by wei_jok on 10/8/19, 6:55 AM with 93 comments
by alpaca128 on 10/8/19, 7:19 AM
That's pretty close to "Blizzard can remove you from Grandmasters as soon as you open your mouth". Sad to see such a cowardice from corporations, although in the case of Blizzard it was kind of to be expected after all their visual modifications to Hearthstone in order to appeal to the chinese market.
by orisho on 10/8/19, 7:22 AM
He put on a gas mask and called for liberation of HK. I'm with him, but I definitely see why Blizzard has the rule in place, and it would not be right to overlook this - they would then have to be OK with others doing other protests. Blizzard should not pick a side.
by Iv on 10/8/19, 7:26 AM
https://www.pcgamer.com/blitzchung-removed-from-hearthstone-...
I am a huge starcraft 2 fan. But from now on, I'll refrain talking about it. Boycott Blizzard. They support Chinese censorship.
I am so sad. That was a company I really loved.
by Rainymood on 10/8/19, 7:25 AM
by cheeze on 10/8/19, 7:24 AM
We've seen it from the NBA, Blizzard, Disney, and the like. The fact of the matter is that if you want to do business in China, you have to be open to censoring things that they don't like.
by zeouter on 10/8/19, 7:39 AM
They are implicitly making an example of this, thereby sending a political message.
by __s on 10/8/19, 7:32 AM
by mister_hn on 10/8/19, 7:07 AM
Here you have the power and the dark side of the cloud: one click and it's game over
by playing_colours on 10/8/19, 8:42 AM
Be a hero, a revolutionary, a pirate, feel encouraged to work hard, explore more, improve yourself, rebel, but only there in a safe artificial illusion, virtual world they built for you. In real life, do stay a passive compliant consumer, a source of money (or energy like in Matrix).
This chasm seems to keep widening with the progress in technologies like VR, and this way of organizing a society is very convenient for businesses and people in power. Welcome to Coward New World!
Ingenious next steps in this direction would be to seamlessly integrate our jobs into artificial reality, so that people can sustain themselves, make money for corporations and people in power - do all this staying totally immersed in the illusionary world. Get exclusive game currency, bonuses to your stats from your employer for a good work. Mmmm, I want to write a book about it :)
by sawaruna on 10/8/19, 7:23 AM
by ngcc_hk on 10/8/19, 8:54 AM
You have to kill Winnie the pool per South Park advice. You have to ... there is choice when you have to no freedom.
by prepend on 10/8/19, 12:34 PM
What’s curious is that it now pits free speech vs China with Heartstone own Kaepernick. The NFL issue, I think, was two social groups (kneeler vs people upset by kneelers) with NFL/Nike/etc in the middle.
This new situation has a social group (players/free speeches/HK) vs a state (China) with Blizzard/etc in the middle.
It’s curious how Blizzard so quickly picked their side while NFL and Nike are still not going all in on one side (NFL didn’t ban, just no one hired player).
by craftoman on 10/8/19, 10:08 AM
by jimbob45 on 10/8/19, 7:38 AM
Also Tencent owns a portion of Activision Blizzard. That would be my guess for who is pulling the strings behind this specific incident.
by Debugreality on 10/8/19, 7:56 AM
by ohashi on 10/8/19, 7:20 AM
by x220 on 10/8/19, 7:20 AM