I work overtime for a week and I come back to this. lololol god I feel disconnected from the world.
shrugs
I guess human rights donât matter to half the people here. lol. f its one thing leaders of China donât like, its resistance.
In any form.
But what do I know, suicide by two shots to the back of the head doesnât seem sus at all either.
Same, seeing the riots and protests, and hong kong residences holding the american flag and other things. Suddenly I come to overwatch and Bam, this.
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The âdudeâ wanted to BE a hero. He probably knew something bad would happen. And there is a chance he might face worse punishment. Maybe even his family Over what he did.
Also who reads tos?
The summary of the TOS is:
Anything can be used against you if Blizzard decides to deem it offensive.
Wouldnât matter anyways.
looks down at you from my Hong Horse
Vague contracts built to punish you for doing anything are not legally enforceable. They made up how they interpreted it, and are fully able to choose not to punish him. Blizzard chose to over-play their hand. Now if youâll excuse me, I have a snowy waifu to attend to.
trots off, Mei clinging to me, blushing with freedom-loving lust
Uhhh well that is questionable, but not for the reasons you think. The comment in question on their Weibo was:
âWe will always respect and defend the pride of our country.â
Now keep in mind, this is Blizzardâs branch in Taiwan. Do you know the history between China and Taiwan? They split off after the Chinese Civil War with the communist party taking control of the mainland and the ROC taking over Taiwan and other nearby islands. Mainland China (which refers to itself as the âPeopleâs Republic of Chinaâ) still considers Taiwan a province territory, meanwhile Taiwan refers to itself as the âRepublic of Chinaâ and claims rightful dominion of China overall.
Obviously mainland China is communist, while Taiwan China has a democratic republic. They all consider themselves Chinese. Hong Kong is also considered Chinese, and after Great Britain left the colony in the 90âs it technically is a sovereign territory of China. So looking at the statement again:
âWe will always respect and defend the pride of our country.â
Now keeping in mind these are Taiwanese Chinese (a democratic republic), they are likely tactfully referring here to China as a whole, including Hong Kong, when referring to respect and defending the pride of âour countryâ. I think thereâs a misconception here that itâs expressing support directly for the PRC, when in my interpretation itâs support for all China regardless of political stripes. If anything the Taiwanese Chinese would have the greatest sympathy and empathy for Hong Kong, considering their own embattled history with communist mainland China, so I highly doubt they are expressing support for mainland China here.
Though, I recall someone saying this comment wasnât even officially from Blizzard at all but was actually some other company called Netease, no idea since I canât read Chinese.
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These forums are considered a privilege according to the ToA, Iâm gonna exhaust every grain of that privilege voicing my opinion in protest.
If you think this is some social justice warrior Bs, youâre wrong. Gamers have to stand up for other gamers because lets face it, weâre have the most easily marginalized voice out of all groups.
This is about an American company punishing a gamer in Hong Kong for exercising freedom of speech. If you have a problem with it, youâre gonna have a problem with it for a while.
Iâm not going anywhere until this is resolved appropriately, I have a feeling most other people arenât either.
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Iâm with ya brother, alas my college courses are currently eating all my time but I know the feeling.
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If lying and pandering is your way of accurately portraying someone that utilizes other peoples property to spread their agenda (Whether it is a good one or not), that will cost that company billions and be problematic for the millions of chinese consumers, then sure go ahead, live in such a place, where you can do that. I prefer my companies can be exempt from political debate and not have their property filled with others beliefs.
I mean unless you want naz*s, NK supporters and more to also have their âFreedom of speechâ on Blizzard broadcasts as well. Then your view is nothing more than hypocritical.
Yes, most of the time mixing politics with gaming can be quite annoying. The reason for that is that most of us live in places where the politics in question arenât urgent and they donât determine whether people live or die. This is not the case in Hong Kong.
The protesters in Hong Kong are being treated brutally. They are not, however, being massacred as they were in Tiananmen square, or during one of the many purges, or during the great leap forward, or during the cultural revolution.
The reasons for this are Hong Kongâs visibility, the censure such treatment receives from other countries, and the fact that this censure conflicts with Chinaâs interests. The fact that people around the world can see whatâs happening in Hong Kong, the fact that they disapprove, and the fact that they can get their governments to express that disapproval is what makes the difference between rubber bullets and live bullets being shot into a crowd.
China has an interest in silencing discussion and protest. They want to be able to carry out their policies without endangering their interests. Blizzard has a monetary interest in not angering China. But at some point the monetary interests of companies are not that important. Iâm sure the Chinese themselves would have agreed with this in the late 1930âs when a large part of the country was under an utterly barbaric Japanese occupation, and the Japanese navy was powered by imports of oil and steel from Western countries.
Now, Iâm not claiming Blizzard should have ignored violations of the TOC. However, they certainly should not have come down as hard as they did. It reeks of appeasement and censorship. They could and should have given out a much more reasonable punishment.
The backlash they are receiving is valid. Itâs also useful. It gets press for the issue, it got senators involved, and it gives Blizzard (and other countries) a wonderful opportunity to learn and care about the opinions of their player base.
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A thought also came to me: movies dont tend to be released in china unless they are putting china on the highest of pedestals⌠china quite literally could hold the world hostage if they wanted simply because most of the stuff is made there⌠thats a scary thought⌠.the world as a whole basically is under dictatorship because of china⌠oof
âWe are very angered and disappointed at what happened at the event and do not condone it in any way. We also highly object the spreading of personal political beliefs in this manner. Effective immediately weâve banned the contestant from events and terminated work with the broadcasters. We will always respect and defend the pride of our country.â
This was on Blizzardâs official Weibo account. Itâs not politics? Itâs not games? They made it this way. They do not stand for human rights. They did not want to lose their market there so they decided to take extreme action. Other people would get a 1-3 month ban for violating the ToS and cheating, but someone speaking up for human rights is suspended for a year and their prize money is taken away?
Overwatch is one of Blizzards games. We are boycotting blizzard as a whole. It is related. Ignore the person who was wrongfully banned if you so have to and go off of what they said on weibo.That right there should be enough for you.
âWe will always respect and defend the pride of our country.â
Why donât you tell them to keep politics out of it. Right there they showed what side they stand on.
I donât care about anything but my game.
Here is an idea: ignore those inconvenient threads. This will soon be over anyways, unfortunately. People are quick to forget.
PS: thanks for +1 Honk Kong thread. Keep it up !
You donât mind supporting a company that doesnât stand for human rights?
Youâre comparing naz*s to people fighting for democracy and human rights.
While this is a legitimate concern, it has not happened yet.
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Blizzard has not violated human rights. Please show me where they have.
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Pro HK protest jargon has been censored in the chinese version of WoW as profanity.
If might not affect you now, but can you be so sure it wont soon if nothing is done about it?
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Well, at least itâs refreshing.
Thereâs no spam about Mercy for a while.