I've been a loyal customer over the years, but I have a long memory. Refuse to delete my account if you will, it will never be used again.
Changing characters to scrub them of LGBT characteristics that are illegal in another country is cowardly and should have caused a much bigger outrage than it did.
Banning players for supporting pro-democracy movements outside the game and retroactively seizing their winnings is horrific. Nothing about their rules says they had to do this, it was entirely at their discretion. The chinese government didn't even threaten them over it. They chose to make an example of Blitzchung within minutes of his statement. They went above and beyond to endear themselves to the CCP. If they want to win their reputation back, heads need to roll, and if that means the loss of the chinese market, too bad.
Overtly. But this is a clear example of what is meant when people talk about the 'soft influence' which China seeks to develop. At the crude end of the scale, you have indoctrinated CCP people spreading out globally occupied in various positions able to exert leverage favorable to the party. At the more subtle end you have boards mindful of impacting their bottom line if they lose access to a large market.
What we're seeing here could be coming from either of those ends of the soft influence playbook. But no matter what, it's a clear example of the power of the approach, and how confounding it can become to resist it's effect.
We need our governments to do something about this. If Chinese companies want to do business here, we need our own businesses treated with the same ruleset in their country. We wouldn’t ban a Chinese corporation for a minor executive’s political speech. We have laws against it. (The first amendment protects non-citizens as well as citizens.)
China has been enjoying our markets but hasn’t been willing to extend the favor fully. We need a new trade agreement that demands equal treatment, or we should pull out of China and do business with friendlier countries instead.
What Blizzard art and media was subject to Chinese influence?
Your looking at removal of blood and skeletons mostly.
Similar changes have been made in other video games. For example this [2] story shows a reversal after player backlash to such censorship.
Call me paranoid as this point is anecdotal (and quite likely confirmation bias) but I've noticed a tendency for new AAA games to have a focus on enemies and combatants that don't have this issue. e.g. robots that don't bleed or dissolve away effects for enemies rather than leaving dead bodies. These are all things that have appeared in games before such efforts but it's certainly what I'd be advising if I was in charge of making games marketable in China without appearing to compromise 'realism' (we all know realistic aliens turn to glitter on defeat) or artistic vision.
[1] https://external-preview.redd.it/eIfkz0BCFqcwCnWen2Qi8ZwCOWO... [2] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...
That's more important than a game.
Maybe put financial pressure on China by not buying things made in China? Nah that's too inconvenient for the keyboard(Made in China) warriors.