Hello Kotaku readers, my name is Eric, youâve probably seen some of my articles these last couple of months. If you havenât already figured it out I live in China (the Chinese mainland) and these last 3 years havenât exactly been a picnic.
Now donât get me wrong, life in China isnât bad. In fact, it is definitely not the backwater, copyright infringing 1984 Orwellian society that many westerners think it is. Sure there are cctvâs nearly everywhere in the big cities, State media that spout propaganda, and the Great Fire Wall of China, but for the most part life here is simple and enjoyableâŠthat is until we start to talk about the internet and video games.
As you have probably read in previous Kotaku articles, video game consoles in China are banned. While they are banned, consoles and their games are also widely available through the use of the gray market and online outlets such as Chinaâs own Amazon/Ebay mash-up taobao.com
https://lastchance.cc/why-are-consoles-banned-in-china-5587577%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
On top of not having easy access to games in international languages other than Chinese or Japanese, Chinese online games arenât very friendly towards foreigners. Anyone can enter an internet cafe in China (Children have restricted access times) by just showing their passport and registering, but entering an internet cafe does not mean you can play the games. To play online games in China one must have a Chinese ID or a passport to register, however many games will not recognize or support passport registration thus, the only way is to use a Chinese ID.
Now some of you living in China in, particularly those of you in Beijing, will say, âHey Eric, why not just borrow an ID from a Chinese person, or get a fake ID made for $500 at Renmin Universityâs west gate?â
One can use a Chinese nationalâs id number but keep in mind that said person will not be able to register for the game again, and that they are in turn technically the proprietor of the online gaming account. As to getting a fake ID, the whole process is a futile adventure in wasting money, especially since ladies at Renmin University in Beijing only make fake student ids.
So because of the restrictions set on online gaming in China foreigners are left to play online multiplayer PC games in local area network modes.
Now this brings out one of the biggest problems, and my biggest gripe, about living in China, the internet. The Chinese internet is all those terrible things you read and then more.
Any site that has posted defamatory commentary or a sensitive topic about China is usually blocked. Youtube, Facebook, and many blogging sites are blocked. Google has terrible service issues in China. Search engines such as Yahoo.com.cn and Bing.com have to agree to filter out search results in China, on top of that accessing foreign websites that arenât blocked in China results in ridiculous load times.
Heck, even our very own Kotaku.com has had service isssues in the Peoples Republic, everything from DNS redirection to loading very very very slowly
Of course there are ways around the Great Firewall of China, methods such as the use of free or paid Virtual Private Networks and proxies, but for those not in the know, the process of reaching out to outside world is a pain.
Living and working in China is rather hard for a gamer and internet junky such as myself, but after a while Iâve gotten used to it. There are ways around the crappy internet and alternatives to blocked websites. Personally I have a VPN that allows me to access Kotaku during outage periods, but I also use Chinese websites for my video needs. Iâm on Baidu for search just because Google is so spotty and I use Sina weibo as my social network because of my day job. As to video games, I use my lady friendâs Chinese ID and I buy English language games whenever Iâm Stateside.
I get by, itâs not that bad, itâs just annoying.
