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.I don't know who the casters are, I'm sure they can cast other games, but if you expect Blizzard to say fuck the Chinese government it's never going to happen.
The OS on your phone allows the Chinese government to censor what its citizens have access to. Every platform holder gives them this power.Well, my phone is from one of the few brands who don't manufacture in China anymore, but sure. That's not the point.
The point is that if someone says "yes, Blizzard is wrong to support China, but I'm gonna buy their products anyway because [insert some made up argument about how the poor devs who are indentured workers at said company deserve their salary they were gonna get anyway] or because I just need my games", then it's fair to say they care about their entertainment more than they care about the cause in question.
Again, that's fair. It's up to everyone to decide what is important to them. But they should be able to admit it openly and not hide behind some made up bullshit.
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.
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.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 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.
Who's making excuses now?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'll call them both greedy thanks. Because that's what they are.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.
One of the oddest complaints I've ever seen about a video series. What would you prefer, a blank screen? Deliberately contrasting images?Am in the only one who's tired of him using pictures to illustrate everything he's talking about that's not a direct quote, or a shot of him? It's like he thinks we have ADHD, and need pictures to stay engaged with his content.
One of the oddest complaints I've ever seen about a video series. What would you prefer, a blank screen? Deliberately contrasting images?
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.
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.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'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.
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.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.
In 3 years
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 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'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.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.
You're not wrong, but you're wrong.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.
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.I didn't think video game companies could claim video game footage. I know nintendo claims trailers, but nintendo hates the internet.
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.
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.Satire? Nope. I'm gonna support the devs who work their asses off on Diablo 4 and because I enjoy Diablo. Not everyone at blizzard is involved with the Hong Kong incident.
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.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.
Unlike the other poster, mine was sarcasm.
Boycotting Blizzard does make a difference, just as boycotting Apple, Google and anyone else would.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 seems absurd to me to try and claim moral high ground.
Then they don't need to be monetized. Spoiler alert, they're monetized because people buy them.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.
No.
Look, no one is saying you have to care at all, or that you have to care about this specific case, or that you have to show your activism through not buying Blizzard games. Maybe you do something that you see as more effective. Maybe you care about other issues. I can't know.
But coming into a thread like this with a first post saying "Yeah but I'm gonna buy Diablo IV anyway" means 1) you recognize the issue and 2) you've chosen to publicly state it doesn't matter enough to you to deny yourself entertainment (which cannot be by any means construed to be a thing you _need_).
In this light, no, it's not unfair.
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.
Yeah I hate that too. that sort of mentality willing ignores all the times collective action has worked. History is littered with examples."Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."
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.
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.
Amen.Yes they are. Which sucks because Diablo IV looks great, but they're not getting my money.
Ok. I'll take a more grey stance "Said poster sometimes doesn't care about human rights." Better?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.
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 reserve the right to change my mind in the 3 years until Diablo IV actually releases, but as of now, I have no intention of supporting Blizzard.
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.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.
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.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.
They also told overwatch coaches to remove pro Hong Kong posts from twitter. This is all about appeasing China.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.
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.
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.