JOY: What kind of challenges have you faced porting WoW to the Chinese gaming audience?

Joystiq interview - Hoyt MaHM: Korean-style games were dominating in China before WoW -- games with 2D graphics that require a lot of clicking like Diablo. WoW is one of the first western-style MMORPG games with 3D graphics, so there was that 2D mindset to overcome. But there were other barriers. WoW requires middle to high-end PC configurations, as well as a broadband Internet connection, and cost is a major barrier to Chinese gamers. Another issue was the perceived complexity with the interface input - Chinese gamers were used to the Korean games where you just click the mouse. However, during game testing, we discovered that newbies could pick up WoW within 5-10 minutes, so user friendliness was a very important consideration.

Note: According to Blizzard's and The9's web sites, the subscription model for WoW in China is different from other parts of the world. Instead of a monthly subscription fee, Chinese gamers purchase WoW Points cards for 30 Yuan ($3.64) that are worth 600 points. Points expire at a rate of 9 per hour of play, so this amounts to 66 hours and 40 minutes of play for each card at an average of .45 Yuan ($.06) per hour.