Mod Edit: To clarify. China has set up an online games ethics committee to review games. The list of games reviewed has not been revealed to the public and therefore the list published on reddit is not confirmed. The rumor tag has been added to the title because of this.
According to Reddit post on /r/gaming, the list of games reviewed by the ethics board was revealed by the users on NGA, a Chinese gaming forum.
Games requiring corrective action (causes are in parentheses):
Chinese player bases right now:
Reddit source: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/a4w3ux/chinas_ethics_board_reviews_20_popular_online/
Untranslated source:
Inharmoniously lock this thread if old.
EDIT:
Some additional info by original Reddit poster (ZeroWolfe547):
It's not entirely clear if the recommended actions have actually been enforced by regulators, last I heard PUBG and Fortnite for example are still playable.
All the titles slated for withdrawal are battle royale games, which seems to suggest either regulators really want to crack down on the genre, or their popularity is making them targets.
Tencent and NetEase are the two biggest gaming companies in China, with the former the biggest in the world. They partner with and manage the servers of pretty much every foreign online game that enters the Chinese market. NetEase does all of Blizzards titles for example, and Tencent now owns League of Legends entirely.
Notes on the reasons:
Despite the lack of religious influences, traditional Chinese culture is very puritanical. For example, creation, distribution, and possession of pornography are all illegal (recently the government approved financial awards for whistleblowing on porn), and TV shows in the past have been pulled over female characters showing too much cleavage. Lately Xi Jinping's administration has also been reviving stricter moral control. I'm curious how Overwatch wasn't given this charge too, considering Widowmaker's design.
I'm guessing the whole "rewarding by rank" is a problem because it suggests class divisions, rather than purely rewarding based on merit? Communist ideology pops up in places even if the country isn't exactly on that path anymore.
Correct conceptions of history have seen renewed attention recently as well. Nominally it's supposed to mean Marxist historical materialism, but in colloquial use, it can refer to misrepresentation of history as well. The official Communist Party version of Chinese history is written into Chinese law as part of the PRC's constitution. Fantastical depictions of historical figures can be problematic, as is time travel, and unflattering depictions of revolutionary leaders is downright illegal.
"Inharmonious chat" refers to the perceived lack of effort by publishers to combat toxicity, vulgarity, and politically sensitive speech in chats. In China usually games implement lists of censored phrases that are constantly updated to adhere to this requirement, and they are usually very aggressive and would much rather over do it than let anything slip.
I'm not sure what "game visuals promote incorrect values" would refer to, I can't really think of anything unique to Overwatch that goes in that direction.
According to Reddit post on /r/gaming, the list of games reviewed by the ethics board was revealed by the users on NGA, a Chinese gaming forum.
Games requiring corrective action (causes are in parentheses):
- Arena of Valor by Tencent (Overly revealing female characters, rewards given based on rank, distorted concepts of history and culture.)
- League of Legends by Riot Games/Tencent (Overly revealing female characters, rewards given based on rank, inharmonious chatroom.)
- Blade & Soul by NCSOFT (Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom.)
- Chu Liu Xiang by NetEase (Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom, game missions include fraud.)
- Overwatch by Blizzard (Game visuals promote incorrect values, inharmonious chatroom.)
- Diablo by Blizzard (Inharmonious chat, game missions include fraud.)
- World of Warcraft by Blizzard (Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom.)
- Westward Journey by NetEase (Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom, distorted concepts of history and culture.)
- Code: Eva by Tencent (Rewards given based on rank, distorted concepts of history and culture.)
- The Legent of Mir 3 by WeMade (Inharmonious chatroom.)
- Swords of Legends Online by Aurogon (Inharmonious chatroom.)
- PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds by Bluehole (Blood and gore.)
- Fortnite by Epic Games/Tencent (Blood and gore, vulgar content.)
- H1Z1 by Daybreak (Blood and gore, vulgar content.)
- Alliance of Valiant Arms by Red Duck (Blood and gore, vulgar content.)
- Ring of Elysium by Tencent (Blood and gore, vulgar content.)
- Paladins by Hi-Rez (Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content.)
- Free Fire Battlegrounds by Garena (Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content.)
- Knives Out by NetEase (Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content.)
- Quantum Matrix by NetEase (Blood and gore, vulgar content, inharmonious chat.)
Chinese player bases right now:
Reddit source: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/a4w3ux/chinas_ethics_board_reviews_20_popular_online/
Untranslated source:
Inharmoniously lock this thread if old.
EDIT:
Some additional info by original Reddit poster (ZeroWolfe547):
It's not entirely clear if the recommended actions have actually been enforced by regulators, last I heard PUBG and Fortnite for example are still playable.
All the titles slated for withdrawal are battle royale games, which seems to suggest either regulators really want to crack down on the genre, or their popularity is making them targets.
Tencent and NetEase are the two biggest gaming companies in China, with the former the biggest in the world. They partner with and manage the servers of pretty much every foreign online game that enters the Chinese market. NetEase does all of Blizzards titles for example, and Tencent now owns League of Legends entirely.
Notes on the reasons:
Despite the lack of religious influences, traditional Chinese culture is very puritanical. For example, creation, distribution, and possession of pornography are all illegal (recently the government approved financial awards for whistleblowing on porn), and TV shows in the past have been pulled over female characters showing too much cleavage. Lately Xi Jinping's administration has also been reviving stricter moral control. I'm curious how Overwatch wasn't given this charge too, considering Widowmaker's design.
I'm guessing the whole "rewarding by rank" is a problem because it suggests class divisions, rather than purely rewarding based on merit? Communist ideology pops up in places even if the country isn't exactly on that path anymore.
Correct conceptions of history have seen renewed attention recently as well. Nominally it's supposed to mean Marxist historical materialism, but in colloquial use, it can refer to misrepresentation of history as well. The official Communist Party version of Chinese history is written into Chinese law as part of the PRC's constitution. Fantastical depictions of historical figures can be problematic, as is time travel, and unflattering depictions of revolutionary leaders is downright illegal.
"Inharmonious chat" refers to the perceived lack of effort by publishers to combat toxicity, vulgarity, and politically sensitive speech in chats. In China usually games implement lists of censored phrases that are constantly updated to adhere to this requirement, and they are usually very aggressive and would much rather over do it than let anything slip.
I'm not sure what "game visuals promote incorrect values" would refer to, I can't really think of anything unique to Overwatch that goes in that direction.
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