Latest World of Warcraft Expansion Blocked In China

The Opposable Thumbs blog reports that World of Warcraft's most recent expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is not being allowed into the Chinese market. The Escapist brings further details, saying, "According to an insider, two specific shortcomings included the presence of skeleton characters and a 'city raid.' Nor did the submitted version contain the starting area for the game's new Death Knight class." The Chinese version of World of Warcraft has been modified in the past to remove skeletons and zombies.

WTF?

[Moraelin]

WTF? So what did they replace the whole plaguelands, undercity, Tirisfal, and Silverpine with? Evil Tibetans? ;)

Re:WTF?

[MichaelSmith]

My wife is Malaysian Chinese. The Chinese are a bit weird about death. They avoid the number 4 (sounds like death in Mandarin). They avoid cemeteries. For them, death is kind of a shameful thing. Not to be discussed in public.

Re:WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

If we combine chinese and US censorship, will there be anything left?

Re:

[fractoid]

The Great Firewall of Kevin Rudd, probably. :(

Re:WTF?

[Fred_A]

If we combine chinese and US censorship, will there be anything left?

There goes my concept of a game with devil worshiping big breasted skeletons... Back to the drawing board.

Re:WTF?

[bsane]

There goes my concept of a game with devil worshiping big breasted skeletons... Back to the drawing board.

I know you've probably never felt any breasts (this being slashdot and all), but to the best of my knowledge they don't have bones.

Re:WTF?

[Fred_A]

There goes my concept of a game with devil worshiping big breasted skeletons... Back to the drawing board.

I know you've probably never felt any breasts (this being slashdot and all), but to the best of my knowledge they don't have bones.

Given my target customers, you can trust me, this is completely irrelevant.

Re:

[ockegheim]

And yet the female undead are stacked. One of Azeroth's enduring mysteries.

Re:

[Adriax]

/silly on a female undead character, cycle through till you get your answer.

Re:

[shutdown -p now]

To entertain the curiosity of us who do not play WoW, what is it?

Re:

[Dhrakar]

"Yes, they are real. They are not mine, but they are real."

Re:

[_Sprocket_]

Taxes.

Re:

[Sebilrazen]

If we combine chinese and US censorship, will there be anything left?

Probably Jonas Brothers.

If I were a young girl I'd probably feel a tingle in my "giney."

Re:WTF?

[Yvanhoe]

So you mean that gothic kids are taken seriously there ?

Re:

[dangitman]

That doesn't make a lot of sense, because goths are generally obsessed with death, they don't avoid discussing it.

Re:

[Yvanhoe]

Which is the point. Goths stop being taken seriously once you begin to discuss with them.

Re:

[dangitman]

Since when were they being taken seriously before the discussion?

Only if they wear white

[Moraelin]

Only if they wear white ;)

Re:WTF?

[kinnell]

I can imagine a similar response by many western governments if naked characters were actually naked, with visible genitalia

Re:

[AxemRed]

I don't think the reaction would be quite the same. Many people would complain, and the game would get a M or, more likely, an AO rating. Nothing would directly prevent its sale though.

Re:

[mweather]

An M or an AO ensures Walmart won't sell the game, which ensures no publisher will touch it. That would pretty much prevent it's sale. Sure, it may not be illegal to sell, but that's little consolation.

Re:

[Walpurgiss]

Last, and coincidentally every time I checked since the ESRB rating started, Walmart has carried and sold M rated games. Never an AO though.

M = Halo GTA RE Gears Bioshock Resistance, etc, etc.

Re:

[Walpurgiss]

Without walmart to sell AO games, their potential market is excessively small. A 'real' game sold as AO would fail. The AO games that do get sold are most likely small companys just making porn games, not AAA blockbuster games that happen to have too many tits.

Aside from being wrong about M rated games, op's assumption about AO rating killing a game's sales is correct. Walmart's retail pull in the US is enormous. An AO game would still find buyers, but not enough to be a super hit, unless it gets a un

Re:WTF?

[SupremoMan]

Yeah but display swastika in your game and good luck in the European markets.... To me censorship of nudity makes a whole lot more sense than censorship of history.

Re:

[MBGMorden]

I think the definition of "nudity" varies though. In particular, IIRC a woman with her chest exposed is not considered to be "nude" in many parts of Europe. In the US, she most certainly will be, and will almost certainly be arrested. Now, past that point there actually has been some *legal* precedent set that since men can bare their breasts in public that women can too, but that generally doesn't reflect the *cultural* views of society.

Re:

[Zebedeu]

Methinks you have the wrong idea about Europe.

While it is true that in some countries you can see naked women (as in, bare breasts, not genitalia) in advertising in broad daylight and afternoon tv, I've yet to see anyone with their tits out in public, and I've been basically everywhere in Europe. I'm no lawyer, but I think it's illegal everywhere here.

Exception made to the fore-mentioned nude beaches and parks.

Basically, restirctions to nudity are more relaxed here than in the US, but they still exist. On t

Re:

[Idiomatick]

All beaches in Europe are nude beaches..... or there might be special 'clothed-beaches' certainly throughout Italy I've seen topless women. But that might just mean that we Italians are sluts.

Re:

[Zebedeu]

I'd say all beaches in Europe are topless beaches, but I'm not sure if you can drop everything. Maybe you can do it, but at least it's not common where I've been.

There are nudist beaches, though, where you *must* be nude. Usually they are on less populated areas of a normal beach, but I've never seen any clear frontiers between the two.

Re:

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

Though I must say that if I had to choose between blood and tits, I'd rather take the second :-)

I'm from Hallmark, a leading world-wide manufacturer of greeting cards. Could I speak to you about perhaps doing some copywriting for our Valentine's Day collection?

Re:WTF?

[Zebedeu]

Sure man. I'm a veritable fountain of romantic sayings.

Here's another freebie: If I had to choose between yogurt and tits, I'd take the second.

Re:

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

I'm *quite* ashamed to admit that I laughed at that one even harder than your original post.

Re:

[andi75]

> While it is true that in some countries you can see naked women (as in, bare breasts, not genitalia) in advertising in broad daylight and afternoon tv, I've yet to see anyone
> with their tits out in public, and I've been basically everywhere in Europe.

That's probably because you've been there in Winter. It's not fun to walk around bare breasted through the snow. Come back in summer, and visit any recreational areas (parks / lakesides etc.).

I guess if you'd walk around (half) naked at a shopping mile

Re:

[Zebedeu]

Uh. Where?

I know that in Portugal and Germany the law forbids it with exceptions in some places (beaches and some parks).

That includes topless men, btw.

Re:

[MBGMorden]

That includes topless men, btw.

That I do find odd. In the US a male not wearing his shirt is not really seen as nudity at all. It's a bit unclassy to walk around in certain areas with your shirt off (and many stores will refuse you service and/or entry if you don't have a shirt or shoes on, though that's a privately enforced thing), it's never something that would be codified into law. Particularly down south, in the summer it gets up past 100 degrees easily. A lot of the outdoor workers in things like construction, lawn care and the

Re:

[lordtoran]

Must feel sort of uncomfortable there, with the lakes etc. slowly starting to boil and vaporize during midday, as the temperature goes past 100 degrees. So far I thought 42 degrees in southern Spain were really hot...

Re:

[Walpurgiss]

We're too stupid to use Celsius in the USA. But you knew that, right? Water boils at like 212 degrees Fahrenheit, freezes at 32.

Your 42 * 9/5 + 32 = 107.6, which is a bit higher than the op was talking about.

Re:

[Zebedeu]

This is for Portugal, because it's where I know the law better. There, the law states that in public you must be minimally dressed. I don't know what exactly "minimally" means, but I know it includes a shirt of some kind.

As I said before, there are exceptions for places such as beaches and the areas around them, and probably some sport venues.

Basically the law exists because the country has such a nice weather, which can also become quite hot during the summer, that otherwise men would be walking around the

Hush!!!!

[wireloose]

Don't tell them that. Remember you're talking to slashdotters and WoW players. They need their fantasies. Brag about how wonderful your view is all over Europe. "I saw 5 absolutely perfect D-sets at lunch today." They'll be so excited they won't even be able to key in replies for hours.

Re:

[wireloose]

On second thought and better yet, tell the the European version of WoW has naked female characters, no bikinis.

Re:

[Quikah]

Really? hmm, I saw topless women at the English Garden in Munich. that was about 8 years ago, maybe times have changed.

Re:

[Zebedeu]

English Garden in Munich == nude park.

Try doing it in other parks in Munich if you don't believe me (or even in diferent areas of the english garden, which is huge).

On the other hand

[jspoon]

On the other hand, they have movies like Mr Vampire. That movie is crazy. I'm trying to think though, and of the Chinese movies involving ghosts and spirits and stuff I don't recall an skeletons. Chinese Ghost Story had some seriously anorexic claymation zombies if I remember right, I bet they were censored.

Re:On the other hand

[MichaelSmith]

All the Chinese movies with ghosts in my experience present the ghost a bit like in the Sixth Sense. As an intact body but not with the same behaviour as a living person. Of course the special effects are cheaper that way ;)

Re:

[MBGMorden]

Cheaper, but I'd argue that they're more scary that way too. Depending on just how "different" they can make them look though. Still, that woman in the kitchen on Sixth Sense was certainly more scary than some walking skeleton a la "Jason and the Argonauts".

Re:

[UnknownSoldier]

> The Chinese are a bit weird about death.

Denial doesn't make it go away.

--
How can you even understand Life if you don't even understand what happens after Death?

Re:

[khellendros1984]

The Egyptians found out that da Nile doesn't make it go away, either.

Re:

[batquux]

Wait, so you can't die in the chinese version of the game?

Re:

[wireloose]

Sure you can. When you resurrect, instead of leaving a skeleton on the ground where you died, it's now a police chalk outline.

Shameful?

[Moraelin]

Erm... of all the things I could think of to associate death with, "shameful" seems... illogical to the extreme.

"Shame" implies some sort of breaking some morals, and it makes no sense to have morals against something inevitable. You can have morals against, say, streaking, because that's something you can avoid doing. You can't have morals against something that will happen sooner or later to everyone, and has happened to a bunch of everyone's relatives anyway.

Basically contrast:

A) "We're ashamed of cousin

Re:

[MichaelSmith]

The latter makes no sense to me.

A lot of it doesn't. My wife told me about a female relative in Malaysia who died. Her husband left their child with her relatives, disappeared and never returned. And that is expected behavior.

Re:

[SkunkPussy]

just speculating but maybe someone dying in your family reflects badly on your family, e.g. you must have done something wrong to receive a punishment, or perhaps you didnt look after the person, or even perhaps you are a bad luck family.

if any of those were true then shame would be a logical response

Re:

[FreakWent]

interesting contrast to the south American 'death festivals' isn't it?

Re:

[Fluffeh]

WTF? So what did they replace the whole plaguelands, undercity, Tirisfal, and Silverpine with? Evil Tibetans? ;)

Riiiiight. So "Chinese Ghost Story" is okay, ergo people getting "biblical" with ghosts and lots of "long time" moments, but a game where you can run about as a smash-guitar-rockband skeleton is off limits?

I think it's all about the raiding of cities personally. We can't give the plebs these fanciful ideas that if enough tards get together, they can go zerg a nearby town they don't like. Oh no, we can't give them that idea.

Anonymous Coward

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the article...
"Chinese players of World of Warcraft, a hugely popular online role-playing game, have expressed outrage after their 'undead skeleton' characters were suddenly clad in new flesh, apparently in order to comply with a secret government ban on bare bones."

Rule 34 on zombies?

[argent]

OUTRAGE over the loss of naked skeletons in the game? Is this some new expansion of rule 34 beyond the grave?

This is it...

[sakdoctor]

The one liberty that they shouldn't have messed with.
There will be a real life city raid (bloody revolution in Beijing), and China will be a democracy by May.

I don't think they

[Shivetya]

want their citizens driving tanks which is something you can do in WOW now. Let alone tanks in a square running over other people.

That is to be reserved for the Loyal People's Soldier and Responsible Government Employees.

Re:This is it...

[drinkypoo]

There will be a real life city raid (bloody revolution in Beijing), and China will be a democracy by May.

Never happen. Gold farmers can't go into the sunlight, they'll burst into flames.

Re:

[Jurily]

There will be a real life city raid (bloody revolution in Beijing)

Everyone knows you won't have a succesful raid without tanks [wikipedia.org].

Re:

[Fluffeh]

The one liberty that they shouldn't have messed with. There will be a real life city raid (bloody revolution in Beijing), and China will be a democracy by May.

George Dubbya, is that you? Have we found oil deposits in China?

Reminds me of my childhood

[microbee]

I am a Chinese. When I was young (~1988), at one time they banned a very popular TV series from Hongkong because, rumor had it, there were skeletons in it.

The funny thing was it wasn't even the first time it was aired on TV. It had been broadcasted nationwide many years ago already.

Anyway, there are always a lot of stupid people in the government. Not news anymore.

Re:

[sakdoctor]

What exactly is the problem with skeletons?
I'm guessing it's something to do with superstition of ancestor worship.

Fear not! Skeletons would make lousy human rights campaigners. Their lack of skeletal muscle...or actually any muscle renders their opposable thumbs useless.

Re:Reminds me of my childhood

[MichaelSmith]

What exactly is the problem with skeletons?

It is a problem with death generally. Its a bit like in western culture there are things people prefer not to discuss in polite company like what you do in the toilet but in other cultures people are more open.

Re:

[LizardKing]

there are things people prefer not to discuss in polite company like what you do in the toilet

Things you do in the toilet? Like read the paper while having a crafty cigarette? What's so offensive about that?

Re:

[vertinox]

It is a problem with death generally. Its a bit like in western culture there are things people prefer not to discuss in polite company like what you do in the toilet but in other cultures people are more open.

I dunno about Europe and Canada, but in US culture we do talk about what we do in the toilet in polite company.

But seriously.... Is there a goth scene in China? And I really understand why the Japanese freak the Chinese out since the majority of the modern and historical culture is based around spirit

Re:

[LMariachi]

I dunno about Europe and Canada, but in US culture we do talk about what we do in the toilet in polite company.

See, this is why you never get invited to dinner parties.

Re:

[khellendros1984]

Billions? I think you've got a typo there.

Re:

[kalirion]

Now is this a social thing or a government policy thing? Cause, you know, thinking about death and what happens afterward leads some people to religion.

Re:

[Fluffeh]

What exactly is the problem with skeletons?

It is a problem with death generally. Its a bit like in western culture there are things people prefer not to discuss in polite company like what you do in the toilet but in other cultures people are more open.

What exactly do you mean by "do in the toilet"? We are pretty open about taking a piss, hanging a shit or choking the chicken. Is there something I am missing?

Re:

[khellendros1984]

Or the terminator movies for that matter. That would probably be a better-known example than First Contact.

Great!

[Talla]

Now my gold will be much more valuable in the future.

Re:

[Ogive17]

Talla of CCP?

Re:

[Greyfox]

I'm waiting for my gold to be worth more than the US Dollar. At this point it seems like as viable a retirement plan as anything else that has been proposed...

Re:

[Fluffeh]

Or Talla 2XLC ?

This is the least of your problems.

[jack2000]

Cartoony skeletons with poorly chosen color palettes? Really china? THIS is what you're going to worry about?

Re:This is the least of your problems.

[xtracto]

A small nipple? a small female nipple that was seen in 4 video frames and which those you are "protecting" have been touching and sucking daily ?

THIS is what you are going to worry about?

Re:

[frenchgates]

The wardrobe malfunction thing was completely ridiculous, but if you are really trying to equate government control of speech in Western countries (especially the US) with government control of speech in China (and Saudi Arabia etc.) you are generalizing the concept to the point of meaninglessness.

Re:This is the least of your problems.

[Dread_ed]

As someone who has, in the interests of science only I might add, studied those 4 frames you mention quite intensely for hours and hours and hours on end, I can officially state that was not a "small nipple."

Based on my extensive measurements, it is soundly in the upper 84th percentile of the "humongous" category. Sadly, it doesn't quite reach the rarafied heights of "gargantuan" (except possibly on my 60" TV), but she isn't hungarian either so that wasn't to be expected.

In the future please leave the classification of nipple sizes to qualified experts. It is already hard enough for the average layman to get back the results he wants from Google when searching between "large," "big," "huge," "giant," "GIANT," "humongous," and the aforementioned "gargantuan" without you hacks muddying these oft-motorboated waters with your slipshod appraisals.

If you are so inclined, I do have quite a few reference documents (867 gigs) that will help you with your future attempts at nipple classification. Alas, the accompanying certification classes have been cancelled due to lack of attendance. For some reason no one shows up after the first day when we distribute the resource materials.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

And so the american media censor themselve to avoid being punished after some redneck gets upset.

What is the difference?

Re:

[MBGMorden]

The FCC defines a lot of censorship rules outside of self-censorship. There IS government involvement on that front. Still, at least we (mostly) confine our censorship to public airwaves. For the most part, beyond those if it's a seperate medium (DVD's, cable TV, etc) it's all self-imposed or uncensored.

Lobbying at work, not censorship.

[mynickslongerthanurs]

Actually censorship does not contribute as much as lobbying from competition in this case.

WOW has dominated the Chinese MMORPG market for years and currently all the OTHER MMORPG companies are spending big fortunes on lobbying (aka bribing) the "department of (anti-)culture" to delay WLK as much as they can. They know that WOW will eat their lunch with the new expansion pack and one more day delay of WLK's debut means gain in millions for them.

So as any corrupt agency will do, the DOC is busy inventing ridiculous reasons to deny clearance for the game. "Oh noes! References like the Massacre of Stratholme are so harmful for the helpless minds of our young people! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!1!".

I don't think Nineth City (agent for WOW mainland) has much chance in this "9C vs Everyone Else" war. By the way, almost all my WOWer friends have quit playing and those who are really into that game (shame on them) have switched to servers in Taiwan anyway.

Oh yeah I am Chinese. No penis jokes please.

Re:Lobbying at work, not censorship.

[Ogive17]

"Oh yeah I am Chinese. No penis jokes please."

I can't resist quoting this after seeing your user name :). Compensation?

I'M CHINESE

[Anonymous Coward]

i'm chinese

son of a bitch skeleton

skeleton is pig

do you want rotten flesh?

do you want no eyeballs?

skeleton is pig disgusting

zombie is an evil

FUCKING SKELETON!

Re:I'M CHINESE

[Anonymous Coward]

Burma Shave

Re:

[ciderVisor]

Mod +5 Funny.

Man, I just had a vision of driving along and seeing these phrases pop up one after the other to advertize Burma Shave. Shaking with mirth and getting some weird glances. Good work !

Uhhm hello???

[meist3r]

So the problem is that the government won't allow the sales of the original game expansion?
Like on the original disc? Running the risk of sounding like a jerk but when was the last time that bothered anyone in China? Don't you just have to install WLK from "somewhere" and you can play? This move is only bad for Acti-Blizzard not really for Chinese WoW players I'd guess.

Re:

[jonwil]

More than likely the great firewall of china will block you from connecting to a non-chinese server. That or (more likely) the version of WoW chinese players get has been modified so that you cant use non-chinese versions of expansion packs with it or connect to non-chinese servers.

Re:

[spooje]

I live in Beijing but play on Ocena servers. No real problem with latency on things like that or using a US based VOIP company for phone calls back home.

confused

[circletimessquare]

i saw chinese ghost story [imdb.com] recently and there was a scene where clearly rotting corpses were trying to drag the main character into the cellar

there was even a transvestite tree spirit pimp of dead ghost whores

so no skeletons... but transvestite tree spirit pimp of dead ghost whores is ok?

Re:

[hansamurai]

What, you've never seen Tootsie?

Re:

[Chibi]

You probably need someone with more awareness of Chinese history and Asian cinema than I have to be able to accurately explain this, but I'll give it a shot. That movie, according to IMDB, was made in 1987. Hong Kong reverted back to China in 1997. So, it's possible that Hong Kong, when not under the control of China, was a bit more open regarding censorship.

This is purely anecdotal, but I seem to remember reading articles about people in the Hong Kong movie industry wondering what would happen after t

Re:

[Desiderius]

Nerf transvestite tree spirit pimps of dead ghost whores.

Re:

[dbIII]

so no skeletons... but transvestite tree spirit pimp of dead ghost whores is ok?

Don't know about you, but he/she would terrify me a lot more than a walking pile of bones if I saw that wooden tongue coming my way. It's dark - you might get buggered and then eaten by a grue.

This happened with popular games before

[JoshuaZ]

Magic: The Gathering cards often have had to have modified artwork for the Chinese versions to remove skeletons. See http://www.redkemp.com/?p=344 [redkemp.com] and http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/948 [wizards.com] which discusses this for some cards with the original version and the Chinese version both shown. Note that clearly dead beings such as zombies are apparently ok. The issue is purely if the being is skeletal And for a skeleton to be made acceptable it just needs a tiny bit of flesh added o

Skelingtons

[ciderVisor]

Someone should e-mail in to Steve Wright In The Afternoon [wikipedia.org] to tell him about this 'factoid'. See if he'll call them "Skelingtons".

The texture heard 'round the world...

[Vertana]

The game delayed
The Chinese silenced
The Blood Elves bowed
The Gnomes didn't mine
The Mainland was still
And the government hath said
The game shall be delayed
The Night Elves wept
And the world once again
Fell to it's knees.

Re:

[RuBLed]

The dragon on the login screen is a frost wyrm which is basically made up of reanimated dragon skeletons. How did they harmonize that?

Re:Lobby price too low

[gzipped_tar]

Oh, probably I forgot to explain myself. In the Chinese login screen the frost wyrm is just missing. "Harmonize" is a sarcastic term used by Chinese people to mean "censor", as a pun on the government's self-proclaimed goal of "developing a harmonious society" ;)

Re:

[ockegheim]

It's a shame because Northrend is a beautiful place. I wonder what "Death Knights" will become. You can't miss the "unharmonized" skeleton dragon. The noise it makes is annoying the 100th time you hear it.

Re:

[khellendros1984]

With 4, it's almost like 13 in American culture, except that they tend to take superstition more seriously than most Americans. It's like a woman wearing black to a wedding. It's just not done, because it's disrespectful, and it reminds people of a funeral. The Chinese have all sorts of things like that. Black clothing, 4, sticking chopsticks into rice so that they stand upright, etc.