Video: “网瘾战争 War of Internet Addiction” (Updated)

DigiCha has posted links to YouTube videos, now with English subtitles, mocking government efforts to crackdown on gaming (Videos embedded below). DigiCha points out that episode 6 (of 7) has the most obvious discussion of Internet controls. This video has already had more than million visits inside of China. From their introduction:

It is an hour long video, “shot” almost entirely with in-game video from World of Warcraft, satirizing the government’s attempt to “harmonize” China’s Internet with forced installations of “Green Dam Youth Escort” and the travails of Chinese World of Warcraft players over the last several months.

…The film tracks the fight between The9 ($NCTY) and Netease ($NTES) over the renewal rights to Activision Blizzard’s ($ATVI) World of Warcraft, the requirement that skulls be removed from World of Warcraft (hence the Skull Party), the bureaucratic battles between GAPP and the Ministry of Culture over the re-approval of WoW in China, the money-obsessed Uncle Yang and his Internet addiction camps and electro-shock therapy (see this forthcoming Feb 2010 Wired article on China’s Internet addiction camps), and the attempts to impose “Green Dam Youth Escort” software on Chinese web users. The movie concludes with an impassioned speech calling for Chinese World of Warcraft players to end their silence and fight the attempts to keep them away from World of Warcraft, followed by an agreement between the warring bureaucracies-GAPP and MOC–to put aside their dispute and go after Netease for more money.










The following is a translated segment of dialogue from the video, translated by CDT:

Kannimei:
Cure the illness?
Yang Yongxin (Uncle Yang), we are a generation that grew up playing games.
So many years have passed, people have changed, and games have changed.
What has not changed is our love of the game and the vulnerable position of players in this society.
After an exhausting day, when we open the door of our 2000 RMB-a-month apartment, but face such a handicapped game, we feel so helpless.
You, Yang Yongxin.
Every day you accuse WoW of sucking us in.
Yes, we were sucked in.
What sucked us in was not the game but the sense of belonging the game gave to us.
We were sucked into the friendships and emotions of these four years and the hope and affection of these four years.
This year, even with such a handicapped version we are still hanging on…..
Why are we still persisting?
Because we love this game!
Through this whole year,
I, just like everyone else who loves this game,
dutifully go to work in a crowded bus,
dutifully consume all kinds of food, regardless of what unknown chemicals are inside.
We have not complained about our thin salaries.
We have not lost the psychological balance
just because you took more from my pathetic salary so I had to just live in a tenement this whole year.
I, like everyone else who loves this game,
cried and was moved by flood and earthquake disasters,
cheered for the space walk and Olympics.
We, from the bottom of our heart,
do not want to lag behind any other nation in any aspect.
But this whole year,
because of you people,
we could not really compete with gamers in other countries in the game we really love,
but we swallowed it down.
We were forced into exile;
we went to US and European servers,
at the risk of our account being blocked;
they looked down us as “gold farmers.”
We went to Taiwanese servers;
they called us locusts from the mainland.
How disgraceful.
But we took it all without a word.
Why?
Why can’t we have 40 cents per hour of cheap fun?
Just because I am on a Chinese server?
Just because I am a WoW gamer on a Chinese server?
You brainwashed me since I was young that gold medals, silver medals, nowhere is better than home. But what’s the reality?
You already made it so I can only live in my own home temporarily*; now even our emotional home, can it even temporarily stay in our own country?
Grass-mud horse! [F**k your mother!]
You son of a bitch!
Grass-Mud Horse!

Uncle Yang::
Nice speech.
But it is useless.
You have a voice, so what?
The power behind me can easily overwhelm all of your voices.

Kannimei:
How can we not speak out just because our voice is small….
Everyone in front of the screen, please raise your hand, send your power to me.
When they killed Youtube, you did not raise your hand. When they blocked Twitter, you did not raise your hand. When they killed Fanfou, you did not raise your hand. Now, we may even lose WoW. I know, we are just “fart people“, … Whatever we do will not save our beloved game, but at least, you can raise your hand in front of the computer screen, and pass your voice, your power to me, through this Chinternet. For our only emotional home, let’s shout together: We are WoW gamers!”

*Due to household registration, or hukou, restrictions, it is very difficult for residents from outside a city to get permanent residency there, so they only have “temporary residence cards.”

Update: the Southern Metropolis Daily interviewed the main author of the video and published a positive review of this video. The article’s copy are on almost every mainstream news websites: Netease, Sohu, QQ etc.

Here is a screenshot of netizens’ comments under the article on netease, translated by CDT:

How can we not speak out just because our voice is small

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易山西晋中网友 ip:60.223.*.*: 2010-01-26 22:18:09 发表

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易山东网友 [菊长] 的原贴: 1

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易辽宁大连网友 [看你妹呀] 的原贴: 2

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广东东莞网友(58.254.*.*)的原贴: 3

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易江苏南京网友 [shenyangshi1] 的原贴: 4

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易北京海淀网友 [菲瑞德姆] 的原贴: 5

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易澳大利亚网友 [火星小精灵] 的原贴: 6

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易黑龙江牡丹江网友(221.206.*.*)的原贴: 7

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易辽宁大连网友(119.112.*.*)的原贴: 8

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易福建泉州网友 [洛丹伦亡灵] 的原贴: 9

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易澳大利亚网友 [防盗门] 的原贴: 10

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广东湛江网友(116.28.*.*)的原贴: 11

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易陕西西安网友(123.138.*.*)的原贴: 12

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易北京网友 [抡大板儿锹] 的原贴: 13

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易加拿大网友(99.74.*.*)的原贴: 14

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易火星网友(unknown)的原贴: 15

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易火星网友 [白火山] 的原贴: 16

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广东湛江网友(119.135.*.*)的原贴: 17

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易河北邯郸网友(124.237.*.*)的原贴: 18

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易上海网友(220.248.*.*)的原贴: 19

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易火星网友 [12345678A] 的原贴: 20

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易上海松江网友(58.39.*.*)的原贴: 21

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易北京网友 [tfschoolboyl] 的原贴: 22

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易江苏徐州网友(222.187.*.*)的原贴: 23

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易安徽安庆网友(58.243.*.*)的原贴: 24

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易福建漳州网友 [逛街捡垃圾] 的原贴: 25

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广东佛山网友 [火星小精灵] 的原贴: 26

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易辽宁网友 [wangyida2b25] 的原贴: 27

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易湖北武汉网友(59.175.*.*)的原贴: 28

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广西贵港网友(222.216.*.*)的原贴: 29

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易陕西网友 [守望梅阿查] 的原贴: 30

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易山东青岛网友(219.146.*.*)的原贴: 31

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易上海网友 [straightforwardman] 的原贴: 32

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易山西朔州网友(60.223.*.*)的原贴: 33

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易火星网友(unknown)的原贴: 34

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易重庆网友(125.83.*.*)的原贴: 35

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广东东莞网友(59.39.*.*)的原贴: 36

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广东佛山网友 [一个个都是啥来的] 的原贴: 37

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广东深圳网友 [夜ぁ千年] 的原贴: 38

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易河北沧州网友(120.10.*.*)的原贴: 39

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易江苏扬州网友(117.91.*.*)的原贴: 40

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易山东聊城网友(218.57.*.*)的原贴: 41

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易湖南衡阳网友(59.51.*.*)的原贴: 42

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易湖南怀化网友 [泰诺星球网友] 的原贴: 43

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广西南宁网友 [破碎残阳卫兵] 的原贴: 44

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易山东青岛网友(221.215.*.*)的原贴: 45

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易江西南昌网友 [无聊老小子] 的原贴: 46

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易上海网友(118.132.*.*)的原贴: 47

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易德国网友 [gutelaune] 的原贴: 48

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易河南郑州网友(123.6.*.*)的原贴: 49

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广东广州荔湾网友(219.136.*.*)的原贴: 50

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易英国网友(188.49.*.*)的原贴: 51

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易山东临沂网友 [TLSS] 的原贴: 52

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易黑龙江哈尔滨网友(125.211.*.*)的原贴: 53

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易欧洲网友(110.184.*.*)的原贴: 54

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易天津网友(117.14.*.*)的原贴: 55

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易山东网友(123.169.*.*)的原贴: 56

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易陕西咸阳网友 [拖社会后腿] 的原贴: 57

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易湖北网友(116.209.*.*)的原贴: 58

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易浙江嘉兴网友(125.124.*.*)的原贴: 59

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊!
网易安徽网友(117.69.*.*)的原贴: 60

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊!
网易浙江台州网友(123.97.*.*)的原贴: 61

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易上海网友 [寻找第二个地球] 的原贴: 62

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊!
网易陕西网友 [科洛迪亚行星] 的原贴: 63

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易山东济南网友 [一天睡24小时] 的原贴: 64

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易湖北武汉网友 [不说话还不行吗] 的原贴: 65

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易美国网友 [twilightarch] 的原贴: 66

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易广东深圳宝安网友(219.133.*.*)的原贴: 67

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易四川网友(119.6.*.*)的原贴: 68

岂能因声音微小而不呐喊
网易湖南岳阳网友(124.229.*.*)的原贴: 69
……

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