‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Developers Asked Streamers to Avoid Politics During Their Playthroughs. It Backfired
In the middle of a long time list of twitch streams for Black Legend: WukongGame Science’s new action role-playing game released this week features a standout game: “COVID-19 QUARANTINE FEMINIST PROPAGANDA TAIWAN (IS A REAL COUNTRY).” The livestream, run by a creator named Moonmoon, doesn’t include anything out of the ordinary for a video game—just a playful nod to a few topics that the Chinese studio that developed the game would rather ignore.
On platforms like Twitch and YouTube, the ribbons To be flip One metaphor middle finger a limited number of creators were invited to review the game, which takes place in Ming Dynasty China and is based on Chinese mythology. Just days after its launch, the game became a huge success, attracting more than 2.2 million concurrent players. According to market research firm Niko Partner, Black Legend: WukongThe success of “shows that Chinese studios are ready to compete directly with prominent Western and Japanese game developers in the high-end AAA space”.
Just before Black Legend: Wukonglaunched, some streamers have gave code early to create content with the game–with a few caveats. Follow screenshot posted online, streamers who received the guidelines were asked not to “include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishism, and other content that incites negative discourse” in their content, as well as not to “use trigger words such as ‘quarantine’ or ‘isolation’ or ‘COVID-19’.” Furthermore, streamers were asked not to discuss anything about the policies, opinions, or news of the Chinese video game industry.
These guidelines are not cited as a condition for all early game invitees; stores such as Polygon and Kotaku were given a standard review ban without strict rules about what content they were not allowed to talk about, except for spoilers. According to a Report from AftermathWhile some streamers do get asked to avoid topics like politics, those requests are often related to sponsorships or paid contracts. However, those restrictions—which appear to come from game publishers— Hero Game—is counterproductive, as even players who aren’t given any notes disregard instructions they find absurd.
Rui Zhong, a writer and researcher, live-streamed herself playing the game while discussing Journey to the Westnovel Black Legend adapted from, as well as feminism in China and the country’s one-child policy. (Zhong has before written about Chinese censorship for WIRED.)
“What bothers me is that a lot of the backlash against the game’s tutorials is so superficial and reflects a superficial, stereotypical impression of Chinese politics and society,” Zhong told WIRED. Misogyny in development, gaming spaces, and elsewhere “is not a problem unique to China. It’s not the only place where feminists are labeled as man-haters, as the developers have said.”
ONE IGN Report published last year revealed a history of sexist and inappropriate comments made by Game Science employees and stakeholders. Co-founder Yang Qi spoke about “how games for women and men are completely different, due to their biological differences,” IGN reported; other examples included a technical artist discussing the possibility of masturbating to the game’s female snake spirit. Zhong, who was quoted in the IGN article, told the publication that feminist organizing in China is “very difficult,” with “crimes after labor organizing efforts, there have been crackdowns on discussing marital issues, there have certainly been crackdowns after people have accused prominent Chinese men of sexual harassment, assault, or misconduct, and overall, they’ve been at a huge disadvantage.”
