Hong Kong protesters go against Blizzard at Comicon in London
Hong Kong protesters gathered at a Comicon event in London on Saturday to protest against a video game company accused of appeasing the Chinese government.
The protests in Hong Kong against police brutality, oppression and the extradition bill have been going on for over 20 weeks now, but on Saturday, a small group of protesters gathered at the biannual MCM London Comicon to protest against Blizzard, a video game company, which owns popular games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo and Hearthstone.
On October 8 2019, during a worldwide Hearthstone tournament organized by Blizzard, a player known as Blitzchung shouted: “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times”. He was immediately disqualified, banned for a year and prevented from collecting his prize money of $10,000. This event led to the #boycottBlizzard movement in which gamers from all over the world unsubscribed to Blizzard games, which are partly owned by Chinese gaming giant Tencent.
The organiser of the #boycottBlizzard protest in London, who goes by the name Inky Wonders, said: “This protest is to raise awareness on what is happening in Hong Kong, and to send a message to the Western audience asking for help and another message to the Chinese audience showing them that what China is doing is wrong.”
Players but also big game designers such as Mark Kern, who helped create World of Warcraft, have posted pictures of themselves online uninstalling or unsubscribing to Blizzard games in an effort to put pressure on Blizzard.
Inky Wonders said: “Comicon is an event celebrated by people who enjoy geeky things. So, I terms of that, we are trying to reach out to the people to who this matters.”
So far, Blizzard has reduced the ban on Blitzchung, the gamer, by reinstating his prize money and banning him for six months instead of a year.
Inky Wonders said: “Unexpectedly, #boycottBlizzard is trending rapidly. So, I think there is a lot more awareness about human right issues and the repression that comes with doing business with China.”
The President of Blizzard, J. Allen Brack, said that his decision to ban the player was not influenced by China, and that the policy of not allowing players to share their political views during game tournaments has been decided by him only.
Daniel York Loh, one of the Hong Kong protesters present at the event, disagreed with that statement and said: “No one really knows what’s happening behind doors but what we do know is that Chinese President Xi Xinping is extremely censorious. They want to shut down debate, shut down dialogue and shut down opinions they don’t like.”
A protester who wanted to remain anonymous, said that in order to resolve this issue the people of Hong Kong had to continue what they were doing.
She said: “The people of Hong Kong have to stand firm peacefully to show China and the rest of the world that the Hong Kongers are fighting for freedom and humanity not just for themselves but for the international community.”
The protesters received a lot of attention from the Comicon goers and hope to receive even more at their next event in London on November 2, 2019.
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