Updates on Blizzard/Activision controversial

[generalwu]

Content source

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/9/20907075/blizzard-activision-walk-out-player-ban-hong-kong-epic-games-fortnite-blitzchung

A couple dozen Blizzard employees walked out of work Tuesday in protest of the company’s decision to ban a professional Hearthstone player who voiced support for the Hong Kong protesters over the weekend, according to The Daily Beast.

The employees met at a giant statue depicting an Orc Warrior outside of the Activision Blizzard offices in California. According to the Beast, employees came and went as the day continued on and topped off at around 30 concurrent workers. Someone claiming to be a Blizzard employee posted a photo of workers sitting beside the statue on the r/Hearthstone subreddit, where it was met with praise from members of the Reddit community.

Earlier this week, Blizzard banned professional Hearthstone player Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung from participating in tournaments for a year after he yelled a pro-Hong Kong slogan during a post-game interview. “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age!” Blitzchung said with his mouth covered by a mask similar to what the protesters wear themselves.

Blizzard is also withholding any winnings Blitzchung would have received for his participation in this past weekend’s Grandmasters tournament.

In addition to its own employees, Blizzard has been blasted with criticism from lawmakers, other game developers, and its player communities. On Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said, “Blizzard shows it is willing to humiliate itself to please the Chinese Communist Party.” He continued, “No American company should censor calls for freedom to make a quick buck.”

Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, told The Verge that it would support the speech rights of its players and refuse to ban them for their political beliefs. “Epic supports everyone’s right to express their views on politics and human rights,” a company spokesperson said.

With Epic Games and US political parties chipping in, it'll be interesting to see how Blizzard/Activision wriggle its way out.
Insert *Grabs popcorn* meme here.

 

[blackice]

With Epic Games and US political parties chipping in, it'll be interesting to see how Blizzard/Activision wriggle its way out.
Insert *Grabs popcorn* meme here.

The NBA is in a similar situation. China just dropped several games from being televised. Very interesting how these situations are playing out.

 

[Handsome Recluse]

People are apparently unsubscribing to WoW en masse and Blizzard's allegedly disabling ways to do that.

 

[ErzCrz]

Oh Wow. I left Wow for SWTOR earlier this year, just more my thing having played it for 7-8 years. I'm sure this will kick off a lot of fuss but it's HearthStone so not their main engine. I bet they end up reversing it if someone big leaves.

 

[Kubla]

People are apparently unsubscribing to WoW en masse and Blizzard's allegedly disabling ways to do that.

From what I understand they are letting you unsub but not allowing you to delete/remove your account or personal information.

What is that saying? "You lay down with snakes you are going to get bit"

Blizzard is getting bit big time!

 

[Venustus]

 

[generalwu]

Everyday there're more news about them, YouTuber coverage at all times high.

 

[Gangelo]

Preventing people from deleting their accounts is a new level of lame and desperate...

 

[Venustus]

I suspect Tencent had some leverage here as they are part owner of Activision Blizzard.

 

[Venustus]

 

[ForgottenSeer 823865]

ummmmm... do you smell that genuine and vanilla hypocrisy...so exquisite like a rose bathed in a urine glass.

Darth Umbra say : the Dark Side is strong with you !

"bring the world's (wallets) together" yeaaaaaaah GG

"what is our purpose?" ummmmm...make money?

P.S: i will never forgive blizzard to perpetually nerf the Rogues in WOW and, at the 1st extension, reduce the instance's number of participants to only 20 instead of 40, which forced me to disband my awesome 240+ members' guild which was the 2nd ranked (progression-wise) on the server !

 

[Aggravatorx]

i have not played in a few years and did not know that about the rogues i had a good one but not anymore i guess and wow
you had a lot of people in your guild i did one guild once but they truly were no fun so i just ran around solo.which i knew
about yours.

 

[ForgottenSeer 823865]

wow
you had a lot of people in your guild i did one guild once but they truly were no fun so i just ran around solo.which i knew
about yours.

yeah, i had to run it as a CEO:
1- to become a guild member, one has to "apply" IRL via the guild site showing his character specifics (build, items, experience in instances) while agreeing about the requirements of the guild (4 hours availability in-game for the guild a day, farming items, etc... ), then the applicant will be tested on the field during 2 weeks (1st week during 5-men small instances, if he passes, the 2nd week into 40-men epic instances).
2- we had a dedicated PVP team, funded by the guild. Bunch of addicted mad guys playing WOW 20 hours a day to get the top ranks and get the uber-powerful sets...this team won't participate in instances but are required to clean the path for the PVM group to the instances entrances. basically they are the commando wiping other guilds' members who may try to ambush us.
3- we had 2 officers per class under my direct orders, giving me daily reports about their activities. For example i was Guild Master but also Rogue leader , so we used to be like 20-30 rogues divided in group of 5, going full stealth in the Horde cities to wreck havoc and gang in dark alley every horde people we cross. imagine a horde player victim of five 1000+damages ambush/backstabs at same time (one shot, one kill). Do it for 2 hours, we paralized the whole city. i remember them whining in forums LOL.
3- Every members , no exception, must farm 1-2 hours a day to fill the guild vault so our epic crafters can make epic stuff required for the PVM group.
etc...etc...etc...
4- as a Guild Master i had to solve issues between members , coordinate and plan guild instances for two or 3 40-men instance groups, lead the leader group in the instance via teamspeak, decide who will get the epic loots, log the members activities and behaviors, etc...

I slept barely 5 hours a day. the advantage i had ? best stuff in the guild (T3 at that time) , my Subtlety rogue had as much life as T1-2 warrior tank LOL.

 

[Aggravatorx]

thats alot of work that was the only thing that killed me was farm everyday the same thing everyday and i was solo you seemed to have your guild top-notch i believe i was in hell scream for a bit nothing like yours they had alot of people but never ran together so i left my main was death knight
i could take on five 100 pvp and win with ease but what you had is impressive only good thing is a boss dropped a trinket that made me the opposite side player always went into main cities with ease.causing hell lol but i loved the flying turtle shell that shot you out of the sky easy kill
i still which i was with you but like you said thats alot of work give you alot of credit