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China Clamps Down on Online Gaming

Posted by Zonk on from the can't-have-too-much-fun dept.

The BBC reports on new restrictions on online gaming. Specifically, they'll be monitoring some virtual worlds more closely, after some were found to be carrying 'anti-government' messages. Examples include religious and political material, although there are very few details on either the content or what exactly they'll be doing to monitor it. From the article: "Distributors must now obtain approval before releasing new games, reported Xinhua news agency. Companies must also submit monthly monitoring reports, confirming developers have not added forbidden content. The latest round of enforcement was prompted by 'a rash of problems with imported online games, some of which contain sensitive religious material or refer to territorial disputes', Xinhua said. " Relatedly, in Gamasutra's regular 'China Angle' column, they look at gaming-related TV ads, why those are dicey, and requirements that players not cross-dress in MMOGs.

10 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Wow... by PingSpike · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I mean, I knew they had some nutty censorship going on there...but they've actually got people that make sure you can't crossdress in online computer games? Is that really a big enough problem that they need assign government officials to it?

    I guess I'll try to see this as an example of why all freedom of expression must be protected...even that which you disagree with. If you shrug it off, it just gets worse and worse.

    1. Re:Wow... by techpawn · · Score: 5, Funny

      These Bra and earrings give me +50 in my mana... the panties is just a comfort thing...

      --
      Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
    2. Re:Wow... by MWoody · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, you've fallen afoul of yet more shitty slashdot editing. From the link:

      Chengdu based Aurora Technology is forcing some reality back into fantasy role playing games as it places a visual verification restriction to players that want to play female characters in the company's new game Feng Yun Online. Only female gamers can play female characters. If successful, the policy should reduce confusion and broken hearts in the game.

      So the government has nothing to do with it, nor is it in any sense a product of an overarching regulatory action. It's one MMO that's using "our girls are REALLY girls" as a selling point.

      *sigh* I've defended the slashdot editors in the past (and been modded down for it), but this is getting silly. The optimist in me hopes it's a secret campaign to point out people who don't actually read the articles, just the summary, and make them look like fools. I know I, for one, feel like an idiot for IM'ing a few friends that link with "OMG, teh Chin3se are teh anti-mangirlz!"

  2. What's left? by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Funny

    So China doesn't want to play games with controversial religious messages, territorial disputes, or suspect political commentary. They must have loved it 21 years ago when Super Mario came back to life after death, lowered a flag outside a castle, and rescued a kidnapped princess from an evil king.

    --
    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  3. Tapping nodes by Clever7Devil · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now if we could only show the Chinese government just how gay gold farming is...

    --
    "By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to suspect 'Hungry.'" -Gary Larson
  4. Re:Big Sebastion? by analog_line · · Score: 3, Interesting

    China's government has every reason to be paranoid.

    They have a massive, restless, and incredibly impoverished rural population that could crush the Chinese Communist Party if it ever decided that enough is enough, and revolution is at hand. The geography we currently call China has had a very long, and very bloody history of conflict. Sun-Tzu and all the rest of the famous Chinese military theorists were born out of that period in Chinese history. If you've ever played Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or the Dynasty Warriors games, that period is what those games are set in. The analogies are legion to represent the kind of balancing act the Communists have to undergo to keep China looking like what we think China really is. Even in the video games that you get out of China that are about Chinese history, that period is presented like a civil conflict, not wars between sovereign states. My guess being that while the powers that be can't erase the powerful legendary figures and the hold they have on the dreams of the Chinese people, they certainly can work to make sure that what they think those legends and stories should teach is what gets taught.

  5. Re:Big Sebastion? by silentounce · · Score: 3, Funny

    A government that is not paranoid is not a government at all.

    --
    There are many tongues to talk, and but few heads to think. -Victor Hugo
  6. Fear by silentounce · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think what they are afraid of is groups like the Falun Gong building a presence on these online games and acting as a medium of communication, a place to hold meetings, plot actions, etc. Anti-government movements have existed throughout Chinese history e.g. the White Lotus Society, Kuomintang, the CCP. One of these groups eventually takes power through a violent revolution. The cycle has been going on for thousands of years.

    --
    There are many tongues to talk, and but few heads to think. -Victor Hugo
  7. Getting rid of farmers the easy way? by argStyopa · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...Let China do it?

    So if I get this right, if in WoW I reguarly /yell "FREE TIBET" and "DOWN WITH THE FASCIST OPPRESSORS OF TIANAMEN SQUARE!" China will step in and prevent any logins from China to my server?

    That's quite a tragedy.

    Sounds like I need to program some macros.

    --
    -Styopa
  8. Take my freedom, but leave me my WoW by StephenW · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'll be interested to see how people take it the day that Blizzard puts out some unacceptable patch and the Chinese government attempts to completely remove World of Warcraft. I can see the headlines now. "Chinese government overthrown by gold farmer revolt in a single night," followed shortly by, "Azerothan gold piece replaces the yen as official Chinese currency."