Courtesy of Yuliya at Examiner
China's at it again. It isn't enough that they
enacted anti-addiction laws to prevent people from overdosing on MMORPGs. Or that they made a few changes to
censor World of Warcraft (guys, black blood is still blood, isn't it?). Now Chinese online gamers have one more bit of news on their plate.
Now, if you play the Chinese MMO
King of the World, you can forget about pretending to be the opposite gender when you play online games. The new
Gender Identification System uses a webcam to scan your face and determine your gender. This is supposedly intended to make women in MMOs feel more respected.
It also makes them easier targets. If a man starts to hit on a female in an online game, saying you have a boyfriend, are married, or don't go that way might not be much of a deterrent (in fact, that last one would probably only encourage further harassment). But say you're a man, and you can bet that the subject will be immediately dropped.
Or maybe this is the response to so many relationships that have been springing up from online interactions. Whatever the reasoning is, this Gender Recognition System better be good. Imagine being told by a machine that you are not really a woman? This can probably be solved by scanning something else...but I'm sure no one wants to go there.
URL:
http://www.examiner.com/x-2492-New-York-MMORPG-Examiner~y2009m11d7-China-makes-sex-verification-mandatory-for-MMOsIs this a good idea? Do you think there's any chance of this spreading outside China?
Comments (49)
I am chinese and I grow up watching some people who kill each other for a special items in a GAME. I blame all these gaming addiction to lack of job opportunatiy, lack of education and lack of real life social interaction. Governemnt should work on those issues instead of making stupid rules about a game.
Is it a good idea? No, no, no, and no. As you said, it helps make women greater targets. It will in no way help them be more "respected". Also, since it's a game, why not play as another gender? I mean, I'm not an elf, or a wizard, or a rogue (well, some of my friends might disagree on that one, but I'm not a fantasy rogue). I can play these things in a game, why not gender?
I don't think it can spread. It would raise an uproar over here (at least for the next few years; anything can change). However, I do see people complain about this a lot. It seems that folks who want to manage other peoples' play time have a lot in common with Chinese autocrats.
haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I don't think it's a good idea. I already get hit on in games and it's obnoxious. Imagine how bad it would be if they are 100% positive you're female?
I'm sure a lot of people will pull their boyfriends/girlfriends over to use the facial recognition stuff, or put on their best androgynous getup to try to fool it. But I think it will cause more harm than good.
Wow...this is just plain stupid..
Lol. It would be beneficial to most female players, I think. Yes, we would get hit on a lot, but it would also eliminate the INCREDIBLY annoying question of, "r u a rel gurl?!?!!11??111?!??"
@GrainsAndOats@xanga - It also makes you a sitting duck though. You can't even lie and say you're a guy just to make the guy go away. I get harassed a lot in games, so it's like walking around with a giant sign that says "I'm female, ask me to be your gf/cyber/in-game wife!" Lol.
@chani - lol I'm with you. It seems that girls in games are still a novelty. At least now people are hesitant to hit on a chick in a game because she might really be a guy.
An argument I might have (call me a minority of the WoW gaming community, as a person who enjoys RP [that's NOT ERP...you can leave that crap to the 14-year-olds] some of my characters are female. I designed them this way when I came up with them (which was long before I started playing WoW. In fact, almost every character I play in WoW was designed as a character in a game called Perocia that I never got around to making).
So, I'd give whoever came up with this idea a nomination for a Darwin award.
@chani - You mean women don't want to be some guy's WoW-wife? :P (Seriously, I know a female in my guild who recently got "WoW-married" and I was like "extreme, much?")
@poet85@xanga - I play MapleStory and there's actually a marriage ceremony you can buy (cash) and in-game married content so people are always bothering me all the time. It's pretty obnoxious. :P Lol.
@chani - I've never played MapleStory, but that sounds...interesting, I guess? Lol
but... its a game o-O Unless you're playing with people you know IRL I see no point in getting offended over the internet >.>
MMORPG = Many Men Online Role Playing Girls
Case close :D
Wow, that's crazy. What if I felt like making a guy character because it looks better?? I think it should be optional, not required. :x Or, it depends on the game. Haha. I dunno.
But I remember when I was in 6th or 7th grade I played Maple, yes yes, I know. Anyways, so I was a female BUT I had those narrow evil looking eyes. They looked so cute to me and I liked that spiky black hairstyle. To top it off I was a warrior, so I dressed in armor. I was hit on by girls, and it was so awkward because I'm a girl. I had to explain I was a girl and I didn't swing that way. And the girls would just abruptly leave after I explained. >_>
Yep this is bizarrely fucked up, but more stupid than anything else. I am still trying to wrap my head around the idea that this law is being considered in real life. This is the reality I have to exist in.
China: Trying to make Role Playing more like Real Life, complete with Stormtroopers and Big Brother.
RIP, escapism.
Great, now I can't simply have a good time playing with somebody who's gender I could care less about.
This "proposal" sucks. Grow up China! If it does spread out of China, I expect people to play games that don't have a two gender system--like games where all the close combat classes are male and all the ranged/healer classes are female.
@naguyin@xanga - Oh yeah, I didn't even think of that lol.
That's pretty crazy, but if players chose their own gender more often I really wouldn't mind. It's confusing and embarrassing when you call a "he" a "she."
First thought that came to my mind, is how insulted would you be if it mixed you up? LOL.
w t f
@Littoface@xanga - lol. Or players can make guilds under the basis that the gender recognition system messed up their real life gender (but who says players have to have a messed up char. gender? :P) and the genders "law" wouldn't work anymore.
@whoosh90@xanga - I'd do an evil laugh and do it every time I log on afterward. :D mwahahaha
what do they do about dudes who look like chicks and chicks who look like dudes
the system is flawed!
This could be used for so much more than gender scanning, are you all dumb as shit? NO FUCKING WAY IS THIS A GOOD IDEA. More control, less freedoms... this is quite scary if you ask me.
This is terrible. Internet censoring for any reason is overrated and wrong on so many levels.