Recently, China established an Online Gaming Ethics Review Committee to examine a first batch of 20 games which include Fortnite, PUBG, H1Z1, Paladins, Overwatch and World of Warcraft. These games were assessed to contain “ethics risks” such as inclusion of blood & gore and vulgar content. Publishers of 11 games have been instructed to make changes and remove “ethically questionable content,” and 9 games are rumored to be either pulled from the market or prohibited from sale.
Game Cause Recommended Action Arena of Valor (Tencent) Overly revealing female characters, rewards given based on rank, distorted concepts of history and culture. Corrective action League of Legends (Riot) Overly revealing female characters, rewards given based on rank, inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action Blade & Soul (NCSOFT) Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action Chu Liu Xiang (NetEase) Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom, game missions include fraud. Corrective action Overwatch (Blizzard) Game visuals promote incorrect values, inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action
- Diablo (Blizzard)
Inharmonious chat, game missions include fraud. Corrective action World of Warcraft (Blizzard) Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action Westward Journey (NetEase) Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom, distorted concepts of history and culture. Corrective action Code: Eva (Tencent) Rewards given based on rank, distorted concepts of history and culture. Corrective action The Legent of Mir 3 (WeMade) Inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action Swords of Legends Online (Aurogon) Inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (Bluehole) Blood and gore. Prohibited/Withdraw Fortnite (Epic) Blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw H1Z1 (Daybreak) Blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw Alliance of Valiant Arms (Red Duck) Blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw Ring of Elysium (Tencent) Blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw Paladins (Hi-Rez) Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw Free Fire Battlegrounds (Garena) Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw Knives Out (NetEase) Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw Quantum Matrix (NetEase) Blood and gore, vulgar content, inharmonious chat Prohibited/Withdraw Source: Reddit
The “banning” of the games still seems to be a rumor for now which have was sparked by a post on a Chinese gaming forum, and was then translated to English by this Reddit thread which garnered a lot of attention. The Reddit post goes on to claim that “It’s not entirely clear if the recommended actions have actually been enforced by regulators, last I heard PUBG and Fortnite for example are still playable.”
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