Is it still far to work in the "Metaverse"? The "Face Pinch Master" is by your side
【Youth Economic Theory】
"Everyone thinks I'm 'biting the old', but in fact I can make money at home." "Qi Xiaobao", a face pinching teacher from Guangdong, was born in 1999. After graduating from college, she chose flexible employment, and now she can achieve this with "pinching your face" Maximum monthly income of 40,000 yuan.
Zhou Guangsu, an associate professor at Renmin University of China, said that the vigorous development of the new economy has spawned various emerging occupations and new employment methods, "creating unprecedented opportunities for young people".
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In a world where virtual reality interacts with each other, people enter a virtual space simulated by a computer and parallel to the real world through wearable devices such as headsets and eyepieces... The scene depicted in his novel "Avalanche" is also the source of the term "Metaverse".
Everyone who steps into the metaverse needs a corresponding "virtual avatar" as a basis for identification.
As a result, the popularity of the Metaverse has provided the soil for the birth of "face pinch masters" (that is, the creators of virtual avatars who can "pinch" players' favorite character shapes like "mud figurines" - editor's note), and they Become the first batch of "workers" in the Metaverse.
"Everyone thinks I'm 'biting the old', but in fact I can make money at home." "Qi Xiaobao", a face pinching teacher from Guangdong, was born in 1999. After graduating from college, she chose flexible employment, and now she can achieve this with "pinching your face" Maximum monthly income of 40,000 yuan.
Zhou Guangsu, an associate professor at Renmin University of China, said that the vigorous development of the new economy has spawned various emerging occupations and new employment methods, "creating unprecedented opportunities for young people".
"Pinching your face" is like spelling "tangram"
"Different from the PGC output (professional output) of QQ image and game avatar designers, today's face pincers are UGC (user-generated content) production mechanisms." said Soul Product Manager Che Bin, "Soul's Face pinching shows the typical characteristics of the creator economy, that is, the platform provides modules and tools, and users can use the tools to become creators, create spontaneously, express interests, hobbies, and ideas and convert them into profits.”
According to the data, there are currently about 80 face pinch artists in the Personality Mall on Soul, which is known as the "social metaverse". As of March 1 this year, the total number of avatars in the Personality Mall is nearly 30,000.
From the end of June to November 1, 2021, there were 7,764 avatars sold by face-pinching artists. In the past few months, the highest-paid creators earned more than 50,000 yuan per month.
According to Che Bin, in reality, some face pinchers are college students, some are office workers, and many are "slash youth" with various jobs and lifestyles. Ze Bai (pseudonym) is one of them.
At that time, his "emotions and career were hit". In order to relieve his emotions and seek resonance, he decided to make an avatar that suits the current mood.
As a leather goods customizer, Zebai is confident and has strong hands-on ability, but then he finds that "it's easy to think", and it takes a lot of time and energy to make a good-looking avatar.
The one that impressed him the most was the pinching for almost three days and three nights. "During this period, I hardly did anything else, and I even slept for two or three hours before I was slightly satisfied with my work."
"It's like spelling 'tangram', and there are thousands of possibilities." Taking Soul as an example, its "super cute pinch face" tool provides eyebrow shape, eye shape, eyelid shape, nose shape, headgear, etc. There are hundreds of choices for haircuts, not to mention various parameters such as color, position, size, etc.
But in Ze Bai's view, this is also the charm of "pinching your face".
"For a 'handicapped party' like me, it is more convenient to buy finished products or personal customization." Wu Nan (pseudonym), who is patriotic, has not only purchased more than 10 exquisite skins in the mobile games he often plays, but also customized A variety of ancient avatars have been used on social platforms. "I will change them regularly according to different moods." Che Bin said that more and more young people are willing to pay to create their own virtual characters on social platforms.
The "Generation Z" Group Consumption Trends released by Suning Financial Research Institute mentioned that Generation Z (usually refers to the generation born from 1995 to 2009) has the characteristics of seeking ideal "personality".
Out of the exploration of "who I am" and "who I want to be", many Gen Zs are keen to try different styles of wear and use, or consume different brands of products, in order to experience different lifestyles.
Chen Duan, director of the Digital Economy Integration and Innovation Development Center of Central University of Finance and Economics, also pointed out that Generation Z prefers consumption and social sharing at the level of digital world and digital civilization, and pursues unique personality expression and aesthetic experience.
According to Soul statistics, Generation Z from first- and second-tier cities are the main consumers of virtual avatars. Specifically, consumers from first- and second-tier cities account for more than 44%, and users aged 18 to 27 account for 50.4%.
"The most important test is creativity and inspiration"
Today's Zebai's practice makes perfect, and it sometimes only takes dozens of minutes to complete a relatively satisfactory work.
In addition to his own job, he would spend several hours pinching his face every day. When suddenly inspired, he would occasionally put down the work at hand to make a first draft, and then continue to create when he was off work, which made him feel that his life was more fulfilling, full.
"Being a face pinch maker is also a way of life." Wang Lei (pseudonym), a face pinch maker and pet groomer, felt the same way.
Ze Bai said that face pinching is "a good career choice for young people", and the "barrier to entry is not high", and the cost is basically time cost, and those with art skills may get started faster.
Zebai also reminded not to believe in the so-called training classes, young people have strong learning ability, and they can communicate and practice more with friends who like to pinch their faces.
For example, face pinching enthusiasts will often spontaneously hold themed face pinching contests. Everyone creates themed avatars according to their own ideas and understandings, and then exchanges and revises the avatars uniformly to make their works more perfect and high-quality.
However, Cheng Zhuo, the marketing director of Hangzhou Xiangxin Network Technology Co., Ltd., is worried that now only a photo of a user's face can be used to generate a 3D virtual image similar to it based on its image characteristics.
Will the face pinching division be affected by this?
Che Bin believes that this will not have much impact on face pinch artists, "Although (the generation products that upload photos to generate avatars) also support modification, the core is 'restore' rather than 'creation', and emphasizes creativity, There are differences in the creative and visual aesthetic performance of the face pinch artist's work, and the needs to be met are also different." In the view of "Seven Xiaobao", the "most important test of the face pinch artist is creativity and inspiration".
"You must create your own style in order to stand out." Through observation, Ze Bai found that his fan base has a large age span and prefers works that are simple, cute, and clear lines.
It is also mentioned in "Consumption Trends of "Generation Z" Groups that Generation Z has the characteristics of advocating high appearance, and they particularly favor images with cute, girly, and anthropomorphic elements.
When he is not busy at work, Wang Lei will spend time creating, researching, creating different avatar styles, and readjusting works that are not well-recognized after being removed from the shelves.
He found that on Soul Personality Mall, every mature face pinching artist has his own design style, some people like "creative heads", some are good at "animal heads", and he prefers to study all kinds of "human faces" .
In his opinion, the key to the avatar is the facial features, "sometimes there is no need for too much decoration", and a person's character can be expressed only by the shaping of the face.
By searching for the entry "pinching face", a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily found that on a shopping platform, the unit price ranges from 0.2 yuan to 200 yuan, while in Soul's personalized mall, avatars are generally divided into 3 The price is equivalent to about 30 yuan, 50 yuan and 70 yuan, and there are also "super limited" avatars that are sold in limited quantities, with a price of 14889 to 21899 Soul coins (about 1700 to 3000 yuan).
"Because the mainstream consumers facing new consumption are the creative Z-generation people in their adolescence, the product level must conform to the preferences of the target consumer groups and continue to iterate. The iterative process also means market risks in the process of innovation and trial and error." Chen Duan Say.
As an emerging profession, the development of face pinch technicians is still in the early stage, and both the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of face pinch practitioners and consumers, as well as the rules and mechanisms, need to be improved.
Chen Duan predicts that digital virtual humans will likely become a new focus of attention and traffic entry in the future. At present, some enterprises and local governments are making forward-looking layouts around the Metaverse, and they are optimistic about the long-term prospects, but they must be careful about the innovation process of enterprises. The various potential risk points faced in China are comprehensively sorted out and monitored dynamically, so as to plan ahead.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Wei Wan Source: China Youth Daily