Blizzard Did Nothing Wrong
Unlike Garrosh Hellscream, Blizzard genuinely did nothing wrong.
A professional Chinese Hearthstone player by the username Blitzchung made good use of his streaming airtime and dropped a line in support of the Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators. As CBS news reported,
He shouted “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” on Sunday during a post-game interview with two Taiwanese online video game show hosts.
The pair ducked under their desks during Chung’s comments, apparently not wanting to be associated with the slogan used by protesters in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
The reaction of the hosts was in jest, but it still provides a good example of how in China, such fiery rhetoric is perceived have a sort of ripple effort that reaches far beyond the orator. Here Blizzard was faced with a difficult decision, one which didn’t necessarily boil down to profits; the situation was rather dangerous for everyone involved, and thus we can imagine why Blizzard may have suspended Blitzchung.
And thus began the controversy.
Really? Are we forgetting that “human rights” (whatever the hell that means) cannot be a company’s primary concern when operating in a nation controlled by a repressive authoritarian regime? Blizzard provides a service to the Chinese; in return for money, they’re provided with employment and entertainment. Their purpose is not political.
So in choosing to suspend Blitzchung, Blizzard not only preserves their own hide but also that of all the Chinese customers whose livelihoods are either assisted by or dependent upon Blizzard’s games. They chose to act in favor of the collective and not the individual, as one does in the East.
As for the two Taiwanese casters that they fired, judging by their “duck and hide” reactions, we can imagine that they would have resigned anyway. Blizzard firing them served to curry favor with the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and had no impact on the ultimate outcome of the ordeal. I reiterate: they would have resigned anyway.
Let us take an intermission to to affirm that I am all in the name of freedom and democracy; liberté, égalité, fraternité… I’m a leftist, if you must know. However I believe genuine action to be more influential than virtue signaling on social media, and rational analysis to be more important than blind mudflinging. Those in support of Hong Kongers’ protest: I am with you. But I believe the Blizzard fiasco to be a racked by misguided angst.
Perhaps in writing this article, I have bitten off more than I can chew. Still, I believe that what I’m saying here is of vital importance.
What Should Blizzard Have Done?
I should suppose the popular answer would be that they should have stood up for liberal idealist values and refrained from taking any action against Blitzchung. But what would have happened then? If Blizzard were forced by the CCP to pullout of China, they would…
- a) lose money
- b) lay off thousands upon thousands of people, and
- c) damage e-sports as a whole
And let us remember that this outcome is not unrealistic! China suspended all NBA broadcasts after the Houston Rockets’ manager tweeted this image:
China’s state-controlled media outlets have been, in their (coerced) nationalistic fervor, attacking the NBA all week.
We must remember that China is no United States; capital is not the CCP’s bottom line. No, they are far more concerned with maintaining cultural hegemony. Corporations don’t have the final say in China’s politics, and I think that those of us in America tend to forget that not all legitimate political systems resemble ours.
When it boils down to it, Blizzard did the only thing they could have done. Had they acted as most of the internet seems to wish they had, they’d screw everyone over, all in the name of ephemeral ideals — liberty, justice, democracy — that none of the enraged Westerners actually give a damn about. Yes, they will forget all about this after a week or two. That’s how it goes.
What Should Be the Retaliation?
Apparently, meme warfare.
Let’s get this bread!, say the solipsists, from the comfort of their centrally-heated Western homes, from countries where liberalism and freedom of expression reign… All with absolutely no regard for the enjoyment or perspective of anyone but themselves and le god damn memes!
The intent here is benign, but misguided. What are we trying to achieve in spreading these sorts of memes, in making Mei from Overwatch into a symbol of Hong Kong’s will to freedom? Are we trying to get Chinese Wow, Overwatch and Hearthstone servers were all shut down and their esports consequently euthanized? No? Odd, because that’s exactly what could happen.
We have to question whether making a vapid gesture towards “liberty, justice, democracy”, et cetera, is really worth depriving the Chinese from all the services that Blizzard offers. I know that if I were personally involved in Chinese e-sports, my answer would a pretty straightforward no, it’s not worth it.
The Western moral compass has finally been activated, and all of these moral police are climbing out of the woodwork to virtue signal and signify that yes, they are, in fact, siding with freedom, with justice, with “democracy”…
Really, the ideals that they espouse are useless and feeble; it’ll be a meme for a while but eventually the agitated will settle back down and scurry back to their comfy consumerist cubbyholes, because that is what Western idealists do.
The popular idealist does not genuinely care — if they cared even remotely, they would realize that what they’re doing has the potential to be incredibly harmful. They must acknowledge that without a realistic grounding, a fighting opinion is useless.
In their supposed regard for humanitarian causes, there is an astonishing lack of human consideration. They must instead look at it from the perspective that Blizzard’s decision saved a ton of jobs; gold farmers, esports players, producers, writers, web designers, so on and so forth… In failing to consider this, the idealist admits that they fight for lofty, feelgood ideals, and not for people.
It annoys me that what I’m expressing is a contrarian position. For the love of God, stop your feelgood crusade and think for a second! There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with my perspective, but at the very least I believe that all should consider the things I’ve mentioned and recognize that this is not so black and white as it may seem. People are losing their minds over Blizzard’s very minor transgression (and frankly I should much rather just dub it a choice) but they fail to consider that this is a hell of a lot more complicated than a simple good vs. evil, freedom vs. oppression dilemma.
Being an ocean away, it’s so easy for us to virtue signal and advocate for things because we feel it is “the right thing to do” , but rarely do we bother to take a step back and think critically for even a moment.
Why don’t we boycott our government for not ruthlessly condemning the Chinese handling of Hong Kong instead of Blizzard? Why don’t we donate directly to the Hong Kong protest effort? Why don’t we admit that we’re canceling our subscriptions to fatten our wallets, not to further the Hong Kongers’ cause?
We stew in inaction because inaction is comfortable. If we have to sacrifice calories, forfeit money, or summarily lift even a finger… Well, that is too much effort for us.
So yes, fellow idealists, let us boycott Blizzard for doing what is realistically the only thing that they could have done! Let us continue disparaging them for deciding that the many were more important than the few; that tangible assets were more important than vapid ideals!
A genuine end-note: if you want an enemy, look towards the big fish Apple and Google; they both possess the mettle and influence to fight against the CCP, yet chose not to. I think that the most one can do to take indirect action is to boycott the big guys with the actual power. Boycotting and disparaging Blizzard simply serves to harm e-sports, workers and gamers the world over.
