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China doesn't want powdered Nazis or gays. Not anything

 China doesn't want powdered Nazis or gays.  Not anything

The Chinese authorities are considering new criteria for game censorship, and they come to intriguing conclusions.

Players in China are screwed up. Since August, the publication of new titles has been suspended, and the authorities, so far famous for their harsh censorship, are considering further restrictions. Some of the ideas have just been presented by the National Agency of Press and Administration (NPPA), which has direct game supervision, notes the South China Morning Post. And these are really extreme ideas.

By arguing that video games are no longer an apolitical form of entertainment but an expression of art, the NPPA distinguishes two main groups of violations. The first one includes pay-to-win mechanics, which will not scandal any player, on the contrary. Nevertheless, therefore, the second category, much more daring, deserves more attention.

Wrong value system. So what?

The regulator created the concept of games with the wrong value system, and the specific values ​​we are talking about are not so obvious. So there are examples.

First of all, China does not want production which it deems anti-social and harmful to the human species, including Plague Inc. and This War of Mine. They also draw attention to the distortion of religious and historical motives, which in turn was supposed to be perpetrated by, for example, Shin Megami Tensei IV. But that's just the beginning.

The two-dimensional shoot'em up Azur Lane takes a shot at warming up the image of the Axis leaders from World War II, and the recently wildly popular Genshin Impact is an example of ... effeminate men, whose portrayal is to be strictly prohibited in the Middle Kingdom. The NPPA makes it clear that it will not allow the sale of games with indeterminate characters. The titles with homosexual themes are to face an analogous fate.

The best choice, no choice

The best, however, or the most radical, is left for the last. It is about all productions enabling moral choices, as a result of which the player can decide whether he wants to be a positive or negative hero. As, for example, in inFamous or recently Cyberpunk 2077.

According to officials, such concepts are unacceptable as they may reward evil and, in extreme situations, even rationalize murder. Read: of course they also go under the ax.

In the end, the question should rather be asked not about what was forbidden but what was allowed. Well, the editors sincerely sympathize with all game fans in China. Another thing is that it is not difficult for the willing, as already shown by the premiere of The Last of Us Part II. The game was banned, but who wanted to play anyway. After all, the breadth of censorship is impressive, admit it.

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Photo source: Unsplash (Sigmund)

Text source: SCMP, ed. own

Tags: censuragrychinypay-to-win

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