Is regional blocking(for non technical reasons) is a form of racism?

[Costia]

I stumbled upon this from tera:

"En Masse will block IPs based on region. Asia, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East are included on the block list. While we appreciate that there are players in these regions who would enjoy playing on En Masse servers, it's unfortunate that the vast majority of Internet traffic we see from these regions are from cyber-criminals relating to account theft, gold-farming and other hacking behavior."
It basically says that as far as far as tera is conserned all arabs, russians , africans and other asians are hackers, and should not be allowed to play. (while it seems that china is not blocked - which would make a bit more sense for the technical point of view)

I feel the same to a lesser degree about pricing of digital game editions. While the company may have its reasons for the difference, from the consumer perspective it looks like you are being punished for not being born in the US.

 

[Grape_Bullion]

I'd assume this has more to do with economics than racism. Nowhere in the statement does it say it doesn't want certain people to play the game. It says that certain regions are known for disrupting games from the way they are meant to be played, and that they'd sooner ban everyone from a region than have these issues. It may not be fair to people in those regions, but from an economic standpoint, it's valid.

 

[sextus the crazy]

The IP blocking isn't racism. First of All, A shit ton of different races and cultures live in those areas. Unless the Koreans are racist against all non-Koreans, I doubt this. They probably allowed China because there's a favorable ratio of players/bad people, just like in Europe and the West.

The Pricing is no less racist than charging different prices for retail copies in europe and Austria. It's not racist, it's based on having to sell something in different countries.

 

[Costia]

so its fine to discriminate against a certain set of people based on their country of origin if it makes economical sense?

 

[Move127]

country of origin does not equal race

 

[Costia]

fine, call it nationalism then.
"we wont be selling to Africans because our staistics shows they are hackers and wont be paying for the game anyways" sounds bad to me...
it is exactly "It says that certain regions are known for disrupting games from the way they are meant to be played" that bothers me. It is a generalization. And it is not necessarily true.

overpuce: thats why the topic says for non technical issues...

 

[Twilight_guy]

I suppose that could be a factor. I think global economic issues and legitimate security concerns are probably more influential then just not liking some groups of people and purposely losing sales (probably lots of sales depending on locked regions) to be a racist.

 

[RafaelNegrus]

If it's motivated by race then it's racism, if it's motivated by factors other than race then it isn't racism. If they only stand to lose money by having these regions be open then why should they not lock them out?

 

[Costia]

If it's motivated by race then it's racism, if it's motivated by factors other than race then it isn't racism. If they only stand to lose money by having these regions be open then why should they not lock them out?

Racisim/nationalism isn't always officially motivated by race. The Germans could prove to you, scientifically, that they are biologically superior. I am not comparing here. I am just saying that having a "scientific" reason doesnt mean it OK. It can be motivated by "hard facts" that lead to a racist/nationalist result/behavior. If you asked a German in 1935 or an american when they had slaves, they won't be thinking they are doing something wrong. Whats wrong with educating and making the world evolve into a better place? Whats wrong with giving a job, a place to live and food to poor starving Africans? It is resulting the course of action that is wrong. You can always find good reasons to back it up.
What is always the case is:
It is based on a generalization.
It is based on a something a person cannot control - like place of birth
It feels bad to the discriminated side (and not the discriminating).
Or in other words, how would you feel if your friends told you can't play with them because you are American? (Note the "because you are american" specifically, and not due to some technical issues that make it impossible for you to play)

 

[Esotera]

It's more to do with about 50 billion laws that prevent companies from selling in all countries at one price, and lots of other laws that they might be breaking. It takes a lot of effort to conform to all of those, and sometimes it's just not worth the investment. Definitely not racism, but possibly a bit short-sighted for a major developer to only release in a couple of countries.

Also, it's quite common practice to IP-block based on region, as certain countries have a disproportionate number of hackers due to relaxed laws.

 

[lapan]

It's mostly because of greed, so you can't import from nations where games are cheaper. It has little if anything to do with race.

 

[Costia]

If it were due to laws, i would be fine with that. Is is my countriy's an my fault that we have such laws. But in this is not the case here. At least no as stated by TERA.
I don't really care specifically about TERA, its is the trend that bothers me.
Like you say it is common now - that doesn't makes it right. If anything - it makes it worse.

The pricing is due to greed - and i don't like it either. but actively blocking players? That's a different story - at least for me.

 

[Dandark]

I usaully really hate region blocking and don't care what stupid excuse they come up with for it. I bought ACV for the sole reason of being able to play it with my American and Canadian friends, I am British.

What a waste of time and money that game was.

 

[MetalMagpie]

To me, this is no different to releasing a game in a restricted number of countries, which is something that happens all the time. There are many Japanese games that are never released in the Western market, but we don't see that as discrimination, even in cases where it would (arguably) make financial sense.

Spotify was (at first) limited to only certain countries. It's completely within the rights of sellers to only provide their products in certain regions.

If they were requiring players to prove they were white before logging on, that would be a little different!

 

[krazykidd]

Loool what? How is that racism . They aren't locking it , due to the race of the people living there , this is a dumb question. Plus their reason is valid . It has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with race .

 

[Costia]

To me, this is no different to releasing a game in a restricted number of countries, which is something that happens all the time. There are many Japanese games that are never released in the Western market, but we don't see that as discrimination, even in cases where it would (arguably) make financial sense.

Spotify was (at first) limited to only certain countries. It's completely within the rights of sellers to only provide their products in certain regions.

If they were requiring players to prove they were white before logging on, that would be a little different!

I think it is different because the means of distribution changed.
In the past to sell a game in another country you would have to ship physical copies there.
Today all you have to do is not to block. If they did noting at all - they would be selling internationally. But no, they are actively preventing from specific countries from playing - and not due to financial or law reasons - they do it because they claim most of us are criminals - because we were born in a certain country.

krazykidd : I would appreciate it if you could address specific claims I made instead of saying "LOL you are wrong"

 

[RafaelNegrus]

I think it is different because the means of distribution changed.
In the past to sell a game in another country you would have to ship physical copies there.
Today all you have to do is not to block. If they did noting at all - they would be selling internationally. But no, they are actively preventing from specific countries from playing - and not due to financial or law reasons - they do it because they claim most of us are criminals - because we were born in a certain country.

krazykidd : I would appreciate it if you could address specific claims I made instead of saying "LOL you are wrong"

I'll reply to this one, rather than the one you directly quoted me in (you're honestly comparing this to 1935 Germany? Really?). They are claiming that there are enough hackers and gold farmers that it would make the game significantly worse for others and would cause them to lose business, therefore, a financial reason.

Now I just say personally that during my time in the Middle East, Internet connections were not quite as ubiquitous as here in the West. Which sucks for them, but that means that there would be fewer players coming from regions that have those issues and it makes sense that there would be a higher ratio of people looking to use those games as a source of income compared to those people that use it as it was intended. This is compared to China with it's HUGE market, where even if there's a bunch more hackers it's still worth the cost of rooting them all out.

Different countries have different circumstances, and that's going to affect things like game releases. That's not racism that's reality.

 

[ThatGuy]

As a member of the American race currently living in China, this is a bit of a complicated situation for me, eh? /sarcasm

OT: As others have said, blocking games in certain countries is not "racist," but it could be seen as "prejudiced." There is a difference! Based on the quote the OP provided, it sounds like the company is just trying to protect its interests and ensure a quality experience for its users. It doesn't seem like they harbor any ill will toward citizens of the countries they're blocking.

 

[Costia]

I think it is different because the means of distribution changed.
In the past to sell a game in another country you would have to ship physical copies there.
Today all you have to do is not to block. If they did noting at all - they would be selling internationally. But no, they are actively preventing from specific countries from playing - and not due to financial or law reasons - they do it because they claim most of us are criminals - because we were born in a certain country.

krazykidd : I would appreciate it if you could address specific claims I made instead of saying "LOL you are wrong"

I'll reply to this one, rather than the one you directly quoted me in (you're honestly comparing this to 1935 Germany? Really?). They are claiming that there are enough hackers and gold farmers that it would make the game significantly worse for others and would cause them to lose business, therefore, a financial reason.

Now I just say personally that during my time in the Middle East, Internet connections were not quite as ubiquitous as here in the West. Which sucks for them, but that means that there would be fewer players coming from regions that have those issues and it makes sense that there would be a higher ratio of people looking to use those games as a source of income compared to those people that use it as it was intended. This is compared to China with it's HUGE market, where even if there's a bunch more hackers it's still worth the cost of rooting them all out.

Different countries have different circumstances, and that's going to affect things like game releases. That's not racism that's reality.

No. i specifically wrote in that post that I am not comparing. It was an example of how racism can sound like the right thing to do...

And i am sorry to inform you, but i live in the middle east, and the internet connection here is no worse than in Europe. Looks like a lot of people are basing their opinion of the middle east on the footage they see from the American-Iraqi war. There are a lot of other countries in the middle east that don't get that much media attention - because there is nothing special there.
And again, this: "They are claiming that there are enough hackers and gold farmers..." . would it be fine if i didn't sell products to Africans based on the claim that a enough of them steal, making it not profitable to sell to them? Don't you think you would be morally responsible for judging on a case by case basis instead of blocking the entire region? I mean , just throw us all to jail and be done with it. I think that big, international corporations should have some moral responsibilities as well, not just financial ones.

I know that this is the current reality, still doesn't make it right.

I would settle for prejudiced rather than racist. I don't see how it is different when it is based on the country you live in.

 

[direkiller]

so its fine to discriminate against a certain set of people based on their country of origin if it makes economical sense?

except there not stopping them from playing
there just stopping them from playing on servers based outside there region.