Players will be required to prove their gender via webcam.
One of China's biggest video game companies has banned male players who play as females in the King of the World MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game).
Shanda Entertainment has ordered its subsidiary Aurora Technology to freeze the accounts of all men who play as women. According to reports there will be no ban on women playing male characters, however women and men wanting to play as women will be required to prove their gender via webcam.
The news will come as a shock to many gender-bending MMO gamers. In massively popular MMO the World of Warcraft, which has nine million players across the world, female Night Elfs and female Blood Elfs are a popular choice of character among both female and male gamers.
Bloodstorm wrote at 12:47 on 24 September 2007
HAHAHAHA! *claps ferociously*
A sudden decrease in women characters i take it.
Marink wrote at 12:52 on 24 September 2007
What if the men dress up like women in attempt to trick the webcam users? :confused:
FantasyMeister wrote at 13:07 on 24 September 2007
I love that story. Even the women have to prove they're women! Tough break for the guy at Shanda who has to do the checking...
It doesn't say why Shanda are asking for this step to be taken though, seems a little draconian from my westerner viewpoint but maybe it's a cultural thing for them.
Bloodstorm wrote at 13:24 on 24 September 2007
Maybe he got tricked into cybersex with a man?
Xero wrote at 20:47 on 24 September 2007
Assuming they only check when creating the character it would still be pretty easy for a guy to play a female character, assuming of course they can get a RL female to stand in front of their webcam for 30 seconds... unless they require the female players to have a webcam on them constantly while playing.. in which case why would anyone but a camwhore ever make a female character?