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Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

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Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#31
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in the Xi era China has a) become more of an overtly fascist dictatorship and b) harder for Westerners to make money in, so because of b) there's more incentive to focus on a) Still lots of great stuff happening there, so long as you're not an ethnic minority, religious, LGBT, disabled, an addict, mentally ill, interested in social change, or too poor to afford your own private oxygen and food supply

Ethnic and religious minorities are also persecuted all over the US and Europe, it may not be physically (except if you're black in the US) but there's definitely a psychological warfare being declared against these groups through mass media and culture (movies, tv shows, literature ...). I'm not too sure we can give lessons to the Chinese government on this subject.

>I'm not too sure we can give lessons to the Chinese government on this subject.

I simply must call BS.

Are the Germans not qualified to give lessons on the subject of pervasive surveillance, or the concentration of thousands into camps on the basis of their religion? Are the Bosniaks not qualified to speak of ethnic cleansing, particularly as it applies to a Muslim population? Are the British, whose colonial empire committed many of the same crimes China seems intent on repeating, without any wisdom to offer on the subject?

Perhaps the recent density of criticism directed at China, in particular reports on the surveillance state and concentration camps in Xinjiang, are signs that something has gone very wrong.

Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should be noted Tencent is a Chinese company, several of their games appear on this list.

I'm pretty sure they will give Tencent's games a way to comply by changing some petty stuff and keep the others banned.

As someone else mentioned, Fortnite is tencents game, they’re a 40% stakeholder in epic and this is a huge upset for them. So maybe this is like you said temporary.

Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#33
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ethnic and religious minorities are also persecuted all over the US and Europe, it may not be physically (except if you're black in the US) but there's definitely a psychological warfare being declared against these groups through mass media and culture (movies, tv shows, literature ...). I'm not too sure we can give lessons to the Chinese government on this subject.

> are also persecuted all over the US and Europe Persecuted? I mean, maybe there's social stigma. But I can start a local chapter of " support group" and no one is going to knock on my door and disappear me in the night. I can make a website that's entirely dedicated to criticizing my government, and my internet connection won't be blocked. I can jaywalk across the street without a CCTV camera auto-detecting my face,…

> But I can start a local chapter of " support group" and no one is going to knock on my door and disappear me in the night.

Absolutely true. But you WILL not be given access to venues to host events, and you will most certainly be labeled a "violent activist group" or (if you're from a particular religious group) be accused of "feeding the fire of terrorism". With all the negative consequences that come with that. (This is not science fiction by the way, it happened in a certain west european country not too long ago).

So yeah, I'm not sure it's a better deal.

I wasn't trying to start a flame war or anything. I just find the hate towards china very curious and very dangerous. What bothers me isn't necessarily the negative criticism it's rather the fact that we're accusing them of things the US and Europe have been guilty of for centuries, but you're right we're drifting away from the main topic of the article.

Thanks for replying.

Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#34

If the post is accurate as a translation/source, I doubt those stated reasons are the true motivations, since citing 'blood and gore' for Fortnite seems absurd. I speculate it is more likely a way to carefully manipulate the competitive landscape for a highly-lucrative industry (gaming), so as to favor local companies (and yes, I see Tencent is impacted). This should really be brought up in the on-going trade negotia…

Blood and gore used to be enough reason in Germany to get a game altered?

Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#35
post #30
post #4

In UK they use the PEGI rating system for games that influences the design process. They also have OFCOM, ICO, HMRC and even more. Chinese companies cant sell games in the UK without complying with all the laws. Sounds like another case of dictator knows what dictator does. Perhaps china is retaliating for canada locking up a huawei executive for violating US sanctions on iran, or maybe china is exercising its import…

That’s a completely pointless observation. PEGI is a pan-European (note: not solely UK - it’s an industry body) rating system. It doesn’t censor content or creativity, it just recommends that younger people can’t buy extreme content. It’s not active censorship. Ofcom doesn’t apply to games - it’s TV, radio, phones, communications regulator (Office of Communications). The ICO regulates data protection and privacy. In…

Perhaps you answered your own question. Uk has many cards up its sleeve to censor china for whatever reason it needs.

Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#36
post #6

It's probably all bullshit reasons as usual with the CCCP to let their local market to compete with local stuff. > Fortnite by Epic Games/Tencent (Blood and gore, vulgar content.) This has to be the most ridiculous reason, Fortnite banned for blood and gore? It's just a cartoon game.

It is probably a mistranslation, they obviously mean that the "battle royale" theme is too violent: a bunch of strangers are gathered and have to kill each other until the last one. Personally, I enjoy that kind of games, but the fact that they display smiling cartoon characters killing each others can make some people even more uncomfortable. On steam, a game where you play a school shooter was recently banned. Can…

So rename it "paint" tag, color all explosions and blood in green and blue. Claim it's just 100 tag you're out.

Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#37
post #26

It is great to see a rumour posted on NGA, then badly translated and posted onto reddit and now reposted on some other messageboard with some editorialising and now reported as fact on HN.

Interesting. I forgot NGA as one of the influential online forums in China when I wrote about that topic.

For those who don't know, NGA was originally a forum about World of Warcraft (the online game). Then it got popular and became more generic , similar to the "wow" subforum on Baidu Tieba (Chinese equivalent of reddit, but earlier than reddit).

Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#38
post #31
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ethnic and religious minorities are also persecuted all over the US and Europe, it may not be physically (except if you're black in the US) but there's definitely a psychological warfare being declared against these groups through mass media and culture (movies, tv shows, literature ...). I'm not too sure we can give lessons to the Chinese government on this subject.

>I'm not too sure we can give lessons to the Chinese government on this subject. I simply must call BS. Are the Germans not qualified to give lessons on the subject of pervasive surveillance, or the concentration of thousands into camps on the basis of their religion? Are the Bosniaks not qualified to speak of ethnic cleansing, particularly as it applies to a Muslim population? Are the British, whose colonial empire…

You speak as if western powers invading, destroying and supporting coup d'etats in foreign nations is a thing of the past. It's not. We are right to bring up the issue of Tibet but the chinese would be more than happy to mention the endless list of countries the west has destroyed/seriously compromised in all parts of the world (central/south america, the middle-east, central asia and now even Africa).

Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#39
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not have a specific website in mind. But, there are some news about some cool Chinese accomplishments: they will send a robot on the far side of the Moon soon; they are leading in electricle vehicules and public transport, photovoltaic pannels, electonic payments. They have some promising research in Thorium-based plants.

Thanks this is the kind of stuff I want to read about. Obviously no country is perfect and the chinese govt have their flaws without a doubt, but politics aside It's still a fascinating country with an immense culture.

I'm in China right now. WeChat is bloody amazing.

Re: Rumor: China's ethics board reviews 20 popular online games, bans 9

#40
post #10

[Off-topic] - What's with all the "China is evil" articles lately ? Are there any websites (non-chinese) where I can find news about positive advancements in the country ? This whole anti-China hype train got me intrigued.

I recently started a blog that might interest you. The focus is on technology industry in China, as well as some tech related political issues. Links are in my profile. I try to be as neutral as possible, but as an overseas Chinese, I can't help but tends to have a slight bias towards Chinese government.

Thanks for the links. These are very interesting articles. It's refreshing to be exposed to a completely new perspective.
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