Community reactions generate changes in the new Hearthstone Creator Program cover image

Community reactions generate changes in the new Hearthstone Creator Program

Hearthstone responds to community complaints about the Creator Program, including high requirements and a hostile agreement clause.

The much-awaited Hearthstone Creator is here, but the community response wasn't all positive. While having a transparent benchmark was welcomed, some Hearthstone content creators were vocal about their negative feelings about the program.

Within 24 hours, Blizzard and Hearthstone Team 5 addressed many of the complaints. Let's go over the details of how this has evolved.

"Our Creator Program is designed to help you reach your goals as a creator and provide you with the tools to make better top-tier content."

Blizzard presenting the creator program

The Hearthstone Creator Program

This past Thursday, Blizzard announced the Hearthstone Creator Program, a roadmap for content creators that want to get involved with the game in a more intimate way. The program had a rough start after missing the expected launch window during the Murder of Castle Nathria expansion.

Despite this delay, the community's sentiment and expectations toward the Hearthstone Creator Program were positive. Having a clear and well-defined roadmap on how to get involved with Blizzard campaigns was something that creators, especially emerging ones, needed.

Thursday was the day in which expectations clashed with reality. Let's go over how the community received the Hearthstone Creator Program and its main critiques.

The community reacts

The Hearthstone Creator Program received much attention from the content creators' niche. Many creators saw the requirements as a motivation and a goal to work towards. However, some others saw the steep minimums as being left out.

Hearthstone Creator Program requirements for streamers (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)
Hearthstone Creator Program requirements for streamers (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

This was the first topic that divided the waters, but it was not the only one. Soon after the release, the Asia-Pacific community realized they were not eligible for the Hearthstone Creator Program. AhirunHS, one of the most prolific and inspiring Japanese content creators, complaint about the following:

"I wanted to raise a problem with Blizzard, who advertises that it is a support program for all community members while leaving out the Asian region including Japan"

AhirunHS about the Hearthstone Creator Program (translated from Japanese)

Last, but perhaps the most pressing issue of all is the Hearthstone Creator Program agreement C.8 clause. Most of us just click thru "I agree" without reading, but if your brand or business depends on it, it is wise to read the fine print.

OldGuardian raised the concern that the agreement initially had the following terms:

"Shall not make any disparaging or negative statements or representations (…) about blizzard (…). This provision shall survive the expiration or termination of this Agreement.”

Hearthstone Creator Agreement Section C8 (before it's update)

If you think this might be like muzzling content creators, you aren't entirely wrong.

Blizzard responds to concerns about the Hearthstone Creator Program

After the critiques started piling up, Alkali, part of the Hearthstone Community Management Team took the lead in answering the most frequent concerns.

This helped to lower the anxiety levels of many Hearthstone creators that felt left out of the program. Alkali reassured that the team would consider special circumstances and that creators should apply regardless of meeting the criteria if they felt they could add value to the program.

Furthermore, last night we saw an important update regarding the Hearthstone Creator Program Agreement.

Blizzard removed the "muzzle clause" within 24 hours of launching the program. It is hard to say why something so important would go out like that and be immediately changed after the backlash it generated.

Fortunately, now the C8 section only refers to "any unlawful, untruthful, or intentionally misleading statements or representations". Zeddy is safe, at least for now.

To sum up

The Hearthstone Creator Program has just launched, and it seems that it's still in the works. It is still a mystery how many of the "special cases" would make it into the program, nor if the Asia-Pacific community will have some analog program.

The current Hearthstone CM team has done a great job trying to innovate and bring more initiatives to include even more creators expansion after expansion. They have built credibility and are close to the community, responding on social media every day.

We should understand that them being the faces of the Hearthstone Creator Program, doesn't mean that they have full control over its reach or conditions. There is always someone up the ladder that makes the calls.

The success of this Hearthstone Creator Program relies on Blizzard having the capacity to adapt the program to the creator's needs. Proving that the goals are obtainable and that progress is possible is key to keeping up the creators' motivation. While this might not fall under Blizzard's responsibility, it's something desirable for Hearthstone to thrive.

That's all for now but stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Hearthstone news and updates. See you next time in the tavern.