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China Censors World of Warcraft; Blood to Oil

Next news
5:00 PM - August 7, 2009 by Kevin Parrish

World of Warcraft returns to China.

After a six-week suspension, World of Warcraft is now "partially" up and running in China. The game went on hiatus after Activision switched operators, moving the MMORPG from The9 over to rival NetEase. However, the Chinese government's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) stepped in before the game could re-open and decided that additional aspects needed to be changed (or censored).

According to this report on MMORPG News, WOW is currently in closed beta for one week while the changes are applied. Current players have noticed that previous piles of bones have now been replaced by bags of sand. In-game talent tree icons, once appearing as severed heads, bones, and blood, are now represented as boxes. Additionally, blood is no longer red, but appears as black oil instead.

The current changes aren't the first revisions made to WOW in China. Undead characters--once sporting exposed bones or bone accessories--were revised in order to cover or remove the bones entirely. The change stemmed from a controversial subway advertisement featuring undead characters from World of Warcraft that supposedly scared children. The Chinese government deemed the initial change was necessary due to the lack of specific age ratings on games sold in Chinese retail shops.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
Add your comment
tenor77 08/07/2009 11:11 PM
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-20+

So they kill an internet addict and now censor WoW for blood and skeletons.
Can China go one week without f'ing up?

Shadow703793 08/07/2009 11:16 PM
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-18+

WHY???? Why would they do that? That's just plain stupid.
quote]The change stemmed from a controversial subway advertisement featuring undead characters from World of Warcraft that supposedly scared children[/quote]
Total BS.

Anonymous 08/07/2009 11:16 PM
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-16+

So im guessing that Kel'Thuzad is looking like a baby girl?

nachowarrior 08/07/2009 11:19 PM
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-4+

I hate china.

duckmanx88 08/07/2009 11:22 PM
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-20+

try not to say things like "china effed up." its their government, not the people.

2shea 08/07/2009 11:24 PM
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-6+

good thing I live in the Netherlands where the government doesn't have shit on things like this. The pirate bay owned that stupid BREIN organisation by keeping TPB up and running under the flag of no longer being the owners of TPB :) Screw those commies in china leading it into submission...

chaohsiangchen 08/07/2009 11:25 PM
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-17+

They are not censoring games such as Doom 3 or some other games with explicit display of skulls body parts. The cosmetic change is probably only ostensible reason. What commies are really doing is to put MMORPG under their surveillance for the real sensitive information exchange.

SamanuelMC 08/07/2009 11:27 PM
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-10+

Chinese gov't nerfed blizzard hard!

Honis 08/07/2009 11:33 PM
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-7+

So what was an MMO without 5 million Gold sellers like?

astrodudepsu 08/07/2009 11:34 PM
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-1+

The government should BE the people. Sadly this is not true in China's case.

rambo117 08/07/2009 11:39 PM
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-2+

oh man, china would shit their pants @ dead space xD

cekasone 08/07/2009 11:41 PM
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-11+

I really do feel sorry for the citizens of China. Soon they won't be able to do anything.

zachary k 08/07/2009 11:45 PM
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zachary k 08/07/2009 11:52 PM
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-7+

duckmanx88 :
try not to say things like "china effed up." its their government, not the people.


of course we meant their government, its not like any of the billion people over there have a say in what their government does.

bk420 08/08/2009 12:33 PM
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-0+

God bless the United States of America. The land of the Free.

JeBuSBrian 08/08/2009 12:43 PM
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wiglyworm 08/08/2009 1:13 AM
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-3+

I have to say, as a US citizen living and working in China for over a year, some comments made by idiots who have never stepped foot out of their own country (muchless state!) and make completely idiotic and groundless remarks really bothers me.

But situations like this, and being an avid WoW player, I find completely laughable! Godbless US servers ! It is mindbending to me how their government can be hipictritical (spellcheck) to the next level! (and no, they did not ding)

kami3k 08/08/2009 1:14 AM
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--3+

duckmanx88 :
try not to say things like "china effed up." its their government, not the people.



And yet people blame Americans for the government, oh the fucking hypocrisy.

astrodudepsu 08/08/2009 1:34 AM
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-3+

kami3k :
And yet people blame Americans for the government, oh the fucking hypocrisy.



Well we *do* actually vote them in, so in theory they have a point.

No one really votes in Communist leadership.

ajhen314 08/08/2009 2:24 AM
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--1+

Its just mind-bottling

ProDigit80 08/08/2009 2:26 AM
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--3+

Why not sell it as R rated then? (21 years of age)?

The kids who love the game will ask their older brother to buy it, or an older friend.

Ciuy 08/08/2009 3:48 AM
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demonhorde665 08/08/2009 4:19 AM
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-1+

astrodudepsu :
Well we *do* actually vote them in, so in theory they have a point.No one really votes in Communist leadership.




actually our vote doesnt mean shit really , we vote yet our votes get tallied up at he house of representitives . who then do the actual voting "supposably" these representives are suppsoed to throw what ever way thier stats votes (us) voting , but there ios no law sayign tehy ahve to vote teh way thier state voted so in theory they can vote what ever the hell they want to vote and we don't really have any say. who's to say our hosue reps are really going teh way we want them to.

nun 08/08/2009 5:18 AM
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-0+

^ +1

leon2006 08/08/2009 10:45 PM
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-0+

Biggest Hypocrisy at work

afrocreeper 08/09/2009 1:41 AM
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afrocreeper 08/09/2009 1:42 AM
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the_one111 08/09/2009 3:33 AM
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-1+

bk420 :
God bless the United States of America. The land of the Free.


First sentence. Good. Last sentence. Untruthful.

At least with our current government.

nachowarrior 08/09/2009 9:48 AM
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-6+

the_one111 :
First sentence. Good. Last sentence. Untruthful.At least with our current government.



yup, stop paying taxes on the land that you own free and clear and see how long you're "freedom" lasts. :-p

GAZZOO 08/10/2009 1:37 AM
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--1+

I thing they are at least haveing a go at sencoring the internet and games that children play which is more then what the rest of the world is doing.I say good on them if they dont want bad western values infecting there way of life
I personaly play all those games but then I am not under the age of ten years
the kids now days are being desensatized at a younger age to violence,gore and the realizm that you see on the TV and at the MOVIES they can turn off there emotions and grief then what they do and learn from the games they start to use in real life
But then with our free rights serciety how are we to control our childrens upbringing we can not while we have the internet and media uncencored
Gazz

matt87_50 08/10/2009 1:43 AM
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-1+

duckmanx88 :
try not to say things like "china effed up." its their government, not the people.



well, it is kinda their ppl, but not their ppls fault.
what i'm saying is, you try and keep 1.3 billion mostly very poor ppl from anarchy and see if you come out looking like the dalai lama. see if you can go one day without a single one of 1.3 billion of them causing a news worthy effup.

we could say the same thing about the U.S. "oh look, another shooting, whats wrong with them." but its just statistically more likely to happen there, even if for no other reason than 300 million people, many with guns.


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