China Enforces Even Stricter Regulation On Games 235
eldavojohn writes "Chinese gamers have a pretty hard life. From crackdowns on 'undesirable' games to bans on gangster games to delayed World of Warcraft expansions, they suffer. The worst part is that in order to qualify for operating in China, you face a maze of conflicting bureaucracy and regulation. Well, it just got a little worse. Now, if you want to operate, you need to hire a 'specialist' to oversee content, and you need to 'enhance socialist values' in your game. They also want to limit in-game marriages and how many player-versus-player combat sessions one can engage in. The circular issued from China's Ministry of Culture contained all the vague verbiage giving them easier reign over who operates and who doesn't. It's a large market, but is it worth the gamble to game developers?"
Good for them! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No PVP? (Score:3, Funny)
PvP cuts into the gold-farming time - gotta keep pushing the GDP up!
Re:Good for them! (Score:1, Funny)
Because, politically, it's a one-party system.
Whoosh.
Re:Good for them! (Score:4, Funny)
I heard they are banning all Wii games with the word "Party" in the title.
Will they at least let people play Dance Dance Cultural Revolution?
How to enhance socialist values in games (Score:2, Funny)
1. If you are playing the Call of Duty campaign and you pick up an ammo pack, you only get 1/10 of the ammo and the rest go to your NPC squadmates. If you point out that they are idiotic clowns that never pick up ammo to give to you in return, it's "Game Over" as you are sent to a reeducation camp to rid you of your bourgeoiseity.
2. In Resident Evil, all the money you collect to buy items will instead be melted down to produce a golden plow. Instead, which weapons you get in the store depends on how badly you have played before. If you want that rocket launcher, you had better get shot up quite a bit before you visit. Make sure you drop those health packs behind a corner.
3. In Betrayal at Krondor, if you haggle too much with a merchant, you are seeking to exploit your position of privilege to subdue to rights of the worker, and the labour union of every store on the world map will make their merchants refuse to sell to you.
4. In Super Mario Bros., there's no point in playing, because the princess gets her just dessert after gorging on the paltry meals of the people. The revised edition has Bowser wear a top hat, and you are saving a revolutionary songwriter.
5. In Zelda, you can only play the game once a year. This is because everyone in the game must take a turn in being allowed to use the sword, which is the only sword in existence. It is bourgeoise to claim that just because your parents were such-and-such, and you found a sword that someone else left in the forest, you should be allowed to keep it away from being shared with the people.
6. In Harvest Moon, the amount of money you get allocated will be lower the more you produce. This is because everyone should give according to ability and receive according to need, and since you obviously dig like a freaking maniac while nobody else in the village does, you have just proved that you are able to dig like a freaking maniac which nobody else has. Since you were a capitalist before, it should be expected that you conceal part of the produce.
With all the rules and regulations they have.... (Score:2, Funny)
Oh the Onion'y of it all.
Re:No PVP? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:nuts (Score:1, Funny)
Mechwarrior 3 (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Good for them! (Score:2, Funny)
I heard they are banning all Wii games with the word "Party" in the title.
Will they at least let people play Dance Dance Cultural Revolution?
Sorry, they've just declared Dance Dancing as activity against the State because it involves standing in a Square.