Playing WoW in China

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1

Hello,

I am currently unsubscribed but I might start playing in China next year. Will there be any problems if I do? Can I still play on the North American realm? Will it look the same?

adamlar

2

Tricky one.

While you can certainly access and play your NA account anywhere, the Chinese Govt might have a problem with someone within China accessing US based servers.

Yes but not sure about the latency.

From what I’ve heard though, Blizzard wasn’t even allowed to operate within China, so a 3rd party company operated WoW due to Govt and trade restrictions.

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3

I am just adding onto all this, and taken from another source, but, while it is indeed possible, it is extremely risky to do.

The Chinese government doesn’t like anyone connecting to NA IP’s while on mainland China. So, while it is possible, be careful in doing so. With that being said, another thing to add on, the game client is completely different in China than it is for NA. That is because the game client we use for our account here, are not cleared in China. So the Chinese government would also look at using illegal programs within there own country.

EDIT: There is also this from Quora

As of my last knowledge update in August 2023, players in China cannot access the U.S. version of World of Warcraft directly due to licensing and regulatory issues. Blizzard Entertainment has a partnership with NetEase, which operates the game in China. This means that players in China can only play the version provided by NetEase, which may have different content, updates, and features compared to the U.S. version.

Additionally, the Chinese version of World of Warcraft is subject to local regulations, which can affect gameplay, including content censorship. If players in China want to play the U.S. version, they would need to use a VPN, but this approach may violate the game’s terms of service and could lead to account bans. Always check the latest information for any changes in policies or services.

Though take that with a grain of salt, I don’t know how accurate all this information really is.

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4

Unless your going to be in a us embassy and playing there i would not. You could risk laws in china not not mention other agreements with china and the us.

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6

Hi. I’ve been living in China for 16+ years. I never have any issues. I even downloaded it here. I play all the time, no one has ever contacted me about illegality or anything. The only REAL problem I have is that I don’t have a major credit card so my brief visit to the US I was able to purchase a ‘game time’ card but that was several years ago.

7

I’m just going to raise a couple of points here with you:

  1. VPN’s are actually illegal in mainland china, except for ones that are approved by the Chinese Government, which would be ones that would still follow Chinas strict censorship laws and forbid content from being accessed that was forbidden to be accessed. So, yes, there is always an option of using a VPN, you do not want to be suggesting in which VPN to use, as what you’re doing is telling someone how to possibly break a law in another country. This can also fall under the Forum Code of Conduct as Illegal Activities.
  2. The thread hasn’t been active for 5 months after you’ve posted. While the information hasn’t really changed, there has already been answers given. And don’t think anyone has heard back from the Opening Poster since they’ve created the thread, which either they have read and got their answer, or they haven’t been active. Would’ve been better to not revive a thread.
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