By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

With the latest update of World of Warcraft, a popular online game published by Blizzard, Chinese gamers are astonished to find out that the game characters have been modified to avoid showing any bones, literally. Only the version sold in Chinese market has the “no skeletons” modification.

World of Warcraft is the most popular online game worldwide with more than 8 million global players, of which more than 3.5 million are in China.

“The modification of the game characters are due to the situation in China and the requirement of policy. It’s a minor modification to promote healthy and harmonious online gaming environment. It will not affect any gaming experience for players,” explained public relations department of the9.com, War of Warcraft’s Chinese operator.

The9.com wouldn’t comment on the government regulation issues.

The Content Examination Committee of Imported Games affiliated with Ministry of Culture is the regulatory authority to Internet games. All imported games must be examined before put into Chinese market.

Sources (in Chinese and English):
Nanfang City News: http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/southnews/pdf/ds/20070628/A32.pdf
Oriental Entrepreneur http://business.sohu.com/20060705/n244104437.shtml
Blizzard.com http://www.blizzard.com/press/070111.shtml
Newspaper Digest: http://www.gmw.cn/01wzb/2004-05/30/content_35928.htm