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Chinese Bureaucrats Duel Over Right To Regulate WoW

Posted by samzenpus on from the great-wall-of-azeroth dept.

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."

13 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Can we watch? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Chinese bureaucrats are battling each other for the right to regulate World of Warcraft.

    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. . . .
    1. Re:Can we watch? by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's gonna be a big hit.

      Crouching Tauren, Hidden Draenei

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    2. Re:Can we watch? by meerling · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think you mean 'Hidden Nightelf' since they are the ones with Shadowmeld.

      Don't have a problem with the Crouching Tauren thing, since they keep having to duck down to get through most doorways without wedging their horns in the frame... :)

  2. I've been playing WoW too much... by Bookwyrm · · Score: 5, Funny

    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!"

  3. Re:The first line of the story tells you everythin by sopssa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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?

  4. What I think is more likely by Inf0phreak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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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    ________
    Entranced by anime since late summer 2001 and loving it ^_^
  5. Re:The first line of the story tells you everythin by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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!
  6. Worse than that... by plastick · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Worse than that... by DigitalSorceress · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hmm if it's truly a cultural issue, then wouldn't it be a self-regulating feedback loop?

      In other words, if you're that offended by the game diong something repugnant to your culture, you won't play... end of problem.

      It seems to me that the whole bones thing may go against certain cultural norms, but that the government is the one who has a problem with it.

      I honestly don't know enough about Chinese cultural norms to know if showing bones is equivelent (to the Chinese) as your hypothetical MMORPG would be to America.

      I keep trying to think about this from an outsider's perspective, but I keep getting back to "dude, it's just bones. if it bothers me, I won't look, but it doesn't so where's the harm?". There are one or two substitutions for the word "bones" that you could add that would make it illegal in the US, and where most members of our culture would even agree that it should be a crime.

      Cultural relativism is a damn minefield.

      I'll just go back to LFM H ToC 25 now and be happy that my culture allows me to waste my evenings and weekends in this manner.

      --

      The Digital Sorceress
  7. It's a sign that China is modernising by Kupfernigk · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Instead of warlords fighting for turf, you have civil servants fighting for budget. Progress. You also have the advantage that, unlike the US and the UK, you already have an overbearing, censorship-obsessed, fascist* slave state, so you don't have the civil servants fighting to get the budget to create one.

    * 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."
  8. I guess... by jipn4 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  9. Re:The first line of the story tells you everythin by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  10. Re:Power hungry money grubbing grab-asses by Mr+Otobor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.