For their part, gamers have reacted to Blizzard’s behavior with a deeply emotional paroxysm of sadness, anger and betrayal. What is it about gamers that is making them so aggrieved while patrons of other Western companies that have bowed to Chinese politics have generally seemed to simply not care?

The basic answer is that gamers are not mere customers or consumers. Instead, gamers are active participants in creating their entertainment, and they do it together. A film, a book, a television program, an album or a painting is, at root, a static artifact that has been created wholly outside its beholder . Any sort of game, however, requires active engagement. Online gamers have created a global culture and community that transcends every terrestrial border of language and politics. When Blizzard banned Blitzchung, Blizzard banned one of us.

And Blizzard is not just any video game company. For most of the 25 years since releasing its breakout hit, “Warcraft: Orcs & Humans,” Blizzard has been perhaps the most beloved video game maker in the world. Blizzard earned unparalleled respect and adoration over the decades not just because it produced games of the highest quality but also because the company has long touted values of pluralism and tolerance.

Fifteen miles down the road from the BlizzCon site, at the center of Blizzard’s corporate campus in Irvine, Calif., a two-ton orc wrought in bronze bellows triumphantly astride a snarling wolf. On the ground around him, 12 feet below the tip of his battle axe, the company’s eight core values are inscribed on plaques at the points of a compass. “Every Voice Matters,’’ reads one. “Think Globally,’’ reads another. As the company appeared to turn its back on those values, upset employees papered over those slogans.

Gamers aren’t naïve. They understand that video games are now a big business. Blizzard generated about $2 billion in revenue over the last year for its corporate parent, Activision Blizzard, based in Santa Monica, Calif. Activision earns roughly 12 percent of its revenue from the Asia Pacific region and sees the area as a major growth opportunity. Coincidentally, perhaps, Activision is currently seeking the Chinese government’s approval to release “Call of Duty: Mobile” in the country.

Many players are hoping the company comes to recognize that earning the last penny in Chinese profits is not worth squandering a generation of good will. At BlizzCon, gamers will learn if Blizzard has figured that out. And the rest of the world will learn how loudly gamers, and consumers generally, will speak up for democracy and corporate responsibility.

Seth Schiesel is a former reporter and video game critic for The New York Times.

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