Fergie's Tech Blog

Global Gaming Crackdown

Chris Suellentrop writes on Wired News:

Last fall, a group of World of Warcraft players in China committed mass suicide. They wanted to draw attention to the latest restriction on their liberty: The same government agency that censors newspapers and bans books had just mandated a system of disincentives to limit the number of hours per day they spent playing online games. Hardcore Warcrafters decided they would rather pull the plug than, er, pull the plug.

But Fox News and CNN weren't on hand to cover the protest because it took place in the game. The players' digital representations martyred themselves; their fleshy masters kept breathing. These were virtual suicides in response to a crackdown in a virtual universe.

posted by Fergie @ 3/28/2006 06:22:00 AM