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

[THEORACLE64]

You are mentally challenged to actually write regardless of the subject matter

Imagine actually being this dense. Yes, regardless of the subject matter. There are clearly rules which don't allow discussion of anything other than the tournament, as Blizzard states, so seeing as this rule was broken he was punished. But like I said, people would rather think Blizzard is lying because that'd edgy right.

[Milfshaked]

You are mentally challenged if you don't understand that rules are rules.

As a lawyer, I dont think anyone in their right mind would say that any actual rule was broken. Blizzard didnt have a rule in place. "If you do anything we dont like we can do whatever we want" is not a real rule, it is simply legal justification to do whatever you want. You can contrast this with Riot game that made a very clear rule for this weekends tournament.

[Lilija]

Thought experiment. Some dude bro wins. Puts on a MAGA hat and says, "Make America Great Again! Build the wall!" Would you approve of it and not make a post condemning it?

Regardless of how anybody feels, the quoted statement, though a strongly political, one, is not an illegal one; it is a valid use of free speech that hurts nothing but the feelings of others.

My point is that they are more interested in preventing precedent . With that said, it is also likely that they don't want to get on the bad side of China. I hate how people are focusing on a single aspect without fully analysing this situation. Not everyone can be an analyst, i guess.

What about people in the West already doing the same thing and there is no reaction from Blizzard at all? If you want to be an analist you should make sure you actually have all the data.

[THEORACLE64]

As a lawyer, I dont think anyone in their right mind would say that any actual rule was broken. Blizzard didnt have a rule in place. "If you do anything we dont like we can do whatever we want" is not a real rule, it is simply legal justification to do whatever you want. You can contrast this with Riot game that made a very clear rule for this weekends tournament.

As a lawyer, you would know that Blizzard will have signed contracts with them and will have ToS in place. Part of those rules will be part of those ToS, thus any breaking of said ToS results in punishment. It's the same as being punished by an employer for breaking company rules - they're allowed to set them as long as they remain within the law. Are you sure you're a lawyer and not just a first year uni student or something.

[Dioporco]

You are mentally challenged if you don't understand that rules are rules.

You are clearly retarded in the brain to write it without having actually read the Blizzard "rule" they are trying to pushing.

2019 HEARTHSTONE® GRANDMASTERS OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES v1.4 p.12, Section 6.1 (o)

Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the player’s prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzard’s Website Terms.

Offends who? A totalitarian regime? Cry me a river.

[Runstarr]

This should've been a lifetime ban for that guy, i don't care about your politics religion or other stuff while i watch some games. Go wild on your twitter or your own stream if you want, not during a tournament.

[ConstantinetheGreat]

So, an honest question to everyone who is buthurt here: He broke the rules he agreed to. Blizzard punished him for it. The specific issue he broke the rules for. to protest against china vs HK are irrelevant.

So my question: If this EXACT situation had been repeated, except it was an American who hijacked the broadcast to protest against Trump, and received exactly the same punishment, would anyone here even have batted an eyelash?

This issue is about the the rules he broke for which he was punished. It is NOT about WHY he broke the rules, or WHAT he broke the rules for.

If the exact same guy had protested President Trump in the same way on the same broadcast Blizzard probably would have held a parade for him.

That being said, he knowingly broke the rules. Blizzard has the right to punish him or not punish him as they see fit. Blizzard’s customers have the right to disassociate themselves with the company because they don’t share their values. Free markets are a great thing.

[Dioporco]

This should've been a lifetime ban for that guy, i don't care about your politics religion or other stuff while i watch some games. Go wild on your twitter or your own stream if you want, not during a tournament.

HE would have been banned even in that case, they forced a OW Coach to remove a pro HK twitter this week, dont be naive.

[Terongor]

For that matter, Metzen went on record with several anti-Trump statements both before and after he was at Blizz. Never heard a peep out of the management on that one ;-)

- - - Updated - - -



There are hundreds of things you can do. Donate. Organize. Send relief aid in the form of food or building materials. Raise awareness.

It's not that you CAN'T do anything. It's that you're too lazy and disconnected to bother. If it's not happening to you, you don't give a shit. And while I certainly can't MAKE you give a shit...consider that someday you may be the one who needs help, and that the person in a position to give it may refuse because they're just as callous as you're being now.

Also, I would love to hear what you're doing about the hate and bloodshed occuring on your own soil (wherever that might be).

He did that in his freetime not on blizzard official stream nor on the company time which is different here. If he did anti-trump stuff blizzard stream or on blizzcon he should have being fired but he didn't as such he did that on his private time meaning the statements and actions from that time isn't blizzard responsibility.

as a matter of fact i donate every month so can I people like your bullshit and last month i donated towards hong kong and blizzard basis here is that they aren't taking sides on this and if people in their official stream start saying their political views like their employees they can be taken as official blizzard opinions and competitors signed a contract with blizz so same rules apply to them too.

[Runstarr]

HE would have been banned even in that case, they forced a OW Coach to remove a pro HK twitter this week, dont be naive.

That would've been a whole another story if it happened that way.

[Orby]

They didnt try though, and they know that aswell. You can easily see this by the Friday evening release of the statement. If they actually wanted to try to apoligise, they would have done so on monday, or in an extreme case, very early friday morning. It is simply business 101.

This is a complete non-apology. They blatantly lie and hope that their consumer are so dumb that they buy the lie. It is a desperate attempt at damage control and nothing else.

The 'at least the tried' was sarcasm dude. I am well aware...

[Delekii]

You are mentally challenged if you don't understand that rules are rules.

Context matters. It always will, unavoidably.

Situation 1: a half blind grandma crosses the road, not realising there is a crossing 10 feet to the left.
Situation 2: a cocky 20 year old shithead looks at the crossing, looks at the cops, looks at the crossing, smirks, and crosses where he is.

Both parties have "broken the rules" in the same exact way, despite the context being entirely different. The outcomes wouldnt, and SHOULDN'T be same, because we expect police to make judgment calls in such cases. If the cop issued the first lady a fine, you'd wonder why the hell we pay them, despite the fact he was just following the law.

The same is true here. Nobody is saying they didn't break the rules. The punishment is not commensurate with the crime, if any was called for at all. The initial action taken, and the wording supportingit, showed clear motive that does not support the information now being given. The punishment as it stands is a clear message to China; "please don't spank us, see, we're for you!". The single defining motivation, which was decidedly absent from Brack's letter, is money.

I dont begrudge companies their need to make money. Don't pretend you'retrying to invoke world peace instead when you take actions to get there.

[vian]

To all the nay-sayers after the ActiBlizzard merge, fuck you.

[Lilija]

This comment makes literally no sense. You should of paused and properly formed your opinion before you spilled spaghetti in front of thousands. Hopefully, based on context, you can understand why this does not make any sense. But just in case: Show me a single stream from any Blizzard sanctioned event, where a top player put on a MAGA hat and said, "MAke America Great Again! Build the Wall!" There is not. Thus, this is why your comment made no sense.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...1#post51703871

That is incorrect. Part of the role of an analyst is to form a valid analysis of an event, and point to likely possibilities, based on the data they have, not based on imaginary data they -could- have.

Analizing incomplete data set seems pretty pointless. Data without context mean nothing.

[Kumorii]

They didnt try though, and they know that aswell. You can easily see this by the Friday evening release of the statement. If they actually wanted to try to apoligise, they would have done so on monday, or in an extreme case, very early friday morning. It is simply business 101.

This is a complete non-apology. They blatantly lie and hope that their consumer are so dumb that they buy the lie. It is a desperate attempt at damage control and nothing else.

I mean, yeah... there wasn't any apology in it, so ofc it wasn't. It was them explaining their view and updating on how they dealt with the player who now receive his prize money and reduction of a ban.

[Stacie]

They just keep on making it worse for themselves. :/ I can totally get from a business perspective and even games tournament why they would want political views / protests etc etc just not part of it but man they handled this bad.

[Kynario]

Context matters. It always will, unavoidably.

Situation 1: a half blind grandma crosses the road, not realizing there is a crossing 10 feet to the left.
Situation 2: a cocky 20 year old shithead looks at the crossing, looks at the cops, looks at the crossing, smirks, and crosses where he is.

Both parties have "broken the rules" in the same exact way, despite the context being entirely different. The outcomes wouldn't, and SHOULDN'T be same, because we expect police to make judgment calls in such cases. If the cop issued the first lady a fine, you'd wonder why the hell we pay them, despite the fact he was just following the law.

The same is true here. Nobody is saying they didn't break the rules. The punishment is not commensurate with the crime, if any was called for at all. The initial action taken, and the wording supporting it, showed clear motive that does not support the information now being given. The punishment as it stands is a clear message to China; "please don't spank us, see, we're for you!". The single defining motivation, which was decidedly absent from Brack's letter, is money.

I don't begrudge companies their need to make money. Don't pretend you'retrying to invoke world peace instead when you take actions to get there.

Very well said. I hope more people will read this.

[Terongor]

There is nothing divisive about human rights, Brack.

Alot of people in china support actions in hong kong and some other people like actor of mulan in disneys new live action Mulan who btw lives in USA, if not all people think the same its divisive.

though I don't support what happens in hong kong though if you are using any products which was made in china and don't give to charity to support Hong Kong you are supporting China.

[Lilija]

I doubt it.

I would have given you one. But seeing your attitude I really don't feel like doing that.

The more i read posts here, the more i continue to believe that most opinions are invalid ones not based on reality, but conjecture by individuals who really, and truly believe that they have omniscience.

Whatever you think about the majority of users of this forum, applying that to each and every user will not lead you far and will put yourself in the bad light making people unwilling to treat you seriously or give you any courtesy. You will get the same treatment you give people.

[Kumorii]

They just keep on making it worse for themselves. :/ I can totally get from a business perspective and even games tournament why they would want political views / protests etc etc just not part of it but man they handled this bad.

What would be the right way to handle? Genuinely curious. Either you let it slide, which means that political views have to fly from anyone regardless of what. Or they say, stop and reinforce their rules of political statements. Both of them turn into a shitshow. First option will destroy the events in the long run due to shifting focus. 2nd option gives a short term backlash but keeps the integrity of the gaming events.

No matter what you do you lose when you deal with mobs.