I wonder what the Official forums for WoW in China look like. Do they have the same amount of ire and whining as the US ones?

The reason I bring this up is I cant imagine what would happen if Blizz decided to bring down the realms here in the US for such a mourning period. I think the internet would explode from the amount of QQ and "GG Blizz" Etc.

If you dont know what I am talking about go to any WoW related site/blog and look at the forums during official maintenance time when forums are down. People act like you stole their kidney for taking away some of their playtime.

Anyway my thoughs and prayers are with China, I had some good times there and my wife is from there.

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Thanks for giving this some coverage, you guys. It's definitely an important topic that underlines the "reality" we all live in, even if we embed ourselves in fantasy from time to time.

And just as an aside -- your picture selection for this post totally had me scratching my head.

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Those who are saddened will mourn regardless, if they choose to do so. Any government imposing shutting down of any business, including entertainment, is violating the rights of its citizens to receive services from private sector. It's complete BS. I'm sad for those who lost their lives, beloved ones and/or wealth in natural disasters, but I will not mourn and I refuse to be prevented access to WoW. I'm curious whether Blizzard condones this violation by the Chinese government and the conformation by The9. Does Blizzard have a say in this decision by The9?

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so will this effect gold farming?

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"China started a three-day period of national mourning on Monday for the victims of the May 12 earthquake, halting recreational activities such as online gaming and movie screenings, along with darkening the home pages of major Web portals and even suspending the Olympic torch relay. During the mourning period, all public amusements will be suspended and flags nationwide must be kept at half-mast, China's central government declared."

How typically autocratic of the PRC. A tradgedy like this isn't served by such lip-service - maybe they could focus their time and energy on making buildings that aren't made from paper machet. Oh well, I'm sure there are still plenty of pirate DVDs to buy for pennies on the dollar there.

/rant

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my heart and prayers are with the people effected by the recent quake and cyclone in asia. the loss of life is deplorable.
even though this blog is about a game, even the most hardened gamer cant help but be affected.

also, i agree with Jagoex, im not sure the choice of picture is in the best taste, considering over 100k people have lost their lives, and im sure the number of effected people is surely in the millions.

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"my heart and prayers are with the people effected by the recent quake and cyclone in asia"

ain't no god in this shitty world bro, just try and get through it while you can man and hope your ass ain't the next one to get fucked.

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I dont see what is wrong with the picture. The story is about WoW being closed for the 3-day mourning, and the picture is of the dark portal with the words "closed" on it.

Am I missing something or did they just recently change the picture?

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While I am far from China's biggest fan the bashing here is far from called for. While I know the USA would never go so far as to shut down public amusements and such it would do us good to take more time off of ourselves and actually look up for a moment and realize that people really are hurting when tragedy strikes. Yes, China has many issues with human rights but calling for a period of national mourning is to be respected. Maybe the people that would be spending the days wrapped up in WoW and other things that have been shut down will take that time to help their fellow citizens get through these tough times. No matter how wrong their government is on human rights there are good people there that will spend this time of mourning, forced or not, taking care of those around them.

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Nice to see you guys doing this. Alot of the US/EU players might not like the gold sellers, but a big part of the WoW community are legit players in China & many of them will be affected by this tragedy.

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And yet, Gold seller spam continues unabated.
As to whether or not Blizz has any say in whether chinese wow is shut down, they don't, it's F***ing CHINA, they say jump and you do it, or they shoot you and charge your family for the bullets.

"Any government imposing shutting down of any business, including entertainment, is violating the rights of its citizens..."

Again, it's F***ing CHINA, of all the abuses of it's citizen's rights, I'd have to say this is the one I am least concerned about. Wow is awesome, but it + the net + movie theatres + whatever else being shut down is NOTHING in comparison to...oh, I dunno... slave labor, wages that are unfair enough to make gold selling profitable, poisoning children's toys for export, the continued occupation of Tibet, their refusal to see Taiwan as a separate country, no freedom of speech, press, religion, or any number of other things that we westerners take completely for granted. F*** China and F*** their olympic games.
I mourn the terrible loss of life, especially of the children in school, children SHOULD be safe in school, but go figure, the chinese government cheaped out on the building materials and the buildings fell over, GG China.

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