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Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

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Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#31
post #28

Question for all of y'all: what would happen if an Olympic athlete expressed or signalled a strong political view (beyond just "my country good, your country bad") during an official Olympic ceremony?

You mean like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Olympics_Black_Power_salu... ?

Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#32

Wish bigwigs would keep it brief and to the point. This was all I need to hear: > official broadcasts [should] remain focused on the game and are not a > platform for divisive social or political views. Same goes with NFL and the kneeling. Just say "hey, we're a business" and leave it at that. Hate all the moralizing.

That response would unequivocally make the situation worse.

Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#33

> One of our goals at Blizzard is to make sure that every player, everywhere in the world, regardless of political views, religious beliefs, race, gender, or any other consideration always feels safe [..] playing our games This HN comment from 6 years ago comes to mind: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6154475

Thank you for sharing this. That is... What an incredible thing to think about. For > 6 years, the CCP may have been using _WoW_ to _literally spy_ on it's citizens and Blizzard would've been _completely complicit_. What's maybe most surprising to me, sitting here today with the benefit of hindsight, is how much that simple comment says about the rest of the 2010 decade that proceeded it. How it all _looks_ true and how the veil seems to be lifting so quickly (on how far reaching the CCPs influence is).

Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#34

I might believe this, if the American team who made the exact same statement (pro-Hong Kong) in a virtually identical context (on a stream with shoutcasters) had received the same punishment. They didn’t. They didn’t receive any punishment, they were immediately moved on to the next match. So, Blizzard is not acting any anything resembling consistently on this matter. Some voices matter more than others; in this case…

Yes. It's hypocritical. It's very easy to see through.

Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#35
> If this had been the opposing viewpoint delivered in the same divisive and deliberate way, we would have felt and acted the same.

So now some Chinese player should make a statement praising China and condemning Hong Kong.

(But I've already said it: with Blizzard controlling a huge money market in WoW and China being big on farming that gold all day every day, there's zero chance Blizzard would give that up.)

Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#36
It’s extremely irresponsible for blizzard to host a massive platform for speech and pretend that platform exists in a vacuum outside of current events. (Read: politics.) In the same way that public platforms are dangerous when used for hate speech, they’re also dangerous when those advocating for positive change are banned from them.

Whatever Blizzard set out to do, it’s exceptionally naive not to acknowledge that demand changes a public technology.

… but of course we know what this is about. We know it’s about not wanting to cut off a large revenue stream.

Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#37

Wish bigwigs would keep it brief and to the point. This was all I need to hear: > official broadcasts [should] remain focused on the game and are not a > platform for divisive social or political views. Same goes with NFL and the kneeling. Just say "hey, we're a business" and leave it at that. Hate all the moralizing.

Brack's statement is close to 1,000 words. My tiny brain gets indignant when it has to focus that long on something so mealy-mouthed.

Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#38
post #9

Not a great look. This line: > The actions that we took over the weekend are causing people to question if we are still committed to these values. We absolutely are and I will explain. Is basically saying, "What we did actually exemplifies our values", or maybe saying, "Well actually, our values..." Combined with the complete lack of acknowledgement of wrongdoing and not addressing their initial online response at al…

Lack of acknowledgement? They reduced the penalties, both for the casters and the player...

Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#39
post #28

Question for all of y'all: what would happen if an Olympic athlete expressed or signalled a strong political view (beyond just "my country good, your country bad") during an official Olympic ceremony?

Then they would have worked their whole lives for something larger and more meaningful than their own individual abilities, and in the process, shown two forms of strength instead of one.

Re: Regarding Last Weekend’s Hearthstone Grandmasters Tournament

#40
Summary of changes made:

* Blitzchung will receive all his prize money.

* Bliztchung's suspension from pro play halved to 6 months

* Casters will now be allowed to cast Blizzard events after 6 months

Key statements:

* In hindsight, our process wasn’t adequate, and we reacted too quickly

* The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.

* We have these rules to keep the focus on the game and on the tournament to the benefit of a global audience, and that was the only consideration in the actions we took.

* If this had been the opposing viewpoint delivered in the same divisive and deliberate way, we would have felt and acted the same.

Source: Reddit comment

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