Apparently it's natural disaster season in Asia. The massive cyclone that hit Burma () on May 3 has taken an estimated 78,000 lives with an additional 56,000 missing. Last week (May 12) an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale shook parts of china. The death toll for that quake has reached 34,000 with the body count expected to rise. Many of the quake victims have been children, as least 6 schools collapsed while classes were in session. It will take weeks, months, or even years to sort out the amount of damage caused by these events.
The Chinese government has declared a mourning period for three days for those injured, missing, and passed. This includes the closing of movie theaters, web portals and television stations. The9, who services World of Warcraft in is participating in the blackout as is Shanda Interactive Entertainment, host of the World of Legend game.
If you are helping out, there are a number of charitable organizations taking donations to assist in providing relief to victims in Asia. Studies show that making donations to such organizations actually help to boost your own mood in addition to helping those who are in need.
Tags: burma, charity, china, cyclone, death, donations, earthquake, mourning, myanmar, Shanda, the-9, The9
Filed under: News items
May 19th 2008 at 5:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Bart May 19th 2008 5:07PM
I wonder what the Official forums for WoW in China look like. Do they have the same amount of ire and whining as the US ones?
The reason I bring this up is I cant imagine what would happen if Blizz decided to bring down the realms here in the US for such a mourning period. I think the internet would explode from the amount of QQ and "GG Blizz" Etc.
If you dont know what I am talking about go to any WoW related site/blog and look at the forums during official maintenance time when forums are down. People act like you stole their kidney for taking away some of their playtime.
Anyway my thoughs and prayers are with China, I had some good times there and my wife is from there.
Naix May 20th 2008 11:09AM
Wait! There was an earthquake?
Jagoex May 19th 2008 5:11PM
Thanks for giving this some coverage, you guys. It's definitely an important topic that underlines the "reality" we all live in, even if we embed ourselves in fantasy from time to time.
And just as an aside -- your picture selection for this post totally had me scratching my head.
trollest79 May 19th 2008 5:21PM
Those who are saddened will mourn regardless, if they choose to do so. Any government imposing shutting down of any business, including entertainment, is violating the rights of its citizens to receive services from private sector. It's complete BS. I'm sad for those who lost their lives, beloved ones and/or wealth in natural disasters, but I will not mourn and I refuse to be prevented access to WoW. I'm curious whether Blizzard condones this violation by the Chinese government and the conformation by The9. Does Blizzard have a say in this decision by The9?
john thorpe May 19th 2008 6:00PM
^This
Pzychotix May 19th 2008 6:03PM
The9 is independent of Blizzard. Blizzard just makes the games, while The9 distributes it and manages it in China. Blizzard couldn't care less. You're looking at it entirely the wrong way too.
PeeWee May 19th 2008 7:09PM
"the rights of its citizens..."
I lol:ed, it's China we're talking about.
Umm... May 19th 2008 7:18PM
You have to remember the governments of China and the US are different. The Chinese government's businesses are ran by the government so if they want to shut down their own businesses, they can. Besides, even some businesses here closed during the 9/11 attacks and the days after for mourning. The number of deaths in China are tenfold the number of people who died that day, just to give you a comparison. I really don't think there's a need to complain about a country mourning.
I'd also like to add, China is very close to becoming a super power. Since the Cold War, the only other country to hold this position is the United States. The United States didn't become a super power until after World War II. The Soviet Union and China were communist countries for a very short time in comparison to how long the United State's government has been in place. You may not agree with the way they treat their people, but it's obviously working to some degree. It isn't popular, but I speak the truth.
fsmrb2 May 19th 2008 5:23PM
so will this effect gold farming?
jbodar May 19th 2008 7:26PM
Isn't gold farmed on American servers, not Chinese ones, since you can only move gold between servers by doing a character transfer, and they limit the gold you can take with you?
Unless of course the internet is shut down for those three days, but that seems hard since the whole country would be "down".
-_- Zzz May 19th 2008 5:28PM
"China started a three-day period of national mourning on Monday for the victims of the May 12 earthquake, halting recreational activities such as online gaming and movie screenings, along with darkening the home pages of major Web portals and even suspending the Olympic torch relay. During the mourning period, all public amusements will be suspended and flags nationwide must be kept at half-mast, China's central government declared."
How typically autocratic of the PRC. A tradgedy like this isn't served by such lip-service - maybe they could focus their time and energy on making buildings that aren't made from paper machet. Oh well, I'm sure there are still plenty of pirate DVDs to buy for pennies on the dollar there.
/rant
john thorpe May 19th 2008 6:03PM
I love the symbolism of stopping the torch relay. Yep, let freedom take a snooze while we perform a meaningless symbolic gesture that won't bring back one dead person.
This would be a grand time for the dalai lama to declare independence...
-_- Zzz May 19th 2008 6:06PM
I think this move is at least in part about the central gov't being able to say "Hey don't forget, we're still in charge of everything you see and do here" to its people.
xzor May 19th 2008 5:34PM
my heart and prayers are with the people effected by the recent quake and cyclone in asia. the loss of life is deplorable.
even though this blog is about a game, even the most hardened gamer cant help but be affected.
also, i agree with Jagoex, im not sure the choice of picture is in the best taste, considering over 100k people have lost their lives, and im sure the number of effected people is surely in the millions.
Tharina May 19th 2008 5:37PM
"my heart and prayers are with the people effected by the recent quake and cyclone in asia"
ain't no god in this shitty world bro, just try and get through it while you can man and hope your ass ain't the next one to get fucked.
yazah May 19th 2008 5:38PM
I dont see what is wrong with the picture. The story is about WoW being closed for the 3-day mourning, and the picture is of the dark portal with the words "closed" on it.
Am I missing something or did they just recently change the picture?
Jeenome May 19th 2008 5:39PM
While I am far from China's biggest fan the bashing here is far from called for. While I know the USA would never go so far as to shut down public amusements and such it would do us good to take more time off of ourselves and actually look up for a moment and realize that people really are hurting when tragedy strikes. Yes, China has many issues with human rights but calling for a period of national mourning is to be respected. Maybe the people that would be spending the days wrapped up in WoW and other things that have been shut down will take that time to help their fellow citizens get through these tough times. No matter how wrong their government is on human rights there are good people there that will spend this time of mourning, forced or not, taking care of those around them.
Kolo May 19th 2008 5:40PM
Nice to see you guys doing this. Alot of the US/EU players might not like the gold sellers, but a big part of the WoW community are legit players in China & many of them will be affected by this tragedy.
John May 19th 2008 5:50PM
And yet, Gold seller spam continues unabated.
As to whether or not Blizz has any say in whether chinese wow is shut down, they don't, it's F***ing CHINA, they say jump and you do it, or they shoot you and charge your family for the bullets.
"Any government imposing shutting down of any business, including entertainment, is violating the rights of its citizens..."
Again, it's F***ing CHINA, of all the abuses of it's citizen's rights, I'd have to say this is the one I am least concerned about. Wow is awesome, but it + the net + movie theatres + whatever else being shut down is NOTHING in comparison to...oh, I dunno... slave labor, wages that are unfair enough to make gold selling profitable, poisoning children's toys for export, the continued occupation of Tibet, their refusal to see Taiwan as a separate country, no freedom of speech, press, religion, or any number of other things that we westerners take completely for granted. F*** China and F*** their olympic games.
I mourn the terrible loss of life, especially of the children in school, children SHOULD be safe in school, but go figure, the chinese government cheaped out on the building materials and the buildings fell over, GG China.
Pzychotix May 19th 2008 6:08PM
Shut the hell up, and stop talking about stuff you don't know.