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GOG Bails on Selling Taiwanese Horror Game Devotion

10 points by wcerfgba 6y ago

wcerfgba 6y ago
> Deovtion’s hidden piece of art that caused so much fuss last year contained what news reports at the time described as “an ancient style of writing” that read “Xi Jinping” and “Winnie the Pooh”—a meme that has been outlawed in China thanks to the particular sensitivities of its leader, President Xi Jinping. He, some say, bears an uncanny physical resemblance to the cute little bear.
bitxbitxbitcoin 6y ago
Note that GOG has decided not to sell the game entirely and the cited reason is the "user comments" that came in during the hours between the announcement being made and the bail happening. Everywhere that I can see, the user comments are against this Chinese censorship, not for it. Leads me to believe that there was really only one comment that came in during those hours that mattered and it certainly wasn't from a gamer's tweet. They didn't just decide to sell it everywhere but China... Also note that the newest version of Devotion, which I assume would be the one being offered for sale, already has the offending Xinnie the Pooh reference removed.[0] Mark my words that the next step in China's soft power game here is to have entities like GOG remove any game that has a world map where Taiwan isn't explicitly marked as a province of China - the way they've done to airlines.[1] Look at Abominable to see the strategy being implemented in movies.[2] [0] https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/2187763/taiwan-tibet-tiananmen-how-get-your-video-game-banned-china https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/2187763/taiwan... [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-do-airlines-call-taiwan-china-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/what-do-airlines-call-taiwan... [2] https://qz.com/1727522/chinas-illegal-south-china-sea-map-made-it-into-abominable/ https://qz.com/1727522/chinas-illegal-south-china-sea-map-ma...
- bgee 6y ago
  Disclaimer: I'm a China national. You seems to be implying that there is no real users protesting against this game (and/or the Xi memes) but this is definitely not true. I've seen plenty of real people complaining about the references in that game, mostly on Weibo. Regarding Taiwan, CCP does put pressure on companies but this feeling/motivation is (almost unanimously) shared by the people in China. My point is, simply brushing off the "real" voices coming from ordinary people in China and claiming they don't exist are not very substantive and won't help understand them. For example there is one question I asked myself during the protest against that game: Why do my fellow countryperson take a meme directly at Xi an insult to them?
- b0rsuk 6y ago
  China is widely known for insisting that Chinese law is used outside China.

10 points by wcerfgba 6y ago

> Deovtion’s hidden piece of art that caused so much fuss last year contained what news reports at the time described as “an ancient style of writing” that read “Xi Jinping” and “Winnie the Pooh”—a meme that has been outlawed in China thanks to the particular sensitivities of its leader, President Xi Jinping. He, some say, bears an uncanny physical resemblance to the cute little bear.

bitxbitxbitcoin 6y ago

Note that GOG has decided not to sell the game entirely and the cited reason is the "user comments" that came in during the hours between the announcement being made and the bail happening. Everywhere that I can see, the user comments are against this Chinese censorship, not for it. Leads me to believe that there was really only one comment that came in during those hours that mattered and it certainly wasn't from a gamer's tweet. They didn't just decide to sell it everywhere but China... Also note that the newest version of Devotion, which I assume would be the one being offered for sale, already has the offending Xinnie the Pooh reference removed.[0] Mark my words that the next step in China's soft power game here is to have entities like GOG remove any game that has a world map where Taiwan isn't explicitly marked as a province of China - the way they've done to airlines.[1] Look at Abominable to see the strategy being implemented in movies.[2] [0] https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/2187763/taiwan-tibet-tiananmen-how-get-your-video-game-banned-china https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/2187763/taiwan... [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-do-airlines-call-taiwan-china-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/what-do-airlines-call-taiwan... [2] https://qz.com/1727522/chinas-illegal-south-china-sea-map-made-it-into-abominable/ https://qz.com/1727522/chinas-illegal-south-china-sea-map-ma...

bgee 6y ago
Disclaimer: I'm a China national. You seems to be implying that there is no real users protesting against this game (and/or the Xi memes) but this is definitely not true. I've seen plenty of real people complaining about the references in that game, mostly on Weibo. Regarding Taiwan, CCP does put pressure on companies but this feeling/motivation is (almost unanimously) shared by the people in China. My point is, simply brushing off the "real" voices coming from ordinary people in China and claiming they don't exist are not very substantive and won't help understand them. For example there is one question I asked myself during the protest against that game: Why do my fellow countryperson take a meme directly at Xi an insult to them?
b0rsuk 6y ago
China is widely known for insisting that Chinese law is used outside China.