that blitzchung's statement on a game tournament stream was MASSIVELY off-topic, no matter if his intent was noble/justified or not. Imagine if blitzchung would have used his ~5-10 minutes of interview air time to instead advocate about stuff like gay rights in some random country. That would also have been a noble cause, but it also does simply not belong in an after-match game tournament interview. Imagine if soccer players would always completely derail after-match interviews on TV just to get their opinion out on some random (maybe justified, but still massively off-topic) stuff. You as the viewer would like to hear his opinion on the match and not his political view on non-game stuff.

So, obviously, there has to be at least *some* negative consequence for players doing stuff like that, as it's not only completely off-topic but also against the official rules (and rules should have some, you know, weight or sense behind them, otherwise why would we need rules in the first place). Obviously the negative consequence should be reasonable and not extreme. In any case, you (and many others) have to re-learn the ability to differentiate again and consider different positions/angles/facts, despite extreme positions these days being so easy, popular and short.

[Life-Binder]

Should have kept the initial punishment

[The Butt Witch]

Censorship because China, is just the first step. Wait till the Chinese government starts telling Western companies which Western politicians they should endorse or else no China market.

Wait till Western politicians become aware of this and start kissing up to China for political gains.

You guys better start learning Chinese. You will be speaking it in the next 30 years.

[Kumorii]

So you're totes cool with them not banning the American team and subsequently putting out a blatantly political pro-China statement then? Or are you just here to white knight for senpai?

I don't even know of an american team considering the mob were focusing on the chinese guy. This has nothing to do with white knighting, but I guess you are one of those who decides on what intent I have?

I literally stated my train of thought in the post you quoted. Mob mentality should never dictate what intent someone else have. Either you agree or disagree, doesn't change what my intent or reasoning was.

But I don't get it, if they didn't ban the american team but the did ban the chinese person how the hell can the reasoning be to please papa-china government? If that were the case they would ban both. If something this would indicate more towards some racist angle rather than pro-chinese government. Guess this is also white knighting though.

Sorry that I don't really fall in line with the mob rule and chanting whatever it's popular without even trying to have a thought on my own. Then again I have never looked towards companies for political agendas or compass due to the fact everything is done with PR in mind.

[Psygon]

No one derailed anything with comments.

LOL. Ridiculous!

[The Butt Witch]

Should have kept the initial punishment

How many social credit points do you get per comment? Are you exalted with the CCP yet?

[TwoMana]

Imagine if soccer players would always completely derail after-match interviews on TV just to get their opinion out on some random (maybe justified, but still massively off-topic) stuff. You as the viewer would like to hear his opinion on the match and not his political view on non-game stuff.

And this actually does happen quite often. Like Megan Rapinoe during the World Cup. She wasn't banned by FIFA or her prize money wasn't taken away. She has raised and advanced awareness, injustices (like opportunities for equal pay) and used the World Cup spotlight to this benefit.

The "politics don't belong to (e)sports" attitude that Blizzard is trying to pull is unmodern and hamfisted. Politics belong everywhere.

[Life-Binder]

How many social credit points do you get per comment? Are you exalted with the CCP yet?

Not yet, but i have negative rep with the couch revolutionaries faction ^^

[Onikaroshi]

WOWWWW. Took you less than five minutes to use the EXACT argument we already called bullshit on. Saying "they're both political statements" is like saying "acid and water are both liquids", in the sense that both statements technically correct but intentionally miss the point (that one is harmful and the other is vitally important) in favor of pushing a fallacious strawman narrative. NO ONE is advocating for zero rules. MOST of us are advocating for a company that prides itself on American values like civil liberty and basic human rights to take a stand on behalf of a player whose values clearly align with those.

Oh, and politics being generally satirical in games? Deus Ex, Bioshock, WC3, or virtually ANY OTHER GAME that touches on issues like racism, oligarchy, political philosophy, etc....wave a big 'ol fucking hello.

Sit down clown, you're punching outside your weight class here.

Those are plot device not directly related to real world politics, no game is directly related to the impeaching of trump or the Hong Kong riots in a non satirical manner, you're being completely disengenuos on what politics mean in video game plots.

Real world politics have no place in a game stream like this, on your own stream sure, but not on a stream of a competition that you are under contract attending, knowing full well you are breaching contract to make that statement. Blitz KNEW he was going to get in trouble, he just didn't expect the severity.

Go spew political bullshit at most jobs and see how long you last. There's a time and a place for everything, and this was neither

[Kumorii]

You're aware there are Chinese people that aren't completely brainwashed and don't support their lunatic authoritarian government right?

Yes. I mean, that's sort of what the protests in china are all about. Now what does this have to do with what I said?

[Onikaroshi]

And this actually does happen quite often. Like Megan Rapinoe during the World Cup. She wasn't banned by FIFA or her prize money wasn't taken away. She has raised and advanced awareness, injustices (like opportunities for equal pay) and used the World Cup spotlight to this benefit.

The "politics don't belong to (e)sports" attitude that Blizzard is trying to pull is unmodern and hamfisted. Politics belong everywhere.

No, they don't, I don't want to see that shit when I tune in to watch owl, or hearthstone, or football, I watch these things to get AWAY from real world bullshit

[Onikaroshi]

Yes. I mean, that's sort of what the protests in china are all about. Now what does this have to do with what I said?

That actually has nothing to do with the protests, hong Kong is part of China, but not really part of China, for the most part Hong Kong is autonomous, which means people are more likely to take offense to China trying to step in then other Chinese citizens

[Kumorii]

Someone posted the American team higher up in the thread. Educate yourself before posting on a subject.

Educate myself? Nothing I posted have anything to do with that... Mob mentality should never dictate what intent someone else has.
I still hold that view with that information.

Wtf are you on about? It seems like you are just trying to be angry and ranting for the sake of being angry and ranting.

What exactly in my post angered you so much? Was it because I didn't go "LOL FUCK YOU BLIZZARD, REEEE"?

As for why Blizz didn't ban the American team--isn't it obvious? They are aware that they and other gaming companies would be obligated to act if an American team or player was threatened by a foreign power. But with a player from Hong Kong, Blizzard figured they can get away with saying they have no ability or obligation to protect the individual, and internally, their staff fears much greater reprisal from the Chinese government who will (and have) acted aggresively to censor "one of their own". It's a hypocritical and manufactured narrative on Blizard's part to try and appease both Americans and the Chinese.

Except the mob mentality and the Mei thing were all about making blizzard become banned in China by the government for showing pro-people sentiment. It's irrelevant if an american team or chinese player shows the pro-sentiment. Since that would still reflect on Blizzards stance according to some. People said it was all about blizzard crashing down hard on pro-protesters views to please china. It's irrelevant which player does it since they would crash down hard on the company regardless of nationality if that were the case.

You are the first one saying and indicating this is about Chinese governement attacking the player who said it and Blizzard trying to distance themselves from it rather than Blizzard trying not to get banned in China.

- - - Updated - - -

You literally just claimed that because the person they punished was Chinese.... They couldn't possibly be sucking Chinese dick.

Do you understand how ludicrous that is?

wtf? No I didn't... I literally said if something that would indicate Blizzard being racist towards chinese. Not sure how that is making a statement if they are or aren't sucking chinese dick on the side... but ok, you do you I guess. Everything is ludicrous if you spin it enough.

Is there anyone on these forums that actually reads?

[TickTickTick]

Looks like there's a few other chinabots in this thread too. Lol.

Ahh, the typical "I dont agree with you, therefore you must be a bot!" response. Such a narrow view on the world.

I agree with Blizzard on this one. The broadcast is NOT a place to discuss your political views. Western playerbase gets outraged because it suits our views, but if it was a Chinese player criticizing American government for example, there would be an outrage to punish him.

Nevermind though. This issue will be forgotten in 2 weeks anyway, like all the previous ones. You people surely are fine keyboard warriors, but when it comes to actual deeds you don't seem that caring.

Out of this whle situation, I only feel bad for Hong Kong. Its obvious people arent even outraged about the situation there, they are only pretending to be, but the truth is you are mad at blizzard for how they treated that player. I didnt see this shitstorm even a day before the punishemnt, and the situation in Hong Kong isnt very recent.

Bunch of hypocrites.

[Kumorii]

Ahh, the typical "I dont agree with you, therefore you must be a bot!" response. Such a narrow view on the world.

I agree with Blizzard on this one. The broadcast is NOT a place to discuss your political views. Western playerbase gets outraged because it suits our views, but if it was a Chinese player criticizing American government for example, there would be an outrage to punish him.

Nevermind though. This issue will be forgotten in 2 weeks anyway, like all the previous ones. You people surely are fine keyboard warriors, but when it comes to actual deeds you don't seem that caring.

Out of this whle situation, I only feel bad for Hong Kong. Its obvious people arent even outraged about the situation there, they are only pretending to be, but the truth is you are mad at blizzard for how they treated that player. I didnt see this shitstorm even a day before the punishemnt, and the situation in Hong Kong isnt very recent.

Bunch of hypocrites.

I'm willing to bet if anyone ever said in the interviews that Chinese Government rules and they should keep on oppressing their people and go overdrive even further on their Big Brother policies they would cry that they should ban and reason that with "it's no place for political opinions". Usually all the outrage is about if they agree with what's being said or if they don't, not necessarily what it's about.

[UndedoKoleda]

Imo, it's a mistake that they are giving him back his prize and reducing his ban. They did the right thing, and should have stood their ground about it.

Politics have no place in the gaming industry, or the entertainment industry at all. People are playing/watching to get away from their everyday routine life, not to get "politically educated".

It's the same way, that if I want to read about politics, I go to the Off-Topic on MMO-Champion, I don't want to see that stuff in the General or Lore sections.

It sucks, what is going on in Hong Kong, and the stunts that China are pulling, but Blizzard have nothing to do with it. And, unfortunately, some people are milking the situation...

[Onikaroshi]

Astoundingly, Hearthstone and Football weren't created solely to cater to you, or your rampant desire to embrace ignorance and escape reality. Politics. Is. Everywhere. Pretending that isn't true doesn't make it so, any more than pretending people are being murdered in senseless wars, thrown into internment camps, or censored and isolated in their own countries makes those things suddenly not real.

Perhaps someday, when you're the one in desperate need--when it's your family being hauled away, your livlihood being threatened, your life and freedoms on the line--then you might understand. And on that day, you'll hope and pray that someone, ANYONE, will take a stand for you when you are left bereft of your power and your voice.

Despite your selfishness, I hope that, should such a day come to pass, people like Blitz will speak up for you the way they have for countless other humans rights causes throughout history. Change has always relied on the courage of a few brave people who draw lines in the sand and set themselves firmly against intolerance and injustice.

We are all in a shared struggle for our rights and freedoms, whether you realize it or not. Some suffer in this struggle greatly, while others enjoy relative comfort and the liberty to criticize, support, or ignore issues at their leisure. But the truth is that none of us are free until ALL of us are free. The great wheel of human history turns ever forward--you can ignore it and hope you don't wind up crushed beneath it, or you can take the wheel and help steer towards a better future for all.

You can take on every fight like it's your own if you want, I'd rather enjoy life, it's too short to worry about every little thing

It's why I play games, to have fun, to enjoy life. If someone across the world is being repressed I can feel sorry for them but there's nothing I can directly do, so there is zero point in worrying about it.

Besides, we have enough problems here on our own soil to be worried about everything happening in the world, there's enough hate and bloodshed right at home