earthquake posts

Despite devastation, Chinese return to online gaming

by Shawn Schuster May 28th 2008 at 8:30PM

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, Server downtime

After the devastating earthquake that took the lives of over 40,000 people in China two weeks ago, the Chinese government is doing all they can to restore civility to over seven million people who were directly affected by one of the largest natural disasters in recent history. In addition to this, we can all rest assured that the MMO market in China didn't miss a beat and is back in full swing.

Yes, you heard me right. CDC Games, the Chinese game distributor responsible for the distribution of such popular titles as Shaiya Online, stated recently that its revenues for its online games have rebounded almost immediately. They say their game service was only suspended for three days during the tragedy, and are now back on track to making the income they made previous to the disaster. Whew!

Tags: cdc-games, china, disaster, earthquake, shaiya, shaiya-online

Earthquake not the only impact on China's online games

by James Egan May 22nd 2008 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Economy, Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items

In the wake of the 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, the government mandated an observance of the tragedy. In addition to Monday's three minutes of silence in national mourning, the Chinese government placed a three-day moratorium on all 'public amusements' in the country. This imposed break extended to online gaming and virtual worlds throughout the mainland, which prompted some commentary by Frank Yu, the China Angle columnist at Gamasutra.

While residents of Sichuan or those with friends and loved ones in the quake-affected region were not likely to want to play games in the aftermath of the disaster, the three-day imposed blackout on entertainment media was an unusual move for China. The suspension of these activities essentially made the entire country give up something, albeit briefly, in order to share the pain of those whose lives have been affected by the catastrophe. "The earthquake has had another major impact on the China gaming industry as well in what seems like an exercise of government media control... This includes, concerts, television shows, movies and for the first time, even online games," Yu said. The virtual worlds of China's major online game companies remained dark between May 19th and 21st. Although the game companies and operators complied with the suspension of their activities, they clearly assumed substantial profit losses.

Tags: asia, china, disaster, earthquake, frank-yu, gamasutra, industry, market, media, microsoft, shanda, ubisoft

Chinese decree on mourning curtails MMO play

by Akela Talamasca May 19th 2008 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items

Out of respect for the over 32,000 lives lost in the recent Sichuan earthquake, China has officially decreed a 3-day period of mourning, during which no entertainment media may be offered. This directly affects players of World of Warcraft, to name one game, as the Chinese distributor for WoW, The9, is complying fully with this edict.

Massively extends its condolences to the surviving families of this tragedy.

Tags: china, earthquake, mourning, sichuan, the9, world-of-warcraft

Zu Online community mourns earthquake victims

by Samuel Axon May 15th 2008 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Culture, Events, in-game, Zu Online, News items

As most people have heard by now, a massive earthquake struck the Sichuan province of China four days ago, killing 12,000 people and leaving as many as 18,000 more missing. The colossal tragedy shocked not only the Chinese, but all the people of the world.

Players of the Chinese MMO Zu Online were no exception. Without any prior planning, they collected together in the game's wuxia fantasy setting -- the mythic past of the the very region struck by this week's terrible disaster -- to mourn those lost in the earthquake, and to pray for their families.

A Zu player put together a tribute video, cross-cutting between footage from the in-game memorial service and photographs from the media coverage of the disaster, and posted it on the game's official forums. It's a noble tribute to the deceased. Watch it if you feel compelled.

[Via MMORPG]

Tags: china, disaster, earthquake, igg, memorial, onwind-digital, prayer, service, sichuan, tragedy, video, wuxia, zu-online