Just answer the question.
saying “BuH pOlItIcS” isn’t a argument and isn’t in their ToS.
Literally point to me where their ToS says “politics are banned” I will enjoy seeing you fail.
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It might become their issue though since protesters of both China and Blizzard have started using Mei the Chinese hero from Overwatch as a symbol for the protests according to a newsfeed I read. They’re hoping by adopting Mei as a protest symbol they’ll cause Overwatch to be banned from china which will cost Blizzard a lot of money.
This is a prime example of Double-Speak.
Hong Kong is not Blizzard’s business but doing business in Hong Kong is their business. What?!
Tell that to the Senate. In a republic power is wherever the people says it is. Power is not a possession that a government can preside over. Power is created or seized, not owned. The tighter you hold on to it the more it slips through your fingers. China will learn that soon enough.
Did you not buy the game? Did you not click the agreement to continue?
Actually Mei is a good character to play even before this, so who knows if its an actual protest or not…
Well there is this:
prior to Blizzard’s ban, Blitzchung defended vocalizing his support for the protests, saying, “As you know there are serious protests in my country now. My call on stream was just another form of participation of the protest that I wish to grab more attention.” He added that he was aware that his statement could have a negative impact on his career, but “I think it’s my duty to say something about the issue.”
And?
/10char
Going to quote a comment by a user named Kinsky from a Rock Paper Shotgun article that really summarizes this whole thing
Actually, capitalism heavily incentives discarding your morals. Human decency is costly. All publicly traded companies are utterly beholden to their shareholders, and the most profitable companies are the ones that discard entirely the notion that any moral code need be followed beyond what is necessary for profit. Laws are followed because it is costly to breach them (except when it’s not – the LIBOR scam and 2008 financial crash are good examples of a calculated violation of the law for financial gain); customers are respected because it is costly to anger them (except when it’s not – any American need only consider the depressing state of internet service in the country); employees are paid because it is costly to neglect them (except when it’s not – for example, Amazon’s recent scandal regarding the sub-poverty wages they were granting their warehouse employees in order to use the federal government’s public welfare programs to partially offset their labor costs, which was only changed when a great deal of public attention was called to it, making it a greater monetary risk). Blizzard made a calculated move to safeguard their profitability in the Chinese market because it is the best decision monetarily. Their employees are posturing for the media, but nobody is striking or walking out. Blizzard customers are posting screenshots of their cancelled World of Warcraft subscriptions, but it’s hardly worthy of being called a boycott. Human decency simply does not enter into it because the capitalist economic model does not care about it. If Blizzard makes any kind of mea culpa, it will also be a calculated move to safeguard their profitability, and likely they’re taking into account the extremely brief attention span of the vast majority of American media consumers.
The outrage over this is simply an expression of our society’s nearly fatal levels of alienation that grow deeper every day. The cruelty and inhumanity of our systems of government and economics have become so profound and endemic that they cannot and need not be hidden anymore. This leaves us all feeling uneasy about our position in the world, and we crave the ability to enact positive change, but have none by design. This unending series of moral political crises simply serves as an ongoing outlet for that, which is the reason it will fade away once everyone has had their say. As long as we live in this system, we will always need new moral crises to freak out over to keep that valve tapped so it doesn’t boil over and hurt everyone’s profit margins.
He was in the wrong. No matter how you look at it.
Alright you two. We are not doing this thing where I carefully outline how and why he broke the rules only for you to shift the goal post and change the meaning words so you can be like “nah, it doesn’t specifically say that he couldn’t say those exact words!”.
I stand by my statements. The event was for gaming, not political stumping.
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They’ve already taken a stance. They’ve made that perfectly clear.
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Um… no.
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Knowingly breaking a rule, doesn’t mean that you were wrong to break it. Being from there, he knew exactly what could happen (in fact, if the Chinese authorities get his hands on him, he’ll have much more serious consequences). Yet knowing this, he did it anyway, because he felt the cause he believed in was worth the risk.
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Knowingly breaking a stupid rule, doesn’t mean the rule isn’t stupid. The rule that he “broke” is intentionally vague, poorly written nonsense. There is literally nothing he could have done or not done that could not be construed as violating that rule.
Here’s a test;
- Go back and read the rule.
- Name me some things that he could have said or done that could not have been construed as violating the rule
Gaming is political. Games existing is political stumping.
A US president came out to talk about how Video Games are now a topic of Politics and how their mere existence is something he wants to be rid of during his “governing of the country”.
Games are just as political as HK riots. That’s how it is.
Games have been political for a long time with them being brought to our government to be banned or controlled. They’ve been severely meddled with in other Countries to.
If a government bans a game that game becomes part of a political matter. If Blizzard didn’t want to be Political, they should have thought about that before getting banned in china several times.
If you can’t specify how and why he broke the rules, why should we assume that he did so? What are you trying to argue here?
Here’s your solution:
- Go back and read the rule.
- Name me some things that he could have said or done that could not have been construed as violating the rule
True, but the punishment far outweighed the crime, and in leveling this kind of punishment, Blizzard took a political stance.
I guess there is a time and a place to raise awareness and perhaps events hosted by other entities isn’t the place.
I am not saying awareness is bad or that causes don’t deserve attention. Just perhaps using the right venue.
Wrong, just wrong. Games are not political. Games are a form of entertainment. It is the POLITICAL forces that pull games into the political arena not the other way around.
You mention games being brought to our government to be banned or controlled. The same could be said for music, movies, books and any thing else out there. But what you keep missing the point on is it is not the COMPANY that is doing the politics, it is other people who feel that something needs to be done with the product that the company made
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Sadly as the current way things go.
Politics have dragged literally everything into their circle.
A lot of games make political statements- even if these statements don’t seem political.
Everything is political now. Because politics have decided they need to be about everything.
It doesn’t matter if you make a game with no intended political agenda. Politics will make it political. That’s how people arguing over completely subjective topics over what is and isn’t moral goes.
Politics have become extremely broad and now that the government has put their hands on literally every concept from video games to absurd concepts like controlling vaping, it’s impossible to get rid of.
- Wai Chung violated Section 6.1 (o) of the tournament’s rules which prohibits players from doing anything that “offends a portion or group of the public.”
You can find the whole thing if you search for the pdf or you can read only one part of it like you did and only pull out ‘discretion’.
- He’s at a gaming venue, so Talking about the game, anything about his tactic gamewise. Why he likes Hearthstone, what got him into gaming, what he loves about Hearthstone, whats his toughest card. Professionals are taught how to speak in public…you’re not stupid, you get the picture.
Rules are rules, stupid or not. And being from there you should really know that the protest, just like Colin Kaepernick, was brought into an entertainment function, these are times where it effects people/public at large to get heard and there are two sides. After the fact I bet blizzard makes a distinct rule change. Its people who we have to put rules on shampoo to not eat because they need exact rules not to. There is no common sense anymore.
Epic Games doesnt want backlash of any kind so they are not limiting thier public outcry, but, its after the fact, so doesnt really matter, now all the protests can go to the Epic Games booth now.
- Talking about the game? Did he do it in Cantonese? Banned, for sounding funny to a Mandarin speaker.
- Did he speak in unpleasant tones, or did he get upset? Banned, for disrupting the spirit of the competition for players and viewers.
- Wait, he only talked about Hearthstone? He didn’t give thanks to the Communist party? Banned, for offending the patriotic sentiments of those viewing the competition.
Don’t believe me? Here’s the rule:
Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the player’s prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzard’s Website Terms.
You may think I’m exaggerating, but literally everything I just listed violates this rule.
This may seem silly… but in a totalitarian state, everything is surreal.
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