I can't seem to see anyone here talk about it so I'm curious what people here have to say about this?
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I can't seem to see anyone here talk about it so I'm curious what people here have to say about this?
I find it profound how much hype gaming companys gets nowadays for doing just about anything.
They make games, They are taking the path that tends to make more money, just recently I heard news saying China has 350 million active "gamers".
So again, It's a game company, making games, not a organisation for moral dilemmas, or conflicts in a country on the other side of the world.
Blizzard is owned by Tencent and Activision, which are chinese companies, i know you are all reffering to Blizard, blizzard, blizzard etc etc, but blizzard has not been in charge for a long time
I think that it's a fair ban. Why people feel the need of mixing politics with everything? Why everything has to be political nowadays? If you read the ToS of the tournament you'll quickly find out the ban is more than deserved. I don't know, there are many forums and imageboards were you can discuss politics, that's the place to do it. But videogames? I don't think politics should be discussed there.
And I want to state that I give 0 ****s about hong Kong, china and blizzard.
While I agree that the grounds for the "ban" were justified (albeit too harsh), this isn't about "politics". Passing it off as "politics" undersells the problem being addressed here. If we were talking about #TRUMP2020 or whether or not people like Socialism in the EU, I could completely understand and would agree that it should be kept away as much as possible. However, the issue being addressed here is the oppression of once-free-peoples of Hong Kong by the Communist Party of China. We've been numb to the issues because China goes to great extents to censor any sort of poor images being portrayed of them, and keep the world ignorant of what they do to their people. China is one of the greatest offenders of human rights in the modern civilized world. Blitzchung knew exactly what he was doing. What he did wasn't about "talking about politics at a gaming event", or whatever other way you might have wanted to portray it. It was about getting people to notice the issues facing Hong Kong and to gain support for Hong Kong's desire for freedom. It worked. Exceptionally well. Because here we are, a bunch of nobodies on some backwater website completely unrelated to what's going on here, talking about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Amdus
These statements are always silly. You *want* to state an opinion (which implies that you have an opinion that you do care to share), which states that you don't care. This is on the same level as someone arguing with others with a statement that "NOBODY CARES", but yet can't seem to help but try and get the last word in the argument.Quote:
Originally Posted by Amdus
Tencent is a shareholder of about 5% of their stock. It's not enough value to affect their decision making. Tencent is irrelevant. The growing Chinese gaming market is what is relevant, as it is already 6 times the size of the western gaming audience combined.Quote:
Originally Posted by ErzzaScarlett
Also, Blizzard is not owned by Activision either. Activision IS Blizzard. They are the same entity. Many people may refer to the "Blizzard developer" as they are largely permitted to operate their own studio, but make no mistake - Blizzard is no victim here.
@Topic
How do I feel about Blitzchung's ban? Well, it was obviously too harsh. It's obviously a heavy-handed response from a company that wants this type of stance to GET THE **** OUT because they're terrified it's going to have an effect on their bottom line ($$$$). But at the same time, he really should not have tried to use his interview as a platform for what he said, as much as I might sympathize with the cause. He made his decision and now he has to deal with the consequences. As he is someone who is very familiar with how China handles things, I very much expect he knew what was going to come his way for having said such a thing. There's not much else to say about it, imho.
>Blizzard releasing a statement on the situation during dead of the night on friday just to hush it down
>Blizzard Cancelling an event for the Overwatch on Nintendo Switch
>Blizzard finally banning the australian hearthstone player after a full 10+ days
Honestly can't wait for Blizzcon to further pressure them
I love world of warcraft and I genuinely enjoy BfA but this is too much.
While, due to regulations and the like, Blizzard might have had to issue some sort of punishment, they were also capable of giving a much more lenient one to in fact make it clear everything was about not giving that one guy special treatment, which could be a precedent for others. But that's not what they did, they went scorched earth on his ***, which coupled with the official comments made in China make it clear it was all about slurping Pooh Bear balls. Blizzard didn't just stick to the regulations, they blatantly took a side, which makes any claim of "no politics" laughable, be it from them or anyone defending their actions.
The only thing my statement implies is that I don't take sides. I just base my opinion on the tournament rules which he clearly broke. Blizzard could have been softer? Yes, of course, they could have just ignored it completely and move on. They chose to not, so what are people going to do about it? Boycot Activision? Fine, go ahead, we're already boycotting them by playing here instead of retail. I just think that if you want to take actions that may have a significant impact in a political scale, a videogame tournament is not the place to do so.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercy
Should be perma banned, dumb people do dumb **** and then surprised pikachu when consequences come knocking.
The attention this drew automatically proves you wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by Amdus
Whatever attracts most viewers I guess, how many young people watch political debates at home compared to how many that watches Youtube/ Twitch/ Twitter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Amdus
Look at Trump and his blistering filled thumbs go ranting on twitter, getting more recognition then he would on any other Tv station or News show.
Point is, if you want to take actions that may have a significant impact in a political scale, do it on Blizzcon or whatever social media, that's where our future generation is paying their attention to, because the world ain't going to change one bit aslong as we are led by Oil Barons and greedy Central bankers.
Edit: Forgot to mention on the first thing you said:Quote:
Originally Posted by Disktrasa
Don't you think that the fact that nobody of the young generation gives a flying **** to the political situation kinda makes it natural that nothing will ever change or that things degenerate to this extreme? If Twitch, YouTube and any other social platform is more important than what happens around us in the real world I think we kinda deserve it, but that must be just me I guess.
Since when a random HS player that got disqualified for breaking the rules has the same power as the President of the United States? Everyone cares about what Trump has to say because he's the president of basically the only corporate empire on this planet and what the USA does has a HUGE impact in the rest of the world.
Listen, if you are all very sensitive with this subject and you think that this will change anything in a big scale go ahead, but it won't. In a couple of weeks nobody will remember about this, blizzard will anounce Warcraft 3 Reforged to have all the millenials happy and continue making trillions on the side with his chinese market on mobile.
He should have kept his mouth shout, cash in the money and then complain.
"Former HS winner supports the rights of HK protesters. He has used his prize money to create this platform and you can help him bla bla bla."
But no. Instead he chose to lose his prize money, get banned and draw the attention of the gaming cult mafia, which certainly will change the HK situation...
You think it will change anything I say it won't, China is not a superpower that can be dismantled just like that.
I think it was a combination of 3 things:
1. The quickness and harshness of the punishment seemed out of bounds for standard. Not only was Blitzchung banned but the announcers as well for not stopping it.
2. The lack of a real response for some time made it seem like whatever came out would just be PR spin.
3. The incongruity in punishment with Blitzchung and the American University students.
I dont think punishing Blitzchung was necessarily wrong, it was the swift and heavy hand that came down for saying something anti-Chinese that was what people are upset about because it shows that Blizzard is being influenced by what will make China happy, and you have to ask yourself where their personal line is drawn? They've already altered card design for hearthstone to make Chinese gamers happier. Look at Diablo: Immortal it removed the only black playable character and I believe made Tyrael a faceless angel again, removing another black character (look a Chinese movie posters with black characters, they all get removed).
Now couple this unease with gamers with some bad timing of the NBA tweet AND South Park? It's just too perfect of a storm to not just get people upset and ready to rebel.
With all the focus on Hong Kong, Blizzard's decision to ban a player who showed support to Hong Kong is really questionable. They should've just let it slide, perhaps give a private warning or something, and people wouldn't have never noticed it at this grand scale.
But no, they decided on a long ban and holding the prize money, and banning the two casters -> instant bad RP worldwide.
Followed by some shady **** like:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marazhu
All that only few weeks before blizzcon.