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

[Parhelion]

China has sovereignity over Hong Kong.
Blizzard has business interests in China.
End of story.

The demonstrators are now asking for nothing less than changing government form or outright independence.
Neither is going to happen.
Bargaining for something impossible to force attaining something possible sometimes works. I don't think it will in this case.

Young people can see the thrill, but don't understand the consequences. Not just of what they are doing, but what they are asking for.
Communism, democracy, capitalism, state-owned industries, sources of sovereignity - these things are not as simple as people want them to be and sure as hell come each with their own package of good things and bad things.
It's not that I'm advocating "doing nothing", just saying that what they are doing is just really, really stupid.

I understand the need for using your personal fame/exposure to promote a cause you believe in.
But just like actors don't go and insert their political opinions into movie interviews or directly into scripts (they use their own media channels for that), the same rules apply to gamers as well.

In short, a dumb move, followed by a swift reprisal, which was expected.
Blizzard was actually really lenient, beacuse this is a direct attack on their interests.
People involved are lucky in that gamers are not taken too seriously.

[Cthulhu fhtagn]

Netease doesn't own part of acti-blizz, that's Tencent, Netease is their distribution and communication "filter" to the chinese population. Netease HAD to post that or they would be in big shit with the Chinese gov't.

All outside companies require a Chinese "filter" to do business in china.

Yeah my bad, i mixed the two up. Netease however is developing the diablo immortal together with blizzard and i feel like they are in a symbiotic relationship too. The thing is that they used blizzard's name to make that message and they do it with blizzard's consent. I think the biggest problem people have with the message is that blizzard hasn't even acknowledged it, making it seem like they are pandering to both west and east in this case, instead of having an actual stance on the thing.

On top of that the college players doing the same thing got no punishment on a blizzard hosted tournament. The whole thing looks like the Taiwan or Chinese team of blizzard reacted fast in fear of repercussions, and the western offices of blizzard really don't want to get involved, even if it takes down 2 casters and a player.

[DSRilk]

Well, yes? Doesn't every person and every company have the right to choose to participate or to be neutral in any given issue? Because they support LGBTQ they are obliged to take a political stance in every political/social issue and can never be neutral?

I believe his point was one of equivalence. Pro-LGBT rights and support for HK are both political human rights issues, and I believe he's saying that the same rules should apply to both. It has nothing to do with what other causes an LGBT person might support. In short, if Blizz treats the two issues differently, then the decision certainly reads to me as being far more about balancing financial losses than about policy (which, BTW, I believe is reasonable for a company - but I'm not keen on them pretending otherwise).

[Nefastus]

"Every voice matters" does not equal "Every voice shall be heard through our official channels".

There is a reason of why blizzard employees protested against it. Its obvious Blizzard would NEVER punish a player if he praised the comunist tyranical regime in a similiar situation.

[Graeham]

j allen brack SHOULD BE FIRED FOR THIS

Unfortunately there's no shortage of people who would slip into his role and continue the status quo even if he were to be fired or step down.

[Terongor]

hmm...when did people wear KKK hooods during a match?

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However, the KKK doesn't make Blizz any money like China does i'm sure. This was purely for their financial stability regarding China. They can say it has nothing to do with their decision all they want, but everyone knows it 100% does. Heaven forbid they lose Chinese business for supporting their *every voice counts* for their motto..T.T

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I'm sure people in mainland China have.

I didn't say anybody wore I'm saying with your arguments it would be okay or wear CCCP uniform or show nazi swastika as they would be equally valid political statements.

So how many of blizzards products Chinese government buys? Its no to alienate Chinese player base as in mainland china there are alot of people who are against free hong kong movement and even in hong kong the free hong kong rioters have beaten up innocent bystanders who are just yelling which opposes their views by letting the statement go unpunished blizzard would be saying people who got assaulted by rioters deserved it as the movements heads don't oppose the assaulting of civilians who are indifferent to them.

[Nefastus]

"Every Voice Counts*

*Not applicable in all regions"

Pretty much this.

This year famous statement in blizzcon will be:

"Don't you have social credits?"

[Wiedzemir]

But thats also from the Weibo account, which is run by Netease not Blizzard, if that post is the only thing your angry over, your actually angry at Blizzard for a post they didnt even make.

Sure you can be upet that they work with chinese company, or that they should have handled it alot better which they should, but what the Weibo account said wasnt from Blizzard.

Well, that's Blizzard's branding and distribution arm in China. The company uses the logos, the names, the games and funnels the money back to the same shareholders. For all intents and purposes, it's Chinese Blizzard.

[monteiro]

I wonder if Allen trully believes someone bought his lies.

[Wiedzemir]

I wonder if Allen trully believes someone bought his lies.

I doubt gamers were the target audience for this message. It's clearly designed for shareholders, to assure them about the stance Blizzard has.

[grexly75]

Well the latest in that an Overwatch event has just been canned, over concerns about protests and what not.. So if that can happen then there could be a possibility that Blizzcon might be next in getting canceled..

[Trumpcat]

No one has the right to hijack Blizzard's platform for contract breaching political statements. It is not Blizzard's job to get involved or provide medium for the Hong Kong crisis. They, like every single other company on the Chinese market are obliged to be in full compliance with its government. Coca-cola wouldn't do it either, nor Samsung, nor Apple, nor anyone, because they are there to do business and not politics. Blizzard are getting pulled into this by people who love to hate them and suddenly paint them as this evil supporter of the communist dictatorship. Blizzard would be seeking to operate on that market regardless of what government is in power and they are not supposed, nor want to be involved in any political movements in China or anywhere else.

[Clozer]

Well the latest in that an Overwatch event has just been canned, over concerns about protests and what not.. So if that can happen then there could be a possibility that Blizzcon might be next in getting canceled..

There is absolutely zero chance for Blizzcon to be canceled due to something like this.

There aren't a lot of people who want to scream some free Hongkong shit for multiple hundred of dollars.

[Wiedzemir]

No one has the right to hijack Blizzard's platform for contract breaching political statements. It is not Blizzard's job to get involved or provide medium for the Hong Kong crisis. They, like every single other company on the Chinese market are obliged to be in full compliance with its government. Coca-cola wouldn't do it either, nor Samsung, nor Apple, nor anyone, because they are there to do business and not politics. Blizzard are getting pulled into this by people who love to hate them and suddenly paint them as this evil supporter of the communist dictatorship. Blizzard would be seeking to operate on that market regardless of what government is in power and they are not supposed, nor want to be involved in any political movements in China or anywhere else.

I'd agree with this if Blizzard wouldn't also actively engage in politics outside of China. You can't have it both ways. You're either a political platform or you're not. Blizzard has chosen the former long ago.

[Relapses]

Funny thing is you're trying to seem better than other people repeatedly yet have a failed streaming account that you still promote here and you brag about predicting "the future" with the most vague statements. Wow, you're super cool kid. I especially love where you don't even understand capitalism since I literally voiced support for capitalism in the reply you quoted. And people are doing more than words, you ignorant tool

Seems someone else is trying to be the keyboard warrior here, eh? Hopefully you can keep up the good fight so your fragile need of peer validation doesn't harm your enjoyment of a video game!

Holy strawmans, Batman.

Can you point out where I said I was "better" than anybody else? Oh, and nice job finding my signature. There's a fucking Rickroll in it and I haven't streamed since WoD so congratulations. I'm not sure how any of that has anything to do with this topic.

[Mardux]

"Every Voice Counts*

*Not applicable in all regions"

*Not applicable in any region

FTFY

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It absolutely is.


Get your own translation if you don't trust mine or reddit's - this is why people are so angry; Blizzard is simultaneously saying "No politics!" while acting as a propaganda organ for the PRC, over a tournament held in the ROC. It would be difficult for them to be any more hypocritical!

It's less about the translation and more about who writes/edits/controls the hearthstone weibo account (hint: it's not blizzard).

[Graeham]

Well the latest in that an Overwatch event has just been canned, over concerns about protests and what not.. So if that can happen then there could be a possibility that Blizzcon might be next in getting canceled..

Blizzcon isn't likely to be cancelled, though it will be a lot more tightly regulated than usual. I expect horror stories involving excessive policing of what is said and done, confiscated property and attendees being barred from entering the premises. They'll also attempt to pull out all the stops to try and win back support through major announcements but it'll probably be done in a very 'clinical' way with minimal input from their fans.

[bloodykiller86]

I believe it has more to do with the fact the bill proposed at the time was a piece of legislation that would allow Hong Kong authorities to detain and extradite citizens into Chinese jurisdiction undermining Hong Kong's autonomy. Especially the worry being that China would abuse this to punish dissenting opinion and mudding the waters of the "one country, two systems". China doesn't exactly act in good faith afterall.

It's more complicated I'm sure, but that's the general idea.

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The guilt of reading constant news of injustice and just shrugging it off as, "well it's the way of the world, someone better than I will take care of it". I'm speaking personally. I understand them enforcing a rule, but I believe their handling of it was terrible. Taking the money back, firing the two casters who didn't have anything to do with the opinions expressed by the Grandmaster and the post from the Chinese Hearthstone Twitter expressing the "honor of China".

I'm not stating I'm morally superior than anyone else or acting holier-than-thou, but I can't in good conscience continue monetarily supporting a company that I feel was already losing quality but now has the added bonus of not representing the principles of the nation it's based in for the sake of money and not offending the feelings of another sovereign nation.

There's definitely nothing wrong with supporting a company you still enjoy. That's totally on you and I say have it dude! If what you care about is the product and it's still being delivered to you at a quality you enjoy, by all means, that's your prerogative and it doesn't reflect anything on your character. But personally speaking, I'm just fed up with doing nothing. I'm not concerned with the perceptions of what the internet is like or what it's doing, circlejerks, bandwagon etc.. I'm just doing what I feel is best for me.

to correct you on the casters, they were 100% complicit in their actions and they all knew what was happening. They basically facilitated it and didn't try and stop it. They all knew that was neither the place or time to use blizzards platform as their own and also knew there would be consequences. Also if you want to stop supporting blizzard for enforcing their own rules and supposedly impeding "free speech", which companies aren't forced to uphold anyways, then you might as well go live in a forest because literally pretty much every single company in the US works in some capacity in china.

[Belize]

*Not applicable in any region

FTFY

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It's less about the translation and more about who writes/edits/controls the hearthstone weibo account (hint: it's not blizzard).

If you think a partner company that publishes statements for a game they don't make can just post whatever they want without checking with the main company's PR group, then you're sadly mistaken.

It'd be like Taco Bell make an add where they declare their allegiance to ISIL, and declare that Pepsi is the beverage of choice to wash down a jihad. That, more than likely, wouldn't fly with Pepsi PR.

[Onikaroshi]

If you think a partner company that publishes statements for a game they don't make can just post whatever they want without checking with the main company's PR group, then you're sadly mistaken.

It'd be like Taco Bell make an add where they declare their allegiance to ISIL, and declare that Pepsi is the beverage of choice to wash down a jihad. That, more than likely, wouldn't fly with Pepsi PR.

They're more than partners, they have complete and total control over any and all posts and releases relating to China in China (as weibo is entirely chinese), as per Chinese law.

You DO actually have to sell yourself to china to do business in china