Following the devastating earthquake in China, WoW operators there, The9, announced yesterday that they are shutting down WoW and several other games that they provide to the nation, in response to the government’s request for an official mourning period. The shut down is to last 3 days, here is the statement they have made about it:
Shanghai, China – May 19, 2008. The9 Limited (NASDAQ: NCTY)(“The9”), a leading online game operator in China, announced today that it will suspend the operations of World of Warcraft, Soul of The Ultimate Nation, Granado Espada, Joyful Journey West, and MU from May 19, 2008 to May 21, 2008, in response to the government’s calling for three days of mourning for the earthquake tragedy in Southwest China. The operations of the foregoing games will be reestablished starting from the calendar day of May 22, 2008.
while the earthquake is terrible, this takes it too far ^^
it is not only WoW, they have blocked almost anything on the net related to entertainement. Movies, online games, chatromms, almost anything besides news and online banking. If you want to browse for one of these sites, you get redirected to a official site whit only a banner reminding you of the mourning period.
while i feel strongly for the victims of these earthquakes, i also think that the internet should be free and i am honestly shocked that they can block access to such a huge variety of homepages.