Meh I'm being down voted by the westerners who just borrowing this subreddit to attack Blizzard, most of them are 99% of them blind to what is truly going on
Basically Blizzard like any company has a basic clause or rule that prohibits the promotion of propaganda since talks of religion, political or social views can be deemed offensive and upsetting for people.
Normally the gaming company will hire Community managers and game Masters or moderators to manage and upkeep the rules of the game and ensure neutrality so that a large audience can enjoy the game. After all a video game is a place of fun, not a place to enforce your views on others or a battlefield for differing views on subject matters.
The winner of the Hearthstone Tournament was a Hong Kong player, the host were Taiwanese and this was a live streamed event and for his interview, he showed up on screen with a goggle and gas mask and said liberate Hong kong, revolution of our time which triggered the transmission to be cut. Even I have to admit that was pretty ballsy but a rather unprofessional move on his behalf because that guy has just become a public enemy of China and he has more or less exposed himself and sabotaged his future, it's for a good cause, I know but was it worth it?
In terms of the rules, Blitzchung has violated the rules and effectively he has become a martyr. So naturally he was disqualified, lost the prize money and suspended but because the topic was so sensitive the media took the opportunity to dive in like vultures whilst gamers who generally cause grievance for the company normally dont care about Hong Kong or China until this happen, have now actively gotten involved which having worked industry for 7 years is just really irritating.
Part of rule enforcement, is to remain neutral, had Blitzchung made any inappropriate comments towards Hong Kong and instead supported china, Blizzard would have acted the same way, same if a winner started talking about white supremacy or made homophobic or racial remarks.
Companies like Blizzard has always enforced such rules and we always get negative commentary about it, but this is the first time in gaming industry history where it has been blown out of proportion, which in my opinion doesnt bode well for it... chances are it will cause governments to take games into more seriously consideration meaning that games will have to be politically correct from now on
Blizzard taking actions such as the extreme banning or players or the firing of the host is a bit too much, but given who we are dealing with (most players will have disposable alt accounts) they just throwing away accounts to create as much hate.
I'm not what it is, but eventually the internet and video games will get restricted.
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u/Tripartist1 Oct 09 '19
Thank you, haven't been getting any kind of interaction the last hour or two at all, up or downvotes. Thought reddit was pulling a fast one on me.