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

[tmamass]

Seriously? What do you think?

Seriously? Are you that ignorant to think China will just say "ok ppl you won you can have hong kong for yourself"? if you think that you should see some professional help.

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What a fucking pussy-company tbh. Incomings are prio over humans well being.

THAT is your argument? why arent you protesting Apple? people working for apple in china have committed suicide and yet there is no change. Where is your outrage about that?

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That's cuz Blizzard came out as the biggest massive hypocrite in the room.

aka the same as the NBA did? wheres your random yt videos about that?

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As someone who is not happy with blizzard shilling for China, I’m going to be pissed if protesters inconvenience me at BlizzCon.

dont worry there will be zero protest inside Blizzcon.

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Blizzard in no way needs China to stay profitable nor to stay in business.

someone failed Economics 1on1....

[FelPlague]

Blizzard in no way needs China to stay profitable nor to stay in business.

Yet there is alot of people, it's a huge market, there is more gamers there then in America. And it's only growing. What is so wrong with wanting to make sure people can play your game?

[Big Thanks]

Yet there is alot of people, it's a huge market, there is more gamers there then in America. And it's only growing. What is so wrong with wanting to make sure people can play your game?

Its morally gray...if even is gray at all.
Doing business with people against freedom of speech and therefore against human rights.

What will happen in 2047 when the contract with China expires?
Will Hong Kong lose all freedom?

I cant help feeling sorry for Hong Kong.
China has condemned the Hong Kong protests as "behaviour that is close to terrorism" when they are only trying to have basic human rights.

[rrayy]

someone failed Economics 1on1....

Yeah, that was you. China is in no way required to make a profit or money. Blizzard can very easily be a profitable company without doing business with China. It won't be as lucrative, but it can be done. Blizzard makes and develops it's game here. It is no way reliant on anyone in China to make the game. So, they don't have to rely on China to be profitable either. A lot different obviously if your goods are made there, but Blizzard's good aren't made there.

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Yet there is alot of people, it's a huge market, there is more gamers there then in America. And it's only growing. What is so wrong with wanting to make sure people can play your game?

If you have to do business with a government that tries to bully you on what you can say and not say, and has has the grotesque human rights violations that said country has, it is a tremendous wrong. The only way you affect change is if people stop doing business with them. I don't care how many people they have. That doesn't entitle them to our business. Blizzard is morally bankrupt and it starts with J Allen Brack.

[Kathranis]

Yeah, that was you. China is in no way required to make a profit or money. Blizzard can very easily be a profitable company without doing business with China. It won't be as lucrative, but it can be done. Blizzard makes and develops it's game here. It is no way reliant on anyone in China to make the game. So, they don't have to rely on China to be profitable either. A lot different obviously if your goods are made there, but Blizzard's good aren't made there.

At the same time there are also a lot of people in China who play and enjoy Blizzard games, so should they be denied the opportunity to play these games because Westerners want Blizzard to make a political statement against their government?

If you are uncomfortable with playing Blizzard's games, or want to criticize them, or unsubscribe to stick it to them, fine. But at the end of the day these are video games, and boycotting a form of entertainment is a pretty impotent way to show support for people who are actively suffering human rights abuses. I'm sure they would rather you donate $15 to Amnesty International than quit playing a game to put the most miniscule of dents in Blizzard's income. Other than WoW most of their games are borderline F2P anyway.

[rrayy]

At the same time there are also a lot of people in China who play and enjoy Blizzard games, so should they be denied the opportunity to play these games because Westerners want Blizzard to make a political statement against their government?

If you are uncomfortable with playing Blizzard's games, or want to criticize them, or unsubscribe to stick it to them, fine. But at the end of the day these are video games, and boycotting a form of entertainment is a pretty impotent way to show support for people who are actively suffering human rights abuses. I'm sure they would rather you donate $15 to Amnesty International than quit playing a game to put the most miniscule of dents in Blizzard's income. Other than WoW most of their games are borderline F2P anyway.

So? Sucks to be them then. If they have a problem with it, then maybe they should rise up and take care of what cost them the chance. That is the only way it will stop. The whole world is complicit in this.

[Kathranis]

If you have to do business with a government that tries to bully you on what you can say and not say, and has has the grotesque human rights violations that said country has, it is a tremendous wrong. The only way you affect change is if people stop doing business with them. I don't care how many people they have. That doesn't entitle them to our business. Blizzard is morally bankrupt and it starts with J Allen Brack.

You could argue the same about America itself. Obviously not as bad as China, but it's not as if we don't have our own share of issues. And again Blizzard is absolutely not unique in this regard, the only thing unique is that they're under the spotlight at the moment. It's nearly impossible to play video games at all without being somehow complicit. Even if you aren't playing games funded by Tencent or Netease or Gaea, or published by games who license their games to them in China, then you are probably using a device manufactured in China, or made with parts sourced in China.

If you just turn around and give your money to some other publisher that is just as complicit, you aren't really helping anyone.

[rhorle]

Why are you still lying? Playing a companies games has nothing to do with sharing newsworthy media.

If it was newsworthy why is it only from click bait outrage Youtube channels? Nothing I said is a lie either or is this another one of your made up attacks while calling others broken?

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What exactly am i supposed to do to not be an Hypocrite in this situation?

I am not entirely sure. Personally I am of the opinion that a small amount of out rage is fine. But we are not talking about the minor stuff but all the extreme out rage. Its not like Blizzard even came out on the side of China here. They just enforced a rule. A rule that may be overly harsh but existed with out controversy for a while. They have clearly learned with their statement.

But like I said reasonable responses are not what are making some hypocrites.

[Yuuki Asuna]

At the same time there are also a lot of people in China who play and enjoy Blizzard games, so should they be denied the opportunity to play these games because Westerners want Blizzard to make a political statement against their government?

If you are uncomfortable with playing Blizzard's games, or want to criticize them, or unsubscribe to stick it to them, fine. But at the end of the day these are video games, and boycotting a form of entertainment is a pretty impotent way to show support for people who are actively suffering human rights abuses. I'm sure they would rather you donate $15 to Amnesty International than quit playing a game to put the most miniscule of dents in Blizzard's income. Other than WoW most of their games are borderline F2P anyway.

Thank you for bringing up this point. Many people do forget that there's millions of Chinese players that do play Blizzard games. Many of them I'm sure that only play WoW, OW, Hearthstone, etc. to get away from their communist bs that goes on a day to day basis. I've heard people say, they can just play another game. Well if you've put hundreds or thousands of hours into WoW and it's a big part of your life that helps you get away from the real world, that would definitely hurt.

And yes, I feel bad for Hong Kong but not everyone in China is bad like some of the higher ups. I can imagine the outrage they would have and I can imagine the outrage in NA for instance if let's say Square Enix decided one day to stay in Japan.

Yes Blizzard is a Western company, but that doesn't make it right to not expand across the world. Blizzard's deal with China is a little iffy and no one knows the full context on their business deal there. I feel like a lot of what's coming out is mistranslations of what was said or rumors piled on already known facts.

[rhorle]

That makes you a person playing wow that supports human rights. That is all. You might even understand why Blizzard did what it did, but find it sad, and still support human rights. It's not a hard concept.

You can also show support for human rights with out crucifying Blizzard over a decision that had nothing to do with human rights. This is the difference between over the top outrage and reasonable out rage.

[rrayy]

You could argue the same about America itself. Obviously not as bad as China, but it's not as if we don't have our own share of issues. And again Blizzard is absolutely not unique in this regard, the only thing unique is that they're under the spotlight at the moment. It's nearly impossible to play video games at all without being somehow complicit. Even if you aren't playing games funded by Tencent or Netease or Gaea, or published by games who license their games to them in China, then you are probably using a device manufactured in China, or made with parts sourced in China.

If you just turn around and give your money to some other publisher that is just as complicit, you aren't really helping anyone.

America does not come close to what China has done. This countries issues are over a difference of opinion, and our government certainly hasn't come close to doing the things to their people that China has done to it's own. You don't see the US bullying other countries into silencing their anti-US protestors do you? Not one time have you seen the US government threaten to cease business with France, England or anyone like them over their anti-US protestors do you? And you certainly don't see people like J Allen Brack and Blizzard in other countries come groveling at the US Government's feet after someone says something anti-US in their country do you? No you don't.

[Kathranis]

So? Sucks to be them then. If they have a problem with it, then maybe they should rise up and take care of what cost them the chance. That is the only way it will stop. The whole world is complicit in this.

Man, are you seriously going to sit in your comfortable chair and pretend like "not playing a video game" is fighting for freedom and then in the same breath say that people halfway across the world should risk life and limb for the cause?

I wasn't really disagreeing with your rhetoric, but that's some bullshit.

This is what I hate about slacktivism. A bunch of people get red in the face and type really hard for a few days, shitpost and photoshop some memes, and in a week move on to the next bit of drama, all the while patting themselves on the back without actually giving up anything of value for a cause.

I respect what Blitzchung did but honestly, most of the people engaging in this debate are really just self-indulgent pricks who want to feel like they're doing something meaningful by doing nothing.

[rhorle]

If you have to do business with a government that tries to bully you on what you can say and not say, and has has the grotesque human rights violations that said country has, it is a tremendous wrong. The only way you affect change is if people stop doing business with them. I don't care how many people they have. That doesn't entitle them to our business. Blizzard is morally bankrupt and it starts with J Allen Brack.

But that didn't suddenly happen with this event? This is where hypocrites come into this outrage. Blizzard has been doing business with China for years. Modifying the game code, models, and marketing to work with in the censorship rules of China. Why are the suddenly morally bankrupt just because they enforced a rule that has nothing to do with human rights?

It didn't start with Mr. Brack (or is it two last names?). It would have started with Mr. Morhaime. Heck it was even Mr. Morhaime that convinced Mr. Kotick to merge with Vivendi because of greater Access to China that Vivendi (and Blizzard) offered. Don't use scape goats.

[rrayy]

You can also show support for human rights with out crucifying Blizzard over a decision that had nothing to do with human rights. This is the difference between over the top outrage and reasonable out rage.

I am crucifying Blizzard over Blizzaqrd making a decision soley because they are afraid to lose business from a serial human rights abuser in China. IF it had been a message of derision towards President Trump, Blizzard wouldn't have done a damn thing.

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But that didn't suddenly happen with this event? This is where hypocrites come into this outrage. Blizzard has been doing business with China for years. Modifying the game code, models, and marketing to work with in the censorship rules of China. Why are the suddenly morally bankrupt just because they enforced a rule that has nothing to do with human rights?

It didn't start with Mr. Brack (or is it two last names?). It would have started with Mr. Morhaime. Heck it was even Mr. Morhaime that convinced Mr. Kotick to merge with Vivendi because of greater Access to China that Vivendi (and Blizzard) offered. Don't use scape goats.

He is morally bankrupt because he accepted the job. They are all morally bankrupt because they choose to do business with a country with heavy human rights abuses. Stop blindly defending them.

[rhorle]

I am crucifying Blizzard over Blizzaqrd making a decision soley because they are afraid to lose business from a serial human rights abuser in China. IF it had been a message of derision towards President Trump, Blizzard wouldn't have done a damn thing.

And yet that rule exists and has nothing to do with protecting China. Where is the proof that the rule was created just for China? Where is your proof that Blizzard would have done a thing if it was about American politics? You don't have proof only feels. So you are crucifying them over something that you feel rather then something you can prove.

You created the problem and are not outraged over it.

[Kathranis]

America does not come close to what China has done. This countries issues are over a difference of opinion, and our government certainly hasn't come close to doing the things to their people that China has done to it's own. You don't see the US bullying other countries into silencing their anti-US protestors do you? Not one time have you seen the US government threaten to cease business with France, England or anyone like them over their anti-US protestors do you? And you certainly don't see people like J Allen Brack and Blizzard in other countries come groveling at the US Government's feet after someone says something anti-US in their country do you? No you don't.

There is plenty of fucked up shit America does, both domestically and abroad, and a lot of it is worse than censoring free speech. Look at the pharmaceutical industry. Look at the military industrial complex. Our prison system. Look at the conflict we instigate around the world. The arms we sell. The countless backdoor dealing between politicians and foreign agents. Look at what the Trump administration is doing right now. I'm barely scratching the surface.

Our own government and politicians engage in the same kind of kowtowing to foreign governments all the time.

I don't have any problem with you being outraged. You should be. There is a lot of shit to be outraged. Honestly I'd say this is pretty low on the totem pole, but it's a fine cause.

But if you really care, really do something. Talk is talk. In five months are you still going to be talking about this, or will you have moved on to some other outrage or distraction? If you're not really committed to this cause, then shut up and donate some time or money to actually help people out while it's still on your mind. That's what I say.

[rhorle]

He is morally bankrupt because he accepted the job. They are all morally bankrupt because they choose to do business with a country with heavy human rights abuses. Stop blindly defending them.

So are not all players of Blizzard games morally bankrupt for supporting the company? I am not blindly defending them but I am also not blindly hating them. You have over 2,000 posts in general discussions. That means you are just as morally bankrupt any employee of Blizzard because you've supported them over the years. So why haven't you whined about yourself? This is prime example of a hypocrite in this case.

[Big Thanks]

Man, are you seriously going to sit in your comfortable chair and pretend like "not playing a video game" is fighting for freedom and then in the same breath say that people halfway across the world should risk life and limb for the cause?

I wasn't really disagreeing with your rhetoric, but that's some bullshit.

This is what I hate about slacktivism. A bunch of people get red in the face and type really hard for a few days, shitpost and photoshop some memes, and in a week move on to the next bit of drama, all the while patting themselves on the back without actually giving up anything of value for a cause.

I respect what Blitzchung did but honestly, most of the people engaging in this debate are really just self-indulgent pricks who want to feel like they're doing something meaningful by doing nothing.

Hypothetically, if removing Blizzard games from mainland China would mean the freedom of Hong Kong...would you do it?

I would do it if i had the power.
One side lost a videogame
Other side got freedom.

I would push the button.

[rrayy]

Man, are you seriously going to sit in your comfortable chair and pretend like "not playing a video game" is fighting for freedom and then in the same breath say that people halfway across the world should risk life and limb for the cause?

Because being abused and killed by your own governemt is so much better, right? But I guess you don;'t care because it isn't you. And don't kid yourself. Blizzard only levied the punishment because they were in fear of losing business. IF it had been said about anti-US protestors, they wouldn't have done a damn thing. The decision was only about the bottom line. Period.

[Kathranis]

Hypothetically, if removing Blizzard games from mainland China would mean the freedom of Hong Kong...would you do it?

If I could solve the world's problems by not playing a video game believe me I'd stop playing video games. Like I said, rather than talking in circles and arguing on the internet, people in Hong Kong would be better served by people focusing their outrage into something productive. But not many people are willing to give up their comfort or their money to make a difference. It's easier to talk.