Blizzard Suspends Professional Hearthstone Player for Hong Kong Comments

Blizzard is 100% fine with their games having a political message when they think it gives them free brownie points (announcing various characters as being explicitly gay), but are complete total cowards when it might cost them something.

Being gay isn’t political.

No, being gay itself is not a political decision, but making a big deal about how progressive you are as a company because your game has gay characters is very much a political statement.

The whole point is that it is considered as political in quite a few countries. (and even where it isn't, it is considered as such by quite some people)

(yes, this might change in the future, but we're talking about today)

Making characters in a video game gay probably shouldn't be a political statement, but at least today it still is.

Human rights aren't political! (of course they are)

Not according to the pro diversity. For them having gay characters is a bid deal.

I am completely unaware of blizzard tooting their own horn for being progressive about having a gay character.

Undoubtedly they’ve used gay and lesbian characters in marketing, but marketing towards gay and lesbian people is, again, not a political statement in and of itself.

What exactly are you trying to say? Blizzard has indeed used pride flag in marketing materials and that is a VERY political statement

Do not mistake a giant faceless corporation’s product marketing decisions for anything other than the soulless money grubbing than they are.

If Blizzard actually were so politically progressive, perhaps they might not be in this situation of backlash.

This comment sounds like you agree that they're doing fake political progressiveness for marketing purposes. So do you rescind your previous comment?

That's...exactly his point. You just 180-ed.

True, if you are privileged enough for that to be your immediate reality

I don’t believe that they’re “doing politics”.

Think of them as widget-collecting aliens who understand nothing about humans but are told that by putting a rainbow on a trinket they can collect more widgets.

There is nothing political about it, it’s just a function of maximised self interest.

Huh. You have a very different definition of politics than I do. I'd even say that insincerely aligning yourself with a political group is even more of a "doing politics" move than sincerely doing so.

That excuses utter amorality way too easily, Blizzard is run by people, not robots or aliens.