How World of Warcraft Operates In China

Danny writes "Gaming Steve has taken a detailed look at a little known aspect of the online gaming world -- how World of Warcraft and MMORPGs in general function in Communist China. Topics covered include the WOW China financial arrangement, censorship of WOW and other MMORPGs in general, different methods of payment for Chinese customers, and even how SARS affected online play." From the article: "Although private sector Internet service providers currently exist in China, almost all access to the Internet is maintained through stateowned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of China's Ministry of Information Industry. In addition, the national networks in China connect to the Internet through government controlled international gateways. These government controlled international gateways are the only channel through which a domestic Chinese user can connect to the international Internet network."

Comments

Satellite Internet?

[QuantumG]

Can't you use StarBand or some other high speed satellite internet provider in China? Do they have a dome over China I'm not aware of or what?

Re:Satellite Internet?

[QuantumG]

No. Every two-way high speed internet provided by satellite is done with LEO constelations. As such, most of them have 80% earth coverage (getting internet in the Arctic must be a bitch).