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Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

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Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#231

Post by esoterica »

irq wrote: post #108
paulddraper wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are between a rock and hard place. It's a total no-win for them now. (Queue morbid curiosity.)

It's definitely not no-win. They can completely exit the Chinese market. The company will still survive if they do so. Earlier in this thread it was pointed out China generates only 10% of their revenue.

You’re correct that there’s a clear winning move, but you’re wrong about what that move is. Blizzard’s stock price hasn’t budged much since the scandal unfolded. Clearly the market doesn’t think there are going to be any long term repercussions from this. Every few week the gaming internet gets really mad about something or the (loot boxes, micro transactions, DRM, etc) and kicks up a huge fuss and then everyone immediately forgets about it and keeps buying games.

Why on earth would Blizzard feel compelled to exit the Chinese market right now (which would definitely tank the stock price)?

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#232

Post by gruez »

hartator wrote: post #3

The worst part they made the player gave up $10,000 of tournament prize he already won. It's a lot of money in China.

Did they really give back the money though? Last I heard they said they "believed" that he should get the money, not that he would get it.

>We now believe he should receive his prizing. We understand that for some this is not about the prize, and perhaps for others it is disrespectful to even discuss it. That is not our intention.

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/23185888/regarding-...

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#233

Post by yesco »

alasdair_ wrote: post #206
cloakandswagger wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you completely, but this whole debacle has highlighted what seems to be hypocrisy in the general public's reaction to this. Remember when The Daily Stormer got kicked off CloudFlare and a whole host of other platforms, to the point that no one would take their business and they were effectively censored? The average take on that seemed to be a mix of "Free speech doesn't apply to private companies" and "…

Karl Popper explained in detail why it’s perfectly rational to praise tolerance and still be intolerant of intolerance. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance “if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”

> Popper took pains to make clear that he did not mean the expression of intolerant words and ideas, but in fact the opposite: They who must not be tolerated are those who wish to silence discussion and debate

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#234

Post by belltaco »

not_a_cop75 wrote: post #223
alasdair_ wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, and several friends, all have tickets. We're still deciding what form of protest will be most effective (too overt and the message gets quickly lost when security kicks you out).

You could all wear "Winnie the Pooh China" shirts. If you get kicked out for those, that will really be the shit hitting the fan for them. That's not even protest. That's simple freedom of expression.

They will just refuse entry. Wearing a MAGA shirt or hat, or a tshirt with various profanities is also freedom of expression, but is routinely banned in many private events including airports.

Edit: You can be banned from airlines since they are privately owned, but not airports since they are publicly owned.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#235

Post by omegaworks »

falcolas wrote: post #214
omegaworks wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reporting on union organizing is not the same thing as issuing death threats. You're working really hard to blur the clear line between these two things, why?

Tell that to the union organizers who were killed because of those reports. So no, the line isn't that clear. It's worth remembering that at that point in time, the anti-union faction was strong and brutally violent.

You're talking about a totally separate thing here. Death threats are still not the same as reporting intended to expose organizers personally and potentially make them more likely to experience violent retribution.

The issue you're grappling with is something that has no clear cut answer, namely: the question of whether doxxing is ever appropriate, and which major publications still face intense heat over. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/reader-center/whistle-blo...

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#236

Post by magashna »

mactrey wrote: post #85
cloakandswagger wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you completely, but this whole debacle has highlighted what seems to be hypocrisy in the general public's reaction to this. Remember when The Daily Stormer got kicked off CloudFlare and a whole host of other platforms, to the point that no one would take their business and they were effectively censored? The average take on that seemed to be a mix of "Free speech doesn't apply to private companies" and "…

CloudFlare banned a site that was far, far outside the American political mainstream. Blizzard banned a player for saying something that is completely within the American political mainstream, to the point that supporting Hong Kong is a rare bipartisan stance. When you go against the mainstream American stance to curry favor with an authoritarian regime that is also a current political enemy, well, that's kind of kic…

> Blizzard banned a player for saying something that is completely within the American political mainstream

Apparently not, considering how many US companies have decided that this is kind of talk is forbidden.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#237

Post by nordsieck »

barry-cotter wrote: post #93
paulddraper wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are between a rock and hard place. It's a total no-win for them now. (Queue morbid curiosity.)

Cue, as in it’s your cue to speak rather than queue as in line up to wait for something. Truly English spelling is a delight for historical linguists.

> Truly English spelling is a delight for historical linguists.

The worst part to me is that many (often older) loan words have anglicized pronunciation, while other loan words keep their original pronunciation.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#238

Post by belltaco »

squarefoot wrote: post #203
alasdair_ wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, and several friends, all have tickets. We're still deciding what form of protest will be most effective (too overt and the message gets quickly lost when security kicks you out).

"too overt and the message gets quickly lost when security kicks you out" True, but also be prepared to be searched. If security can't legally search people, given the size of the event, they will very likely have police to patrol and do random checks "in case of terrorism", so hide your HK shirts, signs etc. because they would almost surely be confiscated for "inciting violence". If Blizzard fears any negative demon…

What? This reads like fantasy.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#239

Post by scruple »

alasdair_ wrote: post #56
cjbprime wrote: post #10

The huge question here is what's going to happen at BlizzCon in two weeks. There'll be 40,000+ attendees, cameras everywhere, there are usually Q&A panels, homemade signs for player support, cosplay, everything. How can you host BlizzCon when you're terrified of political speech?

I, and several friends, all have tickets. We're still deciding what form of protest will be most effective (too overt and the message gets quickly lost when security kicks you out).

I'll be attending. I made a small umbrella patch (it's in the style of the HK flag) that I'm going to pin to my t-shirt both days. I also think that an #eyeforhongkong style approach would be very successful, but is hard to coordinate.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#240

Post by Pfhreak »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #54
AmericanChopper wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a crisis point for everyone who supports political free speech. It’s a crisis created by the political movement to force every company to take a political stance on every issue, and to force companies to not associate with political out-group members. I’m sure it feels really good when you’re in the in-group, but quite obviously gets people really worked up when it doesn’t come down on their side.

Can't feel bad for companies since they started this with their targeted advertising campaigns in which they took sides in social and political issues to gain favor with certain customer demographics. Now that the precedent has been set, they're being pushed and pulled in every direction as a consequence. They're reaping what they sowed.

Companies have done this since companies were a thing. Consumption is always political, always social.
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