Hahahaha, this is real? "Definitive proof will be required from female gamers, so Shanda is asking that they display a portion of their body that is indisputably feminine."

So, will they be constantly checking? Because if it's just a check at character creation, someone could just get a woman to show up when they sign up and render the whole thing pointless.

It's not like these guys won't be able to find girls willing to cheat the system for them.

Wow, if they spend that time dedicated something as trivial as that, imagine how good the rest of the game must be! I imagine there's a reason why this is the first time any of us have ever heard of their game.

Who's going to make the discriminatory call on this one? What about trans-gender and otherwise masculine...wait, here's an idea: go find a less stupid MMO.

"Moooooooooom, I need you to come and smile for the webcam so I can play a girl character in this game." Hahahahaha.

If only online dating services had this level of sex-proofing. Yeesh.

Sounds like some big shot at Shanda got more than he bargained for with that online date.

I don't play any MMOs but I do remember reading that many scams are done by female characters who are actually male wooing male players into giving them gifts of important items and in game currency.

@IheartPOKEMON: Yup the guys know exactly what to tell the other guys to get them to cough up their stuff.

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. It is unfortunate that a subculture which fights for free speech is still tied on gender stereotypes. I know that it does not mean anything because I do not live in China but I officially boycott that game. some one write that down and hold me to it.

So a guy who wants to play as a girl can just snap a webcam pic of his sister/mother/friend/female realitive.

I'd really love to see them try to inforce this policy for any amount of time.

@IheartPOKEMON:
those things happen all the time in Akihabara...

[kotaku.com]

I don't know, but I think this one smells along the lines of a trap if they want more than just a pretty face. Perhaps the guy in charge is looking for a date, and is weeding out the posers from all the digital lovelies within the MMO. If that's the case, might I recommend getting a life? Regardless, I expect this to ether fail, ruin the MMO, or (in worse case) end with a nasty lawsuit.

Then again, what would I know. I've never even heard of the game until now, and have no interest in checking it out.

I knew my Federal Boob Inspector shirt would come in handy!

@IheartPOKEMON:
I don't see how it'd be any different here, just that the women would be even more sought after by youngsters/no lives since supposedly everytime you'd see a female char ingame, you'd assume it's a female playing, which is not the case in mmorpgs.

As for scams, if you're stupid enough to give items to someone because she happens to have boobs IRL(or pretend to), you're a freaking idiot imo. Buying presents for a woman you know is one thing, giving presents to someone you'll probably never even meet on the pretense that she might be a pornolicious naughty young girl that craves for some geek meat is just plain retarded.

These people are also terribly annoying to real girls that are just trying to play.

I wonder just how many accounts google has saved.

By this company's logic, why not prohibit someone with black hair from playing a character with blonde hair? Or prevent someone from making and elf character unless they are, in fact, an elf in real life? I can't see the point in this.

Sounds like someone at Shanda Entertainment is trying to find an excuse to look at webcam pictures all day.

this shit's hilarious. theyre either a) chasing off the, you know, role-playing element of their RPG, b) demanding you find a pic of a chick (any webcam shot off the internet'll do, apparently, or c) all but demanding pics of vag.

either way, good way to get your unkown game's name in the press.

I think one of them fell for a trap and they didn't like it none too well and this is their way of sparing others the shame.

I think the point that everyone's missing is that this MMO is called THE KING OF THE WORLD. How can you go wrong with a title like that?

Wow, funny stuff. So by... "prove their biological sex" do they mean... dick flashing? Cuz that would be weird. But funny.

@Pyros: Buying presents for a woman you know is one thing, giving presents to someone you'll probably never even meet on the pretense that she might be a pornolicious naughty young girl that craves for some geek meat is just plain retarded.

*sigh* you dont understand, man. back in the days of PSO, me and NightElf69 had something. dont judge me!

i think its a good things there is to much cross dresser that have pleasure playing a girl in mmorpg these days. its horrible.

Even if this system worked all it would lead to is female characters being targeted by 14 and 45 year old males. What kind of female would play a game like this knowing she'd be subject to "A/L?" whispered every 2 seconds.

Also some of us don't like looking at the male avatar's ass all day... My GW account is 50% male/50% female.

@Pyros: Exactly, all of this just sounds like it would scare actual women away from the game. Prove that you're a woman so you can go online and be harassed. And all to prevent what? Cyber cross-dressing?! Insanity.

Last time I checked, China is a communist country, yes? geez...

I'm glad they did this! US companies should support this concept.

God forbid someone would want to role-play in a role-playing game. It's just perverse!

Note the the sarcastically inhibited: this is sarcasm.

How the heck are they going to enforce that? I mean that's probably going to be a lot of pictures. And It's easy to fake it as long as they mean boobs, and you don't have to strip. Tape and bags of sand.

=D

...In other news, a Shanda Entertainment spokesperson recently announced the company's aquisition of U.S. based webportal "Amature Pussy" and promises a new larger Asian area for the site.

@Mokai: Hey, look, us Wizards have enough to contend with without some 2-bit net-kiddy simply "proclaiming" himself a Lvl 10 Dwarven Wizard and then degrading our entire prodession with his poor grammar and speling. I say let only Wizards role play as wizards, weed out the posers who can't even conjour up a lvl 5 curse of badger baiting.

I believe there is an Internet meme that sums up this policy in two words and one acronym:

"TITS OR GTFO"

WOW, just put on a wig, or try to look like a girl. It's not that hard. Webcams have crappy quality anyway.

@BPMΩ:
Also, THERE ARE NO GIRLS ON THE INTERNET! NO EXCEPTIONS!

eh nothing new, ragnarok 2 is susposedly trying to force genders to stick to their own but not with web cams, something much more sinister or something along the lines.

@IheartPOKEMON:

When I used to play WoW a guy thought I was a girl on my rogue (female character). I just went with it and got tons of stuff. Good times. He tried to get me banned when I told him one day. Of course it was either I tell him or meet him irl like he asked...

I hope they don't do the same thing for Mass Effect, if you know what I mean.
[kotaku.com]

@ittekimasu: Actually you can get around that by just making another account. The gender thing with RO2 is just tied into to your gungho account or whatever the main service account is. Then when you play RO2 it detects that and forces you to play as that gender.

Lmao. I highly doubt this bush-league company is a "heavy hitter." Gender verification for game characters...that's one of the stupidest things I've ever hears.

*heard
/wrist

Hilarious. I will laugh when some ugly girl gets her female character taken away for not being pretty enough. :(

You people are reading way too much into this. They're just trying to drum up business for the sequel, Drag Queen of the World.

I'm a guy who plays a female character in RPGs, but I don't do it to try to get people to do me special favors or anything shady, it's just because if I'm going to be looking at this same character for the next X hours of my life, I might as well make it something nice to look at.

I'm sure glad I don't live in China. If I did I'd probably move. China's a shitty place to live.

It's not government enforced people, it's a corporate thing. The only difference is that they may not have to fear the barrage of lawsuits that the same policy would attract in the US.

I'm pretty sure this company won't be in business very long either way.

I did it in wow, just becuase all of the guy models look like crap.

I would have been a dwarf but I hate the whole snow region, and running around in ironforge made me want to smash gnomes with a hammer.

Wow, I can't see this going down well. As a former WoW player, I used to play male avatars as well as my female avatar (I'm female), mainly because of looks (and the weird PM's I'd get from males ingame! XD). IMO, male Tauren > female Tauren.

This also seems like an elaborate ploy to get girls on webcam. Oh noes! D:

Interesting. Friends often ask me why I've never made a single female character in any MMO that I've played. Hell, I even felt weird playing FFX-2. I'm Chinese and I support the Chinese government in most of its recent online gaming regulations, is there a correlation here?

@Witzbold: I did it in wow, just becuase all of the guy models look like crap.

Agreed. Up until the appearance of Blood elves, your choices were either to be a girl or some testosterone-overloaded abomination regardless of the class picked. Caused me to do the same thing you did.

I've only created one female avatar, and never played it.

CoV: Minty Vomit.

I just wanted to register the name. It arose from a conversation I had about zombies and keeping them smelling fresh.