StarCraft II Hit With Adults Only Rating in Korea

[celerisk]

There you have it... violence, foul language, drug abuse,
along with a recent law against playing overly long,
all in the name of "protect the children"...

Well, whereas the original, and mostly the new one too, got "12 and up",
poor Koreans are less lucky with SC2: "adults only".

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2010/04/133_64287.html

 

[Doomhammer]

Now that's interesting:

The measures, which are clearly focused on younger players who are apparently more vulnerable, include requiring games companies to introduce "fatigue systems,'' which force disadvantages in game play when the advised limit for playing time is exceeded.

 

[13lade619]

so, they actually STRICTLY implement that in korea?
that's really serious business...

 

[sqrage]

so, they actually STRICTLY implement that in korea?
that's really serious business...

If so, Blizz will prolly make a special Korean version lacking all the cool things like drugs and uber-gore.

 

[13lade619]

yes, probably. since korea will be one of its major markets, they'll be doing everything not to lose them.

 

[celerisk]

lacking all the cool things like drugs and uber-gore.

There already is one. Germany will get a "no blood" version.
Or, at least, there was some such announcement last year.
No idea what the current plan is...

Anyway, SC(BW) is a rather big deal over there in Korea.
TV, big money, ... and the players aren't all that old.

Regardless of Korea though, why a bleeding Zerg would be a problem that requires government intervention is beyond me.

 

[sqrage]

Regardless of Korea though, why a bleeding Zerg would be a problem that requires government intervention is beyond me.

The Aliens might be watching and Germany is being smart. If they see such violence upon Aliens elsewhere, that will be the first place they strike.

 

[Slapshot136]

do the ratings actually mean anything or not? they are practically not enforced as far as I know in most places (I.E. - what store will actually not sell a 13+ T game to a person who is 12? or even ask for ID? who can't just download SC2 and then buy the CD key from blizzard directly?)

 

[celerisk]

who can't just download SC2 and then buy the CD key from blizzard directly?)

Anyone who's 13 and doesn't have mom's credit card?
Chances are she'll want to have a look at the screen before handing over that card info,
and, if she sees "Adult Only" there, you may have some explaining to do.

Wikipedia list of AO titles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_products
As you can see, nearly all got AO because of "Strong Sexual Content".

Being 12 and getting a 13+ title is most likely no problem.
That changes though once you enter AO as that's when shops really do want to see an ID.

Additionally, if you were Blizzard, you'd probably want to run some ads for your great new product.
You don't want those ads to only show after midnight.


And, let's not forget things like... you've seen Avatar?
You probably didn't know the following:
" Also, its New Age, pagan worldview contains extremely anti-capitalist content with a strong Marxist overtone. It promotes group-think and argues in favor of the destruction of the human race. "
(Link: http://www.movieguide.org/box-office/4/10075-avatar)
(Try movieguide's Harry Potter review)
Imagine the review an adult only SC2 would get from there :nuts:
Now imagine you're 15 and you need to tell your mom that you really really do need that game.


No rating whatsoever is going to prevent me from trying out my "one hundred and one funny ways to kill a Marine if you're Zerg" I've come up with since the game's announcement.

 

[Sevion]

What the hell?

Sorry to get off topic, but I feel making a whole thread isn't necessary.

Spoiler

"This is a huge Christmas season movie. What audiences need to know is that the God profaned in this movie is real. The goddess and the spiritual concepts presented in the movie are fiction. The Spirit we need is the Spirit of Almighty God, our Creator, who is only available when we accept the loving gift of His redemption in the name of Jesus Christ, who is God made flesh, who died to pay the penalty for our sins and was raised from the dead to secure eternal life for each of us who accept Him. While we remain here, we are to be stewards of the other living things on earth, not equals."

Something tells me whoever writes those "reviews" is a sadistic "Christian". And I realize the title of the page is "Christian Movie Reviews".

"The bad humans want to destroy the site where the aliens worship their false god."

The person may be Christian and believe in his or her god, but that person has no right to say anything like that. (And don't get us started on proving anything >_< I don't want this to become a rage-war. It's just me ranting...)

"If you want to live in a kinder, gentler, more compassionate world, don’t go hug a tree or look for some earthly version of an Earth goddess. Give your life to God through Jesus Christy and let Him use you to reach out to those trapped in selfishness, greed, pride, and hatred."

There it is again. (Some) Christians are pushing their religion on others.

Isn't there something about "Freedom of Religion" in the United States? Then why do I see this happening all the time?

// End Rant

Anyhow, as said previously, I'm sure Blizzard will stop at nothing to make Starcraft II available to everyone in Korea. There's no way they're cutting out such a large percentage of their income.

 

[NightShade]

Wow. violence (ok), crude language (maybe), and drugs? maybe the drinking and smoking.

seems a little bit extreme, but maybe they do have a problem.

@celerisk
people may sometimes enforce that children can not buy a PG-13 game but they have no control who plays the game. I played Warcraft 2 when I was around seven, it's rated T.

 

[celerisk]

Indeed. But remember, SC is national sports over there and played in public, on TV.
You don't want your 16 years old champion out there with an "adult" game.

Well, in the end, it's political...
" Blizzard will no longer be negotiating with KeSPA (Korea E-Sports Association) regarding the intellectual property rights of their games. "
I.e. KeSPA wants to keep their near total control (and the money making part).

You can read some more of it over at TeamLiquid:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=121471

 

[Doomhammer]

One Ring to rule them all...

Recent KeSPA statements, gone official May 04 2010, make it appear that Morhaine is playing a poker game with just about the entire Korean e-sport market at stake... read more:

The association promised Blizzard the continued marketing and promotional support of their products through the use of all our resources including players, teams and broadcasting, and constant investment including the obtainment of sponsorships, as well as expressing an interest in paying a reasonable usage fee for their products. However, Blizzard would have limited the usage period of a game to only one year (note: I have no idea what the heck this means), which would make it difficult to run a stable E-sports league. In addition, Blizzard requests that all aspects of league management would have be authorized by them beforehand, including the acquiring of sponsorships, marketing planning and broadcast planning. Furthermore, Blizzard made other unreasonable requests beyond the rights of the copyright holder, such as royalties and sub-licensing fees on sponsorships and broadcasting fees, the right to audit KeSPA’s finances, as well as ownership of secondary content created through our unique resources in the teams, players, and broadcasting expertise.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=123275
http://www.gosugamers.net/starcraft2/news/11847-official-statement-released-by-kespa
For German speakers:
http://starcraft2.ingame.de/kommentare.php?newsid=102352

 

[sqrage]

Wtf? I think they've gone mad with greed... :nuts:

 

[celerisk]

KeSPA? Indeed.
If you meant Blizzard, then probably not.

Korean e-sports has been made by players like Boxer, not men in suits like KeSPA.
They simply showed up when there was a need to have some larger organization.
Unfortunately, they developed into some massive thing with too much power for its own good.
(As in, if they don't like your team, you're not playing in "their" tournaments)


- Hello, we represent Blizzard and would to talk about SC2.
- Sure thing. We handle everything.
... 2 hours later
- You do remember that we actually made SC, BW and the entire starcraft universe?

And it went down-hill from there.


To me this seems to be yet another example of a large corporation that sits on an ancient business model,
and calls for government help to "protect" it once something newer and, presumably, better shows up.
Sounds familiar?

 

[Doomhammer]

- Hello, we represent Blizzard and would to talk about SC2.
- Sure thing. We handle everything.
... 2 hours later
- You do remember that we actually made SC, BW and the entire starcraft universe?

Do you actually have a quote on that, or is that your personal interpretation?

Your other arguments
- [I"]they developed into some massive thing with too much power for its own good"[/I]
- "yet another example of a large corporation that sits on an ancient business model"
do apply quite nicely for both sides, don't you think?
We'll see about the "call for government help to "protect" it" once the WTO clicks in

 

[celerisk]

No quote anywhere to be found.

All I got is an interview of Blizzard after this fail that sounded rather normal.
And a statement by KeSPA that basically makes it sound like Blizzard stormed their offices and demanded the money, the decisions and everything else, now, or else...

While no details are actually known, that last part doesn't sound like anything from Blizzard.

KeSPA on the other hand is officially recognized by some Korean ministry (culture? I think).
And is a bunch of corporation representatives that are dealing in contracts and sponsoring.

Blizzard needs KeSPA, but only in Korea.
Of course, one might argue that e-sports is never taking off outside of Korea.
When's the last time you've seen a pro-game-match on a local TV channel?


Well, either way, we'll see.
I'm definitely on the side of Blizzard with this one.



Related to that "power" argument:
Blizzard doesn't have any power that will make people play their games.
KeSPA though has the power to decide who will or won't be able to participate in a tournament.

Additionally, Blizzard's business model isn't ancient, in the sense that they are actually producing content that people buy.
KeSPA is running by an old game...

 

[Doomhammer]

Blizzard have been creating some of the most outstanding games ever made, no doubt about that one.
As I can't really watch behind the curtain of the negotiations with KeSPA, I nonetheless get the ever so slight hunch indicating that the huge financial success of WoW (its basically a money-making machine) seems to have gone to their heads.
Signs include
- restriction so European WoW players can't play on US-Servers and vice versa
- hesitance to draw resources to SC2 and release another WoW expansion instead
- consequently half year delay of SC beta
- no SC2 LAN play
- no reaction on the SC2 LAN petition
- no offline campaign play
- premium pricing, wherever they can afford to
- region lock to enforce premium pricing
- imba 70%/30% profit split on premium map sales

The KeSPA story merely adds on that. I mean, the decisions made are about close to 100% for economic reasons, and in many more recent cases even accepting to disgruntle a good percentage of their loyal fans and customers for the sake of maximizing profits short to medium term. Ten years ago, none of these decisions would with any chance have gone through (even if possible from the technical side). So much to the power argument. That the Korean culture is actually one of high loyalty and strong interconnections may be seen both from its good and bad side in this case. The adult rating was a bold move nonetheless, and the KeSPA statement makes a good point on how Blizzard can or could nowadays afford to treat their supporters.

 

[Doomhammer]

Blizz vs Kespa - Round 2

In late April Blizzard announced that it had given up on trying to negotiate with the Korean eSports Association. The three year disagreement with KeSPA was about broadcasting rights for various Blizzard game-related tournaments. KeSPA claimed that Blizzard's demands were too great, while Blizzard felt that their IP rights were not being respected. After months of negotiations Blizzard pulled out and was prepared to join forces with GOMtv.

This week Blizzard officially announced its partnership with Gretech-GomTV. The agreement gives GomTV the exclusive rights to operate and broadcast tournaments for all Blizzard games in Korea. It also means that organizations currently running Blizzard game-related leagues (and broadcasting league events) are on their way out. This includes leagues run by OnGameNet, MBCGame and KeSPA. Blizzard is allowing these leagues to operate until August - the end of this pro-league season. Word on the street is that Blizzard will allow its new partner to negotiate deals with OGN and MBCGame.

Naturally this is positive news for Blizzard, but it may end up embroiled in a lawsuit with KeSPA under the jurisdiction of an unfriendly court. We'll see. KesPA officials promised a response to this next Monday.

Below Mike Morhaime's open letter to the Korean eSport community, affirming the future cooperation with GomTV
read it on http://www.gamepolitics.com/2010/05/28/blizzard-dumps-kespa-signs-gomtv

Here's some of the best

Unlike the negative rumors you might have heard, Blizzard’s intention towards e-Sports is not to ‘dominate’ it and create excessive profits from it

 

[celerisk]

Being a top player in Korea is many things, though fun isn't one of them:
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/423150.html
And even this one is extremely carefully choosing his words.