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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of Legends, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft, will need "corrective action," while others will be "banned/withdrawn" entirely.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of Legends, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft, will need "corrective action," while others will be "banned/withdrawn" entirely.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).
Terrible, barbaric, tyrannical governments that censor every little thing, should be CUT OFF FROM THE WORLD. Sell them NOTHING. Change NOTHING for them. Tell them take it or LEAVE it.
When I see how crazily obsessed children are with Fortnite, when I see some adults here, comparing a Fortnite ban to human rights violation, it makes me think that maybe banning this shit would be a good thing.
GROW. UP.
(And if we have to talk about what china are doing, let's talk about their violations of human rights)
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
Cut them off. Spare them the trouble of sifting through content and them deciding what should be allowed and what not. Maybe their citizens start rebelling then, but probably not, so just keep it up.
I mean, how dare Firaxis not make the Chinese military units in Civilization more powerful than everyone else. They need to update that game for the Chinese market, so whoever plays that character always wins!
Think your games will remain as they are? Think again.
Or they can simply modify the edition the Chinese get. IIRC, Bungie had to make modifications to Myth for the European market, because some countries had a thing against blood in games, so they made the blood green. I think they also made enemies that exploded turn into confetti instead of a pile of carnage, but that might have been another game. I think Wolfenstein had to do the same thing in Germany because of the swastikas. Sure, it's probably a pain in the neck, but it can be done.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
When you step down off your soap box, you should look to your own critical thinking skills, and look up Whataboutism.
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.
It seems China has the same issues the United States has in that folks with kiddos either:
1) Don't know how or
2) Don't want to be bothered
with actually being a parent.
The simple fix for that Fortnite addiction is to simply not allow them to play it for excessive amounts of time.
You know. . . . BE a parent.
Banning Fortnite? For once I'm not mad at China.