The new official game Web site for J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, Wizarding World, stopped labeling Taiwan as a province of China after receiving a letter of complaint from a Taiwanese fan.
Chang Kai-han (張凱涵), a student of foreign languages, yesterday said that she has been a fan of the books since fifth grade and tried to register as a player when the game was released on May 17.
Dismayed to find that Taiwanese were forced to log on as residents of China, Chang said she decided to protest.
Photo: Su Meng-chuan, Taipei Times
Her experience is proof that people have the power to change things for the better, Chang said.
In a letter to the developers, she said that she would boycott the site until the policy is rescinded, because Taiwan is an independent nation.
The developers should not have allowed Chinese political views to interfere in the Harry Potter fandom, she added.
“It makes no sense to force political views on people who are simply trying to play a game in the Harry Potter universe,” she said.
In her complaint, Chang wrote that the mistake was disappointing and infuriating, as Taiwan and China are two separate nations.
While she looked forward to exploring the new Web site, she would not register an account until it corrects the issue, she added.
Chang asked the Wizarding World team to carefully consider her request, as she believes that most Taiwanese would harbor the same opinion.
She also called on her close friends to send protest letters.
Chang said that she had expected a formulaic reply, but was surprised to receive a personal response on May 31, after which she immediately registered an account.
She said she had been uncertain whether her actions would be effective, but when she learned that others had also written to the Wizarding World team to complain, she said that the realization that strength in numbers can effect change truly made her day.
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