Possible Drastic Protest to SOPA

[shinigamisparda]

Ok, as we all know, SOPA sucks and for some reason it has a crap ton of support. Just because many big names like certain publishers and congressman are against it doesn't mean it still won't pass. We should also remember how when GoDaddy.com went public it said that it supported SOPA millions of members threatened to move their websites, and GoDaddy recanted it's support of SOPA within less than 24 hours.

Now, maybe I'm just spitballing here, but I think one of the reasons that corporations under the ESA still support SOPA is because they figure that despite our protests we are still going to buy their products. I think we should prove them wrong, and I have an idea how. We should all recognize how effective the GoDaddy boycott was, so maybe we need to do the same to a major game corporation. One that stuck out for me was Blizzard, namely in the area of World of Warcraft. Imagine what kind of attention would be garnered if 10 million subscribers threatened to pull their membership. That would probably catch attention even on Fox.

Now, maybe it isn't fair to suggest this because I don't have a WoW account, but I can't really think of any better way to get attention. And also, if I remember correctly, Activision stated that they supported SOPA, so maybe they have it coming.

Anyway, just a thought.

 

[Lilani]

Ok, as we all know, SOPA sucks and for some reason it has a crap ton of support. Just because many big names like certain publishers and congressman are against it doesn't mean it still won't pass. We should also remember how when GoDaddy.com went public it said that it supported SOPA millions of members threatened to move their websites, and GoDaddy recanted it's support of SOPA within less than 24 hours.

Now, maybe I'm just spitballing here, but I think one of the reasons that corporations under the ESA still support SOPA is because they figure that despite our protests we are still going to buy their products. I think we should prove them wrong, and I have an idea how. We should all recognize how effective the GoDaddy boycott was, so maybe we need to do the same to a major game corporation. One that stuck out for me was Blizzard, namely in the area of World of Warcraft. Imagine what kind of attention would be garnered if 10 million subscribers threatened to pull their membership. That would probably catch attention even on Fox.

Now, maybe it isn't fair to suggest this because I don't have a WoW account, but I can't really think of any better way to get attention. And also, if I remember correctly, Activision stated that they supported SOPA, so maybe they have it coming.

Anyway, just a thought.

Eh, most individual developers haven't actively made much of a case for SOPA. Joystiq [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115100-Not-All-ESA-Members-Believe-In-SOPA] did a bit of digging which the Escapist posted here, showing a list of developers in the ESA they contacted regarding SOPA. The big hitters like EA, Ubisoft, THQ, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony either didn't respond or came out as neutral. And a few of them flat out opposed it, even though they are in the ESA (and Microsoft is a part of another group which opposes SOPA). I think at this point our best shot is to still work on individual congresspeople, which lately has actually been fairly [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115146-Wisconsin-Congressman-Steps-Up-to-Oppose-SOPA] effective [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115188-Congressman-Plays-League-of-Legends-Backs-Riot-Games-SOPA-Opposition].

 

[shinigamisparda]

Oh well. It was just an idea I had.

And yeah, those two made me cheer.

 

[Kopikatsu]

You should have posted the Modern Warfare 2 one. That pic is hilarious.

As you wish.

OP: Gamers are notoriously poor boycotters. Or maybe everyone just sucks at boycotting and gamers just seem worse because we can easily check if they are breaking the boycott.

 

[Drop_D-Bombshell]

I hate to be the one who brings this up, but if we're gonna win, we've gotta be dicks to show what the negative effects of this bill is.

Hear me through.

Remember when Fox News got that 'expert' to attack Mass Effect and we bombarded her book reviews? That got our message across and she broke, revealing the truth. Perhaps if we did this to the ESA and other leading SOPA supporters, they could buckle. Of course, not the ones opposing the bill like Epic Games, but just a few to get our message across. Hopefully, if enough gaming companies in the ESA oppose, they'd have to change stance.

Alternatively, the only other way we can show the effect is have sites go down in a day of protest that these companies rely on, such as Youtube, Destructoid and other sites.... Including this one. If they experienced what happens if this bill is passed, it just might change their minds on the bill.

 

[gigastar]

Something just struck me, and im certainly not the first to think of this just now.

If certain ESA members are opposed to SOPA, why arent they threatening to pull out of it?

 

[shinigamisparda]

I hate to be the one who brings this up, but if we're gonna win, we've gotta be dicks to show what the negative effects of this bill is.

Hear me through.

Remember when Fox News got that 'expert' to attack Mass Effect and we bombarded her book reviews? That got our message across and she broke, revealing the truth. Perhaps if we did this to the ESA and other leading SOPA supporters, they could buckle. Of course, not the ones opposing the bill like Epic Games, but just a few to get our message across. Hopefully, if enough gaming companies in the ESA oppose, they'd have to change stance.

Alternatively, the only other way we can show the effect is have sites go down in a day of protest that these companies rely on, such as Youtube, Destructoid and other sites.... Including this one. If they experienced what happens if this bill is passed, it just might change their minds on the bill.

ANy ideas on how to go about this?

 

[chadachada123]

I hate to be the one who brings this up, but if we're gonna win, we've gotta be dicks to show what the negative effects of this bill is.

Hear me through.

Remember when Fox News got that 'expert' to attack Mass Effect and we bombarded her book reviews? That got our message across and she broke, revealing the truth. Perhaps if we did this to the ESA and other leading SOPA supporters, they could buckle. Of course, not the ones opposing the bill like Epic Games, but just a few to get our message across. Hopefully, if enough gaming companies in the ESA oppose, they'd have to change stance.

Alternatively, the only other way we can show the effect is have sites go down in a day of protest that these companies rely on, such as Youtube, Destructoid and other sites.... Including this one. If they experienced what happens if this bill is passed, it just might change their minds on the bill.

Only if the blackout sites on that day all list the companies and Congressmen that actively support SOPA/PIPA. Boycotts work much better if everyone believes everyone else is a part of it, and we need to know who we need to vote the hell out of office, right?

 

[chadachada123]

Something just struck me, and im certainly not the first to think of this just now.

If certain ESA members are opposed to SOPA, why arent they threatening to pull out of it?

To be fair, the ESA is what got that Supreme Court decision in favor of free speech. Just because the ESA is retarded on this issue doesn't mean they are an overall detriment *in the eyes of the members.* If enough pressure was put on the members, though, they would probably start neutralizing or opposing it.

 

[Anthony Wells]

Something just struck me, and im certainly not the first to think of this just now.

If certain ESA members are opposed to SOPA, why arent they threatening to pull out of it?

that is a very good question.

 

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

Oh, a boycott. I think we should all know how these turn out by now. I think i heard somewhere that if SOPA passed Google, YouTube and Facebook would shut down for a day. That would raise some awareness, but it would probably die down after a while.