The following examples of banned games will show the type of issues that are considered unforgivable by the Chinese authorities when it comes to multimedia interactive entertainment software.
In 2004, a Norwegian game named Project IGI 2: Covert Strike (Innerloop Studios, 2003) was declared illegal for
“intentionally smearing the image of
China and the Chinese army.” In this game, players are allowed to steal intel-ligence and conduct sabotage in China as well as to shoot at China’s soldiers.
China’s national fl ag and signs like
“China Aviation” are also frequently shown in the game. The State Press and Publication Administration said that the game hurt China’s national dignity and interests.
In the same year, the Ministry of Cul-ture banned a Swedish-made computer game called Hearts of Iron (Paradox Entertainment, 2002) for “distorting his-tory and damaging China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” From China’s point of view, this game twists historical facts by distorting the Fascist regimes of Japan, Germany and Italy during World War II. Manchuria, West Xinjiang and Tibet are marked as independent sover-eign countries in the maps appearing in the game. It also portrays China’s Taiwan province as a territory of Japan.
World of Warcraft is still played by people of all ages in China — after “harmonization” made changes that included swapping
skeletons (above) for tombstones (right).
47-51 F Zhang #99.indd 49
47-51 F Zhang #99.indd 49 9/24/08 9:05:16 AM9/24/08 9:05:16 AM
|
MultiLingual October/November 2008 [email protected] 50Industry Focus
In 2005, a Japanese game called Big Stratagem — The History of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere II (SystemSoft Alpha, 2005) was banned for boasting Japanese right wing anti-China nationalism. The game allows players to make a stratagem for invad-ing China and occupyinvad-ing China step by step in the virtual war fi eld by killing and carrying out bomb attacks. Taiwan was also marked as an independent country. In the same year, the Commit-tee of the Communist Youth League of China launched the game Anti-Japan Online by cooperating with a Chinese game company. Based on the history of the Sino-Japan war, the game devel-opers and publishers claimed that it helped to enhance patriotic education, since players are only allowed to play on the Chinese side. This kind of war games sponsored by the government was later categorized as “patriotic” and has developed rapidly in recent years.
Politics is always a crucial issue for game localizers in relation to the Chinese market. Under the political tension, what can localizers do if they have a product containing some political elements? A successful case is Sid Meier’s Civiliza-tion IV (Firaxis Games/2K Games, 2005).
It is a turn-based strategy game, which begins with a settler who builds a single city in 4000 BCE. Players expand it into
an empire by using geography to their advantage, creating social and produc-tion infrastructures, making scientifi c and cultural progress, fi ghting against rival nations and so on. The game has a total of 18 civilizations, each of which has one or two leaders with specifi c personality traits that give their side extra powers, thereby enhancing certain probability statistics within the game mechanics. Many historic fi gures and famous architectures are used in the Civ-ilization games. China is listed as one of the nations and has Qin-Shi-Huang and Mao Ze Dong as its leaders and Beijing as its capital. The Great Wall and Three Gorges Dam are featured as two of the World’s Wonders. With relevant politi-cal leaders and many Chinese elements in the storyline, this game undoubtedly caught the eye of the censorship com-mittee. However, the Simplifi ed Chinese version was approved without any trouble. The way the localizers managed to dodge censorship was by rewriting the storyline to make it irrelevant to the his-torical facts and by de-emphasizing the Chinese elements to avoid being accused of misleading young people. In the Chi-nese version, China was changed into an imaginary Jiu-Ding-Kingdom with a capital city called Bei City and with two leaders, Qin-Gong and Tang-Gong.
It also states in the background briefi ng
that works as an introduction that it is a “fi ctitious story and does not link it to true historical facts.” All the infor-mation concerning former communist leader Mao Ze Dong was deleted, and The Great Wall and Three Gorges Dam were replaced by wonders such as the Macedonian line in Europe and Hoover Dam in the United States.
But this heightened sensitivity is not only for games that recreate war and his-torical confl icts. In 2005, Football Man-ager (Sports Interactive/SEGA, 2005) was banned for the inclusion of Chinese Tibet, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the line-up of available football teams, indicating that they are equal in status to China herself.
So, any games that may have further political and territorial implications are also bound to clash with the Chinese authorities.
Conclusion
The Chinese government doesn’t just take violence and sexual depictions in games seriously, but also any other topic that may touch on political issues or the interpretation of historical facts. In many cases, games are considered as a threat to young people’s education because of the amount of time it robs them from study-ing and becomstudy-ing well-prepared Chinese citizens. As well as offi cially banning dangerous foreign games, the Chinese authorities are determined to promote and support domestic game development to safeguard the integrity and beliefs of the PRC.
Cultural and legal issues can have a major impact in localizing a game for the Chinese market. Changing the story and modifying graphics are indispensable in certain cases to prevent legal problems and social discontent. Awareness of the complexity of the Chinese game review-ing process will help publishers and localizing companies to avoid sensitive socio-cultural issues and lead them to success in entering the Chinese game market. It is also worth mentioning that things are bound to change in the near future. China needs a standardized age rating system and detailed regulations on how to deal with this ever-growing form of entertainment so popular among the young and the not-so-young people of China. Clear guidelines for game devel-opers and publishers would certainly help in creating a “harmonious” gaming culture for everybody. M
47-51 F Zhang #99.indd 50
47-51 F Zhang #99.indd 50 9/24/08 9:05:19 AM9/24/08 9:05:19 AM
47-51 F Zhang #99.indd 51
47-51 F Zhang #99.indd 51 9/24/08 9:05:26 AM9/24/08 9:05:26 AM