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China To Force Changes To 20 Popular Games, Ban 9 Including Fortnite and PUBG (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: A panel of censors set up to vet mobile video games in China has signaled it will be hard to please. State media reports that of the first 20 titles it assessed, nine were refused permission to go on sale. The Xinhua news agency added that developers of the other 11 had been told they had to make adjustments to remove "controversial content." The authorities have voiced concerns about the violent nature of some titles as well as worries about the activity being addictive.
It was announced in August that a new body -- the State Administration of Press and Publications -- had taken over responsibility for approving games and that it would limit the number of online titles available. And although it has not been specified, some experts are assuming that the new panel will operate under its auspices. Xinhua said it is comprised of gaming experts, government-employed researchers, and representatives from the media and video games industry. But it provided no other information about who they were or the titles they had already examined. UPDATE: The list of games being examined by the ethics panel has been revealed by users on NGA, a Chinese gaming forum. A number of games, such as League of Legends, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft, will need "corrective action," while others will be "banned/withdrawn" entirely. Some of the most popular prohibited titles include Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG).
It was announced in August that a new body -- the State Administration of Press and Publications -- had taken over responsibility for approving games and that it would limit the number of online titles available. And although it has not been specified, some experts are assuming that the new panel will operate under its auspices. Xinhua said it is comprised of gaming experts, government-employed researchers, and representatives from the media and video games industry. But it provided no other information about who they were or the titles they had already examined. UPDATE: The list of games being examined by the ethics panel has been revealed by users on NGA, a Chinese gaming forum. A number of games, such as League of Legends, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft, will need "corrective action," while others will be "banned/withdrawn" entirely. Some of the most popular prohibited titles include Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG).
Yes, Germany has a stream of bullshit changes to pander to their ridiculous Bundesprüfstelle to defend kids against reality (IIRC that's the most accurate translation), and in general they were hilarious. Top of my head I remember the suicide bombers in C&C Generals being gurneys with little bombs on them. But that's far from the most ridiculous change ever made in a game to get an a-ok from them.
But we're not talking about cosmetic changes here. If you look at the reasons given as to why the games were banned, including reasons like "rewards given based on rank", "distorted concepts of history and culture" and "game missions include fraud", this means that fundamental aspects of the game, its core mechanics and the story it tries to tell, are suddenly no-gos.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Right. Just like how movies teach you how to use firearms. The 'survival' skills you learn in these games will get you killed in about 10 seconds flat in the real world. Turns out that in the real world, getting shot 5 times can't be fixed by wrapping some bandages around your arm or taking some pain pills. You'll just be dead. And you can't just join the next game 90 seconds later.