People Make Games

People Make Games is heading to Hong Kong

Added 2019-12-17 12:12:46 +0000 UTC

Hello everyone!

I've sort of given the surprise away in the title of this post, haven't I? Never mind. For our next PMG episode, we're going to Hong Kong.

Early next month, Anni and I are going to be spending a couple of days with professional Hearthstone player, Ng Wai Chung (AKA Blitzchung).

As in, yes, that Blitzchung. The player at the heart of one of this year's biggest stories, after he was suspended from playing professional Hearthstone for shouting the words "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age!" during a post-match interview.

Blizzard has been heavily criticised for issuing that suspension and for the way in which it communicated its decision to the community. Players boycotted the company's games, Blizzard employees staged a walkout and Blizzcon saw multiple protests on behalf of Blitzchung.

For years now we've heard Blizzard talk about the importance of its company values, including, let's not forget: "Every Voice Matters".

And yet that same company chose to punish one of its players for supporting the people of Hong Kong as they demonstrate to protect their civil liberties.

Those two things don't add up.

Blitzchung's suspension would eventually be halved to six months, rather than a year, and he's now in the process of getting ready to return to professional Hearthstone once again.

But how does he feel about what happened? Why did he choose to speak out in the first place? And how has it changed how he views Blizzard, the company that punished him for speaking out about his country and his people.

Also, I'd love to know what's he actually like! We've all seen the clip from that interview and read the headlines, but he's more than just that. We're hoping our piece will help to show Ng Wai Chung as a person and not just a news story.

We'll be travelling to Hong Kong early next month and will publish our piece shortly after our return. There's a lot of preparation to be done, so there won't be another episode in between, but we think this is another one that's really going to be worth the wait.

So yeah, let us know your thoughts!

What would you like to know about Blitzchung and his experience over the last few months? We might be able to help you find out.