Maroc Telecom, the largest ISP in Morocco, is now blocking all online gaming in the country as part of a larger, ham-fisted effort to hamper online communications services. A plea posted to Reddit by a Moroccan resident this week notes that the lion's share of online games simply no longer work. A few games like League of legends and Hearthstone barely work, but users say they now face massive connectivity issues that make the games largely unplayable.
An
online petition created by gamers in the country had reached almost 11,000 signatures at the time of this writing.
A forum post over at NeoGaf has a little more detail, users noting that if they ping necessary game servers directly they'll see no problems, but actually connecting to games is difficult, and once connected users say there's no guarantee they'll actually stay that way. One poster notes that VPNs appear to help, but tend to be expensive in Morocco and add notable lag to most online games.
The problems come after Moroccan telecom regulator ANRT forced (pdf) the country's three-largest ISPs to block all free online VoIP apps such as Skype, Whatsapp, and Viber. It's broadly believed that the regulator is looking solely to protect these entrenched providers from disruption and competition from Internet voice services.
Such bans also usually part of government intelligence efforts to minimize use of encryption and third party communications services, forcing users to use heavily monitored traditional phone networks.
The ban resulted in massive backlash, including the creation of a "Stop the VOIP ban in Morocco" Facebook page featuring local children holding signs begging Morocco’s King Mohammed and prime minister Benkirane to end the ban, stating it was hurting local kids' ability to keep in touch with loved ones.
The government was unmoved; originally the ban only impacted 3G and 4G wireless users, but in February was expanded to cover all broadband connections. More recently some additional services like Facebook Messenger were added to the growing block list.
Maroc Telecom's response to annoyed gamers is to so far
deny to local media outlets that anything has been done specifically to hinder online gaming. It's entirely possible the expanded bans on other voice services resulted in necessary game functionality inadvertently being blocked, but either scenario remains obviously problematic for angry Moroccans whose complaints are being ignored.