At least for one particular Chinese MMO called King of the World, operated by Shanda. From the WTF department today, they decreed that only actual females can play female characters. All those who wish to play a female character must provide a webcam pic of a girl…

Shanda (Nasdaq: SNDA) subsidiary Aurora Technology has frozen game accounts of male players who chose to play female in-game characters in its in-house developed MMORPG King of the World, reports 17173. Aurora stipulates that only female gamers can play female characters in the game, and it requires gamers who chose female characters to prove their biological sex with a webcam, according to the report.

It’s unclear whether females can play male characters or not, my guess is yes. This comes after skeletons being “covered up” in WoW. I understand there’s cultural differences. Afterall, I am Chinese. But if China wants the respect they want so bad from the western worlds, these kinds of things are exactly the opposite of what they need. Not to mention this is totally moronic and can be worked around so easily (”hey mom, can ya come sit here for a sec”).

Oh, and they recently outlawed reincarnation too.