Poll of the Day > Blizzard releases statement about banned HK Hearthstone player.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/23185888/regarding-last-weekend-s-hearthstone-grandmasters-tournament

At least he got his prize money and the terminations turned to suspensions.
Blizzard still licking China's boot though saying "situation in China had no influence on our decision" Pffff
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Considering the shoutcasters are still on suspension Blizzard can go fuck themselves, they did nothing wrong.
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Fuck Blizzard.
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Mead posted...

Fuck Blizzard.

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And in related news, Blizzard has removed pre-orders for the expensive Mei statue.
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I've never been a big Blizzard person. I enjoy Hearthstone a lot and really like the characters, tone, and story of Overwatch (gameplay's not my thing). But for the first time ever I'm super excited for BlizzCon. They've backed themselves into a corner and watching them try to dig out of this is just hilariously sad.

I can't imagine they even want this conference to happen. I sincerely hope it stays completely nonviolent but I do want to see some good protesting or some hard questions. It does suck that the Blizzard people that will be there surely have nothing to do with what happened.
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They can say whatever they want and try to backtrack as much as possible, but we can still clearly side which side of the fence they fall on. Fuck them.
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Not close to enough.
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Fuck em, hope they never recover from the backlash and this is remembered for a long time.
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Ferarri619 posted...

And in related news, Blizzard has removed pre-orders for the expensive Mei statue.

it's not just that they removed pre-ordering

it's that they removed it from the store.

https://gear.blizzard.com/us/overwatch-mei-statue
https://www.blizzardgearstore.com/games/overwatch/mei/o-10494642+t-10948056+a-5693478+z-9-862748576

and the promotional video they made for it has been removed from their youtube channel.
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Really don't get the backlash here. People want a corporation to side with some dude instead of the entire Chinese market?
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ninja_lootz posted...

People want a corporation to side with some dude instead of the entire Chinese market?

Some dude and Hong Kong but yeah. As Hong Kong continues to fight against China's tyranny it's a very bad look to try to silence support for HK. So the outrage has decided that if Blizzard wants to lick China's boot then they can lose the outraged consumers. They just have to trust the volatile nature of China's government and hope they don't turn on them too.
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ninja_lootz posted...

Really don't get the backlash here. People want a corporation to side with some dude instead of the entire Chinese market?

If you don't hold corporations accountable for siding with tyranny, they will always side with tyranny.
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ninja_lootz posted...

Really don't get the backlash here. People want a corporation to side with some dude instead of the entire Chinese market?

Surprisingly, people don't like it when an American company decides to kiss the ass of a country that's currently going balls in on human rights violations.
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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.

Bullshit
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lmao
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I can't wait til they release a statement in Chinese stating the exact opposite of what's said here
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Good, now give those commentators their jobs back, Blizzard has no business appeasing the CCP.
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Blizzard is completely within their rights to suspend a player for voicing political views during one of their broadcasts, inasmuch as it impacts their bottom line.

And I'm completely within my rights to tell them to go piss up a rope when they find themselves standing on the side of tyrants and dictatorships and defending them from criticism.

Not all views are created equal, Blizzard. The fact that China and its consumers have a different view of the situation in Hong Kong than Westerners does not mean those two stances are morally equivalent.
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dementedlullaby posted...

Considering the shoutcasters are still on suspension Blizzard can go fuck themselves, they did nothing wrong.

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Mead posted...

Fuck Blizzard.

Guys, I like playing Starcraft 2 and I pre-ordered Warcraft 3 Reforged already. Should I stop playing and refund my money?
:(
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darcandkharg31 posted...

Fuck em, hope they never recover from the backlash and this is remembered for a long time.

It'll be forgotten in a month or two when they reveal another Overwatch/Wow expansion, then everyone will go back to worshiping them like usual. Never count on consumers being even halfway intelligent.

So the article is dated Oct. 12th. Interesting all things considered...
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SpeedDemon20 posted...

Guys, I like playing Starcraft 2 and I pre-ordered Warcraft 3 Reforged already. Should I stop playing and refund my money?
:(

I guess you have to by law...
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darkknight109 posted...

Blizzard is completely within their rights to suspend a player for voicing political views during one of their broadcasts, inasmuch as it impacts their bottom line.

yeah?

then why didn't they take any action on the american team that did the exact same thing?
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Zangulus posted...

dementedlullaby posted...

So the article is dated Oct. 12th. Interesting all things considered...

How so?

china is a day ahead of the us so there it's the 12th i guess

but that's not how the blizzard website works. if you don't set your timezone on it, it defaults to GMT 0. just hover your mouse over the time on the article
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We did it reddit.
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im proud of blizzard for refusing to be a mouthpiece for these violent, anti-proletarian riots.
perhaps i'll go try out hearth stone
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"We've decided to add Mists of Pandiarrhea to WoW Classic for no reason other than because we know you all want it."

SpeedDemon20 posted...

Guys, I like playing Starcraft 2 ... Should I stop playing?
:(

Blizzard doesn't care if you stop playing a game you already paid them for.
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Destiny posted...

Ferarri619 posted...

And in related news, Blizzard has removed pre-orders for the expensive Mei statue.

it's not just that they removed pre-ordering

it's that they removed it from the store.

https://gear.blizzard.com/us/overwatch-mei-statue
https://www.blizzardgearstore.com/games/overwatch/mei/o-10494642+t-10948056+a-5693478+z-9-862748576

and the promotional video they made for it has been removed from their youtube channel.

this was something they were gonna sell...and now they aren't
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ninja_lootz posted...

Really don't get the backlash here. People want a corporation to side with some dude instead of the entire Chinese market?

It's just the fake outrage culture that we have going on right now.
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ANation posted...

ninja_lootz posted...

Really don't get the backlash here. People want a corporation to side with some dude instead of the entire Chinese market?

It's just the fake outrage culture that we have going on right now.

yes, i'm sure all the people in hong kong and china are faking their outrage right now
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Mei did nothing wrong, they're being sexist!
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Blizzard tells China they will protect China's pride.

Then tells U.S. decision had nothing to do with China.

Lol.
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Blizzard is right to have some sort of consequences for situations like this since when you sign on to be a pro player you most likely sign something where you agree to not use portions of the e-sports as a soap box to present your opinion on things like politics. Which is the reason they banned him. Now, the way they instantly reacted and the degree to which the punishment was would make anyone suspicious. Something like this should be "You're suspended for X games and you have a fine of X" but they went straight to "banned and you don't get any of your prize money."

Before checking this topic, I had no idea what happened and I honestly don't even know what's going on in China right now.
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AllstarSniper32 posted...

Blizzard is right to have some sort of consequences for situations like this since when you sign on to be a pro player you most likely sign something where you agree to not use portions of the e-sports as a soap box to present your opinion on things like politics. Which is the reason they banned him. Now, the way they instantly reacted and the degree to which the punishment was would make anyone suspicious. Something like this should be "You're suspended for X games and you have a fine of X" but they went straight to "banned and you don't get any of your prize money."

Before checking this topic, I had no idea what happened and I honestly don't even know what's going on in China right now.

The rule he broke basically said "blizzard can do whatever it wants"
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Zangulus posted...

I don't know what I'm talking about, but Blizzard was right.

Does Blizzard have in the pro-player contracts that they can't state their personal opinions about something like politics during official events? Especially during interviews? I bet they do.
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AllstarSniper32 posted...

Zangulus posted...

I don't know what I'm talking about, but Blizzard was right.

Does Blizzard have in the pro-player contracts that they can't state their personal opinions about something like politics during official events? Especially during interviews? I bet they do.

It does not, on purpose.

Rather, the writing is instead that Blizzard can fire or punish anyone at their own discretion if they disagree with what you said.

So political statements are not prohibited, only ones Blizzard disagrees with, which it decides on a case by case basis.
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ForteEXE3850 posted...

It does not, on purpose.

OK, so you're saying they don't, but the president of Blizzard specifically states

"Over the weekend, blitzchung used his segment to make a statement about the situation in Hong Kongin violation of rules he acknowledged and understood, and this is why we took action."

That makes it sound like they do in fact have those rules in place in some form.
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AllstarSniper32 posted...

ForteEXE3850 posted...

It does not, on purpose.

OK, so you're saying they don't, but the president of Blizzard specifically states

"Over the weekend, blitzchung used his segment to make a statement about the situation in Hong Kongin violation of rules he acknowledged and understood, and this is why we took action."

That makes it sound like they do in fact have those rules in place in some form.

This is the rule Blizzard themselves says was "broken".

Engaging in any act that, in Blizzards sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the players prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzards Website Terms.

Any action can be claimed to offend anyone. It's written in a way where no specific action is specified, it just says Blizzard gets to decide if you should be punished or not.
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ForteEXE3850 posted...

It does not

It does.

ForteEXE3850 posted...

Rather, the writing is instead that Blizzard can fire or punish anyone at their own discretion if they disagree with what you said.

It says that too.
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Eh, I understand, people dont want to have to hear about politics while watching something for entertainment.

Six months suspension much better fits as a punishment.

The shoutcasters shouldnt be punished though.
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