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Chinese Bureaucrats Duel Over Right To Regulate WoW
upto0013 writes "Chinese bureaucrats are battling each other for the right to regulate World of Warcraft. They hope to gain the political clout and the revenue that comes along with controlling a new industry with potential for explosive growth. 'If you supervise a more dynamic area with a lot of growth potential, you have more budget and more administrative muscle,' said Edward Yu, president of Analysys International, an Internet research firm in Beijing. 'They see this pie is getting bigger and bigger, so it is no wonder different administrations are fighting over pieces of that territory.' It's absurd how orcs and elves (and Moonkin) can affect so many different faraway places."
they really want to stop any anti chain chat in game and they want to tax the gold farmers.
Can they fight within the game so we can all watch?
(So. Would being mod'ed a "troll" be good or bad for this thread?)
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
My first mental image was a conference room full of bureaucrats and a duel flag dropping down in the middle.
Or two opposing teams of bureaucrats playing a Warsong Gulch match.
Hmm. Does anyone else think this could be the next big MMO? "That's not a red health bar on the boss -- that's how much red tape you have to cut through!"
OK, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Western reporters in Beijing are total dumbasses. They constantly write stories colored by their own blinders they're not even aware that they're wearing. The story doesn't even mention that WoW/Netease problems getting a license in China has been going on for a while now and is nothing new. It's not really even a story, just a space filler - bureaucratic turf wars between communist ministries are news now? Anyhow, I just wanted to mention whenever you see that line at the top of the story, immediately mentally activate your BS detectors. If you want China news, there is no shortage of primary sources in English. Even my own small city district has its own website, with a translated English page. Here is a much better story from Shanghai Daily, which lays out the issue in a much clearer fashion:
Compelling story, eh? This is typical of what comes out of Western media in Beijing.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
OK, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Western reporters in Beijing are total dumbasses. They constantly write stories colored by their own blinders they're not even aware that they're wearing.
So, pretty much like every reporter and newspaper?
Blizzard and their Chinese partners haven't found the right people to bribe yet.
Or maybe they found the right people, but they're asking too much for CWoW to be profitable?
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The BBC, for one, is renowned for its objectivity and lack of bias.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Does this mean I can play as a Chinese bureaucrat now? And I guess the special spell would be Silence your opponent.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Actually, I had some in depth talks with some friends from China about WoW.
They still only have level 70 because the government STILL hasn't "filtered" every last quest in WotLK for any themes that might contradict the Chinese government policies. I'm dead serious. The "censorship" is that horrific.
Not only that, but there are some really weird censorship issues you wouldn't expect. For example, there are no undead in Chinese WoW because the Chinese government won't allow any human bones to be shown in the game. So anywhere you see a skeleton, it had to be removed by Blizzard.
* anyone who thinks China is Communist doesn't understand either (a) the meaning of communism or (b) history.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
The state controlled media has assured us of their lack of bias from of an investigative report they did on themselves assuring us they were unbiased.
Isn't this just a cynical way of describing ones "perspective"? Every mind perceives the world from it's own perspective, has it's own world view coloured by it's experiences.
Sure you can compare perspective to "blinders" and call those people "dumb asses" but they are the same blinders worn by your dumb ass.
How? You're always OOM. There's no boom in oom.
US bureaucrats are also falling over each other to regulate whatever they can because it gives them power. Bureaucracies work the same the world over, communist or not.
Just out of interest...have you *ever* been to China, or the US?
A good education is a bit like a STD - it makes you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and gives you a desire to spread it.
The chairman of the BBC called for the abolition of the TV license last week, in favour of having the BBC funded out of general taxation rather than a specific levy. The BBC has, in the past, covered stories of people protesting about the TV license and has included quotes from people opposed to it. Any time a public figure criticises the BBC, you will find a BBC story covering it, usually giving someone at the BBC an opportunity to respond, but not generally weighted towards the BBC. For some examples, look at this story and this one.
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This is about who gets to be in a position of demanding bribes to allow WOW in their country. This is about good old fashioned greed and doesn't have a damn thing to do with Orcs or Elves. Since this is seen as potentially very lucrative, people will fight to be in a position to exploit this. It's fundamentally no different than any other fight for territory.
Ummm, your ignorance is astonishing. Or your hyperbole.
If you're trying to draw a parallel between the Chinese Gov't and US Gov't because of some difficulty you had with taxes or some annoying permit you were required to get (probably by your local Gov't, and not even the Fed)... ahh, why am I even bothering trying to answer this rationally. Dude, read a book. I'd start with the dictionary and the definition of the "Authoritative." Then try reading a year's worth of articles about life in China. Then, reflect on how much of that information you wouldn't be reading if you lived in China (or what hoops you'd have to jump through to read it, and what consequences there would/could be for disseminating it.)
Then, put your money where your mouth is and move there and take your flippant attitude toward gov't with you. Please, express it loudly and unabashedly as much as possible. And then, after ten years, let's have this discussion again.
(Honestly though, this is a non-story: Several government department have partially overlapping areas of control so they argue about which one has the control on those areas. Those things happen a lot, especially with the internet and other new technology. In other areas those fights have already been settled a century or so ago.)
It's not really a non-story when last I heard, there are something like 6 MILLION accounts in China. Even if each of those only pays $1 a month (they're charged on a different schedule to us) that's a $72M/year business they're talking about. No wonder there's a turf war over who 'owns' it legislation-wise.
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