re: Blizzard removes a player from Hearthstone tourney over HK comments

So this circus continues as Blizzcon looms at the end of the month.

Blizzard employees staged a walk out in defiance of their company.

Mark Kern, former lead of WoW speaks out against Blizzard.

Overwatch team assistant coach makes tweet critcial of Blizzard, Blizzard comes down on him.

Quote from Tommy (One of the Taiwanese commentators who was fired in the initial Hearthstone stream that led to this):
Pretty confident this is just a rough translation, so don't be surprised by grammar oddities etc.

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Today, I am a commentator,
The stage where the winner speaks is what he earned.
Let him talk is my job.
I did my best to complete my work according to the picture that Blizzard gave me.

The result is that it destroys your reputation and ends the cooperation.
Thank Taiwan Blizzard for the help and compensation in the process.
But for the entire "Blizzard" decision,
I can't accept it.
In the past four years, from gamer to player to commentator ,
I don’t mention much how much I invested.
In addition to the work already agreed at this stage
"I will not participate in any broadcast of Blizzard games in the future"
"I won't play any Blizzard games anymore in the future."

You have your business considerations, I have my principles,
even if the broadcast accounts for most of my income.
I don't know where to go after four years of hard work.
But I really can't agree with you.
Finally, I want to send a word of Blizzard.
#EveryVoiceMatters

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Hearthstone caster 'ThatsAdmirable' steps down, statement:



Update on the university team
Per the tweet above:

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Blizzard/TeSPA has decided not to penalize American University for holding up their sign and has scheduled their next match, but AU has decided to forfeit the match and the season, saying it is hypocritical for Blizzard to punish blitzchung but not them

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There also appears to be a very large demand spreading for people to show up to Blizzcon in pro-HK gear, including Winnie the Pooh outfits.
We have officially went from:
"Do you not have phones?"
to
"Do you not have human rights?"
What a fricking timeline.

Had already canceled my wow sub, dont follow the nba, and have never done apple products.

Yeah I'm holding off resubbing until they make a move. Their silence is deafening so far.

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Their silence is deafening so far.

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That's what is the most mind-boggling out of all this. The NBA were a bunch of bitches in this regardless, but they made a statement even if it was little more than trying to appease both sides while they ride that fence like it's a damn horse. Blizzard? Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The opposite of full. It's just, so bizarre honestly.

I really don't know how else to interpret their silence except as given China a big ol thumbs up of support in hopes that they make mega bank in the mobile market there. IF Blizz stays silent on this long term somehow (which I doubt will last with Blizzcon tbh), it'll be up to American consumers to donkey punch their wallet at that point. If they start hemorrhaging money here in the States in a significant way, that's the statement that will force them to make a decision.

Regarding companies bending the knee to China and boycotting, as I've gone on tirades about it on the MSB, there is a sheer practical ceiling to how much of 'Made in China' shite you can cut out of your life before you can no longer shop anywhere. This is the fault of the US as a whole for becoming so heavily intertwined with China in terms of trade.

Now, the boycotting in what ways we can, especially in moments like this where it is DIRECTLY correlated to bending the knee to China in the public light is one of the only times where heavy boycotting of China is not just practical, but effective. The effective part depends on the US populace of course. Ideally, as a nation, we would not be so intertwined with China, but that's another discussion I feel.

ETA: For the record, I'm not discouraging boycotting companies that bend the knee to China in anyway. I'm on board with the idea, cause frick communism. I'm just talking about the reality of the situation here in the States, which is unfortunate.

I already boycotted EGS, but will do so further because Epic is controlled by Tencent.

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firefox

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Chrome had 'em in the first half, not gonna lie.


Firefox has made amazing strides over the years, though. My only issues in the past were the memory leaks from extensions.

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Anyone coorp who says "stay away from politics" now after posting a shite ton of rainbows a few months ago can frick off. Unbelievably hypocritical.

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Exact reason the NBA is still getting fricking annihilated on this, and a heavy part of the reason Blizzard is still getting arse pounded in every corner of the internet that gives a remote shite.
NBA - Kerr, Pop, Lebron etc. with political statements, and how they have the right to make political statements with their platform without being judged.
Insert China: "Yeah, I'm not really educated on this topic, lemme get back to you on that." or Kerr last night, "But American gun control"

Blizzard - Just fricking stupid Although my favorite part of it might be the fact that they still have the plaque out front of that one studio saying, "EVERY VOICE MATTERS." The hypocrisy is thick enough to cut with a knife.

Blizz can't stop stepping on their own dicks.

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Gay World of Warcraft guild forced to change name because of user complaints

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Ars Technica received word on Thursday that the "GAY BOYS" guild within the recent World of WarCraft Classic fork had its name changed late Wednesday to the machine-generated gibberish "Guild ZFXPK." An email, apparently sent by Blizzard Customer Service, indicated that the guild's name-change process began because "your fellow players reported your in-game name as inappropriate multiple times." From there, the email cites "a thorough investigation" that also led to the guild's creator receiving a temporary account suspension. The suspension was later overturned, but the guild's name remains "Guild ZFXPK."

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Update, 12:58 p.m. ET: Blizzard still hasn't responded to our questions, but the guild's original "GAY BOYS" name has since been reinstated, according to members of the guild. Jilani forwarded a screencap of Blizzard's latest customer service message to the guild, which begins, "I too would hate to lose my account if the account was caught up in something some [sic] thought was violating the TOS/EULA and got the guild renamed, and I'm bummed yours was."

After confirming that the guild name should be back to normal and citing a "careful investigation of your account warning," the unnamed moderator made clear that this kind of automatic takedown may very well happen again: "There isn't a way to stop people from reporting this name, as some find the way the term is used offensive. If you get actioned again, you can appeal like this, and we can look at it once more. For now, though, you have your guild name back!"

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LINK

That's because WoW isn't really entertaining to watch. The classic hype was going to die down controversy or not.