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Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news, coverage, and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Talk of banning foreign investments in online games in China could have a larger impact than we may think. Our games would change, and a lot of them would no longer be available to play. The after-effect would be huge, and the MMOG industry as a whole would be thrown into chaos. Benjamin J. de la Durantaye explores some of the possible outcomes if these bannings were adopted more globally.

The Pulse You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is The Pulse?). Here's today's top 5 Pulse results: World of Warcraft Dungeons & Dragons Online Aion  EverQuest 2  Age of Conan Biggest movers today: The Secret World (UP 15 to #18) Star Trek Online (Down 8 to #19) Runes of Magic (Up 6 to #11)	Recent MMO Releases 8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date) 9/1 - Champions Online (release date) 9/9 - Dungeons & Dragons Online Unlimited (release date) 9/15 - Runes of Magic "The Elven Prophecy" (expansion) 9/22 - Fallen Earth (release date) 9/22 - Aion (release date) 10/8 - Cities XL (release date)
	Upcoming Releases 11/3 - Dragon Age: Origins (release date) 12/1 - LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood (release date) 12/2 - DOFUS 2.0 (release date) Early 2010 - APB
	Important Dates 10/23 - 10/24 - Hero-Con

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Earlier this week, reports were coming in that the Chinese Government will begin banning foreign investors from operating online games in China. This, if true, would mean that games like World of Warcraft would not be able to operate in the country, and any profit made in China would stay in China.

Now, as it turns out, this may not be exactly accurate. It would seem that the quotes and facts were not listed in their entirety, and the struggle is one more of a political nature within China itself than it is with foreign game investors.

However, it did get me thinking. What if foreign investments were banned worldwide when it came to gaming? No company could launch a game outside of their own region, and no one could import a title, or localize it. It would be a pretty different MMOG world.

You could only play WoW in the United States; would it still be the "king of subscriptions?" Canadians would be stuck playing BC's Quest for Tires and several iterations of Warhammer 40,000. The people of Iceland would be getting lonely in space in EVE Online. We wouldn't have seen games like Anarchy Online outside of Norway, so would we have instances?

Our online vernacular wouldn't include things like "all ur base" and there would be no "uber guilds," just "really big guilds with lots of play time." Gold selling spam may be less frequent, but instead of seeing things like "Chepest Gold 4 u. Fast,free livery. You best guys," we'd see "Y'all buy this here gold 'afore I whoop your ass." Chinese Gold Farmers would be known instead as Virtual Forex Brokers, and monks in our games would be replaced by MMA street fighters.

Dwarves would speak with a southern drawl, and Icecrown Citadel would be renamed to Fort Brrr.

In the US, Age of Conan would be a late night comedy talkshow MMO. Aion would be a musical MMO about gang wars between the Jets and the Sharks, and MapleStory would become MarioStory.

Yessir, it would be a different online world out there. How would it affect your game? Let us know in the forums.

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Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our WoW Mages forum

Mage for a Day

ZeroMerc, usually a "paladin player at heart," is suddenly having fun trying out a mage in World of Warcraft. Now ZeroMerc is seeking the advice of fellow mages about how to proceed and make the most of this class, while avoiding inherent pitfalls. This epic thread has taken on quite a few posts since it first hit our forums a few days ago. Can you add to it with your own mage class wisdom?

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Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"The biggest down side to playing an early mage is the down time. You make lots and lots of water to keep your mana up. It seems like you drink every 2 mobs or so. I had little down time with the pally. Being used to the mage, then playing a DK (with almost NO down time) or the pally (with little down time) it was hard to start a new mage again."

-ShadowDragon
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Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

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1 new Ten Ton Hammer MMOG features today! 73 in October! 2,021 in 2009!

Today's New Features & Guides

• Aion Newsletter - The Daeva Weekly #5
  Is buying your way to the top in MMOGs the thing to do these days?  While some may be cheering on the mass bans that NCsoft smacked down last week, others are crying foul as players make claims of getting caught in the crossfire.  In every war there are always casualties, right?  Find out why gold sellers suck and get other interesting Aion news in this week's Daeva Weekly!

Hottest Content:

1. Incarna Incarnate - An Exclusive Q&A with EVE Online's Torfi Frans Ólafsson
2. Player Created Content - A Look at Benefits and Dangers of Giving the Players Control
3. Can Aion overcome the re-subscription threshold?
4. EVE Online Video Q&A with GoonSwarm Spymaster 'The Mittani'
5. Champions Online - Battle Royale: The Min-Maxer vs. The Conceptual Creator
6. Windows 7, Gaming, and Why You Should Care
7. Mechanics No MMOG Should Launch Without
8. The Rift Between Us - A Guide to Rifting in Aion
9. Ease of Access - Case Studies in Accessibility and Popularity
10. Aion Beginner's Guide to the Abyss

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Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network! 

- Benjamin J. de la Durantaye and the Ten Ton Hammer team