Young people love to learn by nature, but they need to find ways to entertain and teach
How to let young people "top" the script kill the industry on the "right track"
On the evening of November 23, several young people sat around and played games in a "Script Killing" shop in Dongcheng District, Beijing.
With the rise of "script-killing" games, this has also become a way of socializing for young people.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Zhao Di/Photo
Young people are participating in the game at a "script-killing" game store in Chongwenmen, Beijing.
The script that made young people "top" ushered in a regulatory moment.
Recently, the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism issued the "Regulations on the Recordation of the Contents of Secret Chamber Script Killing in Shanghai (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)", which will solicit opinions from the public as of December 8.
This means that after "savage growth", the script-killing industry, including script content and venue operations, will be the first to enter the filing management stage in Shanghai.
Script killing is a kind of reasoning game. It was first called the "Murder Mystery". It is popular among young people because of the substitution of the characters, the rigor of logic, and the excitement of the plot.
The "2021 Entity Script Killing Consumption Insights Report" recently released shows that the domestic script killing market is expected to exceed 15 billion yuan in 2021, and the scale of consumers may reach 9.41 million. More than 70% of the young people under the age of 30 and more than 40% of users The consumption frequency is once a week and above.
Script-killing has become one of the most popular new social methods for young people. At the same time, many problems frequently exposed in the script-killing industry chain are getting more and more attention.
There are too many screenplays to kill, but good screenplays are still hard to grab
As night fell, cars with license plates from other cities came and went in front of the hotel where a Beijing script was used to kill the exhibition.
Distribution teams and script shop owners from all over the country are carrying large bags and small bags into the exhibition hotel.
In the corridors of the hotel, colorful scripts and promotional pages are placed on the desktop, and a design poster roll-up stands in front of the door.
Different rooms represent different scripts. Seven or eight young people squatted on the ground or on the bed indiscriminately, interpreting the content of the script with voice...
This is the first time that Wang Haolun, the founder of Beijing Mumian Immersive Theater, has come to the Screenplay Exhibition.
Different from ordinary players, their task is not to "play" but to "test", that is, to purchase high-quality script kill works through personal experience.
"The Script Killing Exhibition brings together upstream authors, midstream publishers, and downstream stores in the entire script circle. This is more like a gathering in the industry." Wang Haolun told China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter.
In the eyes of many college students, opening a script killing shop seems to be a good deal.
Wang Haolun played more than a hundred script works during school. After working as a part-time DM (script killing host-reporter's note), he became the script killing shop owner.
If you want a store to stand up in the industry, you have to be a treasure of the town.
Wang Haolun's trip is to grab a script-killing work that is expected to become a "popular".
It is completely different from the exhibition that Wang Haolun remembers as "high and big". Participants can add any publisher or author's WeChat in the script killing exhibition, and use the way of making friends to "distribute" the script they want.
It is understood that according to the different sales formats, the script kill works can be divided into three main types: "exclusive", "city-limited" and "boxed".
"Exclusive script" is a script authorized to only one store, and "City limited script" allows 3-6 script stores in a city to have permission.
The purchase threshold of "boxed books" is zero, and mass distribution is the basic guarantee for most small and medium-sized scripts to kill shops.
“Participating in the script-killing exhibition was mainly business exchanges between practitioners at the beginning, but with the development and changes of the industry, it gradually evolved into a trade fair focusing on the sales of scripts." Not only can enjoy a more favorable price, but also get a more important benefit-grab the first "city limited edition" or "exclusive edition."
Like many script-killing shopkeepers, Wang Lu, the founder of Beijing Dream Screenplay, often organizes shop assistants to travel to various exhibitions for the sake of "city limit" and "exclusiveness."
“They test all kinds of scripts almost day and night, and buy back scripts that have word of mouth regardless of cost.” As one of the founders of a script shop in Bengbu, Anhui, Yang Litian and his partners have a clear division of labor: he is a gold medal DM. "Town Store", a partner who understands the publishing industry is responsible for "swiping" exhibitions across the country and buying scripts.
In their view, only by constantly updating the good scripts in the store can attract more young people.
According to Wang Jingbo, the publisher of Larp's Script Killing Distribution Studio, the holding of the Script Killing Exhibition has improved young people's familiarity with the city and promoted the city's tourism and reputation.
Not only that, the general exhibition will be selected in the surrounding areas where the catering and entertainment industry is richer, which also drives the surrounding economy.
However, in first-tier cities, as small as county-level cities, when script-killing shops have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, "good scripts are hard to grab" is still a real dilemma that novice script shops have to face.
High production costs lead to "difficult delivery"
On average, 50 new WeChat friends are added every day, and 700 or 800 unread messages; go to work at 12 noon and leave work at 4 in the morning; in order to deal with customers in a timely manner, the mobile phone will not leave the body at all times, and reply to messages from the moment you open your eyes; Except for one or two New Year holidays, sometimes even all year round, all day long... This is the daily work of Ma Junji, the person in charge of Kunming Table Cube Studio.
In addition, Ma Junji's most important job is to supervise the script.
"Boutique script" is the goal of many publishing studios. This is not only for obtaining good market benefits, but also for the construction and maintenance of their own brand trust, and for the responsibility of authors, players and the entire industry. .
"The role of the production supervisor is very important. A successful work needs to have the fundamental factors such as full characters, rich emotions, and full story. The production is to assist the author in perfecting the work." Li Ying, 27, is the principal of the old corn joint studio. She told reporters that the production level of each studio represents the "ceiling" of the studio.
"Usually, we will spend a month to test the script, and then deliver the author to modify. After the modification, we will test again until there are no bugs before we can continue the next work." Li Ying said, from the creation to the successful delivery, It may take up to 4-5 months.
"To produce a high-quality script and kill work, our investment is between 200,000 and 400,000 yuan." Ma Junji said, from the perspective of the operation process, production costs, printing costs, publicity costs, after-sales costs, travel costs, and personnel Cost...Every link is indispensable. The more mature the distribution system, the higher the investment in production intermediate links such as evaluation and art.
In order to ensure that the high-quality content of “exclusive” and “city-limited editions” can be presented to the greatest extent, many distribution stores will give priority to their familiar partners, which has also created a situation where it may be difficult for new stores to obtain high-quality books.
Li Ying said frankly that there is no shortage of worries about the cooperation between the publishing company and the new store. Because the industry is mixed with fish and dragons, a script-killing store in a city has opened and closed, and it has been closed before the book is obtained.
"When authorizing scripts, I need to consider comprehensive factors such as merchant integrity, DM performance level, story volume, etc., and I must be responsible for the scripts I publish, because each distributor hopes that the scripts I produce can be'developed' Word of mouth." Li Ying, as the issuer, always believes that only mature stores can achieve better results.
"Whether a store can successfully operate is very complicated, and it cannot be simply attributed to the distrust of the issuer, nor can it simply be attributed to the failure to grab the'city limit'." Xiaoheitan Network Technology Co., Ltd. CEO Wang Huanyue believes , "City limit" is not the fundamental reason for the survival of the physical store, its service reputation, store style, hosting ability and other factors will affect the guest's stay.
Every emerging field will have a dividend period at the beginning of its development. When the dividend period has passed, how can practitioners survive better?
Wang Huanyue suggested that stores that cannot get the “exclusive book” or the “city limit book” should improve their business conditions from their own perspective: objectively understand the actual situation of the content creative industry being "responsible for content"; learn from high-quality old stores and investigate the actual situation. Other dimensions to solve the problem.
"Low threshold" is a double-edged sword
Script killing creates another time and space, allowing players to temporarily abandon the troubles of reality and start the "second life".
It is this charm that makes many young people invest in the industry with a passion, and the industry's low threshold and youthfulness have become obvious characteristics.
It is understood that, as a representative Internet company in the industry, the members of the "Little Black Detective" team are all born in the 90s.
Wang Huanyue said that in physical stores, DM and NPC (non-player characters-reporter's note) are concentrated in post-95s.
Almost all the producers, publicity, artists, and contract authors on the publishing side are born in the 90s, and there are also those born in the 00s. "Youngerness exists objectively. This is a testament to the industry's vigorous progress, and it is also the contribution of the script-killing industry in the employment field."
"The essence of entity business is profitability. College students in the early stage of entrepreneurship must carefully consider before entering the industry. To open a script kill shop, you must be worthy of your time and energy." Wang Huanyue reminded, from the perspective of entity business, " "Low threshold" is a double-edged sword. Although it increases the difficulty of market competition faced by store operators, lower market access also enables the industry to develop vigorously.
Ancient style immersion book, emotion book, joy book, horror book, wit book, idea book, comprehensive book... From its emergence to the present, the script is on the road of growth.
"This is also due to the'low threshold'." Ma Junji said.
At the same time, as a script writer who is a player, through participating in the game again and again to get inspiration, more and more people are willing to try to create different types of pens, and more types of scripts appear on the market.
"If there is no low threshold, if opening a script and killing shop is as difficult as opening an Internet cafe or KTV, we may not even be able to obtain a license." He said frankly that most of the practitioners are peers, and everyone is in peace, harmony and mutual understanding. In the atmosphere of understanding, the industry is extremely tolerant. “Everyone’s role is not limited. The store can be a distributor, and the distributor can be a writer... The low threshold enables more relevant workers, entity operators, and literary and artistic workers. Step into the script-killing industry and drive the development of this niche industry from many aspects."
But the long-term low threshold will turn "tolerance" into "connivance."
"Long-term benefits are the most important thing. Once the low threshold causes the deterioration of the industry's ecology, the survival time will naturally not be too long." This is also the concern of Li Ying of the old corn joint studio.
From the upstream point of view, writers from multiple fields and multiple ages make the quality of the scripts uneven, part of the logic is broken, the plot is terrible, and the scripts with vulgar, pornographic, and violent elements flow to the market, which greatly reduces the quality of the player's game experience.
In the downstream, under the low market access mechanism, short store life and disorderly competition have become significant problems, and some stores have even deviated from the normal business track for the purpose of destroying their peers.
Entrepreneurs who move with the time make physical stores "flower everywhere", but the impulse to start with feelings often makes these stores seem like a flash in the pan.
The industry urgently needs to be regulated
In addition to industry sales and entity operations, there is no shortage of hidden dangers in the upstream content production end of script killing.
The boundaries of the industry need to be clarified. What kind of field should the script kill belong to?
"Only industry regulations can give us a more sense of security." As a new issue in the industry, Wang Junlong, the person in charge of Bianlishanhe, said 00.
"How should emerging things be defined? It takes time to answer. Because my country's tabletop game industry is in its early stages and lacks relevant policies and definitions, many people will misunderstand this profession." Wang Huanyue said, "any industry practitioner They should have self-esteem and hope that the type of work they are engaged in will be recognized by the society."
In addition to the "right to name", rampant piracy is also the most difficult problem in the industry.
Shops make profits from piracy. The copyright owner has a very long process from forensics to inspection to post-processing. This is inconsistent with the reality of "short timeliness" and "fast consumption" of scripts.
Many creators and distributors want to rely on external forces to safeguard their rights, but due to cost considerations, they cannot fundamentally solve the problem.
“Piracy will not only infringe on the copyrights of others and affect the game experience of players, but more importantly, it will chill the stores that support genuine products. Gradually, the market for genuine products may become smaller and smaller.” Li Ying said.
"The scale of around 200,000 practitioners is not particularly large, the industry output value is about one to two billion, and the industry life cycle is only two to three years. Therefore, for many traditional industries, script killing is still an emerging field. "As one of the industry witnesses, Wang Huanyue believes that there are still unlimited possibilities for scripts to kill the industry.
Chen Yao, a researcher at the Digital Humanities Research Center of Renmin University of China, has always been concerned about the development of the script-killing industry.
In his opinion, the current script-killing industry is still in a spontaneous and self-managed growth period, far from reaching its "peak" state. "But with the entry of more and more capital and shopkeepers, when the scale of the industry has expanded to a certain extent, More problems may be exposed. Therefore, it is urgent for government departments and relevant industry associations to strengthen supervision."
As an emerging and niche industry, Script Killing is also constantly exploring boundaries, and when integrating itself into the mainstream vision, it tries to find integration points in various industries.
Chen Yao believes that aside from the problems currently exposed, script killing, as an immersive new business format widely loved by young people, also has many bright spots that should be encouraged to develop.
"I was recently watching the script of "The Diplomat", which specifically tells the history of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Young people want to protect national interests in the script and also strung up modern Chinese history. This determines that it is young It can play a huge role in human history learning and party history education."
In addition, as an offline activity, script killing allows young people to communicate face-to-face and cultivate teamwork and cooperation capabilities. "If the industry is standardized and developed, its social and political significance will far exceed the current cultural industry significance."
With the emergence of scripts such as "The Soldiers Under the City" and "Cheongsam", more and more scripts have begun to give the feelings of family and country. They enter the hearts of young people in a lively and lively manner, and give them a special "party history". Education class".
Nowadays, many companies also use the National Liyi script as a way of company team building.
"It's like young people watching "Bright Sword" on Station B and listening to Luo Xiang's lectures on the law. Young people love to learn by nature, but they need to find ways to educate and have fun." Wang Huanyue said.
At present, the variety show industry is gradually cooperating with offline script kill shops.
The offline activities of the self-made variety show promotion IP on platforms such as iQiyi and Bilibili may use the venues where offline scripts are used to kill shops. Variety shows also cooperate with professional hosts.
In terms of film and television, IP feedback is also one of the industry phenomena.
Many web articles, web dramas, and movies are in contact with the script industry, and film and television become the future direction of development.
"The script-killing industry can also cooperate with the cultural travel industry and even museums to "live" the museum's cultural relics and the history behind it to form a new cross-cutting business format. The future development space and imagination space are actually very large." Chen Yao said.
Science and technology, cultural tourism, education, party building... When the script kills the industry gradually moving towards the "right track", it may take more responsibilities in the future.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Xie Wanfei, Meng Peipei, intern Zhang Zhenzhen Source: China Youth Daily