TikTok Deal Finalized, Complaints About New TOS & Posts Being Censored

 

For fans of TikTok in America who have been somewhat worried about the lingering threat of a potential ban in the United States, they no longer have to worry about that as a deal was made with American investors that satisfied the demands of the current administration. But, it may have come with a price that some users are not willing to bear.

More on the story in Extra. 

 

(finally up, sorry about the delay). 

Reader Submitted Picture: Bull At A China Shop

 

 Taken by Alden Cortes at the SLB's League of Extraordinary Victorian Roleplayers exhibit. What this minotaur is doing looking into a china shop for, he didn't say. But it's just a thin layer of glass keeping that bull from going in. 

 

 

China To Restrict Children and Teens' Video Game Time to Three Hours A Week

 

On August 31, it was reported that by order of the national government, Chinese game players under 18 would be limited to playing video games to three hours a week. This time is limited to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, at one hour each day. This law replaces an earlier one that limited game time for minors to 90 minutes a weekday.

The reasons given for this action by the Chinese Communist government depend on who one asks. State media has reported concerns about videogames being "spiritual opium" harmful to the young. But it's widely believed the law is not so much about protecting the young but controlling what they see and hear, as the Chinese government is increasingly concerned about Western influences on children.

In the recent past, some in the gaming industry have gone through great lengths to appease the Communist government, such as when Activision-Blizzard was quick to ban a Hong Kong gamer who made a brief statement in support of protestors.

Sources: BBC News, foreignpolicy.com, Washington Post, 

Image credit: Kotaku

Bixyl Shuftan
 

News and Commentary: More on Blizzard's China Controversy

This month, the players of the game "World of Warcraft" are celebrating it's fifteenth anniversary, with in-game presents, events, and bonus experience. But there's been a dark cloud over the celebrations. It was last month that the company that owns Warcraft, Blizzard/Activision, banned a player from Hong Kong in another game, Hearthstone, after when given a chance to speak on a televised stream, he called for the freedom of the people of his city. Since the Newser's first article on the subject, the situation has continued to develop. And finally at Blizzard's annual convention, the company President addressed the issue.

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

News and Commentary: Blizzard's Removing Hong Kong Gamer From Tournament Sparks Calls for Boycott, Debate on Free Speech

For years, American companies have been trying to get into the Chinese market. With over a billion people, the potential number of customers for a large business is huge. However, the country is under the control of a dictatorship that does not react well to criticism or remarks in opposition to it's goals. It frequently makes demands to such companies, and penalizes those already in for perceived comments or actions against it. The debate flared up again this week thanks to three stories in the news. One of them was a tournament of players of the Hearthstone game, which is owned by the same company that owns the still noted MMO game World of Warcraft. When one winner was interviewed, he proclaimed his support for the protestors in the city of Hong Kong. Blizzard soon reacted with actions many of its customers have found troubling, including yours truly whom had recently just signed up for Warcraft again after an extended break.

Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Longtime Bitcoin Developer Quits, States It Has "Failed"

By Bixyl Shuftan

Bitcoin, the noted electronic currency that's gained a following among computer geeks attracted to the idea of a worldwide virtual currency and those looking for an alternative to the US dollar and other currencies backed by big banks, has made news time to time, such as when it went through wild price swings in March and April 2013, and when one of it's largest exchanges, Mt Gox, went bankrupt in Feb 2014. Since then, the Crypto currency has continued on, making news recently as the best performing currency in 2015, gaining close to 40 percent.

But a couple weeks ago, it was dealt a major setback when one of it's developers and longtime advocate, Mike Hearn, sold all his bitcoin and published a blog, saying Bitcoin had failed, and would no longer be taking part in it. He wrote, "It has failed because the community has failed. What was meant to be a new, decentralized form of money that lacked “systemically important institutions” and “too big to fail” has become something even worse: a system completely controlled by just a handful of people. Worse still, the network is on the brink of technical collapse. The mechanisms that should have prevented this outcome have broken down ..."

So what are the problems? The big one, Hearn stated, is that the rate at which Bitcoin transactions can be made has been decreasing to the point it's networks are running out of capacity and becoming unreliable. Backlogs at peak times are becoming increasingly common. The blocks in it's blockchain have been steadily increasing, but the capacity cap of each block remains unchanged. While there are several reasons that the capacity limit hasn't been raised, the big one is that it's been effectively controlled by Chinese miners, "just two of whom control more than 50% of the hash power. At a recent conference over 95% of hashing power was controlled by a handful of guys sitting on a single stage."

So why won't they allow the capacity to grow? Hearn wrote, " the Chinese internet is so broken by their government’s firewall that moving data across the border barely works at all, with speeds routinely worse than what mobile phones provide. Imagine an entire country connected to the rest of the world by cheap hotel wifi, and you’ve got the picture. Right now, the Chinese miners are able to — just about — maintain their connection to the global internet and claim the 25 BTC reward ($11,000) that each block they create gives them. But if the Bitcoin network got more popular, they fear taking part would get too difficult and they’d lose their income stream. This gives them a perverse financial incentive to actually try and stop Bitcoin becoming popular."

As Hamlet Au would comment in New World Notes, "Ironically enough ... a currency that is so appealing to libertarians" was being strangled "because of well, the Chinese Communist Party. ... A virtual currency which promised to free us from government oversight and oppression is being successfully strangled in its crib by one of the world's most oppressive regimes. Without hardly even trying."

Despite this blow, Bitcoin remains popular. And it's unlikely it will collapse anytime soon. But as Chris Baraniuk writing for the BBC put it, "it certainly look(s) as though fundamental questions over how Bitcoin works are now coming to a head."

Sources: Mike Hearn, BBC, New World Notes.

Bixyl Shuftan

Culture and Fun

After several days offline due to a technical glitch, reporter Gemma Cleanslate is back in business. Last weekend, she attended an exhibition of a new group on the Grid, "Culture and Fun." They were showing off a number of paintings by Pan Yuliang, China's first modern artist.

Read Gemma's story in People.

~2011 SL National Day of the Republic Of China Flag Raising Ceremony~

Place: WW2 TRIBUTE Kunming Air Base
Landmark: WW2 Tribute (110, 22, 25)
Time: 10/10/2011 3:30 AM SLT

Introduction:
Republic Of China National Day is commemorate Wuchang Uprising which happened on 10th of October, 1919. Wuchang Uprising was the beginning of the 1911 Revolution, and after two months, China's revolution had a great success to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and established Asia’s first republic, Republic Of China. This year is the 100th National Day. There will be a Flag Raising Ceremony in the WW2 TRIBUTE Kunming Air Base.

Things to remember and fellow:
1.Fellow the Sims Rule.
2.Wear formal clothes. Such as suits for men. Army Uniform is also allowed.
3.Please respect the ceremony. Keep quiet during the Flag Raising. And please look at the flag.
4.Admins have the right to kick or ban people who show their unrespectful to the ceremony or breaking the sims rule.

Process of the ceremony:
3:00 AM: Ready for the ceremony
3:30 AM: Ceremony Start
3:31 AM: Introdution
3:33 AM: Flag Raising
3:34 AM: Saulte
3:35 AM: Speeches
3:40 AM: Golden Tigers Air Show
4:15 AM: Fireworks
4:20 AM: End of the ceremony


Any further questions about the ceremony feel to ask
Marcus Warbunsee

Music Event at China Tang

This is a clip of "Live n Kickin" recently filmed at the China Tang sim, which we recently did an article on.

China Tang

Our reporters continue their exploring of Second Life. Today, we look at Gemma Cleanslate's trip to China Tang. This beautifully designed sim is so detailed, it took multiple builders to build it. Join Gemma as she finds a sample of what the sim has to offer.

Read the story in Places.