In a chaotic world, freedom of speech is important. At the same time, we see that more and more large countries are restricting freedom of speech, such as Russia and the United States. Even in Heroes of the Storm, freedom of speech is restricted. ONE sentence like “The irony: Netanyahu, the leader of Israel has become the new Hitler. Trump might be his Mussolini” is now grounds for being suspended from the game. Criticism of Russia is legitimate and accepted by Blizzard, but why isn’t criticism of Israel or the United States the same?
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You seem to be focused on the wrong thing. You are playing a game (with others) . So why do you try to bring the shtstorm that’s the world out there into that game?
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They are not.
They are against good people doing their best to win. And they are for the trolls that ruin matches for the former ones.
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And which specific country’s supposed protections regarding some sort of general “freedom of speech” is applicable here, exactly? Or are you suggesting Blizzard Entertainment has their own sovereign constitution it operates on?
You do realise … that the colloquial term “freedom of speech” regards democratic provisions in which—traditionally—THE PEOPLE have rights to express themselves freely without retaliation FROM THE STATE? And not from a legal entity such as a corporation? Since that would be, arguably, pretty backwards? No?
Newsflash—you’re not allowed to say what you want, wherever you want, whenever you want … without consequences from anyone or everyone. In many democracies you can say a lot without fear of retaliation from the state specifically [albeit often exempt from laws such as libel, discrimination, hate speech etcetera]. But not from the levels below; your community, an employer, corporations and so on.
A corporation can, traditionally, set more or less whichever rules they want in their product(s). In this case, you, as the consumer, is limited by and has agreed to the End User License Agreement as well as the Blizzard’s In-Game Code of Conduct by using their platforms and their services. Tough luck, my friend.
Both of which set nominal expectations for your own responsibilities in-game.
Both of which have been provided below for your convenience.
Blizzard End User License Agreement
https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/legal/fba4d00f-c7e4-4883-b8b9-1b4500a402ea/blizzard-end-user-license-agreement
Blizzard’s In-Game Code of Conduct
https://eu.support.blizzard.com/en/help/article/42673