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Blizzard Suspends Professional Hearthstone Player for Hong Kong Comments

(playhearthstone.com)
2525 points hownottowrite | 22 comments | 08 Oct 19 09:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.932s | source | bottom
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alimbada ◴[08 Oct 19 11:24 UTC] No.21191021[source]▶
It's a shame but I feel like the majority of gamers won't care. They'll either be ignorant of this or they'll just shrug and continue playing. I boycotted Activision and by proxy Blizzard when Activision acquired them a long time ago but their continuing success shows I'm part of an extremely tiny minority.
replies(6): >>21191050 #>>21191153 #>>21191228 #>>21191321 #>>21191792 #>>21193140 #
1. abbadadda ◴[08 Oct 19 11:56 UTC] No.21191228[source]▶
At this point it goes far beyond just gamers. From the NBA to Google, this effect is everywhere. To be explicit, the effect is U.S. firms letting China dictate what they do or do not care about on a global political scale.
replies(5): >>21191273 #>>21191354 #>>21191446 #>>21191878 #>>21192744 #
2. thedudeabides5 ◴[08 Oct 19 12:03 UTC] No.21191273[source]▶
Seems like a modern kowtow. Relevant:

https://amp.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1877753...

3. pimmen ◴[08 Oct 19 12:15 UTC] No.21191354[source]▶
If the Western governments could maybe grow a pair and call out how this is very unfair maybe something would happen.

I work for one of the largest news publishers in the Nordics, and we were criticized for letting the CCP take out a full page ad in our largest newspaper that essentially said "no need for the Western governments to get involved, this is an internal issue that is best handled by us". Our editor in chief of that paper responded with this:

"Now we have the moral high ground. Until the Swedish government can take out a full page ad in The Global Times criticizing the CCP we can use this as one of many examples of how China does not value freedom of speech, but we do."

replies(1): >>21191487 #
4. squarefoot ◴[08 Oct 19 12:25 UTC] No.21191446[source]▶
If a game publisher can (whether directly or not) nuke the job of a journalist for a review and get away with it, I'm not surprised at all when a government does something along these lines.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/21/gaming-the-...

replies(2): >>21191500 #>>21195360 #
5. boardwaalk ◴[08 Oct 19 12:30 UTC] No.21191487[source]▶
There is unfortunately a gaping hole where United States leadership should be and I don’t feel the companies or countries that used to be able to “follow the leader” have figured how to deal with it.

Good on your paper for having the some fortitude.

replies(1): >>21192181 #
6. mcny ◴[08 Oct 19 12:32 UTC] No.21191500[source]▶
It happened with a journalist on a gun magazine as well. Lifelong second amendment supporter blacklisted for not spewing exactly the party line. This makes me wonder whether the whole right to bear arms things is AstroTurf at this point.
replies(3): >>21193145 #>>21193282 #>>21198090 #
7. MaupitiBlue ◴[08 Oct 19 13:14 UTC] No.21191878[source]▶
Let’s not forget Marriot’s capitulation last year.
replies(1): >>21192345 #
8. peacelilly ◴[08 Oct 19 13:43 UTC] No.21192181{3}[source]▶
> gaping hole where United States leadership should be

I've seen this exact wording a lot recently. Is this the new propaganda line everyone parrots? I must have missed the previous administration's strong stance on ANYTHING AT ALL dealing with international relations, besides killing people from the sky. When did the previous administration lead on anything and not just bow down (literally bowing) to international leaders.

Sorry, the gaping hole in leadership was filled with someone who cares about the USA.

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9. goatinaboat ◴[08 Oct 19 13:57 UTC] No.21192345[source]▶
Or Gap https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/05/15...?
replies(1): >>21193303 #
10. kllrnohj ◴[08 Oct 19 14:34 UTC] No.21192744[source]▶
> From the NBA to Google

You probably want to use a different example than Google here. Particularly since Google doesn't have a China presence because they refused to censor search results, and relationships there still appear to be less than solid to say the least. Your statement works with most U.S. firms, but very much doesn't at all for Google in particular.

replies(2): >>21193169 #>>21193235 #
11. shadowgovt ◴[08 Oct 19 15:13 UTC] No.21193145{3}[source]▶
Do you have more information on this?
replies(1): >>21193231 #
12. shadowgovt ◴[08 Oct 19 15:15 UTC] No.21193164{4}[source]▶
> the gaping hole in leadership was filled with someone who cares about the USA

[citation needed], I wouldn't trust the guy with international business interests to actually have America's best interests at heart over his own if the two don't align.

No real dispute with your criticism of the previous leadership though.

13. the_resistence ◴[08 Oct 19 15:15 UTC] No.21193169[source]▶
Goog has research labs in SH and elsewhere.
replies(2): >>21194217 #>>21195164 #
14. mcny ◴[08 Oct 19 15:20 UTC] No.21193231{4}[source]▶
Edit: his name is Dick Metcalf

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/business/media/banished-f...

https://archive.fo/v5b1x (use this link)

15. gowld ◴[08 Oct 19 15:20 UTC] No.21193235[source]▶
Google tried censored search (including spyware search) and was fought off, and tried again and was fought off, and may try again.
16. gowld ◴[08 Oct 19 15:24 UTC] No.21193282{3}[source]▶
The NRA has clearly converted to an arm Republican Party.

The GOA competes with the NRA because they find the NRA more pro-Republican than pro-gun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Owners_of_America

I'm not sure if there is a gun organization that promotes more nuanced theory of partially-limited gun rights but not just shilling for a party.

17. gowld ◴[08 Oct 19 15:26 UTC] No.21193303{3}[source]▶
That one is more likely a case of "islands are not part of a country, because disconnected components are hard", like the US "lower 48"
18. Gigablah ◴[08 Oct 19 16:47 UTC] No.21194217{3}[source]▶
If merely hiring people in China is objectionable now, you have a really long list of companies to work through
19. bm1362 ◴[08 Oct 19 17:10 UTC] No.21194467{4}[source]▶
How about the Iran Nuclear deal? Or is that a bad example?
20. kllrnohj ◴[08 Oct 19 18:08 UTC] No.21195164{3}[source]▶
And yet they still have no consumer products in China, and still redirect search to Hong Kong, and still do not participate in any censorship efforts.

This should be applauded and supported, since it's pretty much what people want others like Blizzard to do as well. Google is much closer to a gold standard to follow with their approach to China than they are to being lumped in with the NBA or Blizzard.

21. RulingWalnut ◴[08 Oct 19 18:24 UTC] No.21195360[source]▶
Gerstmann's firing was widely reported at the time, he immediately turned around and created an influential gaming website that's still successful today, and Kane and Lynch didn't do well. Not a great example.
22. abawany ◴[08 Oct 19 22:43 UTC] No.21198090{3}[source]▶
Businesses too: there has been massive hatred directed at Dick's Sporting Goods when it changed its arms sales mix in response to a large shooting last year [1]. Gun makers such as Springfield took heat for trying for stepping even a smidgen out of line [2] resulting in an abrupt volte-face.

[1] https://www.racked.com/2018/5/10/17339690/dicks-sporting-goo...

[2] https://gunstoday.com/why-is-everyone-boycotting-springfield...