MCLC: Video game invites players to break the wall

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MCLC LIST
Video game invites players to break the wall
Source: SCMP (5/9/17)
New Chinese game invites players to break ‘The Wall’ of online censorship
By Julia Hollingsworth
China’s Great Firewall – meant to restrict Chinese internet users’ access to international websites – has proven a source of inspiration for game developers instead.
Game development firm ZuoBuLai Game Studio has created a computer game, The Wall, that alludes to China’s Great Firewall and encourages players to destroy it.
“If you were born inside The Wall, will you be docile enough to accept its protection? Or would you like to break the wall?” says the text on a trailer promoting the game online.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u-nLIdEPTI?rel=0]
The trailer was recently posted and given the green light on Steam, a gaming platform. A section of the platform caters for emerging developers, allowing them to promote their games and release them given sufficient public support from the gaming community.
Game footage shows a player running past guards and shooting at walls to break past them. The player goes on to try and free website addresses, trapped behind a series of walls and padlocks, marked with words such as www.Facebookk.com and www.Googlee.com.
The trailer features both Chinese and English text, and ZuoBuLai Game Studio appears to be a Chinese firm. The South China Morning Post has contacted the developers and is awaiting response.
While no release date was set for the game, the post on Steam said it would be available “soon, very soon”.
The trailer has also been shared on Chinese gaming website CowLevel.net and Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.
Online reactions to the game have been overwhelmingly positive, with both Chinese and Western internet users offering their support.
One internet user wrote on Steam: “The game [is] bomb as hell, I’d buy it.”
Another wrote in Chinese: “The introduction is very powerful – is it hinting for us to breach the Great Firewall?”
[Game set during Taiwan’s ‘White Terror’ garnering rave reviews]
China’s strict internet restrictions, dubbed the Great Firewall, block access to major international websites including Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Last week, China announced more internet-tightening measures, requiring online news outlets to acquire government licences and be operated by government-sanctioned staff.
by denton.2 at osu.edu on May 10, 2017
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