Chew_Mattew--The gamer rights protection movement in China 2

THE GAMER RIGHTS PROTECTION MOVEMENT IN CHINA Matthew M. Chew Jun 14 2008

Violent Confrontation at The 9, 2004

A Chronology of Gamer Activism
2003: PRC gamers’ commotion over the collective loss of virtual property in 金庸群侠传 in HK, Taiwan)
2003 : gamers organized to fight against termination of game of 盛大
2003: conflict between leading gamer Guo Lei 郭磊 and 盛大
2003 litigation and protests of banning of accounts in 魔力宝贝
2004: the sudden termination of 魔劍 led gamers to group together and sue publisher 天人互動
2004: self-immolation incident, Luo Qi ( 罗琪 )
2004: violent conflict between gamers and the staff of The 9
2004: 40-gamer protest at 金山’ s office
2004: gamer won the 1st virtual property dispute case against game corporation, 李宏晨 vs 北極冰
2004: 游戏企业与玩家自律维权公约 proposed

Virtual-World Protests

A Chronology of Gamer Activism (cont’)
2005: litigation instigated by virtual property dispute and theft in 熱血傳奇
2005: large in-game protests in 剑侠情缘Ⅱ
2005: Netease staff beat up gamers of 大话西游Ⅱ at an outdoor activity
2006 : large protests and debates, 金山’ s treatment of dupes in 封神榜
2006: huge debates raged across games on buying hacked virtual property
2006: 6,700 gamers protested against 热血江湖
2006: protest of World of Warcraft’s technical instability
2007: Moliyo Incident, 摩力游事件
2007: Tianqing Digital Incident, 天晴数码事件
2007: mass banning of accounts, 征途

The Moliyo Incident, 2007

Virtual-World Grievances
Rent-seeking activities
Mistreatment of virtual property theft
Mistreatment of duping problems
Termination of individual online games
Technical instability (eg. game crashes, lag)
 Game corporations’ corrupted, authoritarian rule of virtual-worlds

Formation of a Collective Action Frame
玩家维权 : Gamer rights protection
2003: the Warcraft 3 Competition Slot Incident
After 2003: the term became an increasingly recognized as a collective action frame
The frame offers
integrity and continuity across protests, turning largely NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) protests erupted independently in different games into an incipient movement
collective consciousness
an insurgent consciousness and subversive worldview that educate and mobilize gamers

First Component of the Frame: Consumer Rights
Consumer rights in China’s: eg. the CCTV ‘315’ night show
‘ 315’ special features, debates, channels of complaint organized by major game media
Consumer Associations
an official bureau; willing to handle gamers’ anti-corporate complaints
individual Consumer Association websites have become defacto bases for mobilizing and coordinating activism

Second Component of the Frame: Rights Protection
Human rights and rights-based discourses and activism
Rights protection movements sprouting in a wide variety of social arenas, led by different social groups: ‘Rightful resistance’
Rights protection lawyering
Rights protection movements and the Internet

Theoretical Implications I: Online Games and Social Movements
The socio-political implications of online games
Game corporations
media businesses in the real-world
authoritarian states of virtual-worlds
Gamers
real-world: middle-class cultural consumers
virtual-world: grassroot, politically active virtual-world citizens

Theoretical Implications II: The Internet and Social Movements
The social significance of Virtual-World-Oriented Social Movements (VSMs)
The social movement potential of virtual communities

Chew_Mattew--The gamer rights protection movement in China 2

by Chinese Internet Research Conference on Jun 23, 2008

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