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

[Addiena]

I have a question for all of you - How would you feel about this whole fiasco, if a Chinese player won the tournament and in his interview said something along the lines of "screw Hong Kong", and got banned for it? Would you be as outrages as you are now?

The bigger question would be .. would Blizzard do the same to them as they did to Blizchung.

I suspe3ct it wouldnt have gotten anywhere near the response from Blizzard that the comment supporting HK did.

[InTheEnd]

I volunteer twice a week for overnight shifts at a local migrant aid shelter and provide asylum seekers with translation and pro-bono legal services. I've organized large charity auctions and blood drives to benefit victims of hurricanes. I work regularly with Wounded Warriors and the VA to extend aid to fellow veterans, and I regularly advocate for veterans, LGBTQ+, and homelessness issues to local elected officials at City Council and committee meetings. I serve on my local Town Council, our local Wetlands Conservancy Board, and a regional task force for suicide prevention.

And all of that is in my spare time. It's not even particularly difficult, and it doesn't touch on what I do for a living (which is also oriented around serving others, but I recognize that not everyone can pursue a career in public service). It's honestly quite easy to get involved with volunteer efforts, and they make an extraordinary difference to people who may lack the advantages and freedoms to which many of us have grown too accustomed.

I don't agree with all your arguments, but I do commend you for all the good stuff you are doing. Well done!

[KronoFett]

Because he knows people love to flame and say whatever the fk without understanding all the facts. I'm not saying Blizz is right or wrong here by any means, but disabling comments is just common sense lol the community is toxic as hell. And the very next post proves my point in a flawless fashion:




The only drones I see are the hatedrones really. Whether you agree with them or not is another matter, but surely you can understand the logic of Blizzard firing (now just suspending) the shout casters as it is their job to keep the show flowing and on topic, and they obviously lost control of the show. Not saying it was the right call, but it's not hard logic to follow.

They were on topic drone...

They were even shocked to hear what happened. They can't control everything the other person says. They were 100% on topic. If you don't see that this is just to ban them because of China you are beyond blind. You are sickening.

[Addiena]

Doesn't change the fact that they are held responsible for keeping the show 'on track' and 'on topic'. You don't have to agree with that for it to be true. It may not be fair, but who told you that life was fair?

Also if you could calm down with the ad hom as it really makes me hard to take you seriously

You can take people seriously here ???

since when ?

Did you forget you were on MMO champ ?

[Evilmoo]

Nah, fuck you chinese shills.

[UndedoKoleda]

We already heard the fallacious comparison thing earlier in the thread, and it was soundly defeated. You're late to the party, my 9 post friend.

You said yourself that your job is "literally in politics", if that is so, you should know that political message is a political message no matter which way you spin it. But you still would be outraged, wouldn't you?

I've had another account here, that got deleted some time ago, for whatever reason. The name was Skr and it was registered in 2009, if someone from the moderation team could check and confirm I'd be grateful.

[KronoFett]

Doesn't change the fact that they are held responsible for keeping the show 'on track' and 'on topic'. You don't have to agree with that for it to be true. It may not be fair, but who told you that life was fair? I will say this again since your hate boner obviously made you miss reading this part. I have no stock one way or the other about the firing of the casters, I am merely exploring the logic and rationale behind it other than, ''lul Blizz is China's bitch!". In the real world and when on the job things have real world consequences.

Try to actually read my argument and be less 'drone-like' as you seem to like to say.

"you don't have to agree" and "life isn't fair" are not excuses for this, please come up with valid arguments. If the other person shouts the "N" word randomly without any warning should the casters get banned because of that? Don't be stupid. You can't control everything.

[Calenzo]

You said yourself that your job is "literally in politics", if that is so, you should know that political message is a political message no matter which way you spin it. But you still would be outraged, wouldn't you?

The difference is one message supporting hate and inciting violence such as "screw Hong Kong" and the other message is supporting a people who collectively want freedom. You can try to blur the line if you want, but there is a clear difference. Blurring the line between right and wrong and trying to paint people in a negative light when they're anything but is a common tactic with you people after all.

Just stop.

[KronoFett]

Yeah you right my bad I'm just bored at work

- - - Updated - - -



I never made an excuse for anything. You aren't really good at this reading thing it seems. The casters just put their heads down and laughed while the guy put on the mask and started talking politics. What did they do to try and regain control of the situation in that moment? Nothing. And I daresay that had a large part of the reason why they were fired/suspended.

You used it as an excuse before "edited post"...whatever I'm done I said my opinion. I only came here to see blizzdrones being Blizzdrones. I rarely come here anymore because of the blind fanboyism the community has for Blizzard. I saw Drones defend worse than this.

[dekal]

The community's reaction to this is deeply concerning to me, and i think it should be to you as well.

Let me start out by saying that I do support the people of HK in their plight. I also support Blizzard's desire to keep tournaments a neutral grounds for all players and free of politics. I even applaud Blitzchung's bravery for speaking out knowing full well that there would be repercussions for his actions. The only thing i did not agree with was how heavy handed the penalties were, but I am glad they softened their tone, even if it wasn't as much as i would have personally thought fair.

My concern in this case stems from some members of the community's desire to forcefully politicize scenes that desire to remain neutral. Imagine chants and rallies sprouting up at places like Gamescon, Comic Con, etc. Could you imagine what would happen if someone spouted crap you did not believe in when winning? Or worse, these places turning violent due to clashes of two oppositions?

While it might not be heroic or admirable, I really think that if someone wishes to remain neutral, that wish should be respected. And not for people to start finding ways to harm them.

[Aeula]

Blizzard’s social credit score just took a hit in china. But not a big one, we know where their loyalties lie.

[KronoFett]

Imagine "freedom" of a country is political...

You guys are aware they took down several Mei merchandise off the store right? China is moving to ban Mei because her face is all over the Hong Kong Protest. You can't even buy the new Mei figure today anymore, so ahead and look. Nothing to do with China right? Mei is going to be the next Winnie the Pooh.

https://gear.blizzard.com/us/overwatch-mei-statue

NO LONGER THERE, AHAHAHAHAHA

NOTHING TO DO WITH CHINA GUYS!

[UndedoKoleda]

The difference is one message supporting hate and inciting violence such as "screw Hong Kong" and the other message is supporting a people who collectively want freedom. You can try to blur the line if you want, but there is a clear difference. Blurring the line between right and wrong and trying to paint people in a negative light when they're anything but is a common tactic with you people after all.

Just stop.

Blizzard is a business, and as such their goal is not to spread propaganda, one way or the other, but to earn money. Capitalism and all that...

My point is, they were trying to stay neutral(by not allowing political message during one of their events), but by doing so, got on the wrong side of a huge part of their customers FOR POLITICAL REASONS. See where I'm going with this? People are mad, because they mistook Blizzard's actions for BEING POLITICAL while they were actually trying to do the OPPOSITE.

[Jshadowhunter]

What a load of BS.

[Lilija]

Coz there is nothing to apologize for.

Actually there is.

Does Blizzard has the right to stay apolitical and penalize people for bringing politics into their official broadcasts? Yes
But how they are doing it matters because their responce was not apolitical. Especially in the light of how they allow LGBT and other left wing issues to be brought into attention in the West. If they want to be apolitical it needs to include all topics. You do not pick and choose.
Don't get me wrong. I understand that this is a difficult mess for companies that have business in China but then again it's their choise to do so and they need to deal with the consequences. China is an authoritarian regime and we cannot let them terrorize the rest of the world. If we let them do that in small things nothing will stop them to try with bigger things. Sure, China is a huge market but they cannot just do as they please with Western companies. Boycotts hardly every work. But pointing out when you don't like how they are dealing with politics is something that people should do.

[Calenzo]

The community's reaction to this is deeply concerning to me, and i think it should be to you as well.

Let me start out by saying that I do support the people of HK in their plight. I also support Blizzard's desire to keep tournaments a neutral grounds for all players and free of politics. I even applaud Blitzchung's bravery for speaking out knowing full well that there would be repercussions for his actions. The only thing i did not agree with was how heavy handed the penalties were, but I am glad they softened their tone, even if it wasn't as much as i would have personally thought fair.

My concern in this case stems from some members of the community's desire to forcefully politicize scenes that desire to remain neutral. Imagine chants and rallies sprouting up at places like Gamescon, Comic Con, etc. Could you imagine what would happen if someone spouted crap you did not believe in when winning? Or worse, these places turning violent due to clashes of two oppositions?

While it might not be heroic or admirable, I really think that if someone wishes to remain neutral, that wish should be respected. And not for people to start finding ways to harm them.

The issue is they were anything but neutral. They are trying to act neutral now, but vowing to "defend the pride and dignity of China at all cost" is about as far from neutral as you can get. Banning the guy for a year and taking back the prize money as well, for something as basic as saying they support Hong Kong. I can understand a reprimand but being banned a whole year is beyond absurd, even 6 months is ridiculous. I realize they said they're giving him his prize money back, but that's only a MASSIVE outcry on various sources of media. Neutral? No. They took a stance, and that stance is a problem for myself and many others and that's what this is about.

[prwraith]

Nice nonapology, fuck off blizz

[Justpassing]

You know you guys could just fly to HK and beat up some cops instead of armchairing a revolution.

[ArkantosChampion]

The only thing that was not fair, its the 12-month ban for HS pro player and the fact that they fired the casters (WHAY..WHAYY CASTERS)

[Lilija]

Apologize for what, upholding the rules? He can't talk about Hong Kong, the next American who wins can't talk about the Klan, The next German who wins can't talk about Nazis, etc. What good is having rules if you keep making exceptions?

But an American team can talk about Honk Kong? Or other people in the West can do their LGBT activism? This is called hypocrisy. It is an obvious lie that it has nothing to do with China. If they want to be apolitical (which they should be) it has to be done everywhere on equal terms.