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Holy cow, is anyone else watching this clusterbomb that Blizzard stepped in today with its decision to support Tyranny over Democracy?

This is one of the funniest things I've seen all year, they're getting torn to shreds on their subreddit.

You're going to have to share some vague details, at the very least.

 Togusa wrote:
Holy cow, is anyone else watching this clusterbomb that Blizzard stepped in today with its decision to support Tyranny over Democracy?

This is one of the funniest things I've seen all year, they're getting torn to shreds on their subreddit.

Oh that hearthstone thing?

Yeah pretty brutal but at the same time there isnt much they can do as a company.

its the ultimate lose lose.

They ether fight their majority china shareholders and potentially fold as a company
or
They appease china and lose a ton of good will from their customers.

GG EZ

Voss wrote:
You're going to have to share some vague details, at the very least.

Its kinda world politics but basically, hearthstone champion uses reward ceremony as a political platform about Hong Kong. he subsequently gets DQed and loses all reward money.

something along those lines.

Voss wrote:
You're going to have to share some vague details, at the very least.

Apologies.

Blizzard banned a Chinese player and revoked his prize money from playing Hearthstone for his pro Hong Kong comments. As of writing this, ActiBliz's stock has taken a massive hit and apparently congress is getting involved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsW226OHc7U


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Desubot wrote:

 Togusa wrote:
Holy cow, is anyone else watching this clusterbomb that Blizzard stepped in today with its decision to support Tyranny over Democracy?

This is one of the funniest things I've seen all year, they're getting torn to shreds on their subreddit.

Oh that hearthstone thing?

Yeah pretty brutal but at the same time there isnt much they can do as a company.

its the ultimate lose lose.

They ether fight their majority china shareholders and potentially fold as a company
or
They appease china and lose a ton of good will from their customers.

GG EZ

When dealing with tyranny, there is only one choice. Fight.

It's not just goodwill they're losing, they're losing money and support. I think there is a good chance this will get reversed.

This is pretty political so probably best saved for another website.

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:
This is pretty political so probably best saved for another website.

So that's a reason not to discuss something that directly impacts games we play? Do We just bury our heads in the sand?

Not US politics so should be fine. Blizzard screwed up big time!
Got what they deserve, how they will rethink this whole thing.

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
Not US politics so should be fine. Blizzard screwed up big time!
Got what they deserve, how they will rethink this whole thing.

I mean we can try to keep it off political things and just stick to the facts. But this is huge.

If ActiBliz is gonna do this, what's to stop GW or any other game company from having the same issue?

 Togusa wrote:

Voss wrote:
You're going to have to share some vague details, at the very least.

Apologies.

Blizzard banned a Chinese player and revoked his prize money from playing Hearthstone for his pro Hong Kong comments. As of writing this, ActiBliz's stock has taken a massive hit and apparently congress is getting involved.

Right. So where does 'tyranny' and 'democracy' come into it? What is Congress planning on doing to a private company?

 Togusa wrote:

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:
This is pretty political so probably best saved for another website.

So that's a reason not to discuss something that directly impacts games we play? Do We just bury our heads in the sand?

No, you discuss it on a website more suited for discussions involving politics.

 Togusa wrote:

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:
This is pretty political so probably best saved for another website.

So that's a reason not to discuss something that directly impacts games we play? We just bury our heads in the sand?

Well no. its fine to talk about it. but as this is a private forum its up to the mods and or own of the forum to decide if its ok to talk about politics on a forum about toy soldiers.

personally i think talking about politics is fine but it tends to get stupid ugly stupid quick.

We can always ask a mod to weigh in and they could decide if the thread is okay.

I've mostly been watching my buddies (who are way more into Blizzard than me) prep popcorn. Apparently the Blizzcon event is going to be amazing. Their words, not mine. Not sure if that means they're going to do something or if they expect someone else will and they'll get to enjoy the show.

I did notice that the WoW Classic Reddit is really up in arms about this and am wondering if it might waylay the massive success they've enjoyed with that. EDIT: Actually, correct that, all the Blizzard reddits are up in arms except r/Blizzard which Blizzard privatized so they could stomp out all critcism.

 Togusa wrote:

If ActiBliz is gonna do this, what's to stop GW or any other game company from having the same issue?

The NBA (that's the American professional basketball organization) just did.

I wouldn't have mentioned this if this topic hadn't already started; but since it has...

The General Manager of the Houston Rockets, a fellow by the name of Daryl Morey, put up a short tweet in support of the protesters in Hong Kong. Said tweet has since been deleted, and both Morey and the NBA have apologized for offending the PRC.


And I will not say anything further about it.

Apparently the Blizzcon event is going to be amazing. Their words, not mine. Not sure if that means they're going to do something or if they expect someone else will and they'll get to enjoy the show.

I'd say even odds either way. What I do know is that Blizzard had better have something good that it's planning on pulling out of the bag after the disaster that was last year's Blizzcon.

"Don't all of you have smart phones!?"

I'll play devils advocate then, don't the players from the PRC have a right to not get something like this thrown at them? And are these companies not following US policy that recognizes ONE China?

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:
I'll play devils advocate then, don't the players from the PRC have a right to not get something like this thrown at them? And are these companies not following US policy that recognizes ONE China?

This isn't about One China. It's about the Hong Kong protests, not the Republic of China (or Taiwan, if you prefer). One China posits that the Republic of China is not an independent country, but rather a rogue province. Hong Kong is governed under what's called One Country, Two Systems, that is supposed to guarantee its semi-autonomous nature until the 2040s.

Exactly. So when protesters start trying to undermine this by bringing it into a game enjoyed by people inside of the PRC, Activision/Blizzard is doing the smart thing by keeping out something that could offend countless people.

It's also important to mention that it wasn't just the pro who got banned and had to forfeit his entire prize pool, but also the two casters who literally ducked and went to commercial after he said it.

Eumerin wrote:

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:
I'll play devils advocate then, don't the players from the PRC have a right to not get something like this thrown at them? And are these companies not following US policy that recognizes ONE China?

This isn't about One China. It's about the Hong Kong protests, not the Republic of China (or Taiwan, if you prefer). One China posits that the Republic of China is not an independent country, but rather a rogue province. Hong Kong is governed under what's called One Country, Two Systems, that is supposed to guarantee its semi-autonomous nature until the 2040s.

Which, so far, the PRC is treating the HK protests as an HK problem, beyond a 'training exercise' near the mainland border.
Its a messy issue (with a bunch of different protest groups, not all of which have a clear agenda, let alone clear leaders), but so far China has respected the two systems agreement, and let the HK governor deal (flounder) with the protests. Their various statements from their foreign office have consistently been that they'll respect the agreement... right up to the deadline in 20 odd years. Beyond that... well, the implied threat isn't subtle.
But given the level of provocation from some (not all) of the protesters, with a lot of property and economic damage, they're being far more restrained than I ever expected.

What started as a protest over a rather terrible extradition law has gone to a lot of weird places. Its worth noting they've been going on for 5 months or so, but didn't get a lot of US attention until (primarily) student groups started chanting 'freedom' a lot. For most of the year, it hasn't been about that- it was focused on the extradition law, police response to protests, Tong attacks on protesters and replacing the governor for general incompetence over the whole mess. Meanwhile the some protest groups have done a lot damage to buildings an infrastructure, which complicated things immensely, as the damage allows the HK government to cast the protests as a threat to law, order and the HK economy. And considering the protests have shut down the subway system and the airport multiple times, its cost HK a lot of money and tourism. But suddenly the media narrative is entirely 'freedom' and 'democracy,' and that has surprisingly riled up the Blizz forum and reddit regulars.


@as an aside on the NBA thing, thats gotten weirder, as after being lectured by a few members of Congress, the NBA admin has tried to walk back their response (squelching the manager's statement).


As for Blizzards involvement in this... they really aren't. 'People can't use our game events for political propaganda' isn't an unreasonable stance, regardless of what their actual politics or issues are.

Voss wrote:

Eumerin wrote:

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:
I'll play devils advocate then, don't the players from the PRC have a right to not get something like this thrown at them? And are these companies not following US policy that recognizes ONE China?

This isn't about One China. It's about the Hong Kong protests, not the Republic of China (or Taiwan, if you prefer). One China posits that the Republic of China is not an independent country, but rather a rogue province. Hong Kong is governed under what's called One Country, Two Systems, that is supposed to guarantee its semi-autonomous nature until the 2040s.

Which, so far, the PRC is treating the HK protests as an HK problem, beyond a 'training exercise' near the mainland border.
Its a messy issue (with a bunch of different protest groups, not all of which have a clear agenda, let alone clear leaders), but so far China has respected the two systems agreement, and let the HK governor deal (flounder) with the protests. Their various statements from their foreign office have consistently been that they'll respect the agreement... right up to the deadline in 20 odd years. Beyond that... well, the implied threat isn't subtle.
But given the level of provocation from some (not all) of the protesters, with a lot of property and economic damage, they're being far more restrained than I ever expected.

What started as a protest over a rather terrible extradition law has gone to a lot of weird places. Its worth noting they've been going on for 5 months or so, but didn't get a lot of US attention until (primarily) student groups started chanting 'freedom' a lot. For most of the year, it hasn't been about that- it was focused on the extradition law, police response to protests, Tong attacks on protesters and replacing the governor for general incompetence over the whole mess. Meanwhile the some protest groups have done a lot damage to buildings an infrastructure, which complicated things immensely, as the damage allows the HK government to cast the protests as a threat to law, order and the HK economy. And considering the protests have shut down the subway system and the airport multiple times, its cost HK a lot of money and tourism. But suddenly the media narrative is entirely 'freedom' and 'democracy,' and that has surprisingly riled up the Blizz forum and reddit regulars.


@as an aside on the NBA thing, thats gotten weirder, as after being lectured by a few members of Congress, the NBA admin has tried to walk back their response (squelching the manager's statement).


As for Blizzards involvement in this... they really aren't. 'People can't use our game events for political propaganda' isn't an unreasonable stance, regardless of what their actual politics or issues are.

See that's a scary thought to me. Are we going to then say that Kappernick was in the wrong? Protesting is at the very core of the american soul, Jinping the Pooh knows this all too well and he and his administration will do anything they can to undermine it to keep their public consumed and docile.

That kind of post is why we dont allow politics here.