Blizzard is motivated by money, that seems to be the chief complaint: Blizzard behaves on the basis of profitability rather than morality. So why would a moral appeal have any effect?
A boycott would get results, this just gets clicks.
A boycott would get results, this just gets clicks.
That is what seems so hackneyed about this. This is like doing marketing for “whatever product we decide to sell”. The goal should be defined first.
What would be too little from Blizzard? What would be a “good” response? When would it be too late? What exactly do these people actually want Blizzard to do?
This Google doc is an attention-seeker’s manifesto; it is highly inflammatory and uses emotionally provocative language about rights and freedom and doing the right thing, yet it avoids being too specific so that Blizzard cannot win because they cannot discern what response the protesters want.
> What would be too little from Blizzard? What would be a “good” response? When would it be too late? What exactly do these people actually want Blizzard to do?
I'll give a solution. They should completely reverse every punishment that they made, against everyone, get rid of any "rules" they had that caused these punishments, and do not enforce this in the future.
And if they received any communications from the Chinese government, then they should publish it all, and they should say that they will never give in to any explicit or implicit pressure from them.
And they get bonus points, if they do stuff like create Mei Li, pro Hong Kong skins for overwatch.
Doing this stuff would absolutely make all the protesters happy.
Great, I cannot wait to see all the political speeches while trying to catch some esports or sports. If you're an (e-)athlete, what better time and place to let the world know about your feelings on MAGA, ICE camps other than broadcasts of your gameplay?
Also, people are more than just their gameplay in a specific game. There are storylines, and personal developments, and lots and lots of things related to players that do not have anything to do with who won or lost in a game.
If someone has politics as a big part of their identity, I don't see why it would be wierd to talk about it. Just like any other big part of someone's identity that has nothing to do with the game.
I love knowing more specific details and storylines, related to an individual person.
This is true for real sports. People have lots of details about them that aren't directly related to the game.
And I am glad that you are also as excited as I am to see these personal storylines play out!
>This Google doc is an attention-seeker’s manifesto; it is highly inflammatory and uses emotionally provocative language about rights and freedom and doing the right thing, yet it avoids being too specific so that Blizzard cannot win because they cannot discern what response the protesters want.
This reminds me of the critiques of Occupy Wall Street. "It's not specific enough! We don't know what they want." 9 years later and we sure do now. The goal is not to "win" with Blizzard. The goal is public humiliation and economic punishment for those who enable genocide.
Likely outcomes include damaging future sales of anything that gets revealed/promoted at Blizzcon, increasing awareness of the boycott and the reasons for it, and forcing Blizzard to anger both Blizzard fans (from Blizzard's own probably over-reaction to protesters) and the Chinese government (who are going to be unhappy about any level of protest).
Censoring speech should make them lose more money than disobeying China.
Starcraft 1 was the first game I bought. I love their games. I think this will make me boycott there for at least 5 or 10 years even if they correct their course now.