Battlefield 4: China Rising Gets Banned in China

[Cognimancer]

Battlefield 4: China Rising Gets Banned in China

The latest expansion to Battlefield 4 has been made illegal in China to protect national security.

EA's Battlefield 4: China Rising involves a war between American protectors of freedom and a manipulative Chinese admiral. Unsurprisingly, China isn't terribly happy with this. The Chinese government has issued a nation-wide ban on the game and its expansion, ordering its removal from physical shelves and instructing players to uninstall it from hard drives. A state-run Chinese newspaper [http://news.gxdk.com.cn/0/7680.shtml] accuses EA of deliberately discrediting China's image in a "new form of cultural aggression."

It's not hard to see why the Chinese government is upset. China Rising continues Battlefield 4's plot of a near future in which the rogue Admiral Chang seeks to overthrow the national government by sparking a Russia-supported war with the United States. The expansion takes place in mainland China, adding four new maps set in these new locales, as well as the expected package of new vehicles and equipment.

"ZhanDi4," the Chinese name for the game, is being censored on Chinese social media site Weibo.com, though some Chinese gamers are reportedly working around the ban using English titles and peer-to-peer downloads. Notably, EA does not sell a Chinese-localized version of Battlefield 4, so the existing copies were already either imported or pirated.

A lot of ugly terms are being thrown around, from cultural invasion to charges of demonizing China's national image. EA has not responded to the Chinese government's actions, or these claims, as of yet.

Source: ZDNet [http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/12/27/electronic-arts-battlefield-4-game-banned-in-china/]

Permalink

 

[Dr.Awkward]

Guess it was too close to reality, huh? Well, Battlefield has been striving to achieve "idealist reality" for quite a while now...

 

[Psychobabble]

Whatever China. Shouldn't you be busy with your plan to turn the Moon into the Deathstar instead of worrying about this pointless crap?

 

[Gary Thompson]

You mean the game wasn't banned already?

 

[marurder]

I might just go and install it now.

 

[Kilt'd]

Russia doesn't seem anywhere near as upset about their role as the primary antagonist in many military shooters as the Chinese government is about this expansion.

An extreme response like this could likely cause more damage to China's image among gamers than the DLC itself, especially considering China's reputation for censorship and a widespread dislike of censorship in general throughout gamer culture.

 

[Saulkar]

I don't blame them at all. All of those call of poopy and battleshit games do is pander to american patriotic ego, and I don't even think it's far fetched to say that these companies receive something on the side for making their games more patriotic and painting the US's rivals in a bad light.

They're better off without it anyway. Military macho jerk off material really needs to get de-throned this generation or I'm going to go berserk.

Woah, woah, woah! Add some text fast before you get a warning!

OT: Well, looks like someone is afraid a piece of entertainment will bring the walls of the mighty establishment down around his feet. Chaos, rioting, looting, and excessive sales of Ovaltine past 6PM in the streets! Pro-Tip: It will not.

I cannot respect any decision by any establishment that is so ludicrous as to worsen the problem in the first place. People have a pretty dim view of China as it is when it comes to media control and censorship and this only adds to it. Fallout has a perpetual bone to pick with Soviet Canuckistan yet I still play the hell out of the game along thousands of other Canadians with nary a whisper from anyone in our government over its content.

All I can do is shake my head slowly.

 

[Saulkar]

Russia doesn't seem anywhere near as upset about their role as the primary antagonist in many military shooters as the Chinese government is about this expansion.

An extreme response like this could likely cause more damage to China's image among gamers than the DLC itself, especially considering China's reputation for censorship and a widespread dislike of censorship in general throughout gamer culture.

You beat me to the punch but not only that, I have a couple of Russian acquaintances online who view their role in said games as genuine badassery.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Russia doesn't seem anywhere near as upset about their role as the primary antagonist in many military shooters as the Chinese government is about this expansion.

An extreme response like this could likely cause more damage to China's image among gamers than the DLC itself, especially considering China's reputation for censorship and a widespread dislike of censorship in general throughout gamer culture.

You beat me to the punch. Not only that but I have a couple of Russian acquaintances online who view their role in said games as genuine badassery.

Tell that to the outrage surrounding Company of Heroes 2's portrayal of the "Great Patriotic War".

 

[Squilookle]

I don't blame them at all. All of those call of poopy and battleshit games do is pander to american patriotic ego, and I don't even think it's far fetched to say that these companies receive something on the side for making their games more patriotic and painting the US's rivals in a bad light.

They're better off without it anyway. Military macho jerk off material really needs to get de-throned this generation or I'm going to go berserk.

Woah, woah, woah! Add some text fast before you get a warning!

OT: Well, looks like someone is afraid a piece of entertainment will bring the walls of the mighty establishment down around his feet. Chaos, rioting, looting, and excessive sales of Ovaltine past 6PM in the streets! Pro-Tip: It will not.

I cannot respect any decision by any establishment that is so ludicrous as to worsen the problem in the first place. People have a pretty dim view of China as it is when it comes to media control and censorship and this only adds to it. Fallout has a perpetual bone to pick with Soviet Canuckistan yet I still play the hell out of the game along thousands of other Canadians with nary a whisper from anyone in our government over its content.

All I can do is shake my head slowly.

Your opinion of China is surely the last thing China would be caring about. To be honest, even though I don't agree at all with the system of government China has, I can understand their ire with a game concept like that. Russia's probably so used to this sort of thing now that they don't care, but for China with Battlefield, much like North Korea and Venezuela before it with Mercenaries, it does appear as a pointless stab at their country. Perhaps they're not as familiar with fictional settings in popular entertainment as the makers of these games would like to think.

 

[Saulkar]

Russia doesn't seem anywhere near as upset about their role as the primary antagonist in many military shooters as the Chinese government is about this expansion.

An extreme response like this could likely cause more damage to China's image among gamers than the DLC itself, especially considering China's reputation for censorship and a widespread dislike of censorship in general throughout gamer culture.

You beat me to the punch. Not only that but I have a couple of Russian acquaintances online who view their role in said games as genuine badassery.

Tell that to the outrage surrounding Company of Heroes 2's portrayal of the "Great Patriotic War".

Yeah, that happened. I do not know enough about what happened to form a proper opinion. My own observations of the outrage and responses were so heavily divided I could not take any side seriously and chose to believe that both were so distorted as to generate said outrage or said distortion a product of their outrage. As before I talked to said Russians (3 in total) who only learned about it from my link to the Escapist and afterwards really did not care all too much. They were not fans of the series to begin with and beyond my anecdotal example I really do not have more to say.

P.S. I am really distracted right now as I have a head cold and my grammar is taking a beating.

EDIT: I will add that I do not believe that the outrage was not unjustified, just that the most truthful expressions of why said outrage was initiated along with proper discourse were probably buried from me under the tidal wave of angry arguments.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I can't blame them. In fact, this American military "swinging dick of freedom" propaganda is getting old. How do people still buy into that crap every fuckin' year?

 

[KaZuYa]

Amuuurica!


(expletives disclaimer, there are swear words in this video)

I'm still convinced 99% of Americans don't get the irony of this or the movie =)

 

[bug_of_war]

I can't blame them. In fact, this American military "swinging dick of freedom" propaganda is getting old. How do people still buy into that crap every fuckin' year?

Maybe because most people buy the game for the fun of the multiplayer and don't even glance at any hint of story. I thought that after all this time with people being angry with COD and Battlefield they would pick up on the hint that people aren't paying 60-100 dollars for american macho military propaganda stories.

OT: China, eat a snickers.

 

[Saulkar]

I don't blame them at all. All of those call of poopy and battleshit games do is pander to american patriotic ego, and I don't even think it's far fetched to say that these companies receive something on the side for making their games more patriotic and painting the US's rivals in a bad light.

They're better off without it anyway. Military macho jerk off material really needs to get de-throned this generation or I'm going to go berserk.

Woah, woah, woah! Add some text fast before you get a warning!

OT: Well, looks like someone is afraid a piece of entertainment will bring the walls of the mighty establishment down around his feet. Chaos, rioting, looting, and excessive sales of Ovaltine past 6PM in the streets! Pro-Tip: It will not.

I cannot respect any decision by any establishment that is so ludicrous as to worsen the problem in the first place. People have a pretty dim view of China as it is when it comes to media control and censorship and this only adds to it. Fallout has a perpetual bone to pick with Soviet Canuckistan yet I still play the hell out of the game along thousands of other Canadians with nary a whisper from anyone in our government over its content.

All I can do is shake my head slowly.

Your opinion of China is surely the last thing China would be caring about. To be honest, even though I don't agree at all with the system of government China has, I can understand their ire with a game concept like that. Russia's probably so used to this sort of thing now that they don't care, but for China with Battlefield, much like North Korea and Venezuela before it with Mercenaries, it does appear as a pointless stab at their country. Perhaps they're not as familiar with fictional settings in popular entertainment as the makers of these games would like to think.

The beginning of your reply came off quite bitey, I will accept that it is probably the lack of emotional context in text in which case the following tangential rant need not apply further but if it was intentional then I ask here and now to please refrain from it and if in turn I commit to said venom that you in turn point it out without taking a sip. I am sick and tired of almost every rebuke to an opposing opinion on the Escapist, a supposedly civil place, possessing an air of passive aggressive ire. Once again I am open to it being a lack of emotional context and thus an issue on my end in which case I meant no harm.

Now to as civilly as possible address your reply and elaborate my position. Few have a reason to care about another's opinion until it affects them personally let alone said opinion being expressed for the sole purpose of being viewed by those whom it specifically concerns. That does not stop people from having or expressing opinions wich makes it curious as to why it is a point in this conversation to being with. Can we toss that out?

Now we both agree that China does not have the best system but I personally cannot agree with whatever their bother with the game is. It is the opinion of those in power and not the general population. With such control over what the general populations consume and how that can be a tool to shape opinions, is that not ripe for abuse? We can already observe it on a smaller scale with our own news stations and how there is normally an ulterior motive behind the curtains, controlling what we see for profit/ratings or ideology. Like you said, it was a pointless stab which I interpret as lacking motivation, statement, or genuine maliciousness. Actually, I would be more inclined to call it apathetic carelessness but if they can censor consumer media like that then is there not the possibility they can censor anything else that they do not agree with? People arguing in turn that it is inconsequential media opening up to the possibility that those in power choose what is or is not significant in a game of semantics to justify their censorship? Why would someone justify/rationalise the former without realising the consequences of the latter?

I hope I was not antagonistic in my reply.

 

[Drummodino]

Oh China, lighten up why don't ya. I can understand why you might get a little upset but it's just fiction (and not very good fiction apparently). If any country who was demonized in a game, movie, book etc got this butthurt, we would live in a very boring world.

Sometimes I think a lot of world leaders just need to sit down, have a drink, laugh and some fun. They're take everything so serious all the time (not just China, most countries are like this).

 

[omega 616]

It is part of the reason I say American's are paranoid (the other part is a well gone over topic) just look at the list complied by Giantbomb about it

Spoiler

http://www.giantbomb.com/invasion-of-the-usa/3015-2247/games/

It's a pretty common theme in American games, it's like the worst case scenario, "fuck the world ending what happened to America?".

On the other hand, come on China ... Russia has been baddies for ages and they didn't say shit. Imagine if we went Axis style, the next bad guys are either Italy, Japan or Germany ... I think shit would really kick off then!