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But I can't help but feel that a sports competition may not be the right place for political activism. Especially seeing as the rules states it won't be accepted.
If Blizzard did not suspend him they would jeopardize all of their rules, and I hope they would have done the same if he was shouting something pro-China.
I really don't like how this is made out as "China clamping down on Blizzard", just like it was framed when Ubisoft tried to get a lower age-rating for Rainbow Six Siege and claimed that was what China demanded for their market. Blizzard has been suspending plenty of pro players in plenty of their games for all kinds of questionable, and not so questionable reasons. And because Blizzard is a private company, offering…
Either way you end up embroiled in politics; the only difference is whether you let a foreign country dictate your behavior, or make your own decisions.
Then we have to boycott Hearthstone. While the current case is neither surprising nor substantially important, it is important because of principle. Blizzard is not responsible for what players say in interviews. In our society, it still matters that people can tolerate other opinions. The Chinese government tries to make it a new normal that entire people can have their "feelings hurt" (what?) by mere non-insulting…
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While I agree they’re spot on, it’s not like this is a new issue.
I guess what I meant - I looked at these issues differently, others probably too. Apple, Google "selling out" to be in China? Oh well - that seems reasonable since its a big market. South Park put it into different perspective. I guess that is what art does
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> Once the pros leave Hearthstone for another game, Hearthstone will die. THAT will get Blizzard's attention. Why would Blizzard care, if they are still making money on the other games people left Heathstone for?
There are non-Blizzard alternatives to most (if not all) of Blizzard's offerings. Magic: The Gathering Online instead of Hearthstone. League of Legends or other MOBAs instead of Overwatch. SW:TOR, Shroud of the Avatar, or even Destiny to scratch the MMO itch.
I really don't like how this is made out as "China clamping down on Blizzard", just like it was framed when Ubisoft tried to get a lower age-rating for Rainbow Six Siege and claimed that was what China demanded for their market. Blizzard has been suspending plenty of pro players in plenty of their games for all kinds of questionable, and not so questionable reasons. And because Blizzard is a private company, offering…
But they are not a private company. Blizzard is a component of Activision Blizzard, Inc., a publicly-held corporation traded under ATVI on the Nasdaq.
This is actually part of the problem. If they were still privately held, we would much more likely be sitting on an imminent 2020 Diablo/Starcraft/etc PC title release, rather than mobile game rehashes, 'classic' relaunches of decades old products, etc. Privately held companies seem to be the only companies with consolidation of power and control required to stand against ridiculous "profit in every market at any cost" trends.
Just take a look at Valve Software for a comparison of the private vs public effect on a company with a large creative aspect. I realize they haven't put out anything new in ages, but at the same time, has Valve really compromised on any of the core values they've built over the last decade or so? As far as I am aware, the Steam store is about as open and censorship-free as you can get in this era of entertainment.
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Was that the same lover of freedom that campaigned to take away the freedom of others?
If you think back to before gay marriage was accepted as a culturally obvious fact, some of the arguments against it involved hating gays, but others didn't. Without the ability to tell which beliefs actually motivated his donation, it is not possible to discern if he was against gays or not. (I'll refrain from giving any specific examples in order to avoid starting that debate again, but I think most of us can remem…
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How about Chinese owners? Chinese Tencent owns 5 percent of Blizzard, if full owner of Riot Games, 48% of Epic Games, 11.5% of Bluehole (Fortnite and PUBG), 5% of Ubisoft. They are also investor in Discord. https://www.pcgamer.com/every-game-company-that-tencent-has-... AMC is fully owned by Chinese. The largest movie theater chain in the United States is fully owned by Chinese. Legendary Entertainment Group is owned…
Matt Stoller has been doing some coverage on just how much control China has built in Western economies. Quite scary. https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/how-joe-biden-empowered-c...
Not really scary. It's better for superpowers to have intertwined economies, rather than be isolated. Less incentives for conquest and war.
Then we have to boycott Hearthstone. While the current case is neither surprising nor substantially important, it is important because of principle. Blizzard is not responsible for what players say in interviews. In our society, it still matters that people can tolerate other opinions. The Chinese government tries to make it a new normal that entire people can have their "feelings hurt" (what?) by mere non-insulting…