
BlizzCon 2019 Protest “Full-Steam Ahead,” Say Organizers - partingshots
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzcon-2019-protest-full-steam-ahead-say-organiz/1100-6470690/
======
CivBase
IMO, Blizzards actions have been borderline incompetent.

I completely understand them not wanting their platform to be used to make
political statements. This isn't like the NBA situation where Morey used a
private social media account to show support for his private political
opiniona. This was a platform owned by Blizzard with a very specific content
focus.

But banning Blitzchung for _any_ amount of time was just dumb. They have the
_right_ to respond that way, but it's still a dumb response.

They should have made a public statement following the incident that went
something like this:

"We encourage players and community members to express themselves. However,
our tournament coverage is a platform for Blizzard e-sports content only. Any
future use of the platform to express personal political opinions on sensitive
subject matter without Blizzard's express conscent will be met with punative
action."

Follow that up with a description of what that punative action would look
like.

I can't imagine any backlash to that. Many people would be unhappy, but I
doubt there would be protests or letters from congress.

Blizzard made a mistake and they are refusing to learn from it. Now they get
to deal with the fallout.

~~~
ekianjo
> "We encourage players and community members to express themselves. However,
> our tournament coverage is a platform for Blizzard e-sports content only.
> Any future use of the platform to express personal political opinions on
> sensitive subject matter without Blizzard's express conscent will be met
> with punative action."

How about let people say what they want and let the public judge by
themselves? Is that so hard to do nowadays? You just don't endorse anything
individuals say, that's all.

~~~
CivBase
I don't know about you, but I don't want every entertainment platform to be
consumed by political discussion. Sometimes you just want an escape and that's
something video games help provide.

Those discussions are worth having but there are already plenty of platforms
available to have them on.

~~~
ALittleLight
The part I find especially frustrating is the double speak. Why do they say
"We encourage players and community members to express themselves" while
punishing someone for expressing himself? Just be honest. "We discouraged
players expressing opinions that make it harder for us to sell in other
markets." That has the benefit of being honest, plus everyone knows it's the
truth anyway.

~~~
CivBase
It all comes down to the platform. A mod who takes down political threads on a
support forum is not "discouraging community members from expressing
themselves". They're moderating a forum with a specific content focus.

I definitely think it would be wrong for Blizzard to threaten any kind of
punitive action against a player who is making those kinds of statements
outside of Blizzard's platform.

------
prepend
Blizzard president Brack’s statement that their policy limiting player speech
is to “ keep the focus on the game and on the tournament."

This is curious in such an ad supported game and tournament coverage. Do
twitch ads take focus away from the tournament? A five second statement by a
player is nothing compared to all the non-game material within and around
broadcasts.

This seems to me to be some damage reduction strategy that didn’t focus group
its statements well enough.

~~~
tyri_kai_psomi
> “ keep the focus on the game and on the tournament."

I just can't help myself but draw the parallels to the NBA and their current
situation as well with China and the utter hypocrisy shown by everyone from
GMs to Coaches all the way down to players and media staff. When it came to
social issues and black incarceration and inequality in America they spoke up
bravely, and stated they wouldn't just "shut up and dribble" as LeBron
famously stated.

Steve Kerr, a long outspoken critic of Donald Trump famously stated in 2017,
"If you look at the history of the world, the biggest problems come when
people don't speak."

Now this is Steve Kerr in 2019 after the China controversy, specifically on
whether Morey shouldn't be fired: "I would hope that you appreciate my right
to not answer that question because all it does is create a headline"

Sure sounds like the players and coaches are now saying "let us shut up and
dribble" and "let us focus on the game"

~~~
chii
> social issues and black incarceration and inequality in America they spoke
> up bravely

people reveal their true values when they have to actually make a sacrifice.

~~~
prepend
I was having a similar conversation about how interesting it is that
celebrities are all for easy moral decisions like “you can pee next to me” but
when it comes to moral decisions that might hit their pocket book, they are
quiet and even suppressive.

Taleb’s Skin in the Game gets brought up a lot, but I think it’s safe for me
to assume that unless someone can suffer a loss, they are just saying blargh.

I know there are a few people who might buy less because they really hate
trans people (which is really terrible as people should not hate someone on
how they express their gender), but it’s not the same hit as 400 million
Chinese not buying my stuff.

~~~
tyri_kai_psomi
If you want to see someone who has skin in the game in the NBA, look at Enes
Kanter. The things he says about the Turkish government are putting his life
and his family's lives in actual danger. Makes the "sacrifices" your
Kaepernick and LeBron types have made seem pretty tame in comparison (aka not
really sacrificing anything)

------
seanalltogether
The fact that Blizzard is in a position to throw a 'Con' each year shows that
their games and lore are _way_ more highly valued then most games companies.
Could you imagine fans paying $230 to visit to an EA exclusive convention each
year? Not gonna happen with their reputation. Blizzard is at real risk of
losing this community they've fostered for the last 20+ years

~~~
entropea
> Blizzard is at real risk of losing this community they've fostered for the
> last 20+ years

I'm reminded of that image of people in a Call of Duty boycott on Steam,
playing Call of Duty. Blizzard will lose some money over the next couple of
weeks, but aren't at a real risk of anything.

[https://kotaku.com/what-modern-warfare-2-boycotters-are-
play...](https://kotaku.com/what-modern-warfare-2-boycotters-are-
playing-5403286)

~~~
minimaxir
That Call of Duty meme has long since been discredited.
[https://www.resetera.com/threads/so-you-posted-the-
boycott-m...](https://www.resetera.com/threads/so-you-posted-the-boycott-
modern-warfare-2-steam-group-picture.110009/)

~~~
dmix
Without seeing the other 17 pages this isn't really discredit it either...
they were just as likely to look the same as not.

Slacktivism is a very predictable phenomenon today. I'm seeing plenty of
examples of it in both the Blizzard threads today.

------
jpetrucc
Blizzard used to be my favorite gaming company. I remember when I was much
younger dreaming of being able to work there on World of Warcraft. I played a
ridiculous amount of WoW/Warcraft 3/Starcraft as a kid, and more recently a
decent amount of WoW/Hearthstone/Overwatch.

I had been a WoW subscriber for over a decade. WoW's quality has been in
decline (IMO) recently in BFA, and I stayed because I still occasionally
enjoyed it, but it no longer has the same magic that I remember. WoW Classic
brought back some of that nostalgia, but it was short lived for me.

BlizzCon last year made it pretty clear that Blizzard has shifted their focus
[0]. There is no way they were delusional enough to expect a happy reaction to
the Diablo Immortal announcement. It's very clearly targeted at the Chinese
market.

Their actions in the past month (and year) are very telling - they are no
longer the company I used to admire. I've canceled my WoW subscription as of
last week, and I've deleted all of their games from my devices. I know that my
actions alone/individually don't really have an impact on them, but I can't go
on supporting them after the things they've been doing recently. Bellular has
a pretty good video breaking down some of this situation as well [1].

It'll be interesting to see how BlizzCon goes this year.

[0]:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/9tsy49/blizzard_get...](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/9tsy49/blizzard_getting_booed_for_the_first_time_at/)

[1]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbPrbqE06Y4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbPrbqE06Y4)

~~~
SlowRobotAhead
>Their actions in the past month (and year) are very telling - they are no
longer the company I used to admire.

"Never meet your heroes".

------
Beltiras
My son-in-law has lived in China and confronted me about my boycott. His
position is that the content in Blizz games is kinda subversive to the
authoritarianism practiced by the CCP. No other gaming company has the breadth
of socially reformative messaging contained in WoW, Overwatch et.al. Should
Blizz perform corporate harakiri by appeasing the angry SJW (not spoken
derisively) in the West, the CCP would have no problem shutting down access to
Blizz and the population would hardly notice. They would however not be
exposed to the gaming content meaning the generational war with culture will
be lost.

I stood firm and maintained that CCP was now fighting with plutocracy for
changes to the culture in the west. An example is Marvel changing a Tibetan
male monk to a western woman. His contention is that even that change was
handled as well as you could expect. Even choosing the Celts as her culture is
a small poke at the Chinese for their oppression of the Tibetans. Making it a
woman even more so.

I'm still angry at Blizz and thinking about what he said. I will at the very
least boycott past the Nov. 7th earnings call to see how deep it runs.

He does have a point about the greater good. This might be the wrong target
for outrage.

~~~
Iv
This is how modern censorship works: let people have some limited margin, some
limited freedom of speech when they only talk to friends or to groups of 4-5
people. Monitor them though. Do not believe for one second that Blizzard does
not handle all the chat logs to the CCP.

Regular censorship must only happen when it matters: when millions are
watching. This is when you strike hard and uncompromisingly.

Shutting down Blizzard in China would be a punishment the CCP handles to its
citizens, and a proof to the world that it is not ready to be part of the
international culture. It comes with a cost as well. Dare them to do it.

> I stood firm and maintained that CCP was now fighting with plutocracy > for
> changes to the culture in the west.

I totally agree and this is a very strong red line to me. I reluctantly agree
that it is best that each country does not meddle too much into the national
policies of each other, but if China starts to push for universality of their
values, we need to stop being shy at pushing back ours.

------
me_me_me
This will be truly interesting to see.

I wonder what can Blizzard possibly do for this not to spiral out of control
and please West and China at the same time.

I do not envy their PR department right now.

But then again its all their own doing, so ready up the popcorn...

~~~
chii
they cannot please both.

They will have to ride out the bad PR in the west, because they cannot afford
to ride out the chinese market's dominance and profits.

~~~
sodosopa
the Chinese are 14% of their business. They could cut in other areas to make
up for that loss.

~~~
zipwitch
No. The _Asia Pacific region_ is 14% of their business. That certainly
includes China, but it isn't all China.

[https://www.statista.com/statistics/269665/activison-
blizzar...](https://www.statista.com/statistics/269665/activison-blizzards-
revenue-by-region/)

~~~
sodosopa
Even better. That means less cuts in their business to take the right stand
for freedom.

------
rosybox
My 11 year old daughter has been looking forward to her first BlizzCon all
year. She has been saving her allowance money so she can buy some d.va gear.
She's been planning her cosplay, she's working with her mom to sew a d.va
dress together based on a skin she likes. Everyday I walk her to school she's
telling me her next Overwatch plan. I understand the protests, I'm angry
myself at Blizzard's actions, but I'm not about to break her heart over my
political opinions. Blizzard isn't going to be the only one hurt by what's
happening.

~~~
dmix
Not everyone has to be a political activist, especially an 11yr old. Life is
short and full of competing priorities, I doubt it will get much worse because
a father and his daughter didn't protest.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Hopefully no one harasses those who still decide to go or causes any violence.
That never helps anyone.

------
burger_moon
I haven't been following this Blizzard situation (debacle maybe?) too closely
but does anyone know which has had a greater affect on American's humanitarian
interests in Hong Kong, was it Blizzard or the NBA?

It's hard to tell if I'm seeing Blizzard and gaming show up more because of
tech overlap but both seemed to have a huge impact on increased discussion
among people around me. It really brought a lot of exposure to people who
don't follow the news that closely, ime anyways.

~~~
chii
blizzard, by drawing attention and banning the HS player, has inadvertently
caused their own PR nightmare. If they just left it alone, there would've been
less issues, and the media wouldn't be discussing it at all.

~~~
romanovcode
> and the media wouldn't be discussing it at all.

But the Chinese government might. And that might be much worse for them.

~~~
falcolas
Unless Activision Blizzard plans to move their HQ to China, having the US
government talking about you in a very negative light is likely worse for
them.

~~~
deminature
The playerbase for some of their games is apparently as high as 70% China-
based [1]. We can't verify this, because Blizzard doesn't release that
information publicly, but if even remotely true, losing access to the Chinese
market would be financially devastating.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSAlh9l-c7Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSAlh9l-c7Q)

~~~
falcolas
Blizzard does not release player numbers, but as a public company, they do
release their financials.

Per Activision Blizzard's investor calls, approximately 10% of their total
revenue is from China. So, with a profit margin of 25% and profits in the
billions, Activision Blizzard is not going to go bankrupt even should they
lose all their Chinese income.

~~~
deminature
Would you be impressed as a stockholder of a company that experiences a 10%
reduction in revenue, voluntarily through an avoidable action?

~~~
falcolas
If the action is in support of morals I (and much of the US) believe in,
absolutely.

Money is not everything. I think it's a shame that so many are willing to
support a company who will ditch their morals for just a bit more profit.

EDIT: This isn't just a hypothetical either, ATVI is on a blacklist of stock
that I will not purchase. I hope others will do the same.

------
cm2012
Blizzard is more vulnerable to financial boycotts than other companies:

1) Their product is only used for fun. 2) They have subscription products that
aren't used all the time, and thus easy to cancel if someone is reminded they
have it.

I would be surprised if their next quarters earnings projections didnt take a
nose dive.

------
ajuc
Blizzard counts on revenue from China making up for the revenue lost due to
censorship.

Gamers in the west hope Blizzard is wrong.

~~~
zipwitch
Gamers in the rest of the world can all do our part to _make sure_ Blizzard is
wrong.

------
fareesh
At this rate Blizzard will move Blizzcon to China

~~~
NotSammyHagar
That would be the ultimate capitulation. So I expect it.

------
iddqd
Best protest is to not attend, offline or online. Ignore the news they share.

------
slater
So, Winnie-the-Pooh outfits for everyone?

------
ericol
I think that's the _ruling party_ way of things: They usually try to
obliterate into particles whoever dares to oppose them. Or whoever crosses
their path; or whoever they don't like for whatever reason. Just take a look
at the Uyghurs situation.

* edited because it seems people where taking offence on I miss using the word Chinese instead of "ruling party", that is actually what I meant.

~~~
falcolas
How did their idiom go?

"We'll grind you up and crush your bones."

Sure, it is just an idiom, but it speaks to the thoroughness of their
punishments.

EDIT: This is a direct, and recent, quote from Xí Jìnpíng when discussing
(with foreign leaders) how the Chinese government will treat anyone who tries
to split or sew dissent in China.

~~~
dang
Please don't take HN threads further into nationalistic flamewar. It's not
what this site is for.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

------
lovetocode
Blizzard needs some OG leadership to come in and fix their situation. I hate
seeing my childhood get ruined.

~~~
Razengan
Like the Ship of Theseus, I don't think Blizzard is the same company you grew
up with any longer.

------
bovermyer
As long as the protesters don't disrupt the experience that I paid for too
much, they can do whatever they want.

After weighing the facts carefully, I've decided that Blizzard was justified
in penalizing the Hearthstone player, justified in penalizing the two casters,
and truly abysmal at managing public relations.

My position on Hong Kong is unchanged. I'm still firmly of the belief that
China needs to grant Hong Kong full autonomy and/or independence, and that
China needs to stop trying to extend its morally bankrupt censorship beyond
its own borders.

~~~
madez
Protest is supposed to interrupt, to be there where it isn't wanted. It is
supposed to be inconvenient and blocking.

~~~
stronglikedan
If you stand on the side of the road with your signs, I may read your signs,
and I might even be sympathetic to your cause. If you block the road with your
signs, I definitely won't read your signs, and I definitely won't be
sympathetic to your cause. Same for any type of violence.

~~~
madez
That might be true. If 500.000 people block every big street in a city, you
will read the signs and think about the cause. What a protest can afford
depends on how many are protesting.

Going to the specific event in question, the convention of Activision
Blizzard, if one person tries to blocks the event with protest, they will be
removed, if necessary by physical force. If sufficiently many block the event
with protest, the protest will be successful.

