Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 460 posts

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#241

Post by esoterica »

echelon wrote: post #202

We need to impose an 80% repatriation tax on any profits earned in China in order to offset the damages done to our domestic freedom of speech. China should not be able to control society outside of its own walls, yet they have blatantly influenced the behavior of our biggest mass media companies for years. To be fair, they've done an outstanding job of it. They fund a huge number of film productions. They've bought…

It’s funny that you’re complaining about freedom of speech violations while demanding that companies be forced to produce anti-Chinese media against their economic interest.

The first amendment protects people’s rights to shill for China in exchange for $$$. That’s what freedom of speech actually means.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#243

Post by belltaco »

bitL wrote: post #215
falcolas wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their statements to shareholders put the Chinese market at 10% of their total revenue. ATVI is posting billions of dollars in profits, and has a profit margin of 25%+. Activision Blizzard is in no risk of going bankrupt even if they lose the entire Chinese market.

Good, then voting with one's valet should be a good strategy to bring them back to their senses, unless they are 100% into some Chinese-friendly business ideology. Blizzard is off my list, I might re-evaulate in 1 year.

Funny that no one is talking about voting with their wallet by not buying Chinese products.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#244

Post by magashna »

streb-lo wrote: post #30
lucasmullens wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just looked at https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/new/ and 2 of the 3 first posts are about China.

That's not really representative. 5/30 posts are about HK and of those 5 I counted the post that says "I don't care bout HK stuff." Across all the blizzard subs except maybe /r/blizzard it's almost business as usual.

That's not true. It's spilled over in Overwatch and even the NintendoSwitch subs.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#245

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

DFectuoso wrote: post #73
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).

Broadcast a good wifi hotspot name of course.

xi_pooh_5g

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#246

Post by echelon »

esoterica wrote: post #241
echelon wrote: post #202

We need to impose an 80% repatriation tax on any profits earned in China in order to offset the damages done to our domestic freedom of speech. China should not be able to control society outside of its own walls, yet they have blatantly influenced the behavior of our biggest mass media companies for years. To be fair, they've done an outstanding job of it. They fund a huge number of film productions. They've bought…

It’s funny that you’re complaining about freedom of speech violations while demanding that companies be forced to produce anti-Chinese media against their economic interest. The first amendment protects people’s rights to shill for China in exchange for $$$. That’s what freedom of speech actually means.

> demanding that companies be forced to produce anti-Chinese media against their economic interest.

What? I never suggested this.

> The first amendment protects people’s rights to shill for China in exchange for $$$. That’s what freedom of speech actually means.

Right. And China discovered this fitness gradient.

Luckily we can use taxes on negative externalities to adjust for the damage that is being done.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#248

Post by dextralt »

Latty wrote: post #136
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 "…

The difference between neo-nazis and democratic protest? The difference is content. I hate the tendency to fall back to arguments about free speech when that is not the point. Yes, of course everyone should be able to express views individually, but that doesn't mean I don't care about the content of what is being said. That doesn't mean everyone is entitled to the ability to ram that message down everyone's throat t…

Hell yes I support waterboarding terrorists. There's no way the definition of 'terrorist' will ever change. There's no way it will be ever done to me.

Hell yes I support civil forfeiture with no due process. There's no way it will be ever done to innocent people.

Hell yes I support the executive branch getting more and more power. There's no way someone terrible would ever be the President and use that power.

and now:

Hell yes I support corporations policing free speech. They are on our side! There's no way it will ever be done to me or people I like.

do you get the idea?

Am I a fucking terrorist sympathizer if I speak out against torture and extrajudicial indefinite detention? No. I don't give a shit about them, but whatever I support done to them might be done to me.

Am I a fucking Nazi sympathizer if I speak out against abuse of power by unaccountable private entities? No. I don't give a shit about them, but whatever I support done to them might be done to me.

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#249

Post by esoterica »

Waterluvian wrote: post #2

I hope this emboldens people as they see that their protesting actually works. I'm often super pessimistic that large corporations are immune to protest because people have short attention spans and get bored of being outraged.

I would wait to see if an actual drop in game sales occurs before claiming this as a victory. The gaming internet is an perpetual motion outrage machine but very few of their cause celebres actually translate into any kind of economic impact for developers and publishers.

Also take a look at Blizzard’s stock price to see what Wall Street actually thinks of the current mess (spoiler: it’s still within touching distance of the the YTD high).

Re: Blizzard Cancels Overwatch Event

#250

Post by esoterica »

echelon wrote: post #246
esoterica wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny that you’re complaining about freedom of speech violations while demanding that companies be forced to produce anti-Chinese media against their economic interest. The first amendment protects people’s rights to shill for China in exchange for $$$. That’s what freedom of speech actually means.

> demanding that companies be forced to produce anti-Chinese media against their economic interest. What? I never suggested this. > The first amendment protects people’s rights to shill for China in exchange for $$$. That’s what freedom of speech actually means. Right. And China discovered this fitness gradient. Luckily we can use taxes on negative externalities to adjust for the damage that is being done.

Taxing speech you don’t like is the exact opposite of being pro-free speech.
Post reply on HN