Chinese developer bans males playing female avatars

Kody — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:54:17 GMT

Destructoid has a new article that's fairly interesting, with an image that fits it well, using a caption of "Well, crap."

According to the article, the Chinese MMORPG "King of the World" refuses to allow male players to play female avatars, going so far as to ban any who currently play female characters.

This isn't the best part, though; Aurora Technology is not only freezing the accounts of these would-be femme fatale's, they're also requiring that anyone who wants to play a female avatar prove that they are in fact of the female gender. To that end, they're requiring players use a webcam as proof.

This isn't the first controversial rule put in place in China, as we saw with the Censoring of the Forsaken, but this one doesn't appear to be handed down by the Chinese government.

On the bright side, at least you know when you're flirting with that female character, it's actually female! Wait... that's even worse, now internet creeps know exactly who they can target.

Thanks Destructoid.

Man in China Dies, Played Online for 3 Days Straight

Kody — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:04:09 GMT

As if online games and video games in general weren't under enough fire from government officials wanting to hit them with the real life nerf bat, this news out of China is going to fuel the flames even further.

Yahoo is reporting that a 30-year old man collapsed and died in front of his cyber-cafe computer during a three-day stint online.

"According to preliminary findings, the length of time this man spent online might have triggered heart problems," the paper quoted a local hospital emergency medic in the city of Zhongshan as saying.

While it's certainly depressing to hear of anyone dying, I can't fathom what blame is brewing in the back of the minds of anti-video game separatists over this incident.

You can read more about it by visiting the Yahoo news story.

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Chinese developer bans males playing female avatars

Man in China Dies, Played Online for 3 Days Straight