Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Nintendo China

Nintendo Game Pulled From Chinese Platforms After Hong Kong Protest (reuters.com) 41

A Nintendo Switch video game has been pulled off China's grey market e-commerce platforms, Reuters' checks show, after Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong used the game to protest against Beijing's rule of the Chinese territory. From a report: The game, "Animal Crossing: New Horizons," is a colorful social simulator in which players can decorate their own island and invite others to visit. It became an instant hit after its launch last month and has been used by many players to interact and simulate real-life scenarios while they are stuck at home because of measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak. Joshua Wong, a Hong Kong democracy activist, took his protests to the game last week and on Twitter posted a screenshot of his island decorated with a banner saying: "Free Hong Kong, revolution now." China has stringent rules on content from everything from video games to movies and music, censoring anything it believes violates core socialist values. Gaming companies must also seek licences for the games they want to publish.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Nintendo Game Pulled From Chinese Platforms After Hong Kong Protest

Comments Filter:
  • Dumb ban (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Synonymous Cowered ( 6159202 ) on Friday April 10, 2020 @12:43PM (#59929144)

    This is a pretty dumb ban. Animal Crossing isn't even an effective means of protesting. You could get together with a couple of like minded people and hold a "protest", sure. But that's no different from calling your friend on the phone and holding a phone "protest" together. You can decorate your town in protest, but the only way for people you are protesting against to see is to post screenshots. So if they're going to ban the game because of a screenshot, then whats next? Someone could draw a picture of a protest, so now we ban paper and pencils? You could paint your car in protest, so ban cars and paint?

    • Re:Dumb ban (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Z80a ( 971949 ) on Friday April 10, 2020 @12:54PM (#59929188)

      That's the whole point of the protest i assume.
      To show how much of an authoritarian crybaby the chinese government is.

      • by cusco ( 717999 )

        No, the whole point of this "protest" is to get his name in the news. In the meantime he's fucked up a game that thousands of people were enjoying. Good show asshole, great way to get people to support your cause.

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by enigma32 ( 128601 )

          the Chinese government fucked up a game that thousands of people were enjoying

          FTFY.

          • by cusco ( 717999 )

            Do you think he didn't know what the result would be?

            • Re:Dumb ban (Score:4, Insightful)

              by _Sharp'r_ ( 649297 ) <sharper AT booksunderreview DOT com> on Friday April 10, 2020 @03:45PM (#59929866) Homepage Journal

              Yeah, it's the fault of the oppressed slave that he is beaten! After all, he knew that talking about escape would cause his master's displeasure...

              • by cusco ( 717999 )

                If I were to stand outside a police station in Texas and smoke a joint I would absolutely expect to get my ass tossed in jail even though it's legal in Washington where I live. Did you miss the part where he shared images of his "protest" all over?

                • Re:Dumb ban (Score:5, Insightful)

                  by _Sharp'r_ ( 649297 ) <sharper AT booksunderreview DOT com> on Friday April 10, 2020 @04:21PM (#59930016) Homepage Journal

                  You're aware of the part where a political protest isn't effective if no one ever hears of it, right?

                  His protest probably succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Now, rather than only a few people knowing about it, it's known across the world to the point where we're discussing it on /. It's a bonus that every time someone in China wants to play this game, they are reminded that their government is an oppressive oligarchy. That's much better than being beaten or killed directly to achieve the same result.

                  Face it, he got the Chinese Communists to show their heavy hand of oppression to the world once again. Some people apparently need a periodic reminder of who they really are.

                  • Face it, he got the Chinese Communists to show their heavy hand of oppression to the world once again.

                    Well only sort of. This game was never sold in China in the first place. It was only ever an illegal grey-market import. It's more a case of the e-commerce platforms not wanting the additional attention. As far as I can tell there's been zero action from the Chinese government.

                    Mind you not that this in any way devalues the protest. It is the actions of the government that lead to these kinds of games not being legally available in the first place, and now the protest still directly made it harder to get it

    • I'd imagine in the Chinese government bureaucracy, "no one ever got fired for banning something offensive to the party" is the corollary to our "no one every got fired for buying IBM" (although obviously long since obsolete as practical advice). It's the conservative, default choice to make. I'd imagine that's why Winnie the Pooh is persona non-grata in China. Even if Dear Leader said nothing about it personally, those under him probably don't want to take the risk that he MIGHT get offended, and thus en

  • Maybe we should all start using Zoom virtual backgrounds with messages like "Go back to the Hundred Acre Woods, Winnie the Pooh" and see what happens.

  • China has stringent rules on content from everything from video games to movies and music, censoring anything it believes conflicts with the way the Chinese government wants you to think

    Also, the Chinese government claims to be communist, not socialist, so they have little care about anything that "violates socialist values".

    • And here we have an expert on Slashdot to tell the Chinese Communist Party what communism and socialism are.

      Are you some sort of trotskyite or something?

      • My correction in the quoted text was a statement condemning censorship by the Chinese government. The text I added after that was a correction of the text in the article. I don't understand why you're so defensive. Are you the author of this article or a supporter of the Chinese government?
    • Then why does the Chinese government officially describe their ideal as "socialism with Chinese characteristics"?

      • Then why does the Chinese government officially describe their ideal as "socialism with Chinese characteristics"?

        Because they're masters of propaganda?

      • I honestly have no idea just like I have no idea why they call their party the Communist Party of China if they claim to be socialists. Maybe "socialism" sounds less authoritarian or maybe they use either term based on the context that paints the more palatable picture of a given topic.
        • by TXJD ( 5534458 )
          And they embrace Capitalism
        • According to traditional communist idealogy, capitalism is dead, socialism is what they practice now, communism is what their socialism will evolve into in the future.

          So in practice, communism is just socialism with slightly different sounding future plans to justify it.

          You can read all about it from the original ruler of Chinese Communism [marxists.org], if you like.

    • Also, the Chinese government claims to be communist, not socialist, so they have little care about anything that "violates socialist values".

      Like in the Soviet Union, the Communist party is one that aims to achieve Communism, not one that has actually achieved it. They have a lot of history on the meaning of the words "communism" and "socialism", but in brief:

      Communism: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs [wikipedia.org].

      Socialism: To each according to his contribution [wikipedia.org].

  • Why is China so threatened by a village sim game for children?

    • Because if the oligarchy is ever seen to be losing its grip on power, people in China might start wondering if a revolution could succeed and then move to the next step of beginning to use games like this to coordinate with each other and discover that everyone else not a member wants to overthrow the Communist Party as well.

  • Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. - J.F. Kennedy.

  • Your life is truly meaningful and fulfilling only when you know to keep and nurture your dreams, to acknowledge and believe in promises. Try to choose the right things cookie clicker [cookieclicker.io]
  • by nagora ( 177841 ) on Saturday April 11, 2020 @03:59AM (#59931812)

    Nazis called themselves socialists, the ruling Chinese Nazi party calls themselves socialist and their country is apparently a People's Republic. Self-identification is not a reliable indication of truth.

    What is going on in the West is socialism - people helping each other out and deploying governmental resources to aid the People instead of censoring them, putting them in concentration camps and killing them for thought-crimes as is done in Nazi China.

Help fight continental drift.

Working...