Chinese authorities have banned Battlefield 4 from the Chinese mainland making the gameillegal and deeming it a “threat to national security”.
The Chinese Ministry has ordered the game to be removed from stores as quickly as possible and told local vendors that it is now illegal to offer the game for sale. According to reports the Ministry claims that Battlefield 4 is an “illegal game, with content that endangers national security, and is all about cultural invasion”.
Battlefield 4 the game, and any downloads including patches and even news relating to the game will is being deleted from the Chinese internet as we type.
The reason for the ban is due to the launch of am expansion for the game named “China Rising” that contains maps of the Chinese mainland where a virtual war rages.
[ Source ]
Why ban a game because it got maps of the city? People already know how the city look like from searching on Google.
Does anyone really expect china to react logically or reasonably about this? They’re just too egotistical to allow anything to show any aspect of china in a negative light. Even when it’s fictional. A censoring government without free speech, no surprise there. Of course all this will do is increase piracy
This is well documented that US gov use its ”soft power” through all media: net/tv/movies and games which is a very effective propaganda method, but now Russia, China and BRICS are standing and won’t accept to be discredited anymore they are fighting back (which seems to be a big surprise for you whereas if you really think about it, it should not).
Your arguments would hold some weight if it weren’t for the fact that these forms of media you are referring to as “soft power” are entirely works of fiction and video games even come with disclaimers stating so. Look at american TV shows such as “Homeland”, or “Americans”. They actually show respect towards middle eastern culture and show acts of terrorism in another light. They glorify Russian spies of the past and show the wrong the American government can do. Sure it’s all fiction, but it’s made in America, for American audiences. There have been many games showing the US government, military, and/or corporations in a negative light. Those games were never banned simply because they are fiction, and freedom of speech protects the content creators and ironically enough, by NOT attempting to censor the material it really makes it seem fictional. Reacting like china would make it appear they are afraid or have something to hide.
The fact is, the internet is just too big to censor, and censoring your citizens in any way, shape, or form will always cause some level of blowback. If battlefield 4 was TRULY intended as war promoting propaganda, it will still be completely unrestricted in every other country anyway.
In the end, it’s up to the countries in question to determine their own trade laws and restrictions, but if history plays true, all restricting something does it place it in higher demand and value.
Step back for a minute and look at the bigger picture, the war between US and China as a matter of fact already started, freedom of speech and ”democracy” does this matter during wars? NO, what matters is survival of the american way of life by containing China appetite for power.
This ban is just one of the symptoms…there are many…
I’m honestly not even sure what kind of point you’re trying to argue now. I’m not taking sides when it comes to USA vs China, I’m just presenting an argument against censorship and how it is always bad for the people.
All i’m saying is that you are seeing this from a narrow angle, my point is that censorship, propaganda, restricted freedom rights etc… is already there and on both sides like in all wars.
You are most probably more exposed to US propaganda, your comment seemed to me from one side only, why wouldn’t China do like the US and protect themselves and what they believe is their own interests? You might not be able to understand their decision because you have a different perspective and you are coming from a different culture. For them this may seems like a direct thread/attack on them, this is their own assessment and response to the situation. This may not be the perfect answer, but that’s what they have chosen to do/
@ Panda
it has nothing to do with the maps. it has also not to do with battlefield himself. it has to do with the expansion pack. check the video of “china rising” out…. they describe china as a barbaric multiaggressiv country that attacks his neighbours and peaceful not to say peaceloving innocent brave US soldiers must protect the world…blablabla…in real world we have not china…we have USA which is doing this..drone attacks in several country’s (Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia or Sudan), military forces in 1000 stations worldwide and with wars in the last years in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yugoslavia and covered operations in Syria, Libya and many more. Also not to forget infiltrations in Ukraine, Tunisia, Venezuela Iran and many more country’s.
For China not battlefiled is important. It is the expansion and it has from his point of view NOT to tolerate a psychological warfare. China is not responsible for drone attacks, they start not every couple years a new war and they also do not infiltrate and destroy the political systems of independent nations. Why should Chinese tolerate something which is completely against their country and also turning reality in a grotesque lie? Why should they accept someone is not just blaming the country…nope…a company wants also to make money with it?
USA dont tolerate it. US officials would not tolerate a game which shows US as aggressive country which is attacking permanently other country to conquer and to get resources for free. US would call it “Un-American” and u could not see any kind of ad instead of it some nice protests….
Instead of banning the game, the Chinese Government should be actively supporting the distribution of free copies of every Electronic Arts game. This should be followed by the active torrenting and cracking of the same, as well as targeted attacks on the most popular BF4 servers.
Nothing like a political rant against a video game. You sure told them! How dare they try to introduce something fun and entertaining into your country! Now put away those silly games which make our country look bad, we have children to kill and people to censor!!