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| Source: http://echiny.pl/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/chiny_internet.jpg |
China is a really big country-the third biggest country in terms of area and
first in terms of population (estimated population for 2016: 1,403,500,365[i]).
No wonder why almost every company wants to get a piece of this wealthy cake.
And there is no difference in gamedev- the market is huge and Chinese people
love playing games- there are a lot of great e-sport teams and solo players
from China but even ordinary people spend a lot of time playing games.
Mostly mobile- this segment of gaming market is the number one right now in
China and that’s why many developers are now creating mobile games besides PC or console games (Diablo Immortal,
Lineage 2: Revolution, MU Origin… Bethesda even created a special version of
Fallout Shelter for the Asian market called “Fallout Shelter Online” and it’s
an RPG mobile game).
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| Fallout Shelter Online- exclusive mobile game for Chinese market (source: https://www.gamerbraves.com/fallout-shelter-online-is-a-mobile-rpg-exclusive-for-china/) |
Every big or small developer will do everything to get to the Chinese market. And it’s really worth the effort. Some of the developers create a mobile game based on one of their games for PC/ console, others try to enter the market with the game they created for US/ European market… and then the fun begins because the Chinese market is controlled by the government which means that games (as other mass media in China) are subject to the policies of censorship in China.
“Content in video games is overseen by the State Administration of Radio and Television (SART); publishers are to obtain a license for the game in China from SART before publishing, which may be denied if the game contains elements deemed inappropriate. The process to submit games for a license and put them on sale following that is overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism“[ii]
What are those “inappropriate elements” you can ask? Violence, sexual content, gambling, blood… even death (you can die in games but things like skeletons, skulls and so on are banned).
Any examples? Of course!
World of Warcraft
The First picture is from the Chinese version, the second- non-Chinese (more in source[iii])
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| Source: https://i.imgur.com/TmwdqIA.png |
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Source: https://i.imgur.com/8Nx3kUt.png
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You can learn more about the Chinese censorship in WoW from this video:
https://youtu.be/aycxWsFMD_o
Rainbow Six Siege
The Chinese market is so important for game developers that the censorship has become standard. And RSS is an example of that: the game will be censored not only for Chinese players, but for all the players from around the world[iv]. And probably many game developers are going to follow that path.
Questions:
1. Have you ever heard about the Chinese censorship in games? Can you give some other examples?
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
Update- “Ubisoft Cancels 'Rainbow Six Siege' Aesthetic Changes After Censorship Backlash”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joeparlock/2018/11/20/ubisoft-cancels-rainbow-six-siege-aesthetic-changes-after-censorship-backlash/#32c08e2a753b
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| Source: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13381391/gambling.png |
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| Source: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13381393/skull.png |
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| Source:
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13381389/sex.png
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The Chinese market is so important for game developers that the censorship has become standard. And RSS is an example of that: the game will be censored not only for Chinese players, but for all the players from around the world[iv]. And probably many game developers are going to follow that path.
Questions:
1. Have you ever heard about the Chinese censorship in games? Can you give some other examples?
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
Update- “Ubisoft Cancels 'Rainbow Six Siege' Aesthetic Changes After Censorship Backlash”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joeparlock/2018/11/20/ubisoft-cancels-rainbow-six-siege-aesthetic-changes-after-censorship-backlash/#32c08e2a753b
[ii]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_gaming_in_China#Censorship
[iii] https://imgur.com/a/VF3eq
[iv]
https://www.polygon.com/2018/11/3/18058884/rainbow-six-siege-censored-china-pc-ps4-xbox-one-ubisoft
Comments
What's about censoring games for everyone, I don't know if it is right or not. But definitely it's a rule that somehow will help people - the politics think in that way. I do not blame them for this, but again, it depends on what exactly we are talking about.
In my opinion, censorship is a good thing especially if you targeting the younger generation. Usually, games that are intended for players with age 18 above are played by teens and children below that point. If game creators want to keep their reputation clean in eyes of community and mass media then they have to obey rules.
I think that censoring games for everyone like in China it’s not good idea. Of course should be some standards that developers must adhere to, but ban every game that contains blood, sculls , etc. it is not right. Game isn’t real life, and if you play FPS(first-person shooter) this doesn’t mean that you are killer in real life. Of course we developers should make some age restrictions or at least disclaimers at the beginning of the game. Games it’s peace of art and game violence isn’t real violence.
2. It does not make sense, because such content is found everywhere, for example, on television, on the Internet. Even in real life, you can meet such things. In games, the manifestation of such things is harmless, I think.
I don’t have a strong opinion about censoring games. As long as there is no scientific prove of the fact that it somehow influences people’s mind or attitude I don’t think that the censorship should be accepted.
I have heard about censorship in China in general but I have never heard about censorship in games. For sure this makes game programmers life a bit harder.
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
To be honest I don't really know what to think about it. I don't think that no blood and violence in games will affect on people. Come on, it is just a game..
I have never been to China and I do not know much about country and society so it is hard to say.
In general my opinion is that game censorship is bad and need to change this situation somehow. Maybe allow to work PEGI in all countries and exclude game modifications in this case in each country. But PEGI didn't work with cultural specifications.
Personally, I have never heard about Chinese censorship in games, but it does not surprise me as it was obvious to me that censorship exists in China - I just didn't consider game market. Unfortunately, I cannot give you another example of Chinese censorship in game market, but I can guess there is plenty of it, because almost every 12+ rating game contains things that China would like to ban.
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
I would not like this decision if one was made. This is why we have multiple age rating systems like PEGI etc. to let customer know what he is dealing with before buying the game. Some of us prefer to see or hear the actual content. Furthermore, I actually know people who buy games just for the content, which probably would be censored in China. Censorship should be a choice, not an only way to go.
I think games shouldn't be censored in any way. It should be up to you if you would like to play this game or another. We have PEGI which in a good way describes what each game contains (for example violence, drugs etc.) so while buying one you know what you can expect just by reading information which is placed on the box.
I don't think that censorship is good, so I'm opposed to censoring games for everyone. Ideally, the games would not be censored at all, but if they have to be censored somewhere, then I'd prefer if that censorship did not spread elsewhere.
I am against censorship. When it comes to games I am much more in favour of bringing age suggestions on its boxes than censoring games themselves.
I am of the opinion that censorship should be. In these times, when children have access to virtually any computer game, censorship is a good thing, children do not see everything because of such censorship. I personally would not like my children to play games that are not censored
For one, each country has a right to preserve their culture. Video games are a cultural product as well and there are other cultures out there which I would be very uneasy about to be shown in games for kids.
Also, not all video game producers can be viewed as responsible people. Some like to shock people, some like to use controversial content just to make their game more visible on the market. Some kind of supervision on those is required. That's why games are rated for some age category. But rating does not always fulfill its role - kids often buy games unsupervised. So a supervisory board which tells what is allowed to be shown in games is a good thing in my opinion.
Of course, it has some disadvantages as well. The ruling party can use censorship to limit information and to silence opposition. But I think each country can and should have some kind of rules what is allowed in games and what shouldn't be shown.
For example, in the US you can have as much brutality in games as you want, but you are not allowed to show boobs on the screen. In Germany is the other way round - you can have erotic content on the screen, but brutality, beheading or blood is prohibited. Guess where they have more mass shootings.
I am not interested in this subject but I remember that Wolfenstein was censored in Germany one day
I don't know, I think games should be the same everywhere, but it's hard to tell.
I think the games should be the same everywhere. However, I am able to understand some countries and their limitations.
2. I haven’t met it by myself in any game. I think it is a bad thing in every context, not only games. If it imposed by the government then It is simply just a control tool.
I belive that when it comes to censoring media, people are like children- the more you try to hide something the more interesting the hidden thing become.
1. Undead models looks better- without bones armor looks better on undead players in my opinions.
2. Bread in Scholomance :P
About the right to preserve culture- that's true but game is also a product of a culture so we are preserving one culture (somehow) damaging the product of another culture. And I see some games as a possibility to discover a point of view of other cultures so I belive that censorship in games (and other media) shouldn't have place.
When it comes to mass shootings- does violent games really make people more violent? In Germany you can have erotic content on the screen (in contrast to US) and still Germany has lower rape rate that US (43th place vs 14th- source below). You are more likely to get shoot in country where everyone can have gun and reduction of brutality in games won't change that.
Source: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Rape-rate
I have found that some Chinese movies are also banned but of course because of "undermining socialist morality and attacking the Party.".
Also "Frankestein" (1931) and "Alice in Wonderland" (1933) both were "banned under a category of "superstitious films" due to its "strangeness" and unscientific elements." I would say that "strangeness and unscientific elements" are something that Chinese people have to deal daily with in their media.
Ohh... and the movie "Christopher Robin"- the newest movie about Winnie-the-Pooh was also banned because: "Chinese netizens have drawn comparisons between Winnie-the-Pooh and Chinese leader Xi Jinping since mid 2017" :D
China has their own set of strict regulations on whats allowed and not allowed. Japan has a policy on violence:
for example gta vice city was lacking some blood/gore content. And if you're from Germany game developers censor swastika because of Germany law.
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
Such games are 18+ and many people enjoy gore. When you just delete Blood Splatters, Slot Machines, deleting skulls. Updates goes live through whole Community from Europe, USA and the other western society may
leave the Game very quickly because of some limitations
No, I've never heard about it but China is well known of its censorship on many other levels. It really surprised me! What's more interesting - I've been WoW player for a long time and I've never thought that something like this exists.
Unfortunately I can't give you more examples, because I don't know any.
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
To be honest, I'm not really into censoring games. People should be just aware of restrictions, PEGI etc. I really enjoy the reality of games and I think that censoring them just kills their vibe.
No, I haven't. I heard about Chinese censorship in general, but I never considered games... Quite surprising - I thought that rather a whole game would be banned. It must be a lot of extra work for game developers, and to managers/designers, to think about it in advance, and make a plan.
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
I disagree - I'm against any kind of censorship. I want to play the game which was designed by game studio, and see what was their original vision of it
Well i don't know i think that there supposed to be a freedom of speech so censorship is bad.
There is no such thing like a censorship for everyone, at least not in this realm. You have social and cultural standards, you have PEGI, you have respectable TV news that don't show nudity. Censorship as an idea is not bad. China, however, reached a next level of implementation, which I disagree with :)
2. It's quite complex question in my opinion. I believe that everybody should be given an option to play with or without censorship. It shouldn't be mandatory for everyone in my opinion.
About censorship for Chinese players vs All other... It's stupid to censorship game FOR ALL PLAYERS instead of ONLY Chinese players... Okay, I respect that they have "stupid" law, but seriously... Have for example Poland stupid law about game censorship? NO. So why should I and other Polish gamers be affected by THEIR stupid law. It's something like... OH. Some religious banned things. For example some religions can't eat some sort of food, should ALL THE OTHER people be affected by it? I don't think so. Especially that we're paying huge amount of money for new games. We're paying FULL price so we want FULL product. Maybe it would be better to make a checkbox in settings where you can mark YES/NO asked about censorship in game that you've bought.
I think that games shouldn't be censored (without regard to country). Last time, when I has bought game I saw a lot of informations about minimum age (and other requirements) to play when game was scary. If someone want to play that he is doing it on his responsibility. Of course, we can talk about child but it's job for their parents. They should be careful about their activity with the computer and on the whole Internet.
I think its very bad idea for games because sometimes they can ban whole game for just one disagreement. Or sometimes they can ban something what build whole climate of the game.
When it comes to such changes, we need to respect Chinese culture especially if we want to profit from it, and i dont really mind it too much, if a dev claims that those changes would change their vision of the game they can simply not release it "officially" into Chinese market, apparently all of the above examples prove that they prefer money than "sticking to their vision".
While global censorship rules would benefit somewhat younger audiences, i think its all too little to change anything and it would only bring more limitations in design space of games. Like for example if i decide to make strip club simulator and censor out tits , yes younger audience that stumbles upon my title is "safe" but rest of the audience will call the game crap and whats worse by making game as such i did not save the world anyone can go and google up tits or a porn site and i as a dev have failed anyway.
There is also one question that should be asked first why would any underage be allowed to stumble upon my strip club simulator in the first place? maybe we should do something about that first ?
I have not heard about the censorship. I do, however, know that on asian market many things are censored ;)
2.What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
Censorship has been a very popular tool during eras where dictatorship was commonly present. Should we really go back to that?
Games, movies, books etc. are part of art and art couldn't be censored. That's my opinion.
I support freedom of each individual and deciding about ourselfs, but we have to think about what we mean by players? First of all, players should be divided into adults and minors. Adult people should decide for themselves what games they want to play, even if they contain elements such as gambling, violence and nudity. If the type of game doesn't suit someone, will not play them. If a given game will cause a lot of controversy, players will boycott it and the free market will verify if the game will bring money to the author or not...
I've heard. Every game issued for the Chinese region is censored, so all games can be an example :).
What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
It seems to me that censorship is not needed for games. The game presents its own view and sometimes it has to be presented without any censorship.
The only thing you can enter are restrictions on the purchase of games.
- Yes, I have heard about the Chinese censorship in games in Rainbow Six Siege which you mentioned in your presentation. But I did not know about the changes which Blizzard made to World of Warcraft to be available in China.
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
- In my opinion, censoring video games is a bad idea because we cannot show people that we leave in a perfect world without violence, alcohol and death we should show it as it is.
2. I think that people should have choice and if we live in free country with freedom we should make decisions what we want to see or what we want to play.
I think that games and any other entertainment things like movies and music shouldn't be censored. For me it is kind of art and should be in the same form no matter where have you born and who you are. The creator work should not be changed in any way.
https://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/34-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-video-games
Yes, I've heard about it. It is weird for me, because I'm sure that you can bypass those kind of things if you want - so why they're doing it? For me there's no point of it, and I'm happy that I don't have to deal with this in our country. I've heard about special version of Counter-Strike for Chinese people, when you are shooting zombies (lol)
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
For me there is no point in it, maybe there is one exception when it's not that obvious . For example - why do you want to censor death in the game based on killing monsters/bad people etc? I've heard about German censorship in video games, where they're changing red blood to green. Why?
No, i haven't, but I'm not suprised.
2. What’s your opinion about censoring games for everyone, not only for Chinese players?
In my opinion it is good option if we want to cut a little bit age restriction for some games. That should be an option for all adult games. Generally it is hard topic if we want to avoid destroying climat of the game, but still possible. For example... right now in games we can delete or reduce bloodshed. Not everyone like brutal scenes, some people want to focus on story, plot or lore.
Anyway, I think that censoring games is an absurd idea. What is the point of that? To prevent violence? In my personal opinion, your environment makes you violent and rude, not some books, movies, music or games. So censoring everything will not help. And of course, I am against censorship. Especially nowadays, when certain games can be considered as an art, just as movies or music.
As for China, I hope that one day they will overcome their stereotypes and will enjoy the same content as others. Of course, it mostly depends on Chinese government but there is always a hope.