I admit, looking at my last post in a browser window, that it's damn ugly. The AO2 photo on the right and the embedded video below with some weird gap between them. Horrific. Don't ever hire me to be a web designer, I have no eye for aesthetics unless they're blonde.
But there's something uglier out there, it's called piracy! No actually piracy's kinda cool, but what's not cool is something I like to call 山寨*. I invented this term all by myself, honest! I DID. Shut it.
Okay, so no I didn't. But I'm jealous that someone else did and is probably making millions off of it. So I'm going to create my own, phonetically similar term, 删窄. I'm sure it means something similar and not "delete narrow" or other such nonsense.
Why do I feel I can get away with this? Probably for whatever the reason The Nine, a Chinese gaming company thinks it can. Until recently The Nine was responsible for bringing WOW to China, but then for reasons never given out loud Blizzard decided to change partners and go with Netease. This was bad news for The Nine, since most of their revenue depended on the cash cow that WOW is. So like any good Chinese business that lacks any idea about what innovation means other than "COPY THE THING THAT MAKES THE MONEY", The Nine, moving with surprising agility, already has a page up for their own game, presumably an MMORPG, called "World of Fight". No I didn't mistype that.
Actually it's an awesome name for a game. Sounds like the best boxing/wrestling/mma game ever right? WoF!
Did you just click on that and think what I think? Yeah, that font looks similar, color scheme kinda familiar... nope, doesn't ring a bell. Well good luck to ya, The Nine. The game's not out yet, so there's a sliver of a chance that you're taking your game in a very different direction, but personally I hope you can 删窄 your way to success.
*山寨, shan zhai, a term made recently popular in China, literally translates as "fortified mountain village", but refers to locally-made knock-off goods that rip off famous product designs in an attempt to make them their own. For several great examples, check out this slide show from Auto Shanghai: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/5208546/Chinas-copycars-familiar-looking-vehicles-at-Shanghai-Auto-2009.html
just a little UPDATE: according to Kotaku's post on the same subject, The 9's website could be referring to an upcoming MMO from EA, who has some shares in the distributor. But World of Fight? Really?
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