China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) is gearing up to implement stricter gaming restrictions, shutting down games that do not meet the new regulations.
The GAPP will close down games that do not operate the fatigue system, which rewards players with less experience points in games depending on the amount of time they have been online. World of Warcraft already has the system in place.
The regulatory body will reportedly also not allow new games to be released in China unless they have the system in place.
Blizzard Entertainment has announced the opening of beta registrations for “World of Warcraft: The War Within,” inviting players to explore new subterranean worlds beneath Azeroth.
Danish from eXputer: "Despite Blizzard's attempt to give a fresh new spin to World of Warcraft, some fans still seem to be stuck in the past."
HG writes: "Blizzard is usually pretty bad at keeping secrets, but the company somehow managed to keep this one under wraps until now. Plunderstorm is a special limited-time event that’s basically World of Warcraft’s take on the Battle Royale genre."
Crikey, why don't they just ban games altogether and be done with it!
I was so appalled by this system when I first heard it. Not so much for the effects but for the implications of people's right to freedom. Obviously it was just an eye-opener for how different things are in China...
Well, at least the government hasn't banned games entirely. The principle behind the fatigue system is sound, but at what point does it infringe on people's freedoms?
The fatigue system won't work. If they do want it to work like that then they can limit each account for x hours a day surely?
Those wacky communists. What will they do next?
I can kinda see this being implemented elsewhere. Not to this extent, certainly, but I suspect there's going to be more public outcry as MMOs get bigger and bigger about how long people are spending on them, and a few MMOs voluntarily including systems like this...
That said - is the WoW fatigue system something unique to China, or is this just the Rest system? As that does, technically, give less xp the longer you've been playing. Not heard about it before.