Giant Rubs Authorities the Wrong Way
Xinhuanet, 12/23/08
Chinese online game developer and operator Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) has been ordered by the Ministry of Culture (MOC) to shut-down a feature in its free-to-play MMORPG Giant Online that allowed players to receive a massage from a member of the opposite sex to their in-game character. The shutdown order came after an MOC investigation into this and other new features of the game such as a bathing center.
The investigation found that although the game did not violate any regulations or display any pornographic material, the features ran contrary to mainstream Chinese values, prompting the MOC to order Giant to make appropriate modifications to the game.
On December 15, Giant notified the MOC that it had permanently removed opposite-sex massages from the game and halted all future development work on the feature. The company added that it had also instructed artists to make adjustments to the revealing clothing worn by players in the resting center, and, in addition to disciplining the employees responsible for these features, it had also conducted an overhaul of the review process used for adding new features to the game to ensure that similar problems do not occur in the future.
Keywords: GA Giant Giant Interactive Internet Ministry of Culture MMORPG online gaming pornography regulation
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