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Blizzard Suspends Professional Hearthstone Player for Hong Kong Comments

(playhearthstone.com)
2525 points hownottowrite | 4 comments | 08 Oct 19 09:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.77s | source
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enriquto ◴[08 Oct 19 10:15 UTC] No.21190547[source]▶
People should start boycotting western companies that perform this kind of humiliating bowing to China, Saudi Arabia, etc. Yet of course, most companies are doing that...
replies(1): >>21191461 #
deadbunny ◴[08 Oct 19 12:27 UTC] No.21191461[source]▶
I thought Western companies had to pursue profits at all costs? China is a big juicy market.
replies(4): >>21191710 #>>21192287 #>>21193143 #>>21193777 #
alkonaut ◴[08 Oct 19 15:13 UTC] No.21193143[source]▶
I expect companies to do what’s morally right not merely maximize profits while doing anything that is legally acceptable. I expect leaders of companies to do what’s morally right while explaining to shareholders that if they disagree they can sell their shares or replace them. I have zero respect for a manager at Blizzard or the NBA who decides to try to pull what they did this week.
replies(1): >>21194792 #
1. closetohome ◴[08 Oct 19 17:37 UTC] No.21194792[source]▶
Except in many cases they are legally required to maximize profits, regardless of ethics, so long as their actions are strictly legal.
replies(1): >>21197069 #
2. greycol ◴[08 Oct 19 20:48 UTC] No.21197069[source]▶
It is part of our moral duty to punish a company for ignoring public good rather than excuse it as what a company must do. That's because if a company is punished financially (say by boycott) for making immoral decisions then they must follow a more moral course to maximize their profit.

Personally I don't think this is enough especially as companies become more pervasive and the confusion of subsidiaries which make it next to impossible to boycott the largest offenders, but that is fixed in the political sphere rather than the economic one.

I'd even expect the 'correct' long term 'required' choice for blizzard is to ignore any blow back and focus on the Chinese market. Still in this case shareholder focus being all about current quarter profits might help as company leadership might be more focused on keeping the shareholders happy than serving long term profit.

replies(2): >>21197246 #>>21199226 #
3. closetohome ◴[08 Oct 19 21:04 UTC] No.21197246[source]▶
I agree. My point is that holding companies liable to an ever-shifting window of public opinion about their actions is not as long-term a solution as addressing the parts of the system that encourage or require their behavior.
4. mr_toad ◴[09 Oct 19 01:53 UTC] No.21199226[source]▶
> I'd even expect the 'correct' long term 'required' choice for blizzard is to ignore any blow back and focus on the Chinese market.

So, the shareholders would be for practical purposes passive investors in what would become a defacto Chinese run company?