f13.net

Story here (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/13/china_bars_wow_wotlk_censors/).


Anyone know what this is really about? Is there a taboo regarding bones and skeletons in Chinese culture or is it semi-random government censorship?

Government censorship to promote "a healthier, friendlier online environment." It started at least 2 years ago. 

http://popsci.typepad.com/popsci/2007/07/banning-skeleto.html

Yeah, it's odd when you see screenshots from a chinese WoW client and they have tiny little gravestones for deceased player characters, rather than skeletons.

The forsaken look better though.  :oh_i_see:

Yeah, apparently it is a chinese cultural thing - showing dead people lying around as skeletons etc is the equivalent of flying penises shouting "nigger nigger cunt cunt".  Something like Halloween with people dressing up as skeletons and ghosts would never occur over there.

It's just protectionism.

Uh... Mainland China could give a flying fuck about Skeletons and Ghosts...  It is not like saying nigger or cunt.  Not sure where this is coming from.  The older generations think it is bad luck to dress as a skeleton, that is about it.  Bad luck.

You can buy skeleton masks and costumes in gift shops in China.   People in mainland China do not generally celebrate Halloween, maybe that is where the confusion comes from.   They do celebrate April Fools Day and Christmas, as well as other Western holidays.

This is just business, WoW is doing a lot of business in China and it is a way to hinder their success. 

Hardly. Vivendi sees very little of the revenue generated by WoW in China, relatively speaking. This hurts The9 much much more than it does Vivendi.

I think, hope, he meant that it is protectionism by the Chinese gaming companies that compete against The9 and Vivendi.

:headscratch:

Business related, not nationalistic, protectionism.

No I know what you meant but that's the wrong use of the word.

Pretty easy for a well connected business to lobby the Chinese government in order to prevent The9 from distributing foreign content.  Protectionism executed as an administrative barrier.

Does this mean there will be fewer gold farmers? Please say yes and if so, I'm going to make an alt and kill them repeatedly so that the landscape will be littered with bones.

Edit: Ok, so Mainland China won't see my bones, but hopefully it'll scare off any of the little farmers not using the chinese client.

No.

Zomg!  DAoC flashback!

Every tombstone is a monument to a healer that failed.

That's what I suspected.

Still haven't managed to find any real info on the reasons behind this.

Every tombstone is a fool I let die.

/mainly plays healers

Gold farmers use the U.S./European client. The Chinese client cannot connect to US/EU servers iirc.

You know, since China has been harping on us about protectionism, and they keep saying they are fully against it, I've always wondered if we could use that against them on their censorship crap.  Claim that since they ban the vast vast majority of our movies/games from being available in the country, it is an OBVIOUS attempt to protect their industries while staving off competition.  Then take them to the WTO.  Might be a way to force them on free speech/censorship  :why_so_serious:.

Probably not actually possible, but hey, would be funny.  I kind of wonder if it is possible to do that under WTO rules, or if they already covered IP as untouchable.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.  Oh wow, that was a good one.

Not to mention, when the hell was the last time you even SAW a gold farmer?

They likely don't farm anymore. They steal accounts, take their gold, then use that for their sales.

I'm pretty sure they are around - the kind who gather materials and sell them.  The other day, some level 1 advertised saronite ore for 20g/stack.  I sent a tell saying I'd buy it all.  They sent back, "all 65 stacks"?  I'm assuming the level 1 alt is the bank toon for the farmers on the account.  In our exchange, it became clear that the person I was talking to was not a native English speaker.

I've never personally had a problem with farmers collecting mats in game.  I report gold sellers.  Farmers, though, it seems, keep mat prices down.  Don't get me wrong, I'm against gold selling and rmt but I do sometimes wonder how much they oil the materials economy on my server.

What I really hate are botters and battleground afkers.

I'm pretty sure the people standing under that dead floating city you spend a lot of time at for quests (use a disguise, control various undead, sabotage their operations, etc.) and killing things all day long aren't there for anything other than collecting cash.  I'm terrible at remembering ingame names of things, thus the vague description.  Anyway, I just did those quests again yesterday on my 4th alt.  Everytime I'm there, there is somebody camped out on top of the teleporter thing just nonstop killing things for hours.  Maybe they are just power leveling....dunno.  It is just very odd.

Two can play at that game.

This is true. They're pretty easy to spot; some will dump 50+ stacks of mats on the AH every day.  The big auction house players on your server typically know who they are and will try to intercept them.  Others will even go so far as to setup 'deals' with the Chinese farmers: They'll buy what they're farming directly at some gold price every day.  Chinese farmer fulfills his quotas, American gets cheap mats that become easy gold, everybody wins.

As a tank, I can say that it was probably the healer's fault.

Sjofn wouldn't let me down!

I wish I weren't a tank, but now I'm prot. THANKS, GUILD

I didn't say they actually believed or followed it!   :awesome_for_real:

My quote was pretty much for the people who played my server in DAoC. I mostly play tanks these days, but I have definitely done my time as a healer. I think we can all agree that the REAL failures are the DPSers.  :oh_i_see:

Every tombstone is a monument to a healer that charged a group while their tank was distracted by something shiny.  There's plenty of blame to go around.

If the Tank Dies - Its the Healers Fault
If the Healer Dies - Its the Tanks Fault
If the DPS dies - Its their own bloody Fault.

Sorry, had to correct for the way blame actually gets handed out IRL.   :awesome_for_real:

That breaks down in so many encounters that I cringe every time it's posted.

I thought it was always the gnome's fault.

LOL post of the day! 

If a DPS'er dies in the woods...does anyone care?

I very rarely actually blame healers for when I die as a tank. The only time I'll grumble about it is when you die that really slow tank death, where your HP has dipped below where you usually get a heal ... and keep dropping ... and dropping ... and dropping. And you're thinking, "Any time now, I will get a heal." And then you die.

I also don't recall blaming the tank for me dying as a healer, but that actually happens so rarely outside a full wipe I can't really remember. CLEARLY MY TANKS ARE ALL AWESOME. Except Ingmar, he's mean. :(

Because he's jealous.

If the tank dies, it's the healer's fault.
Tanks are the highest heal targets and there's no excuse for them to go down. Not even when the rest of the raid and/or healers are taking damage. Pallies can beacon them, priests can binding heal when they are taking damage.

If the healer dies, it's the healer's fault.
Healers have so many get out of jail free buttons that there's really no excuse for dying. ESPECIALLY if you're a holy priest, you can roll your face across the keyboard to win - fade, binding heal, desperate prayer, guardian spirit. This includes trash and random shit like shades unless they appear directly on you. You should have an aggro-warning and you should be able to dump to your fade button before ANYTHING closes the gap to the back.

If the DPS dies, it's either their own fault or the healers fault.
If the DPS gets one-shotted, it's their fault for pulling aggro. Fury warriors seem to perpetually have an issue with this. Mages pull on a regular basis but should be quick enough on the iceblock to live.
If the DPS dies to AoE and gradual damage, it's the healer's fault.

Generally, except when a DPS pulls and gets oneshotted, it's the healer's fault.

I really really hope that post was a joke.

Of course it was a joke, but you all are making it out to be SERIOUS BUSINESS!

These days you can never tell. I've seen too many insane things spouted about WoW that were certainly serious business.

No one stepped up with "it's always the tank's fault"? For shame...

So has anyone else heard/seen the news report that The9 is claiming it will go bankrupt if the Chinese Gov. doesn't stop the ban?  :ye_gods:

I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that the ban was not just because of bones, but because of city raids (I'm assuming its the "Attack Undercity" event or maybe the Kill the Leader achievements). Supposedly they don't want to give the populace any ideas...

...

:awesome_for_real:

I perpetually lead the charts for highest raid deaths as Fury. At least I'm tank spec at the moment, so people actually heal me.

WTB a de-aggro button for warriors. Once you start rocketing up the threat charts, your only option is to stop attacking - other classes have many other options to drop aggro, or pull so much less threat, it's kind of sad.

Stop standing in dark touched warrior whirlwind IMO!

I have to CLEAVE them! CLEAVE CLEAVE CLEAVE

DPS meters are important!

Despite my massive deaths, I always manage to come in 3rd or so, behind a caster dps, and an overpowered DK.

I don't have my Pacific Epoch subscription anymore to see the full details (they report on China tech news in English) but that's where the report came from/through:

http://www.jlmpacificepoch.com/newsstories?id=143341_0_5_0_M

The only times I die as a healer are when someone else cocks up really. Also KT is tombs sometimes get me, although in principle I should be the easiest to save as I have the lowest hp of any raiding class typically.

The ones who die the most for us are our locks on trash, as they are mob magnets.

We had a healer that died so much she started gemming/enchanting for stamina.  I really wish I was joking.  She also ran continuously low on mana and from observation,  just continually spams Flash Heal. Her raids have a lot of wipes, even if they're a horribly overgeared power team.

Then there's a mage I did a run with that died to some trash left before Thad twice, wiped the raid first time on crossing polarity, died after the kill by crossing polarity, managed to run right in front of a healer during KT getting both of them killed, etc etc.  I really wish I would have checked her total deaths.  She was leading the DPS charts for the most part but was far behind me in total damage.

Some players always find a way to die.  You cannot deny them.

My DK can't really do anything once she pulls aggro but stop attacking, if it makes you feel better. I dunno if I have a harder time pulling it in the first place, though.

I tend to pull aggro if I forget I'm in frost presence  :awesome_for_real:  Otherwise, I don't even look at Omen.  I've never pulled aggro on a raid boss or heroic boss.   

It is if you've specced into Subversion. (3pts 1st tier Blood.)  I don't know why you wouldn't if you're going to PvE, but some don't.

Hell,l I sit below rogues on threat meters most fights but am always in the top 3 for damage dealt.   Plus, even if we do pull aggro we're not in a state that makes us take 30% more damage and we get the full benefit of our armor mitigation. But yeah, forget I'm in FP and the warrior bitches that he can't pull stuff off me without taunt.  Whoops.

Hee hee, that's usually when I pull aggro too. I will also forget I'm in blood presence and wonder why I'm getting my ass totally kicked. I am clearly an awesome DK.

I can't remember if my current spec has subversion or not. I always pick it up in my DPS specs, but I might've skipped it in my tanking spec.

The problem with warriors is the 110% threat limit, whirlwind, and cleave.  Dropping whirlwind isn't worth mentioning.  Dropping cleave and using heroic strike is sub-optimal, because last time I checked in TBC cleave is actually more threat efficient when it's hitting 2/3 (glyphed) targets because it's base threat modifier is divided amongst the targets hit by it.  Also, dropping either has a pretty harsh effect on flurry and consequently white damage / rage generation.  Basically the spec is designed expressly to encourage committing suicide on trash.

This. I basically have to come up with new excuses every time I die because they don't believe me. Also, we don't run with any warrior tanks ever, so I never get vigilance, AND I have to keep sunder on the boss.

Either that, or recently, I've become the warrior tank. Bah to that, I say.

I have always approached trash from the standpoint that it needs to die before I do.  So when something turns to you, the correct answer isn't "STOP", it's "HAMMER TIME".  Anyway, pray arms doesn't become the better spec.  Back in beta, it was horrible because it has an 80% threat mod instead of 70% like every other spec in the game, including fury.  It doesn't matter right now because arms does such pathetic DPS that pulling threat isn't really a concern, but that'll change with the buffs it has incoming.

GAPP (the Chinese approval agency in question) has now openly stated that this is all to protect domestic MMOs and to 'avoid the excessive penetration of foreign culture among Chinese youth' and World of Warcraft can expect much more stringent audits than its competitors. The9 has said they will go out of business if this isn't resolved.

http://www.jlmpacificepoch.com/newsstories?id=143456_0_5_0_M

The9 has already massively altered Lich King (to the point that Death Knights aren't even in the game any more) trying to meet the moving targets the Chinese government keeps throwing up, and many Chinese players have switched to the Taiwanese WoW distributor, which is available through Hong Kong and released WotLK without any issues.

Aha, well that makes more sense than the smokescreen about bones. Thanks Lum.

Ta da.

Does that mean we can have Pandaren now?

I could have sworn the bones thing WAS a bit more cultural then just the World of Warcraft impact thing.

I seem to recall an article some time back by Wizards of the Coast where they had to deal with the same problems, mainly, needing to / being forced to change the art on a lot of their magic cards because of "visible bones" on skeletons.

Jesus Christ.  We really need to start hitting them back on this protectionist bullshit.

Please tell me that was sarcasm.

Politics? In my WoW thread? It's more likely than you think!

Next patch: "Bring me the hides of forty pandaren so that I may desecrate them properly"  :awesome_for_real:

:crying_panda:

You can just see it now, can't you? Nesingwary hiding in a bush somewhere, wearing a panda-fur suit with its head for a helmet, ala Tropic Thunder.
With an ominous golden question mark over his head...

fify