bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Josh Ye

When Riot Games’ League of Legends: Wild Rift finally launched on October 29, Japanese gamers who had been eagerly awaiting the title for a year were quick to download the mobile game. But they did not expect the flood of antagonistic Chinese players they found when they started playing.
The result was clashes between players from the two countries as they exchanged insults in the game. Some Chinese players adopted crude nicknames for their accounts, such as Beat Little Japan to Death, to rally other nationalists to taunt Japanese players.
The Japanese players were not happy. People were not even supposed to be able to play the game in China, where it is still not officially available. But the phenomenon of Chinese players flooding overseas servers is not new. The habit of jumping the Great Firewall to play games has become even easier in recent years as a result of game boosters, VPN-like apps that help Chinese gamers access specific titles.
A number of Chinese tech companies, including gaming giants NetEase and Tencent Holdings, now make their own game boosters. Tencent declined to comment for this story and NetEase did not respond to a request for comment
TikTok maker ByteDance refocuses on casual and indie gaming
Just after the game’s release, NetEase’s UU Game Booster shot up to the top of the download chart on Apple’s App Store in China. Over the next two weeks, the app racked up more than 2.5 million downloads, according to app tracking firm Qimai Data. Tencent Booster and three other game boosters were also among the country’s top 10 most-downloaded apps in the days following the game’s release.
Theoretically, gamers in China are not supposed to be able to play games that are not officially released in the country. Unlike most other markets, China has strict approval requirements that require game studios to jump through extra hoops to get a license for each game they want to sell.
The result is that the vast majority of games are not officially available when they launch, if ever. But video game restrictions have long been loosely enforced in China, where imported gaming consoles remained widely available even during a 15-year ban.
Valve Corp’s Steam has also long sold unapproved games to Chinese users from its international store while the government appears to have turned a blind eye. But the games that have to connect to overseas servers can be notoriously slow. So companies developed game boosters to give players fast and reliable connections to their favourite titles.
China’s video games industry continues to boom post-pandemic
By offering access to specific gaming servers and no other content, game boosters exist in a legal grey area.
“Their network is only the proxy’s game server IP through a firewall or routing strategy, and it cannot be used to access other servers. Other websites such as Google and YouTube will not work,” said Charlie Smith, the co-founder of Greatfire.org, an organisation that monitors the behaviour of the Great Firewall.
Smith, speaking under a pseudonym, said many users in China use game boosters despite the legal ambiguity.
“There is no law stipulating whether accelerators are legal or illegal,” he said. “There are already a lot of accelerator services. But there are many accelerators available for PC and mobile.”
Now Chinese gamers have fast connections to games that used to face serious speed constraints from throttled internet traffic. As a result, they have acquired a reputation for flooding overseas servers.
PUBG to get a new mobile game to counter India’s Chinese app ban
China has more gamers than all the video game players in the US, Japan, Germany, France and the UK combined. Many of these gamers enjoy playing overseas, leading to more frequent in-game conflict between Chinese and foreign players.
“A major problem is the language barrier. They won’t speak English. The emphasis is on ‘won’t’,“ said Marion Santos, a 22-year-old Filipino gamer who works as a customer service representative.
Santos has also been playing Wild Rift, but he said the influx of Chinese gamers has made it difficult to play in the Philippines.
In the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre, two teams of several players are pitted against each other. In the case of Wild Rift, each team has five players who need to communicate and work together to defeat the opposing team. But it is no longer uncommon for players on any given server to find themselves outnumbered by Chinese speakers.
“Even in the character-picking phase of the game, you’d think they’ll cooperate with you when you ask them nicely to speak English,” Santos said. “It’s either they don’t understand English or refuse to do so.”
Video games business not antitrust focus, Tencent president says
Accessing more games is just one of many reasons Chinese gamers often look to circumvent the Great Firewall. Some people also do it to avoid playing heavily censored versions of games available at home.
The last time UU Game Booster saw a big increase in interest was May 2019, when it became the most-downloaded app for four days. The catalyst was Tencent transforming and rebranding the violent battle royale game PUBG Mobile into a patriotic version called Peacekeeper Elite , also known as Game for Peace. Devoid of blood and gore, a traditional staple of the battle royale genre, Peacekeeper Elite emphasised patriotism and socialism.
Repulsed by what they saw as Tencent caving to regulators, many gamers downloaded UU Game Booster to play the original PUBG Mobile, which Tencent was unable to monetise through in-game purchases in China until the rebranded version was finally approved by regulators.
“There are a lot of Chinese gamers playing on overseas servers,” said Zheng Jintiao, co-founder of the online media outlet GamerBoom. “And this also holds true for many Chinese-made games. These Chinese games also have built their own overseas versions.”
Warren Lee, technical director of the esports company Total Equation, said that server hopping is a much more common practice in China than in the West. Esports is helping to fuel this trend, he said, because an increasing number of Chinese gamers want to compete with international players.
Browsers helping netizens hop China’s Great Firewall could be here to stay
“Chinese gamers want to play on an international stage. That’s the biggest draw,” Lee said, “Being number one in China is definitely worth talking about. But the thing is they don’t want to settle for that. They want to be the best in the world.”
However, this push into overseas servers has led to some high-profile clashes in some games.
Earlier this year, Chinese and Taiwanese gamers got into arguments about the origins of the Covid-19 virus in a popular online wuxia game called JX3. The situation escalated until Seasun Games, the Chinese developer of the game, cut ties with its Taiwanese partner after it refused to shut down or censor the in-game chat.
Another big clash took place in Grand Theft Auto V last December. While Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests were still widespread, gamers in the city staged a massive battle in the violent game against Chinese players, using virtual petrol bombs, gas grenades and railguns.
In April, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong used the hit Nintendo game Animal Crossing to display protest art. The game lets players decorate their personal islands and invite others to visit. With Covid-19 keeping protesters at home, some used the game as a virtual meeting space.
Face-swapping deepfake app annoys China’s internet watchdog
Animal Crossing was never officially available in China, where the Nintendo Switch launched last December and has suffered from a dearth of approved games. Grey market copies were widely available online, though, before quickly disappearing from e-commerce shops after the protest art went viral.
That same month, the southern province of Guangdong, home to many of the country’s gaming companies, reportedly issued a directive instructing companies to help “prevent the politicisation of games”, according to Chinese media Gamelook. The directive also forbids companies from allowing Chinese gamers to get on the same server and chat with players in other countries and from offering access to unapproved foreign games.
Yet the popularity of game boosters persists, and there are no signs yet that they will be curbed soon. Since they do not offer access to blocked websites like Google or Facebook, some people think it might not be a priority for regulators.
Charlie Moseley, founder of gaming hobbyist group China Gaming Federation, said Chinese regulators likely tolerate the existence of foreign games in China because, despite some examples to the contrary, they largely remain apolitical.
“China naturally wants to control the culture of the country, but limiting access to foreign games is probably not a top priority,” he said.
China’s internet censorship goes far beyond the Great Firewall
Others reason that authorities might have left game boosters untouched on purpose.
“The authorities would rather people spend their time playing games instead of searching out news and information critical of Beijing’s leadership,” Great Fire’s Smith said.
Even if they are getting a pass from regulators, though, gamers may soon have to contend with restrictions from the companies they support. Two weeks after it launched Wild Rift, Riot Games announced that it would block “a few of the highest volume VPN services outside of the beta regions.”
In an email to the Post, Riot did not mention Chinese gamers specifically. “Players who had been using a VPN to log in to the game actually span several regions, not just one or two locations,” the company said.
Man banned from China’s TikTok for streaming himself harassing women
Other games, such as Apex Legends and Escape from Tarkov, have tried to set region locks to keep out players from China, but game boosters easily bypass the restrictions.
As with other digital circumvention tools, a crackdown on game boosters could become another technological game of cat and mouse as developers, regulators and companies all try to stay ahead of each other. But game boosters have already been around for years and remain openly available from China’s biggest tech firms.
“I first started using them in 2017 with the release of PUBG,” Moseley said. “It didn’t work at all in China, but with a booster, my friends and I could connect to the huge audience outside of China and enjoy the game.”
Lee also attested to the software’s continuing popularity. “All my friends use [UU Game Booster]. A mate in Shanghai told me about it, and my pal who’s in Beijing now uses it too.”
“It is the only way Chinese gamers can play freely and compete with the best in the world,” he added.


Game boosters helping gamers jump China’s Great Firewall anger players overseas as Beijing turns a blind eye

PUBG Mobile was immensely popular in China before Tencent replaced it with a more patriotic version called Peacekeeper Elite. Some gamers still access the original game with the help of game booster apps. Photo: AFP

Tech

Big Tech

Policy

Innovation


The limited launch of League of Legends: Wild Rift caused a surge of interest in game booster apps from NetEase, Tencent and others
Skirmishes between Chinese and overseas gamers have become a frequent occurrence as players seek out games unavailable in China



The limited launch of League of Legends: Wild Rift caused a surge of interest in game boosters, leading to friction between Chinese and overseas gamers.


Game boosters helping gamers jump China’s Great Firewall anger players overseas as Beijing turns a blind eye

The limited launch of League of Legends: Wild Rift caused a surge of interest in game booster apps from NetEase, Tencent and others Skirmishes between Chinese and overseas gamers have become a frequent occurrence as players seek out games unavailable in China

The limited launch of League of Legends: Wild Rift caused a surge of interest in game booster apps from NetEase, Tencent and others

Skirmishes between Chinese and overseas gamers have become a frequent occurrence as players seek out games unavailable in China