Is it an IQ tax to pay 276 yuan for 4 consecutive draws to open only a new shape to play the blind box?
What is a blind box?
Blind box refers to a box whose outer packaging does not mark the contents inside. Only after the purchase and opening can you know what is inside.
Therefore, blind boxes are full of unknowns and uncertainties, and many children and some adults prefer it.
The source of the blind box?
Blind boxes originally came from animation. Many manufacturers put the surroundings of animation, film and television works, or dolls individually designed by designers into blind boxes for sale.
The items in the blind box are equivalent or not equivalent to the price. This requires some luck.
On the 11th, the Hong Kong stock of Bubble Mart, known as the “blind box first share”, opened more than 100% on the first day of listing. While attracting the attention of everyone, some people also said that it is inseparable from the real money contributed by many blind box players.
Why can blind box attract so many people to collect?
What are the stories of those players and blind boxes?
Is it true that repeated purchases of blind boxes pay an "IQ tax"?
With these questions, the reporter interviewed several blind box players to hear what they said?
The blind box that goes with luck
For older readers, they may not know much about blind boxes.
But for many children and some adults, playing blind boxes has become a fashion.
Blind boxes are attractive because players only know what they have drawn after opening them after purchase. It is this kind of uncertainty that also attracts players.
As for the concept of blind box, it is said that the origin is a Japanese lucky bag, which can be traced back to the 1980s.
Similar to its mode, there is a gashapon, and in some online games, there are similar concepts. For example, in "DOTA2", players purchase keys, corresponding to different hero equipment.
Ms. Citizen Pu is 29 years old and she is engaged in the fashion design industry.
She introduced that she became attached to the blind box in 2016. “At that time, I saw a huge jasmine doll (reporter’s note: the name of the blind box doll) in Nanping Wanda Plaza. It's so cute." Miss Pu said, because she majored in fine arts, she has always liked painting in her life.
When I saw Jasmine, I felt as if I saw another myself, and instantly I had the urge to buy the same model.
Of course, after spending 69 yuan to buy this blind box, Miss Pu failed to create the same style as she wished, but it also made her feel in a good mood, and she became a blind box player.
2019 is called the "first year of blind boxes" by the industry. This is also the year when Miss Pu has bought the most blind boxes. As she has more and more blind boxes, troubles also follow.
"Once, I opened two blind boxes in a row, both of which were already existing. I felt very bad luck in an instant and I was very angry. So I bought two more and finally opened a new look." Pu The lady said that the experience should be the worst luck since she opened the blind box. It cost 4 69 yuan for a total of 276 yuan. Only a new look was opened. It can be said that the experience was quite bad. .
Slowly, she became more rational in buying blind boxes, and she also began to exchange blind boxes with other players.
Blind boxes can be exchanged for merchants and free fish
Citizen Ms. Wang told reporters that she collected the blind boxes of Frozen, One Piece, and Hatsune Miku, but in the end there was not a single collection, so she chose to give up.
Why is this?
Ms. Wang said: “By chance, I found a blind box that I could not open in my heart. You can buy the same item online for 20 yuan. It feels like I was cheated...” Ms. Wang said. In the end, she did not choose to buy the filled blind box online, but chose to "retreat".
As a collection type of entertainment, players face the repeated blind boxes in their hands. There are two main choices. One is to fill in what they lack through online transactions and exchanges with other players; the other is blind box merchants. In order to increase player stickiness, exchange services are provided.
According to a blind box merchant on Times Tianjie, he will provide players with a register and classify them by IP so that players can classify and exchange.
If the time of the two parties is not well coordinated, then provide the deposit service, confirm the player information through the mobile phone number, and then complete the exchange. The above services are free.
The blind box merchant revealed: “In fact, we don’t want players to open repeated blind boxes continuously, because this situation easily affects people’s mood. Generally speaking, I know that players open two repeated blind boxes in a row, and I would advise him Come back again; if the player is too lucky one time, maybe they won't come to buy again..."
The reporter logged into Xianyu.com and found that many players sell blind boxes on it. The price is determined according to the scarcity of the shape. The ordinary model is generally around 30 yuan, which is nearly half the price when the player buys it.
In addition, blind box players will also exchange and trade blind boxes through WeChat and QQ groups, and some hidden versions of blind boxes can cost up to thousands of yuan each.
During the "Double 12" period, the reporter also inquired from the online platform that some businesses selling blind boxes provided players with more precise services: After purchasing 12 blind boxes in batches, they could replace the duplicate ordinary blind boxes to ensure that players did not repeat purchase.
Do players pay the "IQ tax"?
Ms. Pu said that now she has given all the duplicate blind boxes to friends or other players, and will only buy new blind boxes under special circumstances.
She also has her own views on the sayings of "wasting money" and "paying IQ tax": "Most of the time I am playing blind boxes, I am still happy. For example, I just get the lucky cat I want to smoke, although I have not made a fortune. , But that kind of auspicious meaning will also make me happy for a long time."
In Miss Pu's opinion, most people are willing to pay for their hobbies, and blind boxes are also one of them.
The reason why it has been criticized may be because the blind box is a relatively new thing, and external factors such as IP value and lucky elements give it too much extra value, so it is sometimes not easy to understand.
She believes that blind boxes are the same as all hobbies. As long as they exist for one day, players will continue to "enter" and "retreat".
Readers, for blind boxes, do you choose to "enter the pit" or "retreat"?
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Don't blindly consume moderate entertainment
Although there is nothing wrong with using one's own money to buy blind boxes to find happiness, it is still worth thinking about when the menacing trend has gradually become a social topic.
Physiologically, dopamine and endorphins are used to explain why people feel happy and successful. Blind boxes make the hormone secretion particularly strong when unpacking due to their uncertainty and surprise. This kind of pleasure is added to the "package" marketing model It is also full of fascinating uncertainty, which makes consumers happy.
What we need to remind is: You can play blind boxes, but don't consume blindly.
For most people, moderate entertainment is good, and indulging in it may be more loss than gain.
Chongqing Evening News-Upstream News Reporter Wen Han