DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer or political expert. I am also speaking mostly for myself, not for other gamers.
Upper Echelon Gamers recently did a video analyzing a new policy for Riot Games where they will record and store voice recordings in their games (VALORANT for now but possibly other games in the future) and explained that Riot Games is a child company of Tencent, a Chinese company that has ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Tencent currently owns 90% of Riot Games and plans to take 7% more later. Basically, Tencent can do almost anything they want with Riot Games.
As some of you may already know, Hypixel Studios was taken over by Riot Games. Though Hypixel Studios claims to remain in control of Hytale development with Riot stepping in for financial power and technical expertise, I'm still a little nervous, to be honest. The whole Tencent thing is the reason the Hypixel Studios acquisition was controversial for a short time.
The CCP is notorious among the international community, to say the least. It is infamous for its social credit score system and ever-expanding surveillance capabilities. Typical small violations like jaywalking can lower your social credit score, as well as acts that would be utterly alien to most people in other countries like criticizing the government and being friends with someone who has a low social credit score.
Don't get me started with the Wuhan coronavirus. China is huge in terms of both area and population, but wow, they were able to control the dang thing while the rest of the world is struggling. The little bastards even let Chinese people fly to other countries while the virus was raging in their own country, causing them to unknowingly spread the virus.
There is no official confirmation of in-game voice chat in Hytale yet, but for the purposes of this post, let's assume there is because I want to be safe. (For other speculative posts, assume there's no voice chat.)
How Would I Play Hytale in the First Place?
I generally dislike competitive gaming because I often get destroyed by other players, even newbies. I also dislike being in groups of people I don't know, especially the hyper-competitive kind, so it's hard to build a connection with these people, let alone work with them as a team.
As such, it's highly unlikely I would even play multiplayer in public servers in the first place. Playing by myself or with friends feels more comfortable because I enjoy structured roleplays and friendly competitions.
If I need to communicate with other players in-game, I would type my messages.
Fortunately, I rarely swear outside of talking to myself and family members.
As far as I know, I don't talk about more personal stuff like my work or school during a game. The closest I would say is "Sorry, I have to get back to work/studying." I don't want those CCP motherfuckers using my information to get me in trouble with the organizations I'm a part of--you know how leftists like to cancel people they disagree with into oblivion.
Still, the vast majority of my Hytale communication will be through Discord voice chat, at least if I have friends to play with.
But I don't have any friends to play Hytale with.
Oh well. At least I have never gotten in trouble while playing Genshin Impact...except for a few unintentional "swear words".
I swear, if Discord also gets taken over by the CCP or an affiliate of it, I'm gonna smash my punching bag.
Side Note: Hong Kong Protests
The people of Hong Kong are fighting to bring back capitalism to China, just like it was during the time of Deng Xiaoping.
And I hope their influence spreads to other regions in China. As of writing this, the Philippines is now annoyed at China's advances towards the West Philippine Sea. Also, even though I'm not a Chinese citizen, I can't stand a foreign government meddling with my personal life.
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