American McGee Sets the Record Straight on China's Game Policy

[AldUK]

I'll assume you work in the industry over there, yeah?

...Seriously? That's all you have to contribute to this?

I'm not going to argue with you here, I fail to see the point of your posts in this thread besides an attempt to get a reaction from me. This is the only reaction you're going to get.

Stop it.

Discuss the topic and debunk my argument with rational discussion and sources, or don't respond to my posts. Simple stuff.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I think the important thing to take from this interview is simply how important perspective is. I don't doubt that McGee's statements come from being inside of China and perhaps are a little friendlier than those of others not in that position would be. I also don't doubt that he's quite right in most/all of the statements he made at least to some degree. I'd imagine the real truth is somewhere in between.

Really, the fact is China is a global power that is growing in influence on a near daily basis. It would be best for everyone to actually put down the pitchforks and make an effort to learn and connect with it. That doesn't mean you have to agree with everything they do, but at least develop opinions based more on knowledge and less on knee jerk reactions.

 

[Thyunda]

I'll assume you work in the industry over there, yeah?

...Seriously? That's all you have to contribute to this?

I'm not going to argue with you here, I fail to see the point of your posts in this thread besides an attempt to get a reaction from me. This is the only reaction you're going to get.

Stop it.

Discuss the topic and debunk my argument with rational discussion and sources, or don't respond to my posts. Simple stuff.

I mask a rational argument with a mocking front. Let me explain it.

We have here an interview. A secondary source of information from inside China. American McGee is speaking from his primary experiences. At most, it's a two-stage. How reliable is American McGee as a speaker? Well, I believe what he's saying. It makes sense.

You, however, don't appear to have any primary sources to back yourself up. From your words I haven't been able to identify any role in the industry or in China in any way. What I see is a person whose knowledge of China comes from reading other second and third sources. You've been told that China doesn't censor videogames any worse than the ESRB does, and your reply was "China censors all media to control its people." You were told that China's cultural office was ridiculously demonised in terms of the videogame industry. You replied "They run little girls over."

Before you accuse my arguments of being provocation and mockery, re-read your own posts. At least mine were ironic.

 

[Evil Smurf]

why is the sale of PS3/Xbox banned in China?

 

[Tsaba]

why is the sale of PS3/Xbox banned in China?

Because, China is a secular country and has regulation in place to maintain that. Apparently, Carl Sagan would love that aspect of China.....

Suppression of free speech would be the only reason that comes to mind... honestly I don't know, your guess is as good as mine.

 

[shrekfan246]

More like "welcome to the internet". Still, the Escapist ain't as bad as 4-chan, right?
...
Right?

On an average basis, I'd say no. At the very least there's less blatant swearing, spamming, and naked chicks with 'no cocks allowed' being the only rule before posting.

Anyway.

PS3/360 games are banned from being sold in China? I'm really far out of the loop when it comes to world news, apparently.

 

[AldUK]

You, however, don't appear to have any primary sources to back yourself up. From your words I haven't been able to identify any role in the industry or in China in any way. What I see is a person whose knowledge of China comes from reading other second and third sources. You've been told that China doesn't censor videogames any worse than the ESRB does, and your reply was "China censors all media to control its people." You were told that China's cultural office was ridiculously demonised in terms of the videogame industry. You replied "They run little girls over." Before you accuse my arguments of being provocation and mockery, re-read your own posts. At least mine were ironic.

Girlfriend of 3 years is Chinese, I've been over there with her 4 times. Her family are great people, most people I met over there were, but we were far away from the cities and everyone I talked to told me stories about how the 'city people' have no morals and don't care about anything but the next paycheck.

Don't make baseless assumptions about me. I'll do you the same courtesy.

 

[American McGee]

why is the sale of PS3/Xbox banned in China?

Because the Chinese government wanted to block foreign corporations from establishing a monopoly for game distribution in their country. See retail game distribution in the US as an example. It's anti-competition, pure and simple. Same goes for why they block Facebook or disrupt Google's services here. There are Chinese equivalents and they wish to give them a leg up (well, more than that... they want to see them dominate locally then attempt to dominate globally. See Tencent.)

Interesting side effect that I doubt the government predicted is the online game industry in China today. It's massive. And all a result of an artificial barrier put in place by government. In hindsight I'm sure they like to claim success as a result of forward thinking 15+ years ago.

All that being the case, one can still acquire 360/PS3 games here. 360 games are freely available, pirated. PS3 games are brought in via Hong Kong. Both can be found in most pirate DVD shops.

 

[Thyunda]

You, however, don't appear to have any primary sources to back yourself up. From your words I haven't been able to identify any role in the industry or in China in any way. What I see is a person whose knowledge of China comes from reading other second and third sources. You've been told that China doesn't censor videogames any worse than the ESRB does, and your reply was "China censors all media to control its people." You were told that China's cultural office was ridiculously demonised in terms of the videogame industry. You replied "They run little girls over." Before you accuse my arguments of being provocation and mockery, re-read your own posts. At least mine were ironic.

Girlfriend of 3 years is Chinese, I've been over there with her 4 times. Her family are great people, most people I met over there were, but we were far away from the cities and everyone I talked to told me stories about how the 'city people' have no morals and don't care about anything but the next paycheck.

Don't make baseless assumptions about me. I'll do you the same courtesy.

Right, so now we're going off the opinions from countryfolk to cityfolk. But we ARE making progress, that's good.

But come on. "City people have no morals and don't care about anything but the next paycheck."

In other news, all Welsh people have sex with sheep and Southerners are bloody weird.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I must say, this was an excellent read. Even though I don't have strong opinions on China (I simply don't know enough about the topic), it is still always nice to get a perspective that's different from what I normally see.

 

[Evil Smurf]

why is the sale of PS3/Xbox banned in China?

Because, China is a secular country and has regulation in place to maintain that. Apparently, Carl Sagan would love that aspect of China.....

Suppression of free speech would be the only reason that comes to mind... honestly I don't know, your guess is as good as mine.

What does religion have to do with a game console?

Because the Chinese government wanted to block foreign corporations from establishing a monopoly for game distribution in their country. See retail game distribution in the US as an example. It's anti-competition, pure and simple. Same goes for why they block Facebook or disrupt Google's services here. There are Chinese equivalents and they wish to give them a leg up (well, more than that... they want to see them dominate locally then attempt to dominate globally. See Tencent.)

Interesting side effect that I doubt the government predicted is the online game industry in China today. It's massive. And all a result of an artificial barrier put in place by government. In hindsight I'm sure they like to claim success as a result of forward thinking 15+ years ago.

All that being the case, one can still acquire 360/PS3 games here. 360 games are freely available, pirated. PS3 games are brought in via Hong Kong. Both can be found in most pirate DVD shops.

This makes more sence, This works with the fact that China has not floated their currency like the rest of the world.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

All that being the case, one can still acquire 360/PS3 games here. 360 games are freely available, pirated. PS3 games are brought in via Hong Kong. Both can be found in most pirate DVD shops.

Have you ever been to the "Mud Market" or "Silk Alley" (not to be confused with silk street) in Beijing? that is perhaps the craziest place for "pirated" goods in China. though most of these "pirate" copies are not pirated at all, but were claimed in insurance fraud; i.e. they fell out of the back of the truck, and were supposed to be disposed of as "damaged goods," but the executives ship them off to the untraceable, cash-only shops in Beijing and Honk Kong, and take a small but direct profit from them instead of destroying them.

I bought a pair of Dr. Dre Beats Studio for 150 yuan. About $29 USD at the time. It is odd that so many manufacturers complain about piracy, but their own employees are directly profiting from insurance fraud under their nose in Beijing.

 

[r_Chance]

The most interesting thing about this conversation is the fact that it could not take place in the Peoples Republic of China. You can bag on the U.S., or the western government of your choice, and aside from upsetting some people and getting flamed on the boards, it's no big deal. It doesn't work like that in the PRC. And if you really want to know how oppressive the PRC is, talk to non-Chinese minorities like the Tibetans whose country is being flooded with Han immigrants and whose language and culture are under active attack by the government. Western governments, and corporations, aren't perfect but comparing them to the PRC is fairly absurd. The fact that a foreigner is treated reasonably well in a high tech industry is the norm there for obvious reasons. Don't imagine that that is the norm for other people there.

 

[American McGee]

If I barricade superior foriegn product to promote inferior product with home ties, what benefit do you think that could possible bring to me?

Also, welcome to the internet. Now take this box of Mountain Dew and sit in the corner and shut up.

It gives the local (inferior) producer time to build an audience and improve their quality without having to fight competition. In some industries this works - again, take a look at Tencent and the game industry here. In other cases it does not work - Chinese domestic cars are still crappy, despite the fact that the government forces foreign brand cars to be produced in local factories.

Yeah, I *know* about the Internet. I was trolling, flaming and being abused before there *was* an Internet (at least the WWW part). I think 'corner and shut up' isn't a bad idea. Going to combine that with looking at pictures of grumpy cats.

 

[American McGee]

The most interesting thing about this conversation is the fact that it could not take place in the Peoples Republic of China.

Yes and no. Actually, one of the really interesting things about the internet in China is that the PRC government is *afraid* of its power. Of course they try to monitor and control it - to a ridiculous degree. But what's really beautiful is that people here find ways to use it as an instrument of change - they impact policy with it. Government officials caught behaving badly have been executed as a result of internet backlash. 20 years ago they could have done their bad deed and got away with it. Lots of examples of internet being used to empower the people here.

Despite all the "bad" about China, one of the things I'm fascinated by is this interplay between a government that has to balance a desire for absolute control against a population it absolutely could NOT control if things got really out of hand. That drives a constant "negotiation" between people and power.

This isn't meant to be a defense of China's policies towards its minorities or the way it monitors and controls its internal communication. But I think it's important to keep in mind that information and freedom do find a way - and that things are constantly changing here - usually for the better (not hard to move towards better when things start our relatively bad).

 

[lacktheknack]

why is the sale of PS3/Xbox banned in China?

Because, China is a secular country and has regulation in place to maintain that. Apparently, Carl Sagan would love that aspect of China.....

Suppression of free speech would be the only reason that comes to mind... honestly I don't know, your guess is as good as mine.

What does religion have to do with a game console?

He was trying to be an ass.

OT: Interesting article, even more interesting response. It's cool to see that even American McGee himself threw himself into the fray. Good show.

 

[DustyDrB]

Moar interviews!

I never believed in the idea of "big evil China" anyway. I think that's just the product of a country sees guys like Glenn Beck find huge success. Some people really are that paranoid. Anyway, I really didn't even know Spicy Horse was based out of China. Cool. I liked Madness Returns. Had some faults (could have done a lot more with the platforming). But dat aesthetic...

Also, has the poster in this thread actually been verified as being American McGee? Don't game industry people usually get the red name? Just being wary of someone posing as the guy. It is the internet, after all.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Yeah, I *know* about the Internet. I was trolling, flaming and being abused before there *was* an Internet (at least the WWW part). I think 'corner and shut up' isn't a bad idea. Going to combine that with looking at pictures of grumpy cats.

With all due respect American McGee, what you're doing right now is the equivalent of a manufacturer of fire trucks volunteering to go out and beat back grass fires with a wet blanket. You have a particular skill set with that you could've been used to make your point, shared your viewpoint of the world and it would've reached far more people than Robert Rath's article ever did or indeed ever could have. Go use it, and stop arguing with unreasonable people that are thrilled by the chance that they can argue with someone far more famous than themselves.

 

[Dr.Panties]

ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND the conspiracy engines are already off and running.....

"Mcgee You read card now!"

*monotone* "The Chinese treat all game developers very nice."

Thanks for your insight in this interview. I do take issue with your statement regarding "xbox 360 and PS3 game bans" in China. I feel that the readers should be aware of just how soft/insubstantial this ban is. Seriously, the level of enforcement on this one pretty much extends to one unlucky proprietor out of multitudes having to pay a kickback to some low-level official and/or officer for that year. Then, it's back to business as usual.

I've been in China for around 13 years, and in that time have had no problems purchasing consoles or games from openly operating stores. I purchased "Homefront" (and wished I hadn't- shit game) in Hong Kong, before bringing it to the mainland in my luggage. I've brought games into China from overseas, including such potentially controversial titles as Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and the Splinter Cell HD Collection, one episode of which features some espionage/wetwork within a Chinese Embassy against a splinter faction of the PRC army. Sensitive issues? (consider the similarities between Dragon Rising and a certain hotly contested little group of islands)
Definitely, but no-one seems to be on the case at all.

On the occasions that my luggage has been searched, not one customs officer has even looked twice at the video games contained therein. I purchase games/consoles in the country, bring games into the country, and have games posted to me from outside of the country. I've seen 15 year old kids carrying their new Xbox 360 out of the local store, walking down the street with their parents.

Sorry for a rather large chunk of text (and not particularly on topic either). I'm not an apologist (and am not at all labeling yourself as such), but I like to think that my perspective, based on personal experience, is valid. This is just one inaccuracy that I have addressed here in the past, and I thought that I should mention it again.