How is 3DS' online gaming experience affected by China's Great Firewall?
So I live in mainland China, under the surveillance of the infamous Great Firewall. However, for my surprise, I am perfectly able to browse in my 3DS' (as long as I don't access a "forbidden" website) and (not so perfectly) access eShop and download games etc. However, it seems to me that some in-game (and maybe others) online features are being blocked by it.
In my case I have a problem with in-game online operations in Pokemon Sun. Every time I try to trade or battle online I get an error, usually error 001-0502 but eventually also error 001-0803. This seem to suggest I might be having a problem when trying to connect to the server. I tried and look for nearly everything that could be googled but nothing really seems to work. So I cannot help but to wonder if this error isn't being caused by the Great Firewall, which is blocking my connection to Nintendo's servers?
Putting the question in a more general form:
How is 3DS' online gaming experience affected by China's Great Firewall?
Solution 1:
Error code 001-0502 is a network problem, as stated in the Nintendo website. To solve it, change your 3DS DNS to 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 or try using a VPN. Also, it appears that you may need China Unicom broadband as a prerequisite (i.e. if you're using the Great Wall Broadband, you're pretty much on your own).
Adding on, apparently the majority of people who get this error are using their school's internet - they have the same conditions as you - able to access the ESHOP etc but not the game's internet. Another recommendation (if the previous paragraph didn't work) is to use the internet from your phone's hotspot.
001-0502出现的情况好像是能访问ESHOP,但是游戏就不行.大多数校园网用户可能会遇到,因为校园网端口被封，能下载就不能联网对战，可以联系学校网管，看能不能开一些端口，但是估计够呛，老任的端口和服务器都不明确，一般不好单独开启。所以建议还是用自己手机做热点或者去个有私人WIFI的地方吧.
Most of the error codes starting from 001 (including 001-0803) means that you're (likely) blocked by the firewall and you'll need a VPN to bypass it. (Source)
001开头的错误大部分挂vpn能解决，或者重启几次路由器，国内网络连接外网的时候那尿性，多试几次可能就行了
Answering your general question, most of my Chinese friends use a VPN to do anything on the internet, which includes playing games and accessing Facebook. Likewise goes for 3DS gamers - they need a VPN.