Chinese online game lets players 'reclaim and defend the Diaoyu Islands'
'Glorious Mission Online' is a Chinese computer game that lets players fight alongside the People's Liberation Army
Ownership of the Diaoyu Islands may be a topic generating heated dispute between China and Japan, but Chinese gamers will soon be able to settle the score for themselves and ‘reclaim’ the territory – at least in the virtual sense.
“The highlight of this update is the ‘Defend the Diaoyu Islands’ scenario,” a press release on the Glorious Mission Online site reads. “Players entering the game will fight alongside Chinese armed forces and use their weapons to tell the Japanese that ‘Japan must return our stolen territory!’”
Video: Advertisement for the PLA's online game "Glorious Mission OL"
Screenshots of the upcoming content were released to mixed reactions on July 22. While several gamers on China’s Sina Weibo social network expressed their interest at seeing the Liaoning’s inclusion in the game, others felt that creating an entire scenario about a war for the Diaoyus was inappropriate.
“The issue of defending the islands is not a game,” one poster wrote. “We shouldn’t fantasize this sort of thing.”