World of Warcraft Changed for China

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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World of Warcraft Changed for China


The Chinese relaunch of World of Warcraft [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com] continues to move ahead but a number of government-mandated changes have left the game looking a little bit different than gamers might remember.

China's always been a bit iffy on World of Warcraft, largely due to the prevalence of skeletal undead in the game. The launch of blocked outright [http://worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade] for failing to meet requirements.

Things got even uglier when NetEase [http://www.blizzard.com] instead, which resulted in the game going offline for almost two months. It's back now and should be wrapping up a week long closed beta by the time you read this, but returning players will notice that a few changes have been made to satisfy those government requirements.

First and foremost, reflecting the well-established Chinese dislike of skeletal remains, piles of bones scattered throughout the game have been replaced with piles of sandbags. Blood has also been changed from red to black, prompting at least one Chinese player to joke that it looks like oil, which would make it far too valuable to waste through wanton hacking and slashing. Less visible are the modifications to talent tree icons that featured skulls, severed heads and blood, which have been turned into boxes.

Earlier changes to undead characters, which were "re-fleshed" to hide exposed bone, also remain in place. Yet despite all that, I'd be willing to bet that Chinese gamers - not to mention NetEase and Blizzard - will be too happy to have World of Warcraft back to care very much about the cuts. No word yet on when the game will be fully re-opened to the public.

Source: MMOsite [http://www.gamasutra.com/newswire?story=24744]


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headshotcatcher

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Feb 27, 2009
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I don't get what all the fuss is about. China's culture doesn't like bones, they really don't like it, so they change it.. Big deal? It's almost up again right?

They should've probably just done it so this was an option for the 'faint of heart' or whatever already in my opinion..
 

Radeonx

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Apr 26, 2009
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That's interesting. Stuff like that would ruin the little atmosphere that the game has, and that's a big deal to me. Good thing I'm an American.
 

TheNumber1Zero

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Jul 23, 2009
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his beard looks different,too.on a side note,I don't play wow,why am I even here?goodbt(walks away)
 

HardRockSamurai

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May 28, 2008
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Were I a Chinese youth, I wouldn't have a problem with these modifications. On the other hand, WOW was never really an explicit game to begin with; why is China's government being such a dilhole? (please don't answer that question.)

[small]Dammit China...you used to be cool...[/small]
 

AmrasCalmacil

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Jul 19, 2008
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TheNumber1Zero said:
his beard looks different,too.on a side note,I don't play wow,why am I even here?goodbt(walks away)
That isn't a beard, he has no jaw in the uncensored version.

I don't really care though, I'm not chinese so it won't effect me.

Edit: Ninja'd? Damn you, Max!

Double edit: 999 posts? Oh crap, I have to stop procastinating long enough to write something meaningful now.
 

Amnestic

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Aug 22, 2008
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TheNumber1Zero said:
his beard looks different,too.on a side note,I don't play wow,why am I even here?goodbt(walks away)
That's not a beard. In the original WoW that undead doesn't have a lower jaw. It's one of the 'faces' options when you create your character. I assume such a feature was removed in the Chinese version. Forsaken (that is, undead) characters can't have facial hair.

They can get facial studs in an X pattern though

Edit: Double ninja'd? Oo-err.
 

Curtmiester

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AmrasCalmacil said:
TheNumber1Zero said:
his beard looks different,too.on a side note,I don't play wow,why am I even here?goodbt(walks away)
That isn't a beard, he has no jaw in the uncensored version.

I don't really care though, I'm not chinese so it won't effect me.

Edit: Ninja'd? Damn you, Max!
Max ninjas us all, doesn't he?
I'm not reall sure why these simple, small changes were needed but then again I'm not chinease. They just seem so trivial.
 

NeutralDrow

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Mar 23, 2009
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Okay. Doesn't seem that big a deal. Hell, I like China's undead design better. I might even start playing them if they looked like that.
 

Amnestic

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Aug 22, 2008
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NeutralDrow said:
Okay. Doesn't seem that big a deal. Hell, I like China's undead design better. I might even start playing them if they looked like that.
There is this. A lot of Undead players like the character, but aren't a fan of all their gear (including crafted stuff) looking like it was put through a blender when they put it on.

That can be fixed with a little against-the-ToS model changing though. It's very unlikely you would get caught changing something so trivial. It's only those people who turn mining nodes into Ragnaros to find them easier or remove walls to bypass C'thun trash that get noticed ;p
 

Deviluk

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Jul 1, 2009
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I wonder if they were allowed the original copy of C&C: Generals. Or if they swapped China with...Burma, instead.
 

hansari

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May 31, 2009
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Malygris said:
Blood has also been changed from red to black, prompting at least one Chinese player to joke that it looks like oil, which would make it far too valuable to waste through wanton hacking and slashing.
Hahahahhaha... oh China...why bother?
 

HeartAttackBob

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Sep 11, 2008
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The apparent Chinese government ban on display of bones or skeletal remains seems bizarre to me, but then again in the US it is <a href=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0408043fcc1.html target=self>apparently against the law to talk about sex on the radio, which I can't say is any less absurd in terms of censorship.
If it requires a special device which must be turned on (radio, tv, computer, etc) to receive or use the media, then it should not be censored. Don't like what you're hearing/seeing? Turn the sucker off.
 

Godhead

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May 25, 2009
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None of us who have posted yet are chinese so why are we giving a fuck?