Blizzard’s Hong Kong Controversy has Led to Huge Protest through the Campaign Gamers for Freedom by Fight for the Future
To protest against Blizzard’s act of violating freedom of speech, Gamers for Freedom campaign launched by Fight for the Future, an internet rights watchdog organization.
The campaign is against those online gaming companies that prevent gamers from discussing controversial issues on a public platform.
They have stated in their petition that companies like Blizzard and Riot are stopping the gamers from talking about ‘sensitive issues’, such as their political oppression.
The Gamers for Freedom campaign has multiple plans of protesting, which includes an online protest on 29th October and a protest at Blizzard’s annual fun event Blizzcon on 1st November.
The reason behind all of this is the ban of Chung Ng wai, famously known as Blitzchung, from all the eSports events for a complete year. Chung Ng Wai had made a pro-Hong Kong statement at the post-game interview and due to this reason, he was forced by Blizzard to return his prize money.
This act of Blizzard was highly criticized by the fans and the government entities. As a result, Blizzard agreed to return all his earnings and also lessened the ban term.
The American non-profit organization Fight for the Future has been on the mission of protecting fundamental civil rights on the internet. Whenever they find some injustices online regarding regulation and technology, they start fighting against that and also assemble people through online platforms.
Their protesting events have been pretty successful. Back in 2012, they had organized a widespread online protest against web censorship. The reason behind this protest was the introduction of bills, the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) into the US Senate and the House of Representatives. The protest eventually turned out to be a huge success.
Recently, they gathered as many as four million people in the Battle for the Net campaign. This finally led to the advancement of net neutrality rules.
The protests organized by the legit organization Fight for the Future will put a lot of pressure on Blizzard. Their protest at the Blizzcon will create a lot of controversies among the fans. It is now completely up to Blizzard, whether they would compromise or sticks to their decision of not letting the gamers speak their mind.
Glenda Bozeman – Business and Services
Glenda Bozeman writes Business articles for industries that want to see their Google search rankings surge. Her articles have appeared in a number of sites. Her articles focus on enlightening with informative Services sector needs. She holds the degree of Masters in Business and Marketing. Before she started writing, she experimented with various professions: computer programming, assistant marker, and others. But her favorite job is writing that she is now doing full-time.
