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Blizzard Is Pathetic (The Jimquisition)
- Thread starter Deleted member 58846
- Start date
And it's not just Blizzard either. We have already seen another powerful American company (The NBA) try and appease the Chinese government when it comes to the Hong Kong situation.
And there are dozens more that would happily do the same in order to stay on good terms with China and keep the money flowing. It's why this entire China situation is as messy as it is. There are no good answers or options because the corruption is so widespread.
Devil's advocate: you want an international company to unban people who broke VERY publicly their TOS and also to side with something that right now, are protests against internal laws of a sovereign nation that is, as well, the world's biggest market and more powerful state. I mean, that's unlikely to happen.
Jim needs to stop criticizing games that have micro transactions to support ongoing content. The initial 60 dollars is NOT going to cover development costs for years and years worth of content. Thats just not going to happen. Residual income is a must when developing ongoing content years after release. HOW they implement micro transactions for diablo 4 is the important part. Let people buy what they want ala fortnite or POE. As long as they dont put lootboxes im sure things will be fine.
The OS on your phone allows the Chinese government to censor what its citizens have access to. Every platform holder gives them this power.
If I cut out every company that actively supports the CPC, I wouldn't have any consumer products at all. That's the reality of the situation. Blizzard is only being targeted because most gamers are ignorant. They think what Blizzard did was the exception rather than the rule. In reality, just about every company on the planet bends over backwards for China.
It's a terrible situation. But me refusing to buy Diablo 4 is insignificant when I still pay for products and services from Google, Apple, and Microsoft.
Hmmm, or maybe, just maybe, my phone is something that I actually really need to be able to do my job, and since every phone OS manufacturer works with Chinese government, my choice is to have a phone or go dig ditches since I have 20 years of expertise in my industry and probably wouldn't be able to do anything else but manual labor otherwise.
Whereas with Blizzard, if I don't buy their entertainment products, I'll only have the 100000 other games to play.
Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmm. I see how this can be a tough dilemma for you.
I look at it like this. I have very little control over what China does. As it should be, I'm not Chinese, it's not really my place, as a fellow human being of course I wish they'd be better towards their minority populations and I want my government to put pressure on them and the like but again, my power is limited.
Activision and Blizzard are American though, they 100% should be subservient to my demands, as an American, and I will hold them up to a higher bar than I would hold some Chinese company to. China gets to create the environment Chinese companies operate in and we get to create the environment US based companies operate in, I'm not going to also give that power to China.
Activision and Blizzard are American though, they 100% should be subservient to my demands, as an American, and I will hold them up to a higher bar than I would hold some Chinese company to. China gets to create the environment Chinese companies operate in and we get to create the environment US based companies operate in, I'm not going to also give that power to China.
The problem isnt just microtransactions. It's when shitty devs like Bungie utilize microtransactions while also trying to charge a premium for their "expansions" ON TOP OF the microtransactions.
Plenty of games have been launched for $60 and enjoy prolonged success without milking it's playerbase with micros so spare me the poor broke devs talk. Nobody believes it. Devs are not hard up for cash after launching a successful game. This is about big companies trying to make as much money as they can as quickly and easily as they can. If Blizz wants to do Micros then that's fine (as long as it's not lootboxes) but that means they can't charge for their expansions. Devs can't have both.
shitty devs like bungie? what? Bungie is super generous with their mtx. You get nostalgic engrams every 5 levels on the battle pass, You get bright dust just from doing bounties and can buy what you want.
This is paying for additional content. One ornament for whisper of the worm paid entirely for a cool mission called zero hour and the weapon attached to it.
They are not greedy. An expansion is a lot of content and yes it requires an up front charge. However we get one...maybe once a year if that?
Call ubisoft greedy, not bungie.
LOL. What?
You're seriously going to equate not playing the latest game I want to stopping doing my work?
I guess in your world it also follows "if you're not willing to sacrifice everything for the issue, you're a hypocrite for doing at least something", right? I gotta look for the bingo card again, dammit.
I'll call them both greedy thanks. Because that's what they are.
If Bungie wants to peddle Micros to monetize the game then that's fine. If they want charge a premium for their expansions in order to monetize the game then that's fine. But they do both. And not only do they do both, but they peddle lootbox gambling mechanics while they are at it. It's a scum practice of milking and exploiting their playerbase for every single solitary penny that they can and that is a shit way to do business regardless of who does it. Especially since we already know that it's not necessary to do so to keep a quality game going.
One of the oddest complaints I've ever seen about a video series. What would you prefer, a blank screen? Deliberately contrasting images?
If all he's doing is talking about blizzard apologizing, and showing us a picture of a generic letter saying "sorry" why not just show him talking. The reason why I'm complaining is because I don't remember it being so prevalent. I guess he used to use relevant gameplay (such as the game he was talking about) or games made by the company (like,since he's talking about people being banned for something said during an overwatch tournament, he could use footage of overwatch). It was less jumpy, since the footage of the game tended to be continuous, instead of jumping to a new image every few seconds. I'm allowed to not like things about the video.
I dont know a single person online who buys the engrams. No one cares because most stuff is available for bright dust or they get one every 5 levels of the pass. you are being way too harsh.
I'm saying it's easy to cut out the entertainment because it doesn't actually effect you. You lose nothing. You sacrifice nothing. Your career, comfortable lifestyle, etc. are all unaffected.
The point is that you don't have any moral high ground here, but you're posting as if you do.
Oh I assure you, I've been playing WoW since vanilla and Diablo since D1. I have tons of friends in Blizzard ecosystem that I no longer play with because I don't want to support Blizzard. Trust me, I'm giving up something alright.
Just not everything. I don't really see how this is a big "Gotcha" for you.
If Jim populates a good chunk of the video with footage from the game in question, then that can lead to the possibility of Youtube bots marking the video as having content claimed by the publisher, which in turn means that the publisher can choose to reap ad revenue from the video. If the purpose of the video is to critique the publisher in question, then that's not something that Jim wants to happen.
He's explained in the past that he'll sometimes insert footage from multiple games from multiple publishers (or just multiple sources of non-gaming copyrighted material) that are completely unrelated to the video's subject matter so that they ALL attempt to claim the video, but then the video hangs in ContentID limbo forever because of all of the dueling claims, and nobody gets paid as a result.
I didn't think video game companies could claim video game footage. I know nintendo claims trailers, but nintendo hates the internet.
I'm really not. We have seen other always online games like Warframe thrive based off of nothing but micros. Micros that btw do not include RNG lootbox bullshit. And they do not charge for expansions or new content either and yet they not only keep content coming, but it keeps getting bigger and better as time goes on.
But what Bungie and other companies do by charging $60 for a game filled with Micros AND charging for premium content like battle passes and expansions while also peddling lootboxes is the very worst of the monetization models that are currently going on. It's specifically designed to nickel and dime the playerbase while also locking all the best loot behind a Paywall or behind RNG in lootboxes in order to incentivize spending real money to get what you want.
It's exploitative and wrong.
You're not wrong, but you're wrong.
You can not be on the highest mountain top and still be higher up than other people and that's a good thing. Just like you might not be the absolute best at what you do but you sure as fuck want to be better than most. You're basically saying if you're not first you're last, which is silly as shit. Everyone should strive to be better and you should never make being better, but, not being the best as some kind of insult or negative. It's absurd.
Some just don't care to, and automated bots can't always sniff out random gameplay footage to claim (as opposed to something like cutscenes or trailers, which are more easily ID'd). Doesn't mean that they can't manually do it if they wanted to, though.
Well, that's fair. Regardless of the reason, I find the new way he makes videos to be more distracting. it's too bad he has to do it, then.
Devs get paid whether anyone buys the game or not (they don't work off sales commission ffs), but boycotting Blizzard is the only way you can send a clear message that their policies are shit and need to change.
All I'm saying is that boycotting Blizzard doesn't actually make a difference. Blizzard is insignificant compared to the support the CPC gets from companies like Apple, Google, etc. Seeing yourself as slightly higher on the morality scale only serves to make you feel better about yourself. Chinese human rights are unaffected, so it's absurd to me to try and claim moral high ground.
Boycotting Blizzard does make a difference, just as boycotting Apple, Google and anyone else would.
Now, that difference wouldn't be on Chinese human rights, that's out of our control short of an invasion, but we can at the very least try and keep American companies acting in American citizens' interests. And while I think you're correct about this being somewhat self-masturbatory the flip side is breaking down everything short of armed insurrection or all of us hopping onto planes and trying to assassinate CCP leaders as useless you're essentially telling people to do nothing at all, which is actually useless. Worse than useless, it exacerbates the issue.
So what you want is an environment where people can do what people can do and having a shot at accomplishing something rather than admitting defeat before a real fight's even begun.
Then they don't need to be monetized. Spoiler alert, they're monetized because people buy them.
How are people still not getting this.
A thing with a price tag has a price tag because they found a revenue stream in it. They create a problem, sell the solution. Ignoring anecdotal evidence even if you were to find hard data that "this is monetized but no one buys it" it would make it even MORE stupid of a thing to do because they're literally trying to grab every single penny they can.
It's still unfair, and you're being intentionally dishonest with how you're presenting your position.
You're unequivocally dealing in absolutes. Said poster is getting Diablo 4, so said poster doesn't care about human rights. That is the absolute conclusion you've made about that poster with zero additional information, simply because they are buying a video game.
The reality is, no amount of protesting Blizzard will gain Hong Kong independence. No amount of Blizzard going back on the awful things they've done will gain Hong Kong independence. I think people boycotting on principle are admirable, and good on them for taking a stand in the things they believe in. I think people who are still going to support Blizzard are okay, they aren't doing anything inherently wrong.
It's a dishonest and unfair statement, and you're being incredibly condescending to a lot of people in this thread who don't share your opinions or directions for activism. You could have just said that poster was stupid, or the statement was trolling, or any other number of accurate observations, instead of making a statement that carries insinuations for anyone else who would purchase the game. My problem isn't with you being mean to the poster, as they certainly deserve some rude comments back for the snarky bait they dropped. My issue is the idea that purchasing a video game means a person doesn't care about human rights.
Anyway, I'm going to bow out of this thread and conversations. I quite enjoy posting on Era, and these threads often turn into graveyards around these discussions, and I am inclined to not join those ranks. Have a good remainder of your day.
Blizzard is absolutely pathetic. People that give them a pass and enable their behavior aren't any better.
Blizzard lies that they just don't want their platform used for politics. Blizzard uses their platform for politics, and pressures overwatch coaches to remove pro Hong Kong posts from Twitter. Blizzard just wants to appease the CCP. Fuck this trend where consumerism is more important than human rights.
Blizzard lies that they just don't want their platform used for politics. Blizzard uses their platform for politics, and pressures overwatch coaches to remove pro Hong Kong posts from Twitter. Blizzard just wants to appease the CCP. Fuck this trend where consumerism is more important than human rights.
"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."
Yeah I'm done with Blizzard, not buying any more of their games (which is made easier since they seem intent on shoving microtransactions in everything now) and not playing any of them anymore either.
Yeah I hate that too. that sort of mentality willing ignores all the times collective action has worked. History is littered with examples.
Never been really into his style, but big kudos for giving a reminder and not letting this thing die. Especially liked the part where he pointed out that Blizzard is actively doing this right now, with each passing moment.
Way I see it, if I wanted to buy diablo, I'd buy diablo. I wouldn't go into threads with cliched statements about no ethical consumption under capitalism or try to gotcha people in a long-winded conversation in an attempt to see if they deal with a company that's done some wrong at some point in their life. If you don't personally feel anything is wrong with it, then why spend the time trying to justify it in the first place? I sure as shit wouldn't need to hop into topic criticizing the companies behavior on something else just to publicly announce that I'm buying one of their games. It's that behavior that leads me to think these people don't care. Especially as half of them start pseudo defending blizzard while trying to claim neutrality.
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I truly didn't think I'd see the "protesting doesn't matter" defense for Blizzard. Like...let's pretend protesting doesn't matter. How does that make it OK to support Blizzard still? Because you know what does matter? Giving them money!
Amen.
Ok. I'll take a more grey stance "Said poster sometimes doesn't care about human rights." Better?
Of course. Etching an opinion in stone is a silly thing. It's a long time until it releases, so they have plenty of time to make it right.
I've been thinking about this thread and topic on and off all day, and I think I've concluded that we should avoid entertainment that prioritizes that lucrative Chinese market over human rights and generally self-censors to comply with CPC standards. Another big example of this trend is Disney.
God, we sold our fucking souls for cheap mass-produced crap, didn't we?
God, we sold our fucking souls for cheap mass-produced crap, didn't we?
That's moving the goalposts though. No-one thinks that Activision Blizzard holds the key to Hong Kong independence, the issue is whether Activision Blizzard should allow people to express their support for Hong Kong independance or anything else, something they actually do have 100% complete control of.
They didn't break the TOS in any meaningful way though, the part of the TOS being cited is the vague 'blanket' part of the tos. There's nothing explicit about what was broken.
They literally broke the TOS as much as I am by posting this post - that's how little the tos has to do with this.
They also told overwatch coaches to remove pro Hong Kong posts from twitter. This is all about appeasing China.
Diablo 4 is already out.. is called Lost Ark
Sadly the gameplay we saw for D4 is really underwhelming for me. The animations look even worse than D3 and the muted color is not doing it in my eyes.
What's insane to me is how these posters have more to critique and say about your statement than the behavior of coming in a topic where a company is being criticized for a social issue solely to let us know they're buying fucking diablo. But that's not the issue, it's clearly you saying that maybe their shitty behavior means they're apathetic. People that do care about human rights would rush to into a topic about blizzard's decisions to make it clear to everyone that they're still buying diablo 4 I'm certain.
He is right.
I will still get Diablo IV though, because I want Diablo looking like Diablo II again (which IV does, fuck III)
Yes, Im aware that im supporting a piece of shit company with that comment, In a better world I wouldnt be put into this position, as a consumer, but who else will bring me Diablo IV?
I will still get Diablo IV though, because I want Diablo looking like Diablo II again (which IV does, fuck III)
Yes, Im aware that im supporting a piece of shit company with that comment, In a better world I wouldnt be put into this position, as a consumer, but who else will bring me Diablo IV?
"Muted colors" = looking like Diablo II ? They succeeded then.
Also, its 2-3 years away, animations will improve. Its Blizzard. They are shit now, but their actual animations are top-class.
Played it on kr launch day for about a month or two. Great game... had high ping cos of VPN and unfortunately the game went p2w. Hopefully that is solved when it does come to NA. I play most online mmos/arpgs.. so ill def give it another shot when it comes to NA. Also excited to see what POE 4.0 has in store!