How violent games survived in China battleground?
Since there's no rating system in China, many programmes like movies, TV series as well as games are banned or censored before input in the Chinese market. Chinese game developer has made their effort to survive under the big pressure of Chinese watchdog.
PlayerUnknown's Battleground also known as "PUBG" is the game of the year. It's all about life-or-dead hunter and Chinese player accounts for almost 44% of its player base, dwarfing the numbers in other regions including the United States. It's the hottest topic that all my friend is talking about, especially the word" eat chicken". Its original from a message you will receive after you win in the game----WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER.
But the hottest video game in the world may lose its largest market since it hasn't got the official license from the Chinese government and may face China ban for deviating from "socialist core values" and "too violent". The Chinese content watchdog reckons PUBG is "not conducive to the physical and mental health of young consumers". That means players in China are rarely able to play it in a legal way, what's more. the high requirement of hardness blocks many players.
Just like King of Glory which apply the core game mechanic of League of Legends, several battle royale mode mobile games appeared in China App Store. Wilderness Action and Terminator 2 come from NetEase, Xiaomi Gunfight comes from Xiaomi, Tencent will publish a game called Glories Mission and so on and so forth. Why these game development companies committed the crime? How do they deal with the limitation of government?
Here I choose Wilderness Action as an example, it's more like a rough clone of PUBG with the same UI design as well as the core game mechanics. Some comments said it's a rip-off. Anyway, the game got approved by the government for the moment with below changes:
1.Revise the background story for many times, now the theme is about peace-keeping.
2.Add some Chinese propaganda in socialist style in the game which makes me feel like I'm in a period of Anti-Japanese war.
3.Transform blood into yellow smog.
4.Clarify in the game that they will observe government's policy and instruction to supervise players and building a healthy game environment.
Regardless of the government's warning, all the Battle Royale mobile game has made such subtle changes, and they are still on the roll.
Shooting is the prominent violet factors presented by most of the games. First-person shooting game was first produced in the US, and unduly that the developers in the US create more first-person shooter than the rest of the world combined. Because first-person shooters were about the individual versus the world and they convey the expression of the Cowboy ideal of Personal Liberty in America culture. The most important point that combined game violent and violent behavior is the universal right to bear arms in the US. No matter what kind of effects that violent game brings, children in the US has a high probability to contact these violent factors in real. That's the reason why gun violence in the United States is a major national concern that results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually.
I'm not saying game violent is not a problem for Chinese, even if you remove the blood, there remains weapons, knives, and some other violent factors. No doubt it will take a negative effect on children when such a game become a popular topic among adults and killing other people become a normal action even in joke. Though Battle Royal game focuses on survival rather than killing, China content watchdog opposes the last-person standing nature of Battle Royale game.
I applaud the policy to limit Battle Royale games because I like playing games and I have a little brother who is obsessed with mobile games as well. Though he has a smart brain and he never fell behind in his studies. I still don't want him to know plenty of violence in games even the excitement that the game brings will decrease.
Battle Royal game actually show the law of the jungle which is rejected in Chinese culture. Excellent gaming could reveal the characteristics of the country where the game developers grew up. I feel upset when I saw some comments like " CIC(Copy in China.), not surprise...." Chinese civilization is profound and boasts a long history, why not put our own twist on it instead of doing basically a straight-up copy? Implementing a strict policy to protect underage kids from violent games should be taken into consideration, meanwhile, developing games with our own ideas inspired by good characters to influence children is of great value.
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