China’s World of Warcraft players are not the luckiest gaming community in the world. They are generally passed off as gold farmers by racist gamers in the West, they’re detested by other Asian gamers who resent the server invasions that occur whenever new expansions come out (because most of them take a while longer to come out in China), the expansions they do get are often late and ridiculously censored, and they’re frequently held up in the media as addicts.
The latest perceived injustice comes at the hands of state-run television channel CCTV, which recently broadcast a dramatized story about a man who went into bankruptcy after ignoring his work to play World of Warcraft. The details are frankly a bit over my head — I am a gamer but never got into WoW — but long story short, veteran players feel that CCTV misrepresented the game in order to drum up drama for the story and make the game seem worse than it is. They claim that some of what was depicted in the story isn’t actually possible in the Cataclysm expansion the players in the piece were shown playing. “This time CCTV’s lies are just too unprofessional” wrote one WoW player on Weibo.
Chinese WoW players have been feeling victimized and marginalized for quite a while now, though. Several years ago, one team of players made an incredible machinima video that, among other things, details the complaints of Chinese WoW players and ultimately takes things a step further. If you’ve got a few free minutes, I recommend checking out this clip from the film. Start at around 1:40 and watch to the end. Even though it’s a few years old now, it will give you a pretty good idea of how WoW players in China often feel. (Warning: Contains NSFW Language)
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[Via QQ Games]
Gaming is interesting!