“Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our age.” These seven words are likely to get you banned from most competitive settings.
On Oct. 6, Blizzard was roiled in controversy as Hearthstone player Chung “blitzchung” Ng Wai exclaimed these words during a post-match interview.
After winning his match, blitzchung donned a respirator and what appears to be skiing goggles and went into an online interview. Toward the end, the two casters encouraged him to say the infamous phrase and then ducked under their monitors.
“Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age!”
Blitzchung, and arguably the casters, knew what they were doing and what was at stake. Blitzchung was mimicking a gas mask to symbolize the masks protestors are wearing to protect their identities and lungs from China’s law enforcement.
Shortly after that interview, Blizzard issued a one-year ban to blitzchung, took away his prize winnings for that season, and said they would no longer work with the two casters who interviewed him.
Although they later reduced the punishment to six months and retracted the seizure of his earnings, the damage was done. The message was clear: don’t piss off China.
“The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made,” Blizzard president J. Allen Brack said. “I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.”
False. This is just a blatant lie.
Blizzard, and other companies, have a history of catering to China’s market. Developers sometimes make different versions of a game to suit foreign regulations, tone down violence for stricter countries like Australia, or just change the entire game to suit every audience. However, the infamous Jaina “nerf,” or the change to some of Hearthstone’s card art seemed to be mainly for Chinese audiences.
Fine; no problem. If we want to change some art to make it more “China…” I mean “family friendly,” that’s fine. They’re annoying changes, but if that means a bigger player base, then I take little issue.
Until recently, China’s restrictive laws on art like video games, videos, and traditional art was mainly seen as a nuisance, at least by me. But now, we’ve crossed the line between nice memes like banning images of Winnie the Pooh, and gone into categorical censorship.
Like I said, Blizzard has become the enforcers to China’s will, the protectors of their emotions. Brack claimed the content of blitzchung’s message had nothing to do with the disproportionate punishment.
I think it’s pretty reasonable to infer the content of blitzchung’s message was actually the only reason for the ban.
I’m really curious: if I wore a Yang 2020 shirt during a competition, would I get banned for six months? If you genuinely think the answer is yes, there’s little I can do to convince you otherwise.
And if we’re still on the fence, do you think blood, alcohol, and nudity are more family-friendly than calling for peaceful protest? That’s what Blizzard games, specifically Hearthstone, feature. I’ve seen players and casters swear during livestreams, but no punishments handed out. Does that adhere to Blizzard’s rules more than calling for freedom?
Clearly not. Clearly, any controversial message directed to China is a cardinal sin paid for in, well, money.
Is Blizzard literally locking people up? No. But you’ll have better luck getting a white-collar job with a neck tattoo than competing professionally.
And this is censorship. Censorship through loss of income, loss of a job. No matter how vague the rules or the type of enforcement, this is still company-sponsored censorship.
The competition blitzchung was in, Hearthstone Grandmasters, is league-based, meaning he competes weekly and gets paid for it regardless of results. Basically, as long as you aren’t one of the two worst players in your group of eight, you’re guaranteed over $50,000 a year, or $28,000 in one season if you don’t make the cut.
Or, you know, if you say something controversial™, then RIP your competitive career.
But Chinese Hearthstone players aren’t the only players at risk. Blizzard also banned American college students from, well, an American university called American University in Washington D.C. Their crime: holding up a pro-Hong Kong poster saying “Free Hong Kong[;] Boycott Blizz.”
One would think this is just as bad, especially because of the call to boycott Blizzard, but they initially got away with it. They had their next match scheduled and only after pressure from social media did American University receive a ban five days later.
Who’s offended is more important than what’s said, but we’ll get to that later.
Blizzard was the first to add kerosene to the fire and restoke it during Blizzcon by “apologizing” and not actually doing anything other than repeatedly saying ‘we’re sorry,’ That reminds me of some sort of cartoon skit by the way.
However, Blizzard isn’t the only video game company that will rush to censor players.
According to my best, admittedly limited, research, Chinese company Tencent currently owns 5% of Activision Blizzard. Along with other Chinese investors, this amounts to over $2 billion in Chinese investment. Along with the hundreds of millions of potential gamers China houses, it’s obvious why Blizzard placates China.
Now, imagine if a Chinese company owned, let’s say, 100% of an American company. A company that’s invested millions in esports. A company viewed by many as the pioneers of modern competitive gaming in America. A company like Riot Games, the creators and owners of League of Legends.
Tencent owns all of Riot. Imagine what measures Riot would take to prevent players with exponentially larger followings than blitzchung from denouncing China.
“We serve fans from many different countries and cultures, and we believe this opportunity comes with a responsibility to keep personal views on sensitive issues (political, religious, or otherwise) separate,” said John Needham, Global Head of League of Legends Esports. “…We believe we have a responsibility to do our best to ensure that statements or actions on our official platforms (intended or not) do not escalate potentially sensitive situations.”
Although more eloquent than Blizzard’s response, the message is the same. Don’t talk about “sensitive” issues. To be fair to Riot, I genuinely do think players would receive some sort of punishment if they wore a Yang 2020 shirt.
So, at least they’re consistent. Well, not exactly.
This hypocritical philosophy of being able to say whatever you want so long as no one important hears it is insanity. I can spam in-game chat with political messages all I want, but heaven forbid an investor sees it on television.
America is the “marketplace of ideas” except when it’s not. We can argue our opinions on social media to our friends, but heaven forbid a company sees you arguing for 45-minute lunch breaks. Companies can’t deny us jobs based on veteran-status, but can based on civil service.
Let me explain that last one. A company can deny you service or a job if you’re a cop, but not if you served in the military.
You’re good if you have a crucifix pendant, but you’re gone if you have a Hong Kong pin on your suit.
China is openly anti-Islam, sending many Muslim imigrants to “Vocational Education and Training Centers,” basically reeducation camps with extra steps. However, there’d be riots if a gaming company banned a player for wearing a hijab.
But for some reason it’s ok for companies to censor political speech? What dystopian, late-stage capitalist world am I living in? It’s not ok for the government, an organization that’s directly accountable to the public, to censor political speech, but companies, entities only beholden to shareholders, can censor whatever they want?
So, what’s the prescription? It seems scary to regulate corporate free speech. But the world we’re headed toward, a world where if it makes China angry it’s bad, is a much scarier place.
It seems that some political speech should be protected, or at least, a company shouldn’t be able to fire you if you post a picture of a hat with a name and year on it.
For now though, if you approve of companies supporting authoritarian governments like China, then by all means, continue buying their products. But if not, consider cutting back just a bit.
It may have little impact on that company, but it’ll make you feel better. For what it’s worth, it’ll definitely make me feel better.
