LogFAQs > #928499507

KingButz posted...

I don't think anyone is disputing that Blizzard is allowed to do what they're doing.

It doesn't make it any less cowardly, despicable, and chilling.

Let's pretend for a second that Blizzard is not a corporation, but rather than a single business owner who oversees everything and has the moral consciousness to make a stand for his beliefs. If there are awful enough things in China for that guy to even begin to consider damaging his financial interests in the name of "doing what is right," do you think that this event on its own would be enough of a catalyst to spur him into action? If you were that guy, responsible for literally billions of dollars, and have the economic and social foothold in China that you do, would you allow it to be compromised by one player's brief moment of hijacking your company's interests?

Even the most progressive, freedom-fighting business owners isn't going to make that call. They'll let it be a strike against China that they'll remember for later. They'll also remember how much pushback the company receives for what looks like bootlicking to some simply for not wanting to get caught in the middle. But the owner's not going to allow what happened on his watch. It is, in its own way, damaging to the company, even without considering the catastrophic damage that being banned by the PRC would do.

That's if one guy had to make the decision. A board would never. So please take your moral outrage elsewhere. Yes, China is awful. Yes, "something" should be done. But if you're going to attack Blizzard because they were shoved into a situation where it was made blatantly obvious that they don't want to make waves at this time, then you have to attack every other company that does business in China...which is basically every company that isn't some Mom-and-Pop operation. The only reason you're picking on just Blizzard is because an individual tried to make his little bit of "something" happen at their expense, and they made it very clear to him that it's coming at their expense.
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