For the Love of Hu, Speak No Evil

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I realize I’m risking a ban for AFK Gamer in China by even wondering aloud about this, but damn the torpedoes, I’m curious. And, AFK Gamer does did have readers in China … possibly they’re all government censors, I don’t know.

Anyways, China (the government, not the people) is waving around a ban stick all over their end of the Internet — the latest to go, Typepad blogs. China (the government, not the people) also has various regulations for Chinese (the people, not the government) websites, net providers, bla bla … in fact, if you’d like to help out Chinese bloggers by sponsoring/adopting a Chinese blog, read more here.

If you’re curious about China’s president, the BBC wrote an interesting profile in January 2005. His name is Hu Jintao and he’s been president since March 2003. (The BBC says late 2002, China.org says March 2003 — wtf, why would the date be in dispute?) I didn’t know any of that. I can’t keep track of every world leader; I can barely keep track of my own president. (It’s still Bush, right?)

So, in light of the recent release of World of Warcraft in China, which I’m sure was lucrative for both our Blizzard/Vivendi overlords and China (the government, not the people), I’m curious what government restrictions have been placed on the Warcraft virtual world. Because I know there’s got to be goofy restrictions.

Do they have censors checking the NPC scripts to make sure they’re not encouraging or advocating material that wouldn’t be pro-China? (the government, not the people)

Would the Chinese government flip out if the Chinese players organized an in-game protest like the Warcraft warriors did earlier this year? The Chinese goverment has a hard-on for discouraging that public protest shit. Actually, players could organize anti-China government protests to take place inside Warcraft.

That would be a real shitstorm for everyone involved.

I realize there must be restrictions to playing on the Chinese servers, are they any more rigorous than the restrictions on, for example, Europeans playing on the American servers and vice versa? If there are, why? It wouldn’t be because they don’t want Westerners plying their Freedom of Speech and Right to Public Assembly bullshit to the Chinese, would it?

If there aren’t more rigorous restrictions, can I ply my Freedom of Speech and Right to Public Assembly bullshit to the Chinese? (the players, not the government)

These are the thoughts that torture me when I’m stuck in rush-hour traffic.

Oh ya. I guess this is goodbye to the Chinese AFK Gamer readers. I wish you well, and “POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”

3 thoughts on “For the Love of Hu, Speak No Evil”

  2. Yaaaa for China!

    Any country who censors the most sanctimonious people on the internet (bloggers) cannot be all that bad.

  3. Here is a thought: what if everyone said something like “WTF go to heck all you Chinese sick governmental bureaucrats… We don’t give a shit about your ban” Than they could ban everyone, reducing Chinese internet to a show of made up from government propaganda and senior party bullshit dump. Perhaps than they could ban companies who say stuff and perhaps one day we might just stop communication alltogeather with them(the government not the people) plunging them(both the government and the people) into such a deep shit that they( the government not the people) might never recover. Remember, it is our economy, our technology and essentialy our internet that is keeping them alive( both the government and the people)
    I only hope that Blizzard is not gonna bend over like Microsoft did. And I kinda hope I am gonna get baned from chinese internet now…:-)

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