The American University Hearthstone team has forfeited their next match and the remainder of the Collegiate Hearthstone championships following Blizzard's failure to penalize them for a protest that took place following a recent match. Yes, you read that right: they've tapped out after Blizzard didn't punish them.
The uproar over the Blizzard Hong Kong situation has spread to protests and complaints in other areas of the Internet, and high-level Hearthstone play has been no stranger to the situation. The American Univesity Hearthstone team took a recent opportunity after the conclusion of a match to do a little protest of their own.
in tonight's Collegiate Hearthstone championship, American University held up a "Free Hong Kong, boycott Blizzard" during the broadcast, which was quickly cut away by Blizzard pic.twitter.com/Y9eXtLfuGw
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) October 9, 2019
Holding up a sign that said "Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blizzard", the cameras quickly cut away from the players. The follow-up, however, is where the real magic happened.
American University Hearthstone Team Forfeits Season in Protest
Following the team's protest, neither Blizzard nor the tournament's organizing body TeSPA had elected to punish them. Consequently, the American University Hearthstone team resigned from the season in protest.
"We feel it’s hypocritical for Blizzard to punish Blitzchung but not us," the team told USgamer. "The response from Blizzard shows that as soon as the messaging is out of the view of China they don’t care about 'political' messaging."
The team also explained the reasoning behind their protest to USG, stating, "it would force Blizzard to either cut the camera or spread our message."
What do you think of the American University Hearthstone team protesting on camera following the conclusion of a match? Do you think Blizzard is being inconsistent in the enforcement of its rules? Let us know in the comments below!
