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

[Corroc]

Wouldn't be surprising.

https://twitter.com/SGBluebell/statu...17588147052544

I love how that dude says that he doesn't want to start conspiracy but the whole twitter post is filled with him doing nothing else. Basically the analysis of that text only says one thing. Barack is really bad at writing english. If the statements were really written by someone else then the chances of it having mistakes would be smaller because it would have been proofread more than once.

[Mehrunes]

The crowd with a raging hate boner for the company won't see reason.

How very surprising. Meanwhile, you all use Google products in some way or another. Hypocrisy is thy name.
The sooner the virtue signalists move on to their next target, the better. Blizzcon should be about the games, not politics.

Do you have anything other than whataboutism to say in defense of Blizzard, the god among companies? Ah, right, I forgot, you totally would never do that.

So, what's this reason the crowd is unable to see here, pray tell? You know, given the fact that at no point did Blizzard even apologize here. Even to the casters. Instead they said that the punishment was appropriate. It's just that the new reduced punishment is more appropriate.

And tried to pretend it had nothing to do with China, even though their Chinese commentary is publicly available and instead tried to pretend it was all about them rules despite the fact that the rule in question is completely discretionary and as such they deliberately made the choice to consider that comment to be a violation. While at the same time made no such a decision in regards to the same comments from western players in the college league, because consistency is apparently Blizzard's Achilles' heel no matter the topic.

[Darkeon]

This trainwreck is amusing to watch.

Both the zeolots defenders throwing themselves in front of the poor company and Blizzard itself. Hilarious in all accounts!

Keep going strong, Hong Kong! Eagerly awaiting the next Tweet showing some cyberpunk shit you guys come up with to fight that autoritanian regime that a selected few on this forum seem to love!

[schwarzkopf]

This trainwreck is amusing to watch.

Indeed - so much irrational and misdirected hate towards Blizzard who did nothing wrong, and bugger all support in the protests against China that the original protester stuck is neck out for.

Social media anger just goes off the rails so easily as rationality is abandoned.

[Popastique]

"Location: Ukraine"

Were you bought out by Putin or China?

Nope. That is one of the reasons i agree with Blizzard actually. Getting bombarded with political talk during my everyday life. So when i play any games or tune in to watch gaming streams - want no political bs there. Especially from a couch warrior who plays HS and decided to bring it there instead of doing it using some social media platform instead.

[anon5123]

This. This right here, kids, is what real propaganda looks like.

"anyone who disagrees with me is propaganda"

Yikes.

[Powerogue]

"The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision."

Even so, weasel words, they were DEFINITELY a factor in how you worded your chinese response over the english one. Come on now.

At the end of the day I'm glad they thought over their actions, made a statement, and determined on what they thought would be a fair compromise. That's all we can expect from them as a company who operates in China and hopes to maintain that, to be honest.

[cuafpr]

While it is very nice of you to think that, considering how Blizzard's official Weibo account apologized saying they "will always respect and defend the pride of our country", I can't see that happening.

I'd expect nothing else of their China division.. heck whoever posted was probably told or knew that if they didn't they would lose social credit or worse. Would you lose your job to protect what some kid said? Or have worse done than losing your job?

[Miross]

This trainwreck is amusing to watch.

Both the zeolots defenders throwing themselves in front of the poor company and Blizzard itself. Hilarious in all accounts!

Keep going strong, Hong Kong! Eagerly awaiting the next Tweet showing some cyberpunk shit you guys come up with to fight that autoritanian regime that a selected few on this forum seem to love!

IKR , just look at their excuses

"but he broke the rules ur dur" - oh you mean the one that you are not suppose to get political? that is constantly broke by blizzard themselves? ah you mean that one?

also 12 month ban + strip way from the money prize + 2 people fired for speaking 7 words? people defending blizzard right now.. don't you think that was a little overkill?

and what do they think about blizz note for the chinese audience? do you guys also support it ?

[Ellger]

Ofcourse. But that is a rather extreme example. Should blizzard freely host people talking pro and against abortions ? gunlaws, gay marriege. Religion, brexit etc etc ? where do they draw the line ? Allowing politics of any kind and taking it upon themselves allow some and censor others basically means blizzard share those views. There will always be drama and thats why they along with a bunch of others, not only in gaming, but in sports and other events. Simply ban all politics. Even if its a good cause like it was in this case.

Wait you're not allowed to use reason and logic, you're cheating, gotta follow the outroararararararar

and what do they think about blizz note for the chinese audience? do you guys also support it ?

You do realise that was posted by Blizzard Taiwan, the same one that operates under chinese law... right ??

Do you seriously think they should have posted : "hah yeah freedom for HK bros, fuck chinaaaa" ? Jesus, grow up.

[Mehrunes]

You do realise that was posted by Blizzard Taiwan, the same one that operates under chinese law... right ??

Do you seriously think they should have posted : "hah yeah freedom for HK bros, fuck chinaaaa" ? Jesus, grow up.

Those two are totes the only two options available.

[Ellger]

Those two are totes the only two options available.

Well actually, there's only 1 option available, which is the fucking point.

This isn't even about Blizzard being some awesome, saint, #1 company, because they obviously aren't, they suck as much as the next one but people are just overblowing this shit way to hard.

[Kreo]

Blizzard did the right thing: share your political views on other platform. If you don't agree with their rules, don't participate, simple.

As for protests...
Bunch of retards have no clue what those "peace" protests are US screwing with China, like they did in MANY other countries. Fuel the opposition, unleash media and fools who love to see themselves righteous will feed your cause in the internet. Maybe you gaming nerds have no clue what exactly is going on outside of your comfort zone, world slowly but steadily moving towards US-China war, and this is not 20th century anymore, people use different tools, not just guns and ships. Destroy your enemy from internal instability from within, use young people, exploit many hot issues China have and you have yourself weak opponent, who does not challenge your supremacy.
This is not bad or good, just is. Only gullible morons think this protest is about democracy.
Ask how life turned out for those retards in the Middle East, after their color revolutions. They don't show it in the news anymore.

[Miross]

Wait you're not allowed to use reason and logic, you're cheating, gotta follow the outroararararararar



You do realise that was posted by Blizzard Taiwan, the same one that operates under chinese law... right ??

Do you seriously think they should have posted : "hah yeah freedom for HK bros, fuck chinaaaa" ? Jesus, grow up.

i think you should use at least 3% of your brain, because i didn't say or imply that...

the right thing to do, would be something like "we blizzard are a company and as such we are neutral in political issues , the political views of our players are their own and they do not speak in behalf of the company" and give him a warning

there easy peacy everybody in the west happy , was it that hard?


of course blizz shouldn't say HUHU HK freedom (duh) , but at the same time we have a HUGE fucking problem when a US based company say "We will defend the pride and dignity of a foreign country" , specially one with dictatorial tentencies

[Al Gorefiend]

I hear China wants Hong Kong to force Chinese criminals to be extradited to face the punishment for their crimes.

Hong Kong is leading the world in human sex trafficking and child pornography.

Standing with Hong Kong sounds like the bad thing to do. Yet the Internet rains hell on anyone who supports China.

What the hell is going on anymore

[GenericDragon]

i think you should you at least 3% at your brain, i didn't said or implied that...

the right thing to do, would be something like "we blizzard are a company and as such are neutral in political issues , the political views of the players are their own and they do not speak in behalf of the company" and give him a warning

there easy peacy everybody in the west happy , was it that hard?


blizz should not say HUHU HK freedom (duh) , but at the same time we have a HUGE fucking problem when a US based company say "We will defend the pride and dignity of a foreign country" , specially one with dictatorial tentencies

Weibo is known to edit posts to be "pro-China", so there's a very good possibility that it was edited. Doesn't explain why Brack did not bring it up in the US post, though, unless the US post wasn't actually written by English native speakers. That also wouldn't surprise me, given the way it was formatted.

[Miross]

Weibo is known to edit posts to be "pro-China", so there's a very good possibility that it was edited. Doesn't explain why Brack did not bring it up in the US post, though, unless the US post wasn't actually written by English native speakers. That also wouldn't surprise me, given the way it was formatted.

yeap , it's really amazes me how blizzard can so bad at PR , like COME ON , even EA do better than that

[Ellger]

i think you should you at least 3% at your brain, i didn't said or implied that...

the right thing to do, would be something like "we blizzard are a company and as such are neutral in political issues , the political views of the players are their own and they do not speak in behalf of the company" and give him a warning

there easy peacy everybody in the west happy , was it that hard?


blizz should not say HUHU HK freedom (duh) , but at the same time we have a HUGE fucking problem when a US based company say "We will defend the pride and dignity of a foreign country" , specially one with dictatorial tentencies

See what you said is what blizzard have actually said in their official reponse, that political talks and views have no place on broadcasts and that those are against the rules and will be punished, regardless of the stance or view you take, simply put, politics = no.


The other response comes from Blizzard Taiwan(China), which if it did not condemn the protest would be in direct violation of chinese law, law which they operate under. Which is why it talks about defending the pride of it's own country, because it comes from their chinese branch. You seem to be under impression J. Allen Brack or what me and you know as Blizzard posted that reply, that's not what happened.

Now if you were a company in china, operating under chinese law, what would you have done ?

[froschhure]

Blimey, you're easily triggered aren't you. Think it's past your bedtime kiddo.

Gambit5555 and Theoracle64 are one and the same person, please remove this kinda chinese bot scum from here. thank you

[Choloz]

See what you said is what blizzard have actually said in their official reponse, that political talks and views have no place on broadcasts and that those are against the rules and will be punished, regardless of the stance or view you take, simply put, politics = no.


The other response comes from Blizzard Taiwan(China), which if it did not condemn the protest would be in direct violation of chinese law, law which they operate under. Which is why it talks about defending the pride of it's own country, because it comes from their chinese branch.

pretty much this. if blizzard allows for political talk, then they're opening the flood gates. there's a million reasons why it can't be allowed. freedom of speech has a time and place, and a blizzard sponsored tournament isn't appropriate. not only are they in business with these countries, but it puts incredible pressure on the players if there's a political forum that they can (by nature, have) to take part in. every chinese player will be pressured to take a stance, and before you know it it's foxnews vs cnn in the post-game chats.. instead of hearthstone talk.

we can all empathize with the situation while also being rational/logical about the forums that we express our concern in. there is way too much redtape, and way too many victims of circumstance when you force political atmosphere on a group of people who haven't signed up for it.