Blizzard Suspends Hearthstone Player For Hong Kong Support, Pulls Prize Money

[Turalyon]

^ Australia ain't too PC, Nissa. We still regularly take the piss out of each other and are casually racist most times, lol. Haven't seen/heard any of what Blade has referred to but maybe that's because I'm so disconnected from the outside world in general.

[The_Blade]

Well, I made it sound so bad by grouping it with the real "danger of death" seen elsewhere on that list. :P

Life in Australia is better than in most countries, it's just not as economically forthcoming as it was years ago (specially if you work on the Aerospace, Automotive, Mining or Electrical sectors). It's future is mostly secured due to the latest deals with China, ironically (related to services and banking). Telstra was allowed to control the south pacific network and enter mainland China in exchange for some infrastructure development for Chinese companies. Three key businesses are still Australian owned, Transit Systems (which is a private company with public transportation contracts), Telecom (Telstra limits it's foreign ownership to 35% of public stock) and the 4 big banks (public traded, but mostly scattered in ownership). These three things have been named constantly as something that is "too big to fail". All of these companies have heavy stakes in India and China. However, they are organically operating for a share of the market.

A lot of trade people have also been forced to adapt. Butchers, fish markets, and market stalls have been dominated by Chinese competition known as paddy markets. Aldi also broke some backs as it crashed Woolworth's and Cole's domination of the supermarket market (lulz).

[Nissa]

I've heard that Australia has worse self-defense laws than the US. Like, you can get in trouble for defending yourself, and you can get in serious trouble for just having a thing that can be construed as a weapon.

Edit: I still at least want to visit Australia, as my (late) favorite DJ lived there. He died before he could put out his first album, but...obsessions will obsess.

[sandwich_bird]

^ Australia ain't too PC, Nissa. We still regularly take the piss out of each other and are casually racist most times, lol. Haven't seen/heard any of what Blade has referred to but maybe that's because I'm so disconnected from the outside world in general.

Huh, for some reason, I always pictured you as a Brit Tura xD

[The_Blade]

I've heard that Australia has worse self-defense laws than the US. Like, you can get in trouble for defending yourself, and you can get in serious trouble for just having a thing that can be construed as a weapon.

Edit: I still at least want to visit Australia, as my (late) favorite DJ lived there. He died before he could put out his first album, but...obsessions will obsess.

Well, Australians can drink in public. Take that, America!

[Turalyon]

I've heard that Australia has worse self-defense laws than the US. Like, you can get in trouble for defending yourself, and you can get in serious trouble for just having a thing that can be construed as a weapon.

Nah, those things you mentioned are just BS lawyer chicanery if anything. If you really got in trouble for defending yourself, it'd be because there'd be a case for what you did not actually being construed as "self-defence".

Huh, for some reason, I always pictured you as a Brit Tura xD

Yeah, I suppose it's due to my command of the English language being a bit more rarified than the typical Aussie. I've even had a Brit comment on how well I speak... for an Australian. High praise indeed, hah!

[Visions of Khas]

According to GameIndustry.biz, Activision-Blizzard's sales continue to decline, though Activision still turned a minor profit. Some of that can probably be attributed to Bungie's split; but the mishandling of the StarCraft esports scene and Diablo III, coupled with Hearthstone, probably didn't help the numbers.

[The_Blade]

Now that the dust has settled... I have to conclude that the HK moment would have not been an issue had Blizzard not been on this sorry state. Quarter after quarter they keep pulling shit on the fans. Even after BlizzCon, the air is stale around "good" things going forward for any of the franchises. D4 doesnt get a break either with the timeline that's so long it's wrong.

WoW pro players are angry at this year's BlizzCon all-around performance. Some other pros have also made comments on the lack of water and food backstage. Most WoW players were also denied accommodations for the event and exposure as half of the tournament was not streamed on the virtual ticket.

Not everything was negative tho... I've heard that floor activities were now as dynamic as they were in the past. There's just not as many prices.

[Nissa]

The question then becomes, what can Blizzard do to get out of this?

Y'know, besides the obvious impossibility of seceding from Activision.

[Visions of Khas]

Sadly enough, I don't think A-B's bottom line will be effected overly much in the long run, what with all the new content announced and people's generally short attention spans. And from what I've been seeing, I get the sense Blizz is gearing up for WoW 2, so that should offset the subscriber falloff they've been experiencing.

EDIT I keep seeing several hundred users online browsing the forum. How many of them are bots and spiders, I wonder, and how many are actual people. (Most, and few, respectively, I know. Just wondering specifics.)