Thailand’s junta has banned Tropico 5 – a game which allows players to craft their own military dictatorship in a fictional paradise where “sunny beaches and political corruption” co-exist, authorities said Tuesday, 5 August 2014.<\/p>\n
Tropico 5 gives players the chance to build their own forms of government on a remote island.<\/p>\n
It is sold under the tagline: “Imagine a place where the people never go hungry, all work has a decent wage and the weather is forever bright and sunny — just make sure you always vote El Presidente.”<\/p>\n
“Tropico 5 has been banned but I cannot give the reason unless you ask permission from our Director-General,” an unnamed official at the Video and Film Office, part of the Ministry of Culture, told AFP.<\/p>\n
Thai game distributor New Era Interactive Media said it received a letter from the Ministry of Culture on Monday banning its sale in the kingdom.<\/p>\n
The company’s marketing manager Nonglak Sahavattanapong told AFP late Monday it was “disappointed” by the move to ban the game, made by Bulgarian game developer Haemimont.<\/p>\n
She said it had been blocked “because some parts of stories within the game affect Thailand’s situation”.<\/p>\n
She did not give further details of the offending storylines, but said “players can play roles as a leader of a country — they can choose systems of how to run the country”.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Culture now falls under the remit of the Thai Navy Chief — a deputy leader of the junta — following the fall of the battered civilian administration to a May 22 army coup.<\/p>\n
On the Tropico5.com website, the game is trailed as giving players a “land of opportunity: a blank slate where any political ideal or mad inspiration can be made possible”.<\/p>\n
Since seizing power, Thai Army Chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha has suspended democracy, muzzled dissent and imposed sweeping curbs on media freedoms as he bids to end years of bitter political divisions.<\/p>\n
He has launched a “return happiness” to the people public relations campaign in parallel with the crackdown on dissent.<\/p>\n
A newly-appointed national assembly will meet for the first time this week.<\/p>\n
It is charged with forging a binding constitution which analysts say is likely to target the influence of billionaire former premier Thaksin Shinawtara, who is accused by the Bangkok-based establishment of fomenting widespread corruption.<\/p>\n
He was ousted in a 2006 coup and lives in self-exile, but still occupies centre-stage in Thailand’s political drama.<\/p>\n
Parties led by a Shinawatra, or linked to them, have won every election since 2001.<\/p>\n
Game piracy in the UK is no longer a \u201ccrime\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n