China modifies appearance of characters in online game
China has drastically modified the appearance of the characters in a popular American online fantasy game in order to promote a "healthy" Internet environment, drawing fierce criticism from the nation's growing army of players.
By PTI |
BEIJING: China has drastically modified the appearance of the characters in a popular American online fantasy game in order to promote a "healthy" Internet environment, drawing fierce criticism from the nation's growing army of players.
Bones and skeletons have disappeared from the Chinese version of World of Warcraft (WoW).
Chinese gamers had waited half a year longer than their American counterparts for the upgraded version of the monster-killing game, only to find that the figures of familiar skeletal characters were covered with flesh.
In the new version, the skeletons, or regular characters, have flesh instead; and the bones symbolising dead characters have been changed to graves, Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily said.
Zhao Yurun, public relations director of The9, which runs WoW in China, said the changes were made as part of an "operational strategy."
"The company updates the game seven to eight times each year, adding patches that require no government approval to the original version," he was quoted as saying by the daily.
He said the changes in the latest version were the foundation for the first official expansion of WoW, "The Burning Crusade", which is waiting approval by the State Press and Publication Administration (SPPA) and is expected to be released this summer.
"We hope the expansion pack will get the approval in acknowledgement of the self-regulatory regime of our company," Zhao said.
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