Chinese MMOs Go After Tibetans ... Er, 'Drug Smugglers'

Maggie Greene — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:30:00 MDT

Oh, the punny, punny Chinese language — an article from an Indian site noted that a "new online game" is offering Chinese players the chance to go after people engaging in cangdu (smuggling drugs, 藏毒) which, if you use the other pronunciation of the first character, sounds like zangdu (Tibetan independence, 藏獨). Some perfunctory nosing around revealed some frighteningly nationalistic rambling and cranky Taiwanese gamers, though at least one 'game' would appear to be new content for an existing MMO, QQ Huaxia. Says the (unnamed in the article) company:

In the promotional material, the company that offers this game is less coy about turning on the jingoistic rhetoric and pitching an anti-Tibetan line.
"We support the Olympics with our unique online game content against Tibetan independence," it says. "We provide new services for China's youth to vent their bilious rage."

Overt displays of rabid nationalism generally make me feel pretty uncomfortable, no matter where it's coming from — and I feel a little bad for GTA IV that the (English language) article went on to compare this MMO add-on to a little good clean fun on the streets of Liberty City.

Tibetans fair game in China [DNA]

Super Tibetan Racer!

egauger — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 18:40:17 MDT

MarioKart goes Zen in one of my favorite Annecy entries evarrrr. Gorgeous animation with a delightful ending. Thanks to reader Rustybret for reminding me about this one; it's been sitting on my HD for a while but Kotaku hasn't seen it yet so it's mine all mine! Moo hoo ha ha!

I would dig an actual game based on this little thing. Get on that, would ya?

Kotaku: Tibet

Chinese MMOs Go After Tibetans ... Er, 'Drug Smugglers'

Super Tibetan Racer!