We want players to be communist
Chinese bureaucrats are involved in a handbags at dawn
fight with each other over who control over what players get up to in the
fantasy game World of Warcraft.
The bureau that licenses publishers said this week the
game's Chinese operator failed to obtain required import approval and
should stop signing up customers. However the Chinese Ministry of
Culture's cultural products department, fired back that it was the regulator
of online games and said the website's paperwork was in order.
The spat between government departments is a big power
play and shows that public servants are wanting to stake their claim in
what is being seen as the new political force of online gaming. The country went through similar struggles as regulators
fought earlier this decade over who would control and tax online
commerce. This round is nastier because regulators see the internet spreading
to nearly every industry, bringing a windfall of status to any official
associated with it.
The General Administration of Press and Publications
released a statement on Monday saying the "Warcraft"
operator, Netease.com, failed to get the administration's permission to bring the game
into China. It said the company should stop signing up customers and
apply for approval. However the Ministry of Culture rejected the publishing
bureau's claim to control over online games.
"These online games and publications are fully
subject to administration by the Ministry of Culture," the director of its
department of cultural markets, Li Xiong, said on Tuesday at a news conference.