Why are Overwatch characters so popular as a symbol of Hong Kong demos?



In Hong Kong, there are ongoing demonstration activities that originated from the opposition to the revision of the fugitive code. Twitter and Facebook have announced that 'the

Chinese government is manipulating information on SNS about Hong Kong demonstrations ' and 'the Chinese government is requesting remarks and regulations in line with the intention of the Chinese government from overseas companies Is also reported. As a symbol of such a Hong Kong demonstration, the character of “ Overwatch ”, a popular shooting game of Blizzard Entertainment , is used, and the reason is becoming a hot topic.

Pro-democracy version of Blizzard's Mei Overwatch character reaches the frontlines of the Hong Kong protests
https://reclaimthenet.org/mei-overwatch-pro-democracy-symbol-hong-kong-protestors/

Overwatch hero Mei is becoming a Hong Kong protest symbol-Polygon
https://www.polygon.com/2019/10/9/20906320/overwatch-mei-blizzard-hong-kong-protest-banned-memes

Blizzard but I had expressed support for the Hong Kong demonstration, the company is smart phone game 'to develop Hearthstone in an interview that took place after the official convention of the' professional is a gamer Blitzchung support of Mr. Hong Kong demo In response to the announcement, he took steps to deprive him of the prize money he won at the tournament and his eligibility to participate in the official tournament for one year.

A professional gamer who expressed support for the Hong Kong demonstration will be robbed of the prize money and banned from participating in the tournament-GIGAZINE



Blizzard's response is “to delight the Chinese Communist Party!”, And not only supporters of the Hong Kong demo, but also US Senators, game fans, and Blizzard employees have received many criticisms. It was a situation.

Voices of criticism from fans and employees against companies who disposed of to professional gamers who supported Hong Kong demonstrations-GIGAZINE



Many users responded to Blizzard's response, and an account deletion campaign was taking place. Since then, the repulsion by users has accelerated, and the movement to make 'Mei', a character appearing in the overwatch developed and operated by Blizzard, symbolize Hong Kong demonstrations is expanding.



The movement to put Overwatch's “Mei” as a symbol of the Hong Kong demonstration was proposed on the Internet, such as Reddit, an overseas bulletin board. The reason for trying to make Mei the symbol of the Hong Kong demo was that `` Blizzard, who took action to support the Chinese government, used the Overwatch character (the company's main title) as the symbol of the Hong Kong demo. And if overwatch and other blizzards are banned in China, it ’s very shameful. ”

In fact, on Twitter, the following tweet “Let's use Mei's illustration!” Is posted as a symbol of the Hong Kong demo ...



Afterwards, you can see many illustrations and videos of May on the hashtag “ #Blizzardboycott ” that is attached to tweets related to the boycott movement against Blizzard.













You can see that Mei is treated as a symbol of the Hong Kong demo by searching for “mei” in Google Image Search. When searching for Mei, the top of the search will display “May image treated as a symbol of Hong Kong demo” overwhelmingly more than “Overwatch Mei image”.



The fact that Mei is used as a symbol of the Hong Kong demonstration was widely spread on the Internet, but this became widely known in the offline world, Canadian cosplayer Zephronica `` Reclaim The Net points out that the photo taken with the “FREE HONG KONG” plate was a big trigger.



Not only Internet users but also people who are participating in the Hong Kong demonstrations in the area use May's illustration as a symbol of the demonstration.






The Chinese government and blizzard have not taken a clear response at the time of writing, against Mei, which is rapidly spreading as a symbol of the Hong Kong demonstration. However, those who are doing boycotts against Hong Kong demonstrations and blizzards are planning further protests on Reddit during Blizzcon 2019, held every year by Blizzard.

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in Game, Posted by logu_ii