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Blizzard In Hot Water With Lawmakers For Hearthstone Player's Ban (theverge.com) 170

jimminy_cricket writes: Due to the ban placed on a Hearthstone player for supporting Hong Kong protestors, Blizzard is now receiving criticism from U.S. senators. "Blizzard shows it is willing to humiliate itself to please the Chinese Communist Party," Sen. Ron Wyden said, according to The Verge. "No American company should censor calls for freedom to make a quick buck." "Recognize what's happening here. People who don't live in China must either self censor or face dismissal & suspensions," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in a tweet on Tuesday. "China using access to market as leverage to crush free speech globally. Implications of this will be felt long after everyone in U.S. politics today is gone."
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Blizzard In Hot Water With Lawmakers For Hearthstone Player's Ban

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  • Damned either way. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RightSaidFred99 ( 874576 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @06:39PM (#59290284)

    The smart thing is to ban any kind of political speech at these games. Nothing pro-this, or anti-that. Play your stupid games, say thanks if you win money, and then go do whatever the hell you want outside of that.

    You can bet a lot of people would have been happy as hell if Blizzard took his winnings and gave him a perma-ban if he had said something like "there are two genders, exactly two". So there's just no way to win other than not to play the fucking game at all, tell people to keep their fucking yaps shut with regards to anything outside of the game at any event you sponsor.

    • by xevioso ( 598654 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @06:55PM (#59290354)

      It turns out that beyond the games, people have opinions on political matters. Saying that the only speech allowed is non-offensive or -non-political speech is itself a political statement. Blizzard is learning this the hard way and if they dont figure out how to thread the needle, Blizzcon will be a mess very shortly.

      • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Not really, politics and religion is fun to twist and screw with in forums of all kinds. Do it in gaming and you are just an arsehole and expect to be ignored and hopefully banned. People play games to have fun and escape, fucking specifically. What to play politics and religion in gaming, well, fuck off. Ban and ignore, GOOD.

        Political cunts will be in a mess when gamers tell them to fuck off. Plenty of places to mouth off, leave gaming chat the fuck alone.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • by Shaitan ( 22585 ) on Thursday October 10, 2019 @12:00AM (#59291002)

            Remember the late 90's and first 12 years after the turn of the millenium when we were all joking about our differences in a healthy way without any real hostility? How the hell did militant PC assholes escape their pens and somehow become mainstream? Seriously, there is way more actual racism/sexism/whatever now than in 2010 and it just seems to feed on itself.

            • by Rockoon ( 1252108 ) on Thursday October 10, 2019 @12:57AM (#59291104)

              How the hell did militant PC assholes escape their pens and somehow become mainstream?

              We call it "the press"

              Seriously, there is way more actual racism/sexism/whatever now than in 2010 and it just seems to feed on itself.

              Which is it? Are there more PC assholes, or is racism/etc rising?

              "The press" has decided that everything is racist. Even math. [cnn.com]

              Racism isnt on the rise. The number of things claimed to be racist is on the rise.
              Sexism isnt on the rise. The number of things claimed to be sexist is on the rise.

              "The press" doesnt care about being honest. They arent here to help you. They dont even like you. They care about money. They want your outrage clicks.

              • by Shaitan ( 22585 )

                "Which is it? Are there more PC assholes, or is racism/etc rising?"

                Both. First of all almost every concept pushed by the PC police is in fact racism/sexism and has everyone looking at everything through that lens. Second people who are frustrated and resentful of being treated this way start to direct it and they are looking back through the same lens.

                "Racism isnt on the rise. The number of things claimed to be racist is on the rise.
                Sexism isnt on the rise. The number of things claimed to be sexist is on th

            • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

              by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday October 10, 2019 @01:29AM (#59291140)
              Comment removed based on user account deletion
              • Shit, mate, you just made me want to play Democracy 3 again and make Germany a communist country (again) :)
                It's really hard to achieve that in game, but possible.

            • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              They went to business school and think of this in terms of maximising profit.

              Take Blizzard as an example. How many customers will they lose in the West over this, compared to how many would they lose in China if they were banned or got lots of negative publicity? Obviously they are going to pick the one that makes them the most money.

              Similarly Nike and Gillette calculated that pissing off some people would make them more money from all the people who enjoy pissing off the first group. Actually Trump did the

    • Re: (Score:5, Insightful)

      by srichard25 ( 221590 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @07:08PM (#59290396)

      I feel so sad where this country is headed. Freedom with thousands of rules about what you can't do and can't say is not freedom.

    • by Guspaz ( 556486 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @07:19PM (#59290434)

      The smart thing in this instance would have been to cut away from the interview, delete the VOD, warn the guy off-camera, apologize to the Chinese market if required, and then simply pretend it never happened.

      Instead, by going scorched earth and then doubling down, they've opened one hell of a can of Streisand.

      • The smart thing in this instance would have been to cut away from the interview, delete the VOD, warn the guy off-camera, apologize to the Chinese market if required, and then simply pretend it never happened.

        Yes, but that's not what China wanted, so that's not what China got. They're paying the piper, so they get to call the tune.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      The smart thing is to ban any kind of political speech at these games. Nothing pro-this, or anti-that. Play your stupid games, say thanks if you win money, and then go do whatever the hell you want outside of that.

      You can bet a lot of people would have been happy as hell if Blizzard took his winnings and gave him a perma-ban if he had said something like "there are two genders, exactly two". So there's just no way to win other than not to play the fucking game at all, tell people to keep their fucking yaps shut with regards to anything outside of the game at any event you sponsor.

      Why? So the spectators/fans of a given event can venerate people who are douchenozzles?

      I get it that competitive events are a filter, eliminating those who are less skilled at that event than their peers. Be it darts, car-racing, hot-dog eating, long-distance running, or e-sports, the core purpose is to identify the skilled, and to praise them. But... if some of the best are inherently bad or ignorant people isn't it a Good Thing to let them reveal themselves as such so we can shun them?

      Yes, you're

      • by Shaitan ( 22585 )

        "But... if some of the best are inherently bad or ignorant people isn't it a Good Thing to let them reveal themselves as such so we can shun them?"

        No, because one thing has nothing to do with the other. It really is that simple. If you are celebrating anything other than skills it is you who is doing something wrong. Someone who is extremely gifted/talented/skilled at a high level deserves respect for that skill.

        If you are looking for the least douchey person, by your definition of which things matter in th

    • by physicsphairy ( 720718 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @08:19PM (#59290624)

      What you are arguing for is the status quo. It was an interview after the match, and this was Blizzard's statement on their policy,

      Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s 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 player’s prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzard’s Website Terms,

      But having people not able to comment on things isn't apolitical. "No one can talk about this" is China's preferred policy, and one they enforce adamantly for topics such Tiananmen square. Restricting the contexts in which speech can occur will always favor whoever wields the most power. They aren't the ones who must rely an situation and opportunity to make their voice heard (if they even need it to be heard at all).

      If Blizzard wants to "not play they game" they can adopt a policy of "we do not monitor our player's comments but can refer you to an email account they have access to and will cooperate with any applicable legal proceedings should you be unable to come terms."

      • by Shaitan ( 22585 )

        They really can't. China is a horrible dictatorship engaged in crimes against humanity. The executives of companies who profit from them are just as guilty as they are. We wouldn't allow Blizzard to keep the proceeds of looking the other way and taking a cut of drug money being laundered through their virtual currency but profiting from ignoring crimes against humanity and genocide is cool?

        There is a huge profit potential in killing my well insured spouse as well but you know I'm just going to have to not t

    • All the more reason to say "fuck you" to cancel culture.

      • This is the opposite of cancel culture. If anything we need the SJWs to come out and cancel Blizzard/China when they pull crap like this.
        • by Pyramid ( 57001 )

          "This is the opposite of cancel culture. If anything we need the SJWs to come out and cancel Blizzard/China when they pull crap like this."

          Cancel culture is literally a way to punish people for their speech. It is *exactly* cancel culture.

    • by Shaitan ( 22585 )

      That isn't even a remotely similar issue. Either Blizzard is still claiming to be a US company entitled to US resources, rights under citizens united, and tax deductions or they have no loyalty to the United States and should receive none of those things. If they are still claiming to be a US company this goes way over the line because there are US citizens in Hong Kong.

    • What about sports players thanking the god(s) for their scoring a point/run/touchdown/etc., signing a cross or pointing to the sky as if anointed?

      I find this personally insulting to the players, genetics and practice got them there.

      Does god(s) pick the winners of our sports games?

      I would find that sad given the misery many people suffer.

    • Blizzard was in charge of the interview, right? It used official graphics so I assume it was an official streaming event. Why did they live stream it? If they had prerecorded and edited it, they could have just hacked that off and saved themselves all this trouble. I'd say "Are they new?" but I know they've been around for ages, so I guess they're just incompetent.

      I've bought a bunch of Blizzard games, and a few Activision games. Both are dead to me now. No great loss these days, but anyway.

    • by Ksevio ( 865461 )

      You can bet a lot of people would have been happy as hell if Blizzard took his winnings and gave him a perma-ban if he had said something like "there are two genders, exactly two".

      Huh, so you're saying that people would be happy if a company took an action that's pro-human-rights, but are mad about a company taking an action that's anti-human-rights? Wonder what the difference is...

  • Only the start (Score:5, Insightful)

    by arbiter1 ( 1204146 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @06:50PM (#59290326)
    If China is allowed to keep on doing this then its only gonna get worse and worse.
    • Re:Only the start (Score:4, Interesting)

      by youngone ( 975102 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @06:59PM (#59290368)
      Waddaya mean "allowed"?
      When China began opening up they allowed western corporations access under the rules they set. They also reserved the right to change the rules at any time, and the gluttonous capitalists swarmed in with dollar signs in their eyes.
      If you want access to the Chinese market you have to accept that and Blizzard know that as well as anybody.
      Rubio is as hypocritical as every other politician. If the Chinese thought he had any value, they would offer him a lucrative "speaking" engagement, or seat on some board, and he would take the cash and shut his mouth.
      • Hard to get paid to shut your mouth if you never open it in the first place. It's not really any different than some of the other noise makers that get cushy analyst positions or get brought on to provide some form of "expertise" to the company.
    • Remember when POTUS asked NFL owners to ban #takeaknee protesters? Welcome to China.
      • by Shaitan ( 22585 )

        Not everything which is true at one scale is true at another. The POTUS, the NFL, and the players were not in any part a dictatorship engaging in crimes against humanity, concentration camps, genocide, etc.

  • Good. Blizzard Entertainment needs to go away now and it's owners start rummaging dumpsters for their survival.
  • by Narcocide ( 102829 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @06:55PM (#59290352) Homepage

    (They've repeatedly shown they're willing to humiliate themselves to kowtow to Microsoft and NVidia, too. I don't see any significant difference here. This is in character for them; Lawful Evil alignment.)

  • by Mystiq ( 101361 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @07:10PM (#59290408)

    Not to let them off the hook, but Blizzard isn't the only one. Rubio is making an example of them for whatever reason (probably because the game industry doesn't stuff their fucking pockets enough) but you also need to take a shit on the NBA and FIFA and I forget whatever other companies did similar bullshit self-censoring.

    It's not fair to put all the heat on Blizzard. I'm not a fan of what they did but don't forget the other companies. China's government is a piece of shit and is abusing their position. I wish companies around the world would finally take a stand against them. I don't have the power to do shit against them.

  • by hackingbear ( 988354 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @07:11PM (#59290412)

    I'm quite sure that freedom of speech is [pbs.org]no longer an American value [wikipedia.org].

    If someone post a racist comment, what will happen if Blizzard wouldn't remove it? For that matter, what happen if it'd remove the comment?

    Why isn't there any of mentioning of the Clippers in any of the American/western coverage of this NBA/Hong Kong event?

    From this, the only thing I can conclude is that double-standard, hypocrisy, and political correctness (with respecting to the American society) are the new American values.

    • From this, the only thing I can conclude is that double-standard, hypocrisy, and political correctness (with respecting to the American society) are the new American values.

      America is full of human beings. Double standard, hypocrisy and political correctness is standard for all cultures of the modern world, since humans are involved. If you know of an exception, please inform me.

      At least I can say I haven't been criminalized for offending people's religious feelings.... [coe.int] yet. It's probably better to just stick to looking at the bigger picture, like if we'll let global corporations dictate the terms for participating in the online public square, or let them pick winners and l

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by hackingbear ( 988354 )

        But at least China doesn't keep claiming to have freedom of speech everyday nor criticizing others not having freedom of speech everyday.

        If your own country doesn't even have real freedom of speech, why do you care so much about China not having freedom of speech?

        If your country tortured Muslims in Gitmo and locks up infants and toddlers in detention centers, why do your government have any morale and rights to criticize China over the handling of Muslim?

        If your media and government don't even dare to menti

        • Good to know what the semi-official view from China is.

          I'm not an American and from my perspective the American voters have a choice between right-wing and extremely right-wing. However, at least their voters do get a choice, and other parties and independent candidates are permitted, unlike some countries.

          The American media is uniformly awful at reporting world news, but there are other sources available. They do not prohibit outside news from entering the country to protect 'national security' unlike som

        • What are you talking about? The First Amendment guarantees are some of the strongest free speech protections in the world. It's not perfect -- we're finding out that the government isn't the only powerful force that can curb speech, but it's still a hell of a lot better than China, where speaking out against the government could easily end up with you being imprisoned long-term and possibly tortured if they think you have useful information about other "instigators."
  • What's next? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @07:44PM (#59290516)

    A news outlet that can't talk about how the Chinese gun down protesters because they'd else no longer buy ad time on their channel?

    Watch out where this is heading.

  • If you value the freedom of speech granted by the US constitution then you have to defend Blizzard's right to censor on its own platform. If they punish a subscriber even though they haven't broken the platform's terms of service then that's a consumer rights issue but otherwise I don't see a legal problem. Morally, of course, it's a different story. Also, if people can't change to a different, freer platform to avoid Blizzard's terms of service then maybe there's an anti-trust angle here. In the short

    • If you value the freedom of speech granted by the US constitution then you have to defend Blizzard's right to censor on its own platform.

      I don't see why that is true. The constitution doesn't say much about "owning a platform" either way.

    • If you value the freedom of speech granted by the US constitution then you have to defend Blizzard's right to censor on its own platform.

      I do! They have every right to take down the video. IMO they even have a right to ban the player from future events. I don't think they have the right to deprive him of prize money after he already won, though. And if they want control of what they stream, then they're going to have to prerecord. Then the video never goes up in the first place.

      TV stations don't put loose cannons on live events, sports aside, for a good reason. At minimum they run a delay so they have the option to bleep/cover, or switch awa

  • I live in Florida, and I know the Right Dishonorable Senator Marco Rubio all too well. I do admire his nerve in casting stones, sort've, just because it takes massive brass balls (blatantly not his). The enemy of my enemy is not my friend and may they all swirl down the toilet with a loud gurgling noise.

  • by Darkling-MHCN ( 222524 ) on Thursday October 10, 2019 @12:11AM (#59291022)

    The price of freedom seems to be pretty quantifiable these days, I think China is getting the bargain of the century.

  • Mei has been adopted as a symbol of the HK resistance i the hope of getting overwatch winnie the poohed.
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_XJxqnxzaY

    In fallout 4 there is a surgical mask in the 2nd floor of the pickman gallery. plus a few umbrella related mods on the workshop.
    get screenshotting
  • How about hong kong? Any decent beer over there?

  • If Blizzard takes on the role of censor, they should also accept the risk of being sued for what players say on their platform. After all they have now taken responsibility for what is posted in their chat. They're not just a common carrier any more.

    Anyone want to point that out to their legal department??

  • "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
  • by twocows ( 1216842 ) on Thursday October 10, 2019 @11:03AM (#59292642)
    I think a lot of businesses looked to China as an untapped market and felt obligated to tap it, lest their competition beat them to it. I think China's starting to prove that maybe it's a riskier investment than initially thought, and I think you're going to see companies and investors re-examining their assumptions here.

    For the moment, Activision's hands are forced. They don't want to be the bad guys (reports are a lot of employees are pissed about this), but their strategy relies on the east Asian mobile market. If they pull out, one of their major expansion opportunities dies. Investors bail, they lose money that could have been used to explore other opportunities, etc. It's a downward spiral that doesn't end well. They have no choice here -- they have to be China's bitch, at least for now. Maybe if there's enough will to do so, they can rethink their strategy, but the execution would take years.

    Activision's banking on this being a relatively small incident. The number of people bailing is relatively small, people will move on quickly, some of the people who bailed might try to get back in (I suspect accounts are only being soft-deleted), etc. Even if they're wrong and it turns into a major incident, their hands are tied. They have to ride it out for now unless China themselves reverses course. It sucks, I doubt anyone wants to be China's bitch, but that's the bed they made and now they have to sleep in it.

    Full disclosure: I currently own a bit of stock in Activision-Blizzard. I'll probably sell after the next positive earnings report because I'm not confident in their long-term strategy anymore -- I think China's going to prove to be too risky in the long run. As long as they don't cave to pressure though, I think this will blow over for now and they'll do well enough to recover just fine in the short term. Sucks, I don't think anyone's happy with this situation. I hear employee morale is very low at the company right now and I believe it.

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