| Description: | Last week, professional Hearthstone player Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai played his last match of the year in the game’s Asia-Pacific Grandmasters league. In a post-game interview, he wore a gas mask and exclaimed “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age!” This is a rallying cry in the on-going Hong Kong protests.
Game developer and organizer Blizzard Entertainment deemed this appearance in violation of his contract, which forbids players to “offend a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damage Blizzard’s image.” Blitzchung received a year-long ban from the game’s competitions and had his winnings of the season withheld.
Outrage was swift to arrive at the developer’s door. Gamers, its own employees and even US senators fell over each other to condemn the decision. Eventually the company was forced into a new one, which saw it relent somewhat. The ban was reduced to six months and the player would be awarded his prize money.
While Blitzchung himself seems to have accepted this, some in the community still think it too heavy a punishment. With the developer’s annual BlizzCon convention coming up, it seems unlikely that the last word about all of this has been said.
This will be an unpopular opinion, but perhaps it should be. |
