News and Commentary: Blizzard's Removing Hong Kong Gamer From Tournament Sparks Calls for Boycott, Debate on Free Speech

By Bixyl Shuftan

I had hoped to make my next article related to Blizzard about it's upcoming version of World of Warcraft in which the heroes go up against a horrific enemy of the likes one sees in a Lovecraft novel, and there are a couple new player races to choose from, the half-machine Mechagnomes for the Alliance and the foxlike Vulpera for the Horde. With the latter, some Second Life friends were looking forward to going about as fluffy-tailed folks and wisecracking jokes like, "What’s a Vulpera’s favorite dance? The fox trot." Some of us whom had gotten out of the game due to both lighter interest and it's subscription fee got back in. This included yours truly, whom last week returned and signed up for a few months as some good gaming friends would be spending time there, so I thought.

But there's been some news in the world of gaming that has given some of us second thoughts about adventuring in Azeroth, and it isn't about the content of the game, but the actions of the company that owns it, Blizzard, concerning another of it's games, Hearhstone.

Last weekend, there was an Asia-Pacific Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament. Among those taking part was Ng "Blitzchung" Wai Chung of Hong Kong. He won, and when interviewed afterwards, he declared his support for the protests going on in the city, "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time," wearing a mask and goggles much like what some of the protesters have been wearing. For those who haven't been paying attention much to news from Asia, over time the government of China has made a number of demands on the autonomous city of Hong Kong which many of it's inhabitants feel break the promise it made of letting them govern themselves when Britain ceded control of the city over twenty years ago. This includes that anyone running for office there has to be approved by China's government. Months ago, Hong Kong's council was set to vote on a bill that would mean anyone in the city charged with a crime by the Communist government would be subject to arrest by local police and deportation. Since then, many of the people of the city of 7.5 million have been protesting in the streets. Over 2300 have been arrested so far and over 2000 injured. There is no end in sight to the protests.

Blizzard responded by taking down the video of the interview (though copies of it can be seen elsewhere), and on Tuesday October 8, the company stripped Ng of his prize, and banning him from Hearthstone tournaments for a year. They stated that he had violated one of the rules of the game, "Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the player’s prize total to $0 USD ..." Blizzard also fired the two commentators whom did the interview, Mr. Yee and Virtual (real name unknown). Virtual would later explain neither he or Mr Yee were told why they were dismissed, and about half of his income comes from broadcasting the tournaments, "If Blizzard bans me from casting any Hearthstone tournament, it will really hurt." Neither worked directly for Blizzard, but were independent contractors.

The result was a backlash from a number of gamers, whom began cancelling accounts to Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and other games owned by Blizzard. Some expressed their comments on a "Boycott Blizzard" Twitter feed. One posted his response to when Blizzard asked his reasons for canceling his subscription, "I have been a loyal WoW player since 2007, spending literal years of my life on Azeroth. However, I can no longer support a company whose corporate policy considers speaking outu against human rights violations constitutes a "breach of contract." I'm still rooting for all the talented developers, artists, and writers working at Blizard but I will no longer support the company until these oppressive practices change." A thread on the topic in the Blizzard forums would get over 7300 responses as of the writing of this article.

Not everyone at Blizzard agrees with the company's reaction to the incident. A small number of employees did a walkout at the main office, gathering at it's Orc statue. Some had umbrellas, a symbol of the protests in Hong Kong. One employee would comment online, "The action Blizzard took against the player was pretty appalling but not surprising. Blizzard makes a lot of money in China, but now the company is in this awkward position where we can’t abide by our values."

This incident comes at about the time of two other high-profile ones involving business, free speech, and China. Last Friday, Daryl Morey, the General Manager of the Houston Rockets made and later deleted a Twitter post in support of the Hong Kong protesters. Despite the team owner speaking out against the comment, and that the tweet couldn't be see in China as it is banned there, the Chinese Basketball Association suspended all cooperation with the team, and events by the team would no longer be broadcasted by China's top station. At first, the NBA, which after investing years and millions in China gets about ten percent of it's revenue from the country, distanced itself from the comment. But when a number of Americans complained, including several politicians of both political parties, on Tuesday October 8 NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated they would not censor players or team owners over remarks about China.

The other incident was the 300th episode of the "South Park" animated comedy show, "Band in China." The show poked fun at Chinese censorship and American companies bowing down to pressure from the Chinese government in order to do business there. The result was the show practically vanishing from the Internet within China. The response from the show's two creators was a mock apology, "Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. ... Long live the great Communist Party of China. May the autumn's sorghum harvest be bountiful. We good now China?"

These three incidents combined have reignited debate nationwide about how much should American companies compromise their principles in order to do business with a dictatorship that controls over a billion people. But Blizzard's move also presented an ethical dilemma to some of my gaming friends in Second Life. For Nydia Tungsten, the head of the Furry Gamers group, as much as she relished the idea of going about Azeroth as a bushy-tailed vixen, Blizzard's move led her to cancel her account. She would post the following.

My friends and I were all looking forward to this, but due to Blizzards actions we as well as the gaming groups we belong to have canceled our subscriptions, the only way to get a companies attention is to hit them where they will notice it, their wallets. They MAY have appeased China, but can they be supported by China alone? I don't think so, spread the word and take your money from their wallets.

"I am not leaving the game forever," Nydia would also state, "but I DO want Blizzard to feel the backlash of their actions." Not everyone in the Furry Gamers went along however, notably some longtime players of World of Warcraft, "I am refusing to get drawn into a political flame war. I'm going to keep playing because I've spent far too many years in this damn game to stop doing it over politics."

For yours truly, the timing of Blizzard's move happened just after I'd gotten back in World of Warcraft. Since a number of my friends were either ramping up their time in Warcraft or getting back in, and Ark and Rust were getting laggier and crashy, I went ahead and bought the latest version of the game *and* subscribed for the next few months. I intend to go ahead and get what I paid for. But unless Blizzard makes some kind of amends, I might as well cancel my subscription as well. So where will I and the white vixen be gaming next? We'll find a place.

Sources: Kotaku, Blizzard forums, Ars Technica, PC Gamer, CNN, Vulture,

Bixyl Shuftan