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Why is Asia banned?

jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,434 Arc User
in Champions Online Discussion
I was just in Hong Kong for a week and discovered that while there I was banned from using the game, or even posting on the forums. I remember some years ago a ban was put on some parts of the world, but I can't recall why. Anyone able to clue me in here?
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    avianosavianos Posts: 6,028 Arc User
    edited April 2017
    Because Lockboxes count as Gambling
    and Gambling is banned in Asian countries in any form of videogame​​
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    rtmartma Posts: 1,198 Arc User
    Probably something along the lines of 'Play Less, Slave More!'
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    jennymachxjennymachx Posts: 3,000 Arc User
    Err no
    avianos said:

    Because Lockboxes count as Gambling

    and Gambling is banned in Asian countries in any form of videogame​​

    That's...really not accurate.

    The official reason is found here: http://support.arcgames.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1635/~/why-do-i-get-a-disabled-region-message-when-registering-for-an-arc-account?

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    guyhumualguyhumual Posts: 2,392 Arc User
    I was going to say that it's likely a China thing, but @jennymachx has done the google search and brought the correct answer. I'm surprised to see south Korea on that list.
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    jennymachxjennymachx Posts: 3,000 Arc User
    I distinctively remember Russia being on the list and interestingly it's no longer there. I also remember a mention in the past of a high volume of online fraudulent activies sourced to countries that make the block list.
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    jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,434 Arc User
    Thanks for that. So, here is the list of banned countries and the reasons.

    China
    Cuba
    Egypt
    Hong Kong
    Iran
    Macau
    Myanmar
    North Korea
    South Korea
    Syria
    Taiwan
    Vietnam

    Unfortunately, we are unable to allow new registrations from these regions. We are obligated to block regions which have their own localization of certain games and some regions are also blocked for administrative reasons such as US trade embargos. The same regions are blocked for all of our games.


    I guess Cuba, Iran, Mynamar, North Korea and Syria are on there because of embargoes and the like. Will Cuba come off now that relations are being more normalized? I'm kind of surprised that Lebanon is not on there if Syria and Iran are. I confess to having no idea what "which have their own localization of certain games" means. I'm guessing all the other far eastern countries fall under that? The big surprise to me is that Egypt is on the list. That seems odd given all the foreign aid we send there. Any ideas on why Egypt is on the list?
    jennymachx said:

    Err no

    avianos said:

    Because Lockboxes count as Gambling

    and Gambling is banned in Asian countries in any form of videogame​​

    That's...really not accurate.

    The official reason is found here: http://support.arcgames.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1635/~/why-do-i-get-a-disabled-region-message-when-registering-for-an-arc-account?

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    catstarstocatstarsto Posts: 1,129 Arc User
    jennymachx said:

    I distinctively remember Russia being on the list and interestingly it's no longer there. I also remember a mention in the past of a high volume of online fraudulent activies sourced to countries that make the block list.

    I had 2 friends from Russia that played in STO, but they where blocked too from Cryptic games a few years ago. :/
    I miss hearing from them, they where good guys. I wonder if it will get that bad in my country?

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    legendarylycan#5411 legendarylycan
    legendarylycan#5411
         Posts: 1,569 Arc User
    jaazaniah1 wrote: »
    I confess to having no idea what "which have their own localization of certain games" means.

    i'm going to take a wild guess and say that means those countries have their own version of the game in their language and won't allow other language versions of it​​
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    kallethenkallethen Posts: 1,576 Arc User
    shadowfang240 wrote: »
    i'm going to take a wild guess and say that means those countries have their own version of the game in their language and won't allow other language versions of it

    That's pretty much it. It's mostly for contract reasons, as the localized versions are done through other companies. Neverwinter actually has a Chinese version, for example, but it looks like that will be ending soon.​​
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    jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,434 Arc User
    edited April 2017
    There's actually a Vietnamese language version of CO? Chinese I could understand, but not Vietnamese. Or, do we still have some sort of sanctions on Vietnam? And I'm still baffled by Egypt.
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    theanothernametheanothername Posts: 35 Arc User
    In some countries it might be their own law. For Iran i.e. it might be because Witchcraft refuses to wear a burqa.(http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127269-League-of-Legends-Tournament-Characters-Banned-By-Iran)
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    markhawkmanmarkhawkman Posts: 4,915 Arc User
    yeah, sometimes you simply don't want to deal with the hassle of local laws. Still puzzled by south korea.
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    legendarylycan#5411 legendarylycan
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         Posts: 1,569 Arc User
    maybe because cryptic is a subsidary of PWE, who is itself a subsidary of PW, a chinese company, and the chinese are allies of north korea, whom the south koreans aren't exactly on the best of terms with?​​
    #LegalizeAwoo
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    chalupaoffurychalupaoffury Posts: 2,553 Arc User
    S.K. is also where a lot of gold farming in other games comes from. That could be a financial thing.
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    markhawkmanmarkhawkman Posts: 4,915 Arc User
    chalupaoffury said:

    S.K. is also where a lot of gold farming in other games comes from. That could be a financial thing.

    Good point. I hadn't thought of that angle.
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    legendarylycan#5411 legendarylycan
    legendarylycan#5411
         Posts: 1,569 Arc User
    i could've sworn most of the gold farming comes from china...namely, from their prisons​​
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    bluepanda8#5201 bluepanda8
    bluepanda8#5201
         Posts: 6 Arc User
    > @avianos said:
    > Because Lockboxes count as Gambling
    > and Gambling is banned in Asian countries in any form of videogame​​

    It would have strict bans in Singapore and Malaysia though.
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    nephtnepht Posts: 6,883 Arc User
    Chinese owned game. China is banned.


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    pantagruel01pantagruel01 Posts: 7,091 Arc User
    nepht said:

    Chinese owned game. China is banned.


    That's actually not surprising; China generally requires its own version of games (this is a China thing, not a PW thing).
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    aesicaaesica Posts: 2,537 Arc User
    jaazaniah1 wrote: »
    Syria
    I'd be surprised if anyone in Syria even had the chance to log in and play games like these.

    You know, instead of fighting for their lives and all that good stuff? :(​​
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    jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,434 Arc User
    I still want to know why Egypt is banned. To me that is the least explainable one.
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    guyhumualguyhumual Posts: 2,392 Arc User
    They know what they did.
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    legendarylycan#5411 legendarylycan
    legendarylycan#5411
         Posts: 1,569 Arc User
    edited June 2017
    who knows? maybe one of the PWE staff doesn't like pharaohs​​
    #LegalizeAwoo
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    jonsillsjonsills Posts: 6,317 Arc User
    It's already been plentifully explained. PW's other games have server farms around the world; for contractual reasons, Far East markets for PW have to be handled by local servers. Cryptic only has one server farm, located in Massachusetts, which fact PW can't seem to deal with. Instead, it's governed exactly the same way as all PW's other products - meaning that in certain markets, since there are no servers for Cryptic in that part of the world, the region is effectively "banned". No malice, just corporate bureaucracy.
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    jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,434 Arc User
    Apparently one can play PWE's games in Libya, Sudan and Israel, Egypt's neighbors. Not seeing how the above explains Egypt's ban?
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    markhawkmanmarkhawkman Posts: 4,915 Arc User
    Some areas seem to be banned for other reasons. didn't Egypt recently have a civil war or something?
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