I’m sorry but gay pride came to be because of a series of riots in a specific area and it’s main goal is to protect and guarantee the rights of certain people. That is inherently political.
That aside, even if it wasn’t political, it is social and Blizzard said they don’t tolerate idea “social” or “political” discourse in their tournaments. They still contradicted themselves.
Thats like the total opposite of pushing something.
censoring something is pushing an agenda.
No it shows that blizzard is more than happy to lip service, pander and push the progressive agenda that they act like their so proud of in overwatch
When it’s CONVENIENT for them and additionally uses the LGBTQ community to profit off of them with an additional source of merch and get positive press from the main stream media
While simultaneously ignoring these very same people and political agenda that blizzard says that they want to respect and represent when it’s inconvenient
The OP is correct, games and sports should be about playing the game, let just a few things slide and all of a sudden every game or sport you see on Twitch or TV will be filled with political propaganda, and all that ends up doing is taking away from the occasion, and causing division in categories that should be bringing people together.
The whole Pride Month thing with OWL did confuse me a bit, as for many in more conservative societies and cultures, it IS a political issue. One of the reasons they did it I guess is because the USA is a more tolerant nation, and because the OWL was entirely within the USA this year, they could follow the guidlines of the country. You could basically consider it being a good guest, obeying the rules and customs of your host. It’s like not drinking alcohol in certain Middle Eastern countries.
I’ve had quite a few concerns about this whole thing, some of those are:
The guy willing exposed his identity, which can make it easier for his opponents (Chinese Government in this case) to track both him and his acquaintences, in other words, he could act as an unwilling trojan horse that risks elements in the protests.
The whole “Boycott Blizzard” thing is really going to give it to China, right? Nope, if earnings are harmed, it’ll be the innocent American and other employees who will be sacked to maintain profits, of which the Chinese investors will still get the same amount.
Those that have been swept up in this thing and deleted their accounts could end up regretting that decision, but they could have already lost hundreds, if not thousands of hours of progress over a knee-jerk reaction being fuelled by sources who may or may not even know exactly what happened.
I’m supportive of the protests in Hong Kong (keep a respectful distance as I’m British, and Hong Kong was a British territory until 1997), been keeping up with it whenever it’s been on the News, but it almost feels like it’s slowly becoming a bit of a copypasta/meme now the gaming community have picked up on it, sort of like the Harambe thing, where it became less about the issue at hand, and more about the spam.
Overall, Blizzard were correct to punish the person, although the punishment in my opinion was a bit harsh (my guess it was a standard punishment for said violation, suject to review). I’m glad they’ve reduced it, but that still won’t stop the righteous fury crowd from pushing this as far as they can, and the thing with righteous fury can often be is, you don’t see the collateral damage you could end up doing.
ah yes a game about war and prejudice, how dare it be political!
that’s a load of bs Free hongkong.
So its okay to promote the correct kind of politics that make the company money, but any more than that is bad and shouldnt be allowed on our platform?
nah get out of here, fam.
The game literally has a political message embedded in it. It deals directly in political topics and the influence of global actors working together. Some of the central actors are world leaders, armies, and organizations. While the political message it has is one that most of us agree with (humanity, regardless of governments and in some cases against governments, should work together for the greater good) its nonetheless a political message.
Winston’s message literally is that governments shut them down because they decided they didn’t need them. “but look around! Someone has to do something! We have to do something! We can make a difference.”
Pro-Democracy stances shouldn’t be radical, and I dont trust folks like you tbqh. In some cases, neutrality is complicity, and complicity makes you just as bad.
It’s only political when you address specific political entities such as parties and governments. It’s one thing to say you support LGBT rights and another to say you support the Democratic Party of the United States.
Not killed, re-educated.
Yeh I dunno why people are arguing about it. It’s a global company that just wants to make money and are more than willing to go with whatever flow makes them the most money. Whether it be appealing to the “progressive west” with gay day or “kissing the ring” of the Chinese government to keep access to their markets, they’re not doing this out of some deep personal belief Mr A. Blizzard holds in his heart… =_=
true… but nobody will ever want to admit that.
The real reason they promote that stuff is for marketing, so I wouldn’t consider it that bad.
What the best wine in your opinion to pair with blizzards feet?
Thank you for being a tool.
You’re right, it would be hypocritical for Blizzard to push for LGBTQ equality on their platform while censoring messages about human rights in HK.
Otherwise, it’d be clear that they have a political agenda that’s anti-human rights for HK residents.
Nope. That’s something only a person brainwashed by decades of americanisation would even think.
Freedom of speech is a natural right (at least according to the countries who voted in favour of adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (btw that includes the glorious USA) and it’s a concept that far exceeds just the protection from a government.
That’s why labour laws in most countries protect the individual from being fired for reasons not DIRECTLY associated to the actual work.
What you’re confusing it with is the First Amendment, which ofcourse only applies to protection from the government.
But like I already mentioned,the first amendment is only one of the ways that freedom of speech is protected.Not the sole way.
Yes, even in the USA.
I didn’t flag this post. 
Your thread is a violation of code of conduct.
Just a freindly reminder that you agreed to it before using the forum.
Hint: title, and causing unrest
I just got suspended till 16th of december.
I am Mei main and i am shouting out FREE HONG KONG!
Blizzard seems to be fed up with my freedom of speech.
It’s irrelevant if you define it as politics or not, it’s surly “divisive social view” around the world(even among democratic countries), the exact thing they trying to keep out of their tournaments…