Wednesday, October 9th 2019
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Blizzard Employees Protest Company's Blitzchung Ban
Blizzard employees protested the company's decision to ban Hearthstone player "Blitzchung" from an event for his opinions on the ongoing situation in Hong Kong SAR. Some employees covered up a portion of a floor decal in the company's office that read "Think Globally," and "Every Voice Matters," in protest. Blizzard's MMORPGs are "massively" popular in China, with Chinese Internet giant Tencent holding an equity stake. Some see the move to ban "Blitzchung" as the company "bending the knee" to China by taking a position on the situation in Hong Kong, instead of remaining neutral. The picture of a ruled piece of paper covering up the company floor decal with duct tape was tweeted by former Blizzard employee and eSports industry observer Kevin Hovdestad.
Source:
Kevin Hovdestad (Twitter)
59 Comments on Blizzard Employees Protest Company's Blitzchung Ban
US-China trade war --> all of a sudden HK situation escalated to the max --> max amount of propaganda against anything Chinese from msm
good old America never changes
hop along npcs!
As a British colony, Hong Kong enjoys a much higher standard of living compared to the rest of China. People were given better opportunities for education, medicine and living standards. Average salaries compared to mainland China are much higher(they are comparable to North American wages). Prior to power falling back to China, Hong Kong literally had 5x higher wages compared to China and working conditions were much safer because Hong Kong adopted a British model for their government, economy, education and medical system. Meaning Hong Kong adopted a post industrial revolution system meaning better worker safety, fairer pay, democracy and systems in place to increase living standards.
Prior to power being returned to China, Hong Kong was a 1st world(city/country) like Asian super powers like Japan, Taiwan or South Korea. The same cannot be said for most of China which mostly succeeded in becoming what it is today on the backbone of cheap labor, poor working conditions/standards combined with globalization and free trade.
All the above which make it cheaper to do business in China along with China's nationalistic protection policies mean there is a massive trade surplus meaning exports far exceed imports(go buy anything American or european in China and it is simply too expensive due to the tariffs). This means domestic business is good along with exports being really high which leads to high wealth accumulation which is why China economy is rapidly out growing(along with the catchup effect) most countries. This is not a fair policy for other countries because it prevents other countries from generating wealth which they need for reinvestment. And even with all this wealth and improvement, most of China live in 3rd world conditions.
As for the biggest difference and why people in Hong Kong are fighting so hard is they want to maintain some sort of democracy. China is trying to snuff it out and make it a communist state. If you ever heard of the Tiananmen square massacre where thousands of people were murdered for speaking up for democracy in China(people were literally ran over by tanks), you would realize how powerful an extradition law is toward killing democracy.
That's fine. I will take words of those who lived during both periods of time. Only ones who complained the most, were the ones who fled to buy up property in Vancouver BC to hide their millions.
As this post points out here www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/blizzard-employees-protest-companys-blitzchung-ban.259942/page-2#post-4130249
Anyway, the numbers shown don't lie either.
In any case, the experiment failed, it is a massive failure, what happened instead is; they created a massive monster, that didn't relinquish their ways, they build a massive army that can rival the U.S and they also further suppress their populace freedoms with their massive surveillance systems social credit score ratings. They slowly take over other countries by lending them money which they can't pay back, they know they can't and then take over sections of that said country. Then they too will live under the rule of this oppressive regime, having to bow the knee and scrape by for a living.
Now a picture should form as to why the businesses that have a stake in trading with China, hates the trade war going on between the U.S and China. Those companies would rather sell their freedoms and that of others so they can make a buck, these type of companies also create advertisements pushing socialism/communist agendas.
Stay vigilant. Bad times are coming.
That chart shows growth and productivity for the most part has been consistent prior to control by China. Did I say Hong Kong would go into a recession when it returned to Chinese power? No I didn't. There is going to be some economic benefit from the spillover from China becoming a more wealthy country which turns into investment in Hong Kong. But prior to that they were doing well and the growth isn't anything unusual when compared to other 1st world developed economies.
As a result, that chart shows is simply consistent growth and how healthy Hong Kong's economy and productivity were prior to even the chinese take over. if you look at the growth rate itself over that period of time, it is the same as the USA and Canada using the same source over the same period of time so it's not unusually strong(look for the USA and Canada data for GDP per capita).
Compare this to China's in the past and
the productivity and wealth were much worse off compared to Hong Kong prior to the take over.
Where the GDP per capita of China is around 3000 dollars, Hong Kong's is 22,000. So as I said, Hong Kong was doing well prior to Chinese control particularly compared to China. China was not doing very well until free trade and globalization made China the Ideal way for western companies to raise their profits. That is reduce cost in terms of manufacturing and labor to raise profits. Because wages in China were so low and China economy was undeveloped with little regulation, any savings when it came to manufacturing and labor would turn into profit for companies. This is why in the short run Wallstreet and capitalism love China and want to continue trade relation. However in the long run, this can have potentially a disastrous effect.
It's okay when it is largely unskilled manufacturing jobs because these jobs were not being doing by Americans or Canadians but when it starts hitting the middle class and hitting higher end jobs like Engineers, a brain drain starts(no demand for that job in that country) which results in the loss of an industry. E.g AMD graphic development. AMD graphics use to be developed in Markham Ontario. AMD could not afford it, so they layed off most of the engineers and off shored the development to China. What incentive does AMD have to bring all those Job's back to Markham when it can be done in China for 1/4 the cost(engineers make 25k there vs the 100k+ here). Now largely graphic development is gone in Canada which means that money is gone. Getting completely off topic, but what it demonstrates is why China's economy was allowed to explode compared to the rest of the world.
China has improved much more than Hong Kong with 566% growth vs 80-90% over the same period. Compare this to the growth and how much China has grown and it demonstrate the catch up effect I mentioned earlier. Undeveloped economy have the biggest room for improvement where healthy more modern ones stagnate because they have less room for improvement which allow undeveloped economies to catch up to developed ones.
Have you been to Hong Kong and China? As I mentioned having lived in both countries for a bit, on top of the benefits I mentioned earlier, the most noticeable benefit I enjoyed in Hong Kong is the people in regards to education and civility.
Where I feel Hong Kong is busy, it simply a controlled competitive environment akin to New York with a higher population density. Be fast and efficient and you will do alright. However in China the manners and behavior that are normal in Canada are not there. Go to China(even a developed city like Shanghai) and you will see the population is much different. You will see people take a dump in the middle of the road, you will see fights erupt over the smallest things, driving is chaotic and if your in a line, you better watch your place because someone will bud in front of you.
A good demonstration of this is when Costco opened up in Shanghai.
Even the Chinese Government acknowledges this behavior which is why the social credit system is in place. I have experienced this behavior first hand and almost got into violent altercations.
When I was in Hong Kong, a family from mainland China quickly bud in front of me after I swiped my subway pass and sent two of their members in after I swiped my card. While my girlfriend got through, I could not get through because the pass would not allow another activation so quickly. So she confronted the family and asked them to pay for another pass so I could go through. It soon turned violent when they started swearing and the mother in the family picked up their child and told the child to starting hitting my girlfriend while using the child as a human shield. As my girlfriend was starting to take swipe at the mother, the husband took a swipe at my girlfriend and I was forced to jump the subway gate. This grew to a tense standoff where eventually the subway police took the family away. This was not the last time, I would almost got into a fight with a Chinese family from China.
Since your in Alberta, you might be able to picture this one in your head. I had a wedding to go to in Banff and I had rented a Canmore Cabin. I was doing a late check in so my keys were put in a Mail Box near the front desk office according to the staff there. There were no keys in the mail box. When I called the clerk, they said they did not know what was going on and to check the Cabin which had been allocated to me. As soon as I got there, I saw that it was occupied and it was a Chinese family again from China. They did not leave and were not willing to leave. They knew it was my room, I paid for it and were caught red handed because my name was on the envelope which the keys were in which I saw was on the table. They started to shout and eventually the front desk Clerk had to drive down. The front desk told them to leave as well since they did not pay for the room. They started to shout and eventually the neighbors in the surrounding cabins were getting angry. Eventually, the front desk clerk told the people in the room they would have to pay in the morning and I had to give me another cabin because involvement of the police would cause too much of a disturbance late at night for the other guests. I talked to the clerk the next morning and the family had skipped the bill by packing up and driving off.
Don't get me wrong, the educated Chinese that come to Canada and having earned a degree in China are good hardworking people. But my rudest encounters have been with people from Mainland China and it behavior that other people have observed as well.
www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1251239/why-are-chinese-tourists-so-rude
I'll disagree with you as you do with me. I'm fine with that. Sorry your experience wasn't good. As a note, after traveling parts of Asia (India for most part), even British controlled areas people crapped on the side of the road. Other side of things, I could see how the British absolutely destroyed India's culture and stole the wealth (should see the temples were gold and jewels used to be). So I have no love or like for England nor it's conquests and rule of the past (for our British members - that doesn't mean I don't like Brits themselves. It's not average persons fault imo).
As for China growing so fast compared to HK, it may have to do with a lot of mainland China really did progress considerably during the 90's and early 2000's. Night and day transitions. Not all good in my view but a lot of it was. As for HK, well, it's like London or the rest - grow to a certain point but eventually that growth stops and stagnation hits. Yet HDI states HK in 2018 was above Norway. Which I would say is a huge plus.
The esports rules state that you dont bring anything political into the sport. Someone did, they got punished for it. Good cause or not, he broke the rule that he (and everyone else playing) agreed to.
Also, placing all your bets on China is not 100% full proof either, a region with 3 billion people in close proximity relatively speaking when you throw in India, and massive change coming to weather patterns, the Himalayan water supply might change within the next 20 years possibly crippling that part of the world, no one really knows. because the punishment was too much, yes of course you are allowed to have rules and enforce them, but firing even the casters? taking his prize money? that is overreach. suspend him for 1 year and be done with it, but they overreached here. also, the hypocrisy of Blizzards values... its engraved in large letters on their main campus - EVERY VOICE MATTERS- and apparently that is just hyperbole to them, Blizz used to be a company of the people, i remember buying warcraft 3 on launch day, it was this super tight nit community of gamers. that has been lost cause of Activision.
Bungie and Destiny 2 are cheering like hell they got away from Activision just in time ;)
if you can figure that one out, let me know.
As far as firing the casters, they too, are subject to the rules that Blizz created for their esport tournaments. They are not exempt. The casters allowed it to happen and knew it was coming because they "hid" under the desk. Which is bizarre imo.
Sure every voice matters. But again, do it on your own time, not on Blizzs' when you're in the middle of a tournament.
Whats the point of having rules in place if people are just going to break them, get their consequence, and the internet just blows up telling the company (blizz in this case) that they're wrong?
I'm glad I live in a place with good air quality though, so take care. :)
"someone doesnt believe in the same things i do so I cant support them"
What happened to the days of being able to disagree with ppl and still using a product/service/being friends?
Edit: Im from the older generation millennials and when I did something wrong, I got my ass whooped for it. The younger kids, they didnt have that because it is considered "abuse" now rather than discipline which is BS. So everytime something like this happens and some kid breaks a rule somewhere and gets disciplined for it, "well time to boycott! I broke a rule and i feel exempt from it!"
*When u start label the other side - stupidity / uneducated / moron, that doesn't prove anything but u are immature, period.
It doesn't have to be China, it can be Trump or Greens or whatever opinions one may have, the key is BLIZZARDS DECISION WAS AGAINST OUR VERY CORE VALUE - FREE SPEECH.
U break the rules u are out, simple as that. But fire 2 casters and rescind the prize miney is SUPPRESSION OF FREE SPEECH by taking side. And FREE SPEECH IS THE BACKBONE OF OUR DEMOCRACY. Thats the problem boy, its was not China.
Immature? I disagree. Seeing something from a point of view as being stupid, or people being moronic and/or uneducated is not immature.
Our free speech as in America? Or free speech as in china? I need clarification from you since youve lived in both. And seeing as you lived in China for 13 years, yes, you do get a say as youve lived in their culture for a significant amount of time.
I agree. You break the rules, youre out. Period. Even if its the broadcasters. You get caught cheating (not saying thats what happened here, just making a point) you get the boot and any prize money you won gets taken away. Period.
The three of them broke the rule of not bringing politics into the tournament. They got what they had coming. Casters fired, player banned and money taken away. That is blizzards right. Im all for free speech, but as I stated in a post elsewhere here, if youre going to fight for a cause, do it on your own time, not on Blizzards in the middle of a tournament.
That is against our value.
~~Speaking about free speech in China... do u know ALL KNIVES WERE OFF THE SHELVES DURING THEIR NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATION? No, u won't be able to buy a knive in Beijing without prior approval. Bizarre? Nay,just another day in China. U'll be thrown into prison for questioning a fake medicine in public, let alone those in power.