China Bans Video Game for Breach of Sovereignty

[azjoe_02]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&e=3&u=/nm/20041207/tc_nm/china_game_dc


WOW!!!

[azjoe_02]

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, sensitive about issues of national sovereignty, has banned a computer sports game that classifies Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Tibet as countries and has threatened to fine Web sites that supply the game and net cafes that let patrons download it.

The game, "Soccer Manager 2005," contained content that harmed China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and violated Chinese law, the Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.


It did not say who made the video game, also called "Champion Soccer Manager 2005," but said it had yet to be released nationally. Any Web site that offered downloads of the game would be fined up to $1,210, Xinhua said, quoting an order from the Ministry of Culture.


Cybercafes that failed to prevent players from downloading, installing or playing the game would be fined as much as $1,815, it added.


Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau were listed as independent countries in the game, and the Himalayan region of Tibet, which Chinese troops occupied in 1950, is called "Chinese Tibet," which elevated it to the same level as China itself, Xinhua said.


Taiwan and the mainland have been politically separate for 55 years but Beijing considers the democratic island of 23 million people a rebel part of China's territory and has vowed to unite it with the mainland, by force if necessary.


Hong Kong, a one-time colony of Britain, was handed back to China in 1997. Macau, a former colony of Portugal, came back to the Chinese fold in 1999.


Online gaming exploded in China in recent years, and is hugely popular among urban youth. An estimated 13.8 million online games spent $240 million on their hobby last year and annual revenues are expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2008.

[SackAttack]

It's like copyright law, I guess. You know how if you fail to protect a copyright, it can actually become part of the public domain?

Maybe China's afraid if they fail to protect their "sovereignty" over Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, that they could lose it. I dunno; Hong Kong probably doesn't belong in that list, as it was previously a British protectorate before being transferred to Chinese control in the late '90s.

But Tibet and Taiwan? Much greyer area, that. But then, China has always been touchy about Taiwan's separatism and also about human rights concerns over Tibet.

[DeToxRox]

Our first FOFC sanctioned international incident.

Go get 'em Marc.

[SackAttack]

Wrong game. Soccer Manager 2005 isn't Football Manager 2005.

[ISiddiqui]

I wonder if the US can ban civil war games for a breach of soveriengty ;).

[DeToxRox]

boo. well i hope marc causes an uproar. he knows i'll throw my support.

[SackAttack]

I wonder if the US can ban civil war games for a breach of soveriengty ;).

Political speech is protected in the US. It isn't in China. ;)

[SunDancer]

boo. well i hope marc causes an uproar. he knows i'll throw my support.

As Sack said, this isn't FM 2005.

[kcchief19]

But is this a cracked, pirated version of FM 2005 for the Chinese market?

[MrBug708]

It's China Taipai in FM2005

[ScottVib]

They also banned Hearts of Iron... for work that I did while beta testing their game :p

Edit - Here is that link: http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=26142&highlight=Sovereignty

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

But is this a cracked, pirated version of FM 2005 for the Chinese market?

I think it is a pirated version. When I vacationed in The Phillipines they had the latest CM there. Thee was a whole mall devoted to selling pirated games for $ 1.00-3.00. I didnt get any though because its against my Paladin like nature.

[Sun Tzu]

It's China Taipai in FM2005

*Flashback* Little League Baseball

[Chief Rum]

But FM2005 does have Macau, and does list Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei as separate countries with respect to footballing (like the four nations of the UK, for instance).

Are we sure this isn't FM2005? It sure sounds like FM2005, and the article perhaps fudged on the name. Remember, this information was probably taken from Asian sources, which means it wouldn't have been in English. That means the game will have whatever translation of the name would be in Chinese (I assume). So we get a British title, translated into Chinese, back into English by a writer writing for an audience that is likely to be prominently American (and would confuse football and soccer). This also likely an author who isn't as into text-based games and may not be aware of FM2005 (and it's predecessor, the CM Series) following.

I also think we would have heard about another soccer manager game out there that goes into this sort of detail.

CR

[korme]

im kinda disappointed soveriegnstar hasn't commented yet, on screenname similarity alone

[mckerney]

But FM2005 does have Macau, and does list Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei as separate countries with respect to footballing (like the four nations of the UK, for instance).

Are we sure this isn't FM2005? It sure sounds like FM2005, and the article perhaps fudged on the name. Remember, this information was probably taken from Asian sources, which means it wouldn't have been in English. That means the game will have whatever translation of the name would be in Chinese (I assume). So we get a British title, translated into Chinese, back into English by a writer writing for an audience that is likely to be prominently American (and would confuse football and soccer). This also likely an author who isn't as into text-based games and may not be aware of FM2005 (and it's predecessor, the CM Series) following.

I also think we would have heard about another soccer manager game out there that goes into this sort of detail.

CR

Well, the US version of the release will be called Worldwide Soccer Manager. And of course there's this (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/08/content_398445.htm).

[Chief Rum]

Yup, that pretty much confirms it. Good find, mckerney.

CR

[Marc Vaughan]

Yeah its FM, bizarrely enough it appears to do with the downloading of warez versions from the net as our 'official' chinese release (with various changes to countries etc.) hasn't gone out yet ....

We're awaiting 'approval' I believe for the official release - such releases are notoriously problematic for obvious reasons ...

[CraigSca]

What I found interesting was this: "An estimated 13.8 million online games spent $240 million on their hobby last year and annual revenues are expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2008."

I'm sure the relative costs have to be different in China due to standard of living, but that averages to less than $20 per year per game player. Are games that inexpensive over there, or is that because of pirating? Mark - I'd be interested to hear what SI's take is on pirating in China. Surely, that's a huge amount of lost revenue.

[Marc Vaughan]

Pirating is a huge issue in most countries, especially China and Asia - online game revenue is pretty strong there because people have to pay to play, but boxed copies are mainly pirated versions retailing much more cheaply than its possible to release legitimate copies.

For instance we've an unofficial Hong-kong fan club with 250,000 members - however we only sell around a handful of copies in that country.

The revenue we lose through this sort of thing is frustrating as if we recieved it we'd be able to make much better (and probably more) games for people to play, but such activities are part of human nature and I don't see this changing in a hurry ...