Chinese game âMarvelâ has been accused of censorship after players of its new video game were unable to chat about topics that are banned in China.
Marvel Rivals is a new release featuring battles between heroic characters such as Captain America and Iron Man and the villains Loki and Venom. The plot revolves around Doctor Doom and his future counterpart Doom 2099.
The game was developed by Marvel in conjunction with the Chinese developer NetEase and released in December. However, players have been blocked from typing in words such as âTiananmen Squareâ and âWuhan virusâ in the chat function. They are met with the warning: âtext contains inappropriate contentâ.
Marvel Rivals game artwork featuring Iron Man, Spider-Man, and other characters.
Other restricted phrases include âfree Taiwanâ, âfree Hong Kongâ, âfree Tibetâ, âTaiwan is a countryâ, âTaiwan No 1â and even â1989â, the year of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Chatting about Mao Zedong or the Dalai Lama is also banned.
Winnie-the-Pooh, a name associated with President Xi, is blocked. Xi was compared to the character after appearing in a photograph with Barack Obama in 2017.
Popular gamers have posted videos of themselves trying to type in the words. Asmongold, the YouTuber, is allowed to type in the words âTaiwan sucksâ and âTaiwan is badâ only to be blocked when trying âfree Taiwanâ. At the end of the video he added sarcastically: âMarvel Rivals is a very interesting game that has no censorship at all and lets people think whatever they want and thatâs just the way it is guys.â
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China has a long history of censoring the content of video games and films for the domestic market. The Second World War strategy game Hearts of Iron was banned for depicting Tibet, Manchuria and Xinjiang as independent nations. Command & Conquer: Generals, a game depicting a hypothetical Third World War, was said to âsmear the image of China and the Chinese armyâ.
Marvel has also been accused of altering films so they would be accepted in the Chinese market. In the 2016 film Doctor Strange the main character is trained by a Celtic woman played by Tilda Swinton rather than a Tibetan monk who appeared in the original comics. A screenwriter claimed it was to appease the Chinese authorities and Marvel later admitted the move was a mistake.
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âHey guys whatâs the name of the childrenâs book character thatâs a bear with a red shirt in the woodsâ
âWinnie the poo-â *banned*
Reminds me of chatting in RA2 lobbies and asking people âwhat is pen10 + pen5?â
Getting a response of pen15 and then swiftly followed by a âuser was bannedâ system message.
I had a guild named that but I canât remember which mmo. Flew under the radar apparently.
I remember someone creating a âFreeTibetâ guild in some Chinese MMO like 15 years ago. They did not fly under the radar for more than 15 minutes.
sorry. I meant it was named pen15
The geopolitical âpress alt+f4 for free cs moneyâ