Web watchdogs duel over Warcraft (3)

"The game is like a virtual version of real life where you have loving friends and hateful enemies," a WOW player who asked to remain anonymous, told the Global Times.

The authorization battle has inconvenienced all of the game's loyal fans in China, he said.

Analysts said the spat is a sign of the regulatory turf battle over the massive online game market in China between the GAPP and the MOC.

China is home to millions of online game fans, with media reporting that about 40 million pay the subscription fees, which are usually monthly. The annual profit from such games in China has reached about 20 billion yuan, and it's growing by about 60-70 percent a year, according to reports.

"Technology moves so fast and regulations have a hard time keeping up, which creates a lot of ambiguity," Edward Yu, chief executive officer of Beijing-based research company Analysys International, told Bloomberg.
WOW enthusiasts are still finding a way to get their game on, though, as they can access overseas servers, even if they are slower than a locally based one.

"The two departments are just fighting a war of words, but neither of them has paid enough attention to the development of China's cyber game industry," said Hu Yanping, director of the Data Center of the China Internet.

Zhang Han and An Baijie contributed to this story



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