Joshua Wong effect: China set to disallow local gamers to play with foreigners
Teenager vs Superpower, featuring Joshua Wong's story
In atheist China online gaming is practiced as a religion. The country is home to the world's largest gaming market. A market that fetches billions of dollars in revenue for the Chinese economy.
Also Read: After American state of Missouri, Israeli NGO planning class action lawsuit against China
The Chinese state understands the economic power of the gaming industry and now it has come to understand how this industry could fuel dissent amid the ongoing pandemic because online games allow Chinese citizens to freely socialize with the outside world. It allows players to exchange ideas without any censors.
Not anymore, Beijing is extending its political censorship to online games. Chinese gamers will no longer be allowed to play games with foreigners - forget having a chat. Like most things in China, this feature is now forbidden. It all started with Beijing cracking the whip on a popular Nintendo game - animal crossing.
The social simulation game allowed users to freely interact with others even pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong. It included Joshua Wong who is now at the center of a storm.
Recently, Wong customized a scene in the game and made an inscription which read - "Free Hong Kong". Thousands of other users began leveraging the game to vent their discontent against the Communist regime in similar fashion.
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Now, Beijing has decided to enforce a firewall that will blind Chinese players to any sort of dissent. Multiple laws are being drafted to expand the censorship if passed then online games will be subject to state surveillance.
Players will be able to log in only with their real names. Role-playing games will be banned and online gatherings will be under watch.