The Hofstra Esports club is a place where students are able to join like-minded gamers and participate in online competitions representing the university, but after recent events that occurred last October, the club and its members may be at risk of censorship.
Ng Wai Chung, also known as Blitzchung while gaming, was a professional gamer and college student who was suspended and had his prize money revoked after yelling, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times!” during an interview.
Chung is best known for playing Hearthstone, a popular online competitive card game created by Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard is a video game developing and publishing company based in Irvine, California that is known for hit games such as World of Warcraft and Overwatch.
Chung’s ban sparked controversy in the gaming community, with gamers in the U.S. scolding Blizzard for squandering free speech to avoid upsetting the Chinese government.
“Blitzchung was within his rights. Blizzard banning him to appease China isn’t a good look for them,” said Sean Cafferty, a junior film major who is the president of Hofstra’s Esports club . “While I understand that Blizzard is a business, I think the fact that they were so extreme with their initial punishment was a mistake,” Cafferty said.
Other colleges and universities have reacted in support of Chung as well. Casey Chambers, Corwin Dark and Torin Wright are all sophomore international studies majors at American University. As members of their school’s esports team, they decided that they had to do something in the wake of Chung’s ban. Holding up a sign that read, “Free Hong Kong, boycott Blizz” during a live-streamed Hearthstone match, the players expected an immediate ban similar to the one Chung had received.
The match was run by Tespa. “[Tespa is] a collegiate gaming organization and a subdivision of Blizzard that supports gaming initiatives,” Cafferty said. “They send prizes to clubs, raffle off rewards and otherwise support the clubs.”
Instead of being suspended, the American University esports team was invited to another match afterward, which they declined, requesting they be punished like Chung was because they committed the same offense.
“We used our delayed suspension to point out how banning Blitzchung was a PR decision to appease China and not taking action on us was to appease the West. Delaying our ban was a calculated choice,” said Chambers, who is the captain of the esports team at American University.
The suspension of Blitzchung may have sparked controversy, but the suspension of the American University students has created a tangible fear of punishment for American gamers.
“There is a looming fear of being careful about what you say. Esports is very new at Hofstra and it’s scary to potentially be at odds with Tespa, Blizzard or the university,” Cafferty said.
“The First Amendment only restricts governmental action. No matter how censorial, private action cannot violate the First Amendment,” said James Weinstein, an expert on free speech at Arizona State University.
Since Blizzard is a private company and both American and Hofstra University are private institutions, Blizzard is legally allowed to suspend players under most circumstances.
“Players have social power. It should not be held against them to use that position of power,” Cafferty said.
One month later, J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard, claimed to take responsibility for the suspensions during a panel at Blizzcon, Blizzard’s annual convention in Anaheim, California. This was done in response to protestors outside the convention center holding picket signs and donning Winnie the Pooh outfits, in reference to the president of China, Xi Jinping , who banned the character from the country after being visually compared to him.
“Brack called for accountability, but that involves a full acceptance of the problem and actively mending the situation, which they haven’t done,” Chambers said. “It was a PR statement to try to remove criticism.”
As of now, Blitzchung’s suspension from the game has been halved and his prize money was returned, but he and the American University students are still actively being punished for their actions as the suspensions have not been entirely lifted.
“Blizzard believes China is significantly more likely to harm their profits than the West in response to this incident, which appears to be true,” Chambers said.
[email protected] • Dec 10, 2019 at 6:54 pm
Well written!