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

[anon5123]

Believe what? Guy wanted to give his political message across on a gaming tournament stream, did it and got punished. What's wrong with that?

What's wrong with it is Blizzard choosing to defend a brutal dictatorship that is oppressing its citizens and violating human rights on a daily basis.

If you can't see what's wrong with that, then I can only assume you're a paid shill.

EDIT: Looks like there's a few other chinabots in this thread too. Lol.

[tmamass]

There is absolutely no way to defend China's violation of basic human rights.

and no one did.

[Danare]

Hilarious.

I think people who want to bring awareness to something, they can do so anywhere. I mean if it is deliberately shaming, talking down countries for no reason other than to stir pot then I will understand what Blizzard did. But blitzchung here is trying to bring awareness to what is happening in Hong Kong. That is -vital- for the modern world to take seriously and take a serious stance against country that is willingly attempt to suppress' people's voice and their rights. What's so bad about shining light on Hong Kong and the shitty situation that the citizens there are in...

Either way, it worked. More people are aware and are talking about Hong Kong thanks to Blizzard's move anyway... they shot themselves in the foot. XD

But yeah. I don't feel any sincerity from this post at all. I'm gonna take hard pass on this.

[Railander]

suuuuuure Kappa

what about the NA public announcement being "the player is banned for 1 year" while the china announcement being "the player is banned forever".
let alone the tone of each announcement, the latter explicitly defending the status quo in china and its government.

[tmamass]

What's wrong with it is Blizzard choosing to defend a brutal dictatorship that is oppressing its citizens and violating human rights on a daily basis.

so the same the us goverment does which you dont protest...

ps: blizzard didnt defended china, they punished someone who broke blizzards rules in blizzards house.

[-aiko-]

Idiot player tries uses an esports event as a platform for politics
Idiot company overreacts and fails at PR
Internet loses their shit

*popcorn*

[ramborg]

ROFL after reading all the above replies i can say only one thing "More drama" Sheeps. Sitting at home voicing over a issue which is clearly against terms of condition , why read and understand when you can go with the Mob monkey mentality. Go go go more Meat to the grinder keep shouting . Hahahhaa

[anon5123]

so the same the us goverment does which you dont protest...

ps: blizzard didnt defended china, they punished someone who broke blizzards rules in blizzards house.

"n-n-no u!!"

Great counterargument, china.

[shadowmatrix]

Bruh. It's not about the severity of the punishment. It's the fact that they were punishing him AT ALL for a relatively innocuous, albiet political, statement, when their own C-level employees frequently comment about political shit on Twitter, Facebook, and even in interviews (Metzen has never pulled punches with regards to Trump, for example) and when they have no issue allowing American teams to make similar comments with impunity.

Hypocricy and appeasement are anethema to human rights everywhere.

Did it ever occur to you that there would have been no punishment if it wasn't an official Blizzard stream? Blitzchung can say what ever he wants, with in reason, on his personal social media accounts and Blizzard can't touch him.

[Popastique]

What's wrong with it is Blizzard choosing to defend a brutal dictatorship that is oppressing its citizens and violating human rights on a daily basis.

If you can't see what's wrong with that, then I can only assume you're a paid shill.

Defend what? When i play any Blizzard games, or watch some tournament - guess what, i don't care about any political agenda and don't want to hear about it. And that comes from a person who lives in Ukraine. Assume what you want, but most people who jumped on hype band wagon didn't even know what was going on in Hong Kong until Blizzard punished that player.

[Gadzooks]

J Allen is coming across more than a little tone deaf here. This is not what your customers want to hear, dude. This is an unusual situation, that could have been handled vastly differently, and better - like simply warning the player that further outburst will get severe penalties, but they went for the jugular. I think it's clear (to me, anyway) the penalty was not Blizzard's idea, and they've been negotiating to walk it back for PR, and part of the agreement was no apology. This would be a delicate diplomatic issue, with the parties involved. But they got in bed with a tyrannical government, reap what you sow, Blizz.
I think this might sadly be the start of a lot of companies getting a lot of backlash over catering to the Chinese government. Apple is just as guilty here, and should also be getting calls for boycotts and politicians making comments. But Apple has a more powerful lobby in Washington, I guess.
Maybe US corporations should think twice about getting entwined with communist countries with a history of severe and brutal human rights violations, huh? Nah, that's crazy talk, the investors don't want to hear that kind of insanity.

[Railander]

Believe what? Guy wanted to give his political message across on a gaming tournament stream, did it and got punished. What's wrong with that?

i fucking guarantee you if he used it to defend some popular trend like gay rights no one would've batted an eye. i GUARANTEE you.

[glowpipe]

It's hilarious that you believe that

now i don't think the penalty fit the crime. Nor do i have an opinion about it being censor or not. I simply don't know and have no possible way to know the truth, other than speculations
But he did infact break the rules he agreed to when he signed up to this tournament. Should blizzard have just given him a free pass ? then what is stopping the next player ?

The main issue here imo is that they removed his price money that he won fair and square and removed the casters.

[Kathranis]

IMO this is more in line with what the original ruling should have been, though they should have definitely released this statement sooner.

I do hope we see some other statements from other leadership or employees at Blizzard, because while I completely understand the need to enforce their rules, Brack's response still feels lacking in compassion, which I think is kind of the fundamental problem here.

I don't think anyone really expects them to come out in support of the protests or let their platform be used as a staging grounds for political activism, but some degree of compassion, at least, is called for.

"We are very angered and disappointed in what happened at the event last weekend and highly object to the expression of personal political beliefs, as always we will defend the pride and dignity of China."

Direct quote from Blizzard.

But don't worry guys his specific views had nothing to do with it.

That was actually posted by NetEase, the company that runs HS in PRC.

I still think they should have addressed the rhetoric of their publishing partner since it reflects on them as a company as well, but don't misattribute quotes.

[HHHGame78]

It's like when people cheat at Blizzard games and don't expect a ban. Then get upset when said ban occurs.

[Surfd]

What's wrong with it is Blizzard choosing to defend a brutal dictatorship that is oppressing its citizens and violating human rights on a daily basis.

Except that Blizzard did no such thing. They didn't ban him because he protested china. They banned him because he broke a rule about using the platform for ANY kind of political messaging. What he chose to protest is completely irrelevant.

[Nokami]

It's hilarious that you believe that

Well.. i don't think you need to apologize for punishing a rule break. Rules are there to be upheld. Blizzard should have banned the University team the same way, as it's the same stuff. People are just in an outrage mode because it's drama and china is involved (you know americans hate them). Blizzard did nothing wrong in this case but got involved into an weird emotional drama outcry.

Break Rule => Get banned = How could that happen?

[Biomega]

You simply cannot pretend that this was purely about "them r00lz" when you are a company that literally has stock owned by a holding company with ties to the Chinese government, not to mention a SUBSTANTIAL business presence in China (in connection with which, by the way, you've already set a PR nightmare precedent through Diablo Immortal).

This is the equivalent of going "Yes, I fired Greg for getting drunk at the office party, because we have rules that say you can't embarrass the company by your behavior. The fact that my wife left me for him was NOT a factor in the decision I made. I want to be clear: my relationship to Greg's new girlfriend had no influence on my decision".

In other words, while you might have grounds to justify your decision, NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WILL BELIEVE THAT'S ALL THERE WAS TO IT.

[tmamass]

I think people who want to bring awareness to something, they can do so anywhere.

No you can not. Just because we have free speech doesnt mean you can expect to get the shit kicked out of you when you come into MY house and insult me and my family.

But blitzchung here is trying to bring awareness to what is happening in Hong Kong. That is -vital- for the modern world to take seriously and take a serious stance against country that is willingly attempt to suppress' people's voice and their rights.

And a GAME channel is the WRONG place for it. Instead of that you do that at CNN, the Guardian etc like Snowden did.

More people are aware and are talking about Hong Kong thanks to Blizzard's move anyway... they shot themselves in the foot. XD

wrong

But yeah. I don't feel any sincerity from this post at all. I'm gonna take hard pass on this.

goodbye and we hope to see you never again in any blizzard games or fansites *wave*

[Kagthul]

Believe what? Guy wanted to give his political message across on a gaming tournament stream, did it and got punished. What's wrong with that?

Human rights aren't political.

Thats the issue.

Also, there's the whole part where by kow-towing to China, they are allowing China to dictate what is, and is not acceptable speech to other countries.

This guy isn't Chinese, and the casters weren't Chinese.

Im not a Marco Rubio fan, but he nails it here:

Recognize what’s happening here. People who don’t live in #China must either self censor or face dismissal & suspensions. China using access to market as leverage to crush free speech globally. Implications of this will be felt long after everyone in U.S. politics today is gone.