I think most reasonable people recognize that Blitzchung broke the rules, and the Blizzard was allowed to do what it did.
I think the sticking point for reasonable people (and many of the posts in this thread have certainly not been reasonable) is that the punishment was overwhelmingly draconian, especially in light of how Roger and Shaxxy were treated with kids gloves for actually cheating just a few months ago.
Blizzard's heavy-handed response leads a lot of people to understandably believe that they did not make this decision alone, and instead were influenced/directed by less-savory actors. And that's disconcerting.
The punishment seems harsh but the severity of breaking wasn't equal in both cases. Those players had cheated, that is true, but this one called for a political revolution on the official HS stream. Mind you, this isn't calling for a political revolution against, for example, Trump. This is calling for a political revolution in a country where things are already on the knife's edge and even the most minor incident can lead to drastic consequences. It is a different situation altogether.
I honestly doubt Blizzard would have reacted the same if Firebat showed up with a Donald Trump Mask. Would they have done something? Most likely.
Would the punishment have been spoken so harshly, fast, including firing Frodan and TJ? Pretty sure not.
And to believe the Hearthstone community would exist, forget and act as if nothing happened until the next expansion, seems very naive.
Read what I wrote above.
Yes, the community will forget come Blizzcon, as the always do. Remember at the start of the year when there were massive firings at Blizzard and everyone was in an outrage? How long did that last? A month? Two months? How long did the community uphold its values? Yes, I'm naive while the company is doing better than it ever has.
The situations are different, yes. But they are they only high profile examples of Blizzard's record of punishment that we have to work with.
I would argue that compromising the competitive integrity of the game is a much worse than a person making a political statement in a post-match interview. It appears you do not, which is your right.
I would add, however, that the revolution is already happening. I don't think an e-sports player's support would really change things one way or the other.
I disagree with what Lulchina said in a few posts earlier about not making a difference. It doesn't matter if this makes a difference for Blizzard or not. It's about letting your voice be heard. If everyone would think nothing would make a difference no one would bother to say something. Every voice counts, and all those voices still make for a loud message.
Hong Kong will definitely not be forgotten when Blizzcon starts. The Hong Kong protests will likely go on for months, and if China does crack down on them with their military it will have even more of an impact during Blizzcon.
China is turning into an authoritarian surveillance state, where every part of the daily life of Chinese citizens will be monitored. There's China's treatment of the Uyghurs and how they're wiping out their culture, there is oppression and censorship in all corners of their society, there is the social credit system which grades people on being a good and obedient citizen; there is imprisonment and torture for those who dare to speak out against the government, they're driving other countries out of the South Chinese Sea, they're threatening Taiwan with invasion and they're threatening any country which dares to criticize them.
I would like to join in the boycott but the problem is: there are no viable alternatives to HS as digital CCG. Magic arena sucks because of the broken shuffler and unfair matchmaking. They literally match you with decks that are of equal rarity-level meaning boring mirror matches over and over.
Shadowverse has the most subversive business practice I have ever seen. The game is so broken on steam you can literally wipe your account and not qualify for a refund. That is right, the game has a bug which allows the player to accidentally delete his own account. Not sure what they are doing is legal. Grossly unethical.
Hex is a joke. A laughing-stock of the industry. Is this game even alive?
All other games such as Elder Scrolls and Eternal are pretty generic.
I disagree with what Lulchina said in a few posts earlier about not making a difference. It doesn't matter if this makes a difference for Blizzard or not. It's about letting your voice be heard. If everyone would think nothing would make a difference no one would bother to say something. Every voice counts, and all those voices still make for a loud message.
Hong Kong will definitely not be forgotten when Blizzcon starts. The Hong Kong protests will likely go on for months, and if China does crack down on them with their military it will have even more of an impact during Blizzcon.
China is turning into an authoritarian surveillance state, where every part of the daily life of Chinese citizens will be monitored. There's China's treatment of the Uyghurs and how they're wiping out their culture, there is oppression and censorship in all corners of their society, there is the social credit system which grades people on being a good and obedient citizen; there is imprisonment and torture for those who dare to speak out against the government, they're driving other countries out of the South Chinese Sea, they're threatening Taiwan with invasion and they're threatening any country which dares to criticize them.
Remember when people thought that their voices being heard regarding Activision firings at the start of the year would make any difference or send any message that will have any impact on the company at all? Yes, how did that go? Oh, wait, it didn't.
Speaking of which, this fake outrage will last as long as that one did. In two months nobody will care anymore.
I would like to join in the boycott but the problem is: there are no viable alternatives to HS as digital CCG. Magic arena sucks because of the broken shuffler and unfair matchmaking. They literally match you with decks that are of equal rarity-level meaning boring mirror matches over and over.
Shadowverse has the most subversive business practice I have ever seen. The game is so broken on steam you can literally wipe your account and not qualify for a refund. That is right, the game has a bug which allows the player to accidentally delete his own account. Not sure what they are doing is legal. Grossly unethical.
Hex is a joke. A laughing-stock of the industry. Is this game even alive?
All other games such as Elder Scrolls and Eternal are pretty generic.
Umm, may I ask what is so "non-generic" about hearthstone - crappy mobile client with its clunky menus, childish color diarrhea of the latest sets, overpowered cards, the lack of proper graveyard mechanics or maybe his majesty Random?
I would like to join in the boycott but the problem is: there are no viable alternatives to HS as digital CCG. Magic arena sucks because of the broken shuffler and unfair matchmaking. They literally match you with decks that are of equal rarity-level meaning boring mirror matches over and over.
Shadowverse has the most subversive business practice I have ever seen. The game is so broken on steam you can literally wipe your account and not qualify for a refund. That is right, the game has a bug which allows the player to accidentally delete his own account. Not sure what they are doing is legal. Grossly unethical.
Hex is a joke. A laughing-stock of the industry. Is this game even alive?
All other games such as Elder Scrolls and Eternal are pretty generic.
Umm, may I ask what is so "non-generic" about hearthstone - crappy mobile client with its clunky menus, childish color diarrhea of the latest sets, overpowered cards, the lack of proper graveyard mechanics or maybe his majesty Random?
And every single thing that you've mentioned was completely subjective.
The mana system is non generic, the hero power system is non generic, the combat system is non generic. Those three are all mechanical innovations which made the game stand out in the first place.
This “luichina” is just a 14 years old fanboy that likes to support a dictatorship country and a corrupt enterprise
Considering they completely omitted one of the main points, which is was the punishment appropriate, I think most sound thinking people are just ignoring this person. I mean they started off their main argument by literally calling people stupid, you just get ignored when you start a point like that, and deservedly so.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you thought you knew what you think I know, then you'd know I knew you knew I know.
Lmao nothing is going to happen especially when Americans around the country cheered the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick. Nothing is going to change and people are just gonna go back to playing their video games.
The problem is that many fanboys who grew up playing StarCraft, Diablo and Warcraft games have felt Blizzard has been leaving them for a long time already. D3 auction house, milking old franchises rather than polishing new genres and "do you have phones" to mention a some.
I don't know how many will pull the plug on them, but it is the latest turn in a downward trend.
It is a good thing some Blizzard employees are protesting at least!
To all the critics, do you stop buying cheap product from China as well?
I dont want to spam this forum with my comments about Blizzard and "the situation".
But i will reply to this one:
It doesnt matter if we will. Because some people think we should do 100% or nothing. Either support all charities or none.
Either help one person or none. Its always better to do something instead of doing nothing - so yes - being completely isolated from China is almost impossible.
I dont think i need to boycott blizzard products - and call others to do it. Its just company i adored in my childhood - i spent very good time then with classic games. Now this company show no moral backbone and adopts to disgusting censorship. I dont need to boycott, because it disgusts me...
This “luichina” is just a 14 years old fanboy that likes to support a dictatorship country and a corrupt enterprise
Considering they completely omitted one of the main points, which is was the punishment appropriate, I think most sound thinking people are just ignoring this person. I mean they started off their main argument by literally calling people stupid, you just get ignored when you start a point like that, and deservedly so.
Calling this "fake outrage" only shows this user "Lulchina" has no idea what he/she is talking about....
To all the critics, do you stop buying cheap product from China as well?
It's not that easy, bro. China is too powerful to be ignored from one day to another in our daily lives. We should continue buying their products and be "friendly" with them until it's time to stop. They don't have to see it coming or at least not be sure when it will happen. Remember, stabbing in the back is much more effective than doing it in the front... XD XD XD
This “luichina” is just a 14 years old fanboy that likes to support a dictatorship country and a corrupt enterprise
Considering they completely omitted one of the main points, which is was the punishment appropriate, I think most sound thinking people are just ignoring this person. I mean they started off their main argument by literally calling people stupid, you just get ignored when you start a point like that, and deservedly so.
Calling this "fake outrage" only shows this user has no idea what he/she is talking about....
Exactly. No one would ever say Tianamen square is something that will be forgotten within a few months. This is on that scale!! Censoring this is less about politics and more about censoring a disaster to keep the culprits happy. People who say "grow up, rules are to be followed," seriously? Don't you have any sense of nuance or critical thinking to see that sometimes, just sometimes, rules enable bad things, and there are circumstances that make rules worth breaking?
To those people who say "well then why do you have chinese products," wow you really can't wrap your head around supporting something without changing your whole life around it? Yes, we are all just behind keyboards, not out there doing more meaningful work, but there is no pressure on Blizzard without any of us doing this. This is making the news because of every single voice.
Saying that this will blow over is one thing. It's a possibility, sadly, that people will forget without Blizzard ever changing. Does that mean it's not worth trying, beyond the tiniest sliver of hope? THE PEOPLE OF HK HAVE BEEN PROTESTING FOR MONTHS! (oh but it's against the rules so I guess they're wrong then). The least we can do is offer our support in any way we can, including voicing outrage again Blizzard for censoring it.
Tldr: People opposing the outrage think either 1)against the rules hence justified, 2)it won't last, not worth it, or 3)you have to also not buy chinese products apparently to deserve being outraged. All those arguments are stupid.
Fair enough. Put your money where your mouth is. My DMs are opened, I'll create a battlenet account and post it here. Send me your battlenet tag and we'll see how long will this ''I'll uninstall and never play Blizz games or support them ever again'' last. Fuck me sideways if this lasts any longer than the last outrage, the firings outrage, lasted.
Fuck, at least that one guy on reddit had actual balls and DEd his entire collection on livestream.
@Lulchina
I honestly doubt Blizzard would have reacted the same if Firebat showed up with a Donald Trump Mask. Would they have done something? Most likely.
Would the punishment have been spoken so harshly, fast, including firing Frodan and TJ? Pretty sure not.
And to believe the Hearthstone community would exist, forget and act as if nothing happened until the next expansion, seems very naive.
The punishment seems harsh but the severity of breaking wasn't equal in both cases. Those players had cheated, that is true, but this one called for a political revolution on the official HS stream. Mind you, this isn't calling for a political revolution against, for example, Trump. This is calling for a political revolution in a country where things are already on the knife's edge and even the most minor incident can lead to drastic consequences. It is a different situation altogether.
Read what I wrote above.
Yes, the community will forget come Blizzcon, as the always do. Remember at the start of the year when there were massive firings at Blizzard and everyone was in an outrage? How long did that last? A month? Two months? How long did the community uphold its values? Yes, I'm naive while the company is doing better than it ever has.
The situations are different, yes. But they are they only high profile examples of Blizzard's record of punishment that we have to work with.
I would argue that compromising the competitive integrity of the game is a much worse than a person making a political statement in a post-match interview. It appears you do not, which is your right.
I would add, however, that the revolution is already happening. I don't think an e-sports player's support would really change things one way or the other.
I disagree with what Lulchina said in a few posts earlier about not making a difference. It doesn't matter if this makes a difference for Blizzard or not. It's about letting your voice be heard. If everyone would think nothing would make a difference no one would bother to say something. Every voice counts, and all those voices still make for a loud message.
Hong Kong will definitely not be forgotten when Blizzcon starts. The Hong Kong protests will likely go on for months, and if China does crack down on them with their military it will have even more of an impact during Blizzcon.
China is turning into an authoritarian surveillance state, where every part of the daily life of Chinese citizens will be monitored. There's China's treatment of the Uyghurs and how they're wiping out their culture, there is oppression and censorship in all corners of their society, there is the social credit system which grades people on being a good and obedient citizen; there is imprisonment and torture for those who dare to speak out against the government, they're driving other countries out of the South Chinese Sea, they're threatening Taiwan with invasion and they're threatening any country which dares to criticize them.
I would like to join in the boycott but the problem is: there are no viable alternatives to HS as digital CCG. Magic arena sucks because of the broken shuffler and unfair matchmaking. They literally match you with decks that are of equal rarity-level meaning boring mirror matches over and over.
Shadowverse has the most subversive business practice I have ever seen. The game is so broken on steam you can literally wipe your account and not qualify for a refund. That is right, the game has a bug which allows the player to accidentally delete his own account. Not sure what they are doing is legal. Grossly unethical.
Hex is a joke. A laughing-stock of the industry. Is this game even alive?
All other games such as Elder Scrolls and Eternal are pretty generic.
Remember when people thought that their voices being heard regarding Activision firings at the start of the year would make any difference or send any message that will have any impact on the company at all? Yes, how did that go? Oh, wait, it didn't.
Speaking of which, this fake outrage will last as long as that one did. In two months nobody will care anymore.
Umm, may I ask what is so "non-generic" about hearthstone - crappy mobile client with its clunky menus, childish color diarrhea of the latest sets, overpowered cards, the lack of proper graveyard mechanics or maybe his majesty Random?
And every single thing that you've mentioned was completely subjective.
The mana system is non generic, the hero power system is non generic, the combat system is non generic. Those three are all mechanical innovations which made the game stand out in the first place.
This “luichina” is just a 14 years old fanboy that likes to support a dictatorship country and a corrupt enterprise
Favorite Cards: 1. Lord Jaraxxus | 2. Malygos| 3. Edwin VanCleef | 4. Zephrys the Great| 5. Deathwing
Considering they completely omitted one of the main points, which is was the punishment appropriate, I think most sound thinking people are just ignoring this person. I mean they started off their main argument by literally calling people stupid, you just get ignored when you start a point like that, and deservedly so.
If you thought you knew what you think I know, then you'd know I knew you knew I know.
I wonder if Ben Brode saw it coming...
I dont want to spam this forum with my comments about Blizzard and "the situation".
But i will reply to this one:
It doesnt matter if we will. Because some people think we should do 100% or nothing. Either support all charities or none.
Either help one person or none. Its always better to do something instead of doing nothing - so yes - being completely isolated from China is almost impossible.
I dont think i need to boycott blizzard products - and call others to do it. Its just company i adored in my childhood - i spent very good time then with classic games. Now this company show no moral backbone and adopts to disgusting censorship. I dont need to boycott, because it disgusts me...
Calling this "fake outrage" only shows this user "Lulchina" has no idea what he/she is talking about....
It's not that easy, bro. China is too powerful to be ignored from one day to another in our daily lives. We should continue buying their products and be "friendly" with them until it's time to stop. They don't have to see it coming or at least not be sure when it will happen. Remember, stabbing in the back is much more effective than doing it in the front... XD XD XD
Exactly. No one would ever say Tianamen square is something that will be forgotten within a few months. This is on that scale!! Censoring this is less about politics and more about censoring a disaster to keep the culprits happy. People who say "grow up, rules are to be followed," seriously? Don't you have any sense of nuance or critical thinking to see that sometimes, just sometimes, rules enable bad things, and there are circumstances that make rules worth breaking?
To those people who say "well then why do you have chinese products," wow you really can't wrap your head around supporting something without changing your whole life around it? Yes, we are all just behind keyboards, not out there doing more meaningful work, but there is no pressure on Blizzard without any of us doing this. This is making the news because of every single voice.
Saying that this will blow over is one thing. It's a possibility, sadly, that people will forget without Blizzard ever changing. Does that mean it's not worth trying, beyond the tiniest sliver of hope? THE PEOPLE OF HK HAVE BEEN PROTESTING FOR MONTHS! (oh but it's against the rules so I guess they're wrong then). The least we can do is offer our support in any way we can, including voicing outrage again Blizzard for censoring it.
Tldr: People opposing the outrage think either 1)against the rules hence justified, 2)it won't last, not worth it, or 3)you have to also not buy chinese products apparently to deserve being outraged. All those arguments are stupid.
I fully agree... "They may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!!!"
Sad
fair decision by Blizzard.
know your role and shut your mouth "the rock"
That's not funny, dude...
Fair enough. Put your money where your mouth is. My DMs are opened, I'll create a battlenet account and post it here. Send me your battlenet tag and we'll see how long will this ''I'll uninstall and never play Blizz games or support them ever again'' last. Fuck me sideways if this lasts any longer than the last outrage, the firings outrage, lasted.
Fuck, at least that one guy on reddit had actual balls and DEd his entire collection on livestream.