China News Agency, Beijing, January 9th: From the local to overseas, how can games spread Chinese culture?
——Interview with Professor He Wei, School of Art and Media, Beijing Normal University
China News Agency reporter Gao Kai
In 2022, the overseas market scale of China's self-developed digital games will exceed 100 billion yuan, and the influence of Chinese games will radiate to hundreds of millions of overseas players, becoming one of the most eye-catching landscapes for the "overseas" dissemination of digital content.
From local to overseas, many game products have begun to try to incorporate Chinese elements to show Chinese culture to global players.
What is the overall appearance of traditional culture spread by domestic games?
How to better spread the charm of culture through digital games?
China News Agency "West Questions" recently interviewed He Wei, a professor at the School of Art and Media, Beijing Normal University, and asked him to explain his research and thinking on related issues.
The excerpts from the interview are as follows:
China News Agency reporter: Many domestic games, including "Glory of the King" and "Yuan Shen", are popular at home and abroad. What are the characteristics of Chinese games in the development process?
He Wei:
It has been 28 years since the first domestic game "Condor Commando" was released in 1994. Chinese games have grown from scratch, from "bringing in" to "going out", from few people interested in it to a few It has brought happiness to hundreds of millions of players at home and abroad, and has embarked on a difficult and progressive road.
The size of the domestic market has grown from zero to 296.5 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) in 2021, an increase of about 5 times in the past 10 years.
The rise of Chinese games is also the result of the country's growing overall strength.
Games are a combination of technology and creativity, driven and influenced by capital, and ultimately experienced, participated and evaluated by players.
Therefore, the history of game development is always closely related to the social context of the host country's economy, technology, commerce, and culture.
Since ancient times, the concept of "playing with things and losing one's will" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it has also affected the development of China's game industry.
With the number of gamers exceeding 650 million in recent years, and the protection of minors in the game industry has achieved initial results, all parties are more actively promoting the healthy development of games.
China International Digital Interactive Entertainment Exhibition (2019ChinaJoy) is very popular.
Photo by Chen Yuyu
China News Agency reporter: In recent years, the sales revenue of domestic digital games in overseas markets has exceeded 100 billion yuan for three consecutive years, and the growth rate has continued to exceed the growth rate of domestic sales revenue. What are the main reasons why domestic games can succeed in overseas markets?
He Wei:
There are many reasons for the success of Chinese game products in overseas markets.
First of all, the quality of domestic games continues to improve, which can meet the entertainment needs of a large number of overseas players.
Secondly, while most local game companies in the US, Japan, South Korea, and Europe are still focusing on console and PC games, Chinese game companies are actively deploying in the overseas mobile game market, accurately positioning and segmenting the market, and adopting the established strategy formed in the fierce domestic competition. The innovative methodology of the profit model of mobile game products, deep cultivation of localized operations, and the realization of "curve overtaking".
Third, some Chinese game products are culturally heterogeneous and novel to overseas players, and they bring fresh experiences in terms of themes, gameplay, narrative, audio-visual and other dimensions, so they are welcomed.
Fourth, in some emerging markets, such as South America and the Middle East, Chinese game companies have packaged domestically mature but scarce game types and gameplay in their local culture and stories, and thus quickly became popular.
The 2020 King of Glory KPL Autumn Finals will be held in Chongqing.
Chen Chaoshe
China News Agency reporter: More and more domestic games are actively applying and presenting content related to traditional Chinese culture. What are the reasons for the creation of the "National Style" game and the current development status?
He Wei:
With the continuous improvement of China's comprehensive strength, "national style", "national trend" and "domestic products" are becoming more and more popular in many fields of society, especially among young people.
We can observe that a clearer awareness of cultural subjectivity is responding to the initiatives of "cultural self-awareness" and "cultural self-confidence"; people are thinking and identifying what is "our" and "own" cultural styles and lifestyles, actively looking for cultural identity .
In such a big environment, game companies' integration of traditional Chinese culture into domestic games is a move that is widely welcomed by players.
On the other hand, many game creators with an average age of less than 30 years old are themselves active consumers of "national style" and "national trend", and they also take the initiative to integrate their preferences for traditional culture into their creations. Therefore, such games are becoming more and more popular. many.
We studied 1,407 games that were independently developed in China in the past ten years, obtained version numbers and are still relatively active, and found that more than 40% of them have spread traditional Chinese culture; and 80% of the top popular mobile games have spread Chinese traditional culture.
The 2021 Glory of Kings World Champions Cup group stage will start in Chongqing.
Chen Chaoshe
China News Agency reporter: How can digital games better spread Chinese traditional culture?
He Wei:
Following Mr. Wang Guowei's "three realms of scholarship", I think games can reach three different realms in spreading traditional culture: "symbolic realm", "knowledge realm" and "concept realm".
The specific practice of game communication culture is carried out in three dimensions of "people", "environment" and "action".
"Symbol Realm" refers to the use of traditional cultural elements and forms in the game to present symbols related to traditional Chinese culture in the form of audio-visual performance and aesthetic style. Based on symbols, it carries cultural content and value systems, and focuses on arousing players' emotions.
"Knowledge environment" refers to placing and disseminating knowledge and information related to traditional culture in the game, enhancing the rational cognition of players, and entertaining and teaching.
"Conceptual Realm" refers to presenting, exploring and inheriting the ideology, charm, humanistic spirit, moral norms and value concepts contained in traditional Chinese culture in the narrative and interaction of the game.
The concept and spirit are not only contained in the design details, but also require the participation and communication of players to discover and understand.
Regarding the three dimensions of practice, the first is the dimension of characters, including game characters adapted from real historical characters, as well as game characters based on well-known fictional images in myths, legends and folk tales.
Characters are the main body of the narrative content of the game, as well as the avatar or object for players to interact with the game, and are the focus of cultural identity and emotion.
The dimension of the environment is a virtual space built with digital technology. Players are in it, and they are always influenced and experience.
The dimension of environment can be subdivided into natural environment (geography, mountains and rivers, scenic spots, etc.), man-made environment (buildings, utensils, etc. ) in-game refactoring.
The dimension of action refers to what the player can do in the game, and what kind of impact and changes it brings to the game characters and the game environment.
In the process of simulating clothing, food, housing, and transportation, and in various cultural creation and experience activities, players can generate and deepen their experience and understanding of traditional culture.
2021 ChinaJoy Luoshang Huafu Rookie Competition Southwest Division Promotion Competition.
Photo by He Penglei
China News Agency reporter: How should digital games seek beauty and goodness, promote public welfare, take responsibility, and make games interact more benignly with society?
He Wei:
After years of hard work, China has established a relatively complete protection system for minors in the game field, from the online game content review mechanism, online game real-name system, restrictions on minors' game time and recharge consumption, to the implementation of "Online Game Age-appropriate Reminders" Group standards, enterprises access to real-name authentication platforms and actively use technical means to verify, establish parental monitoring platforms, open uninsured service lines, launch self-service recharge and refund systems for minors, etc.
It should be said that under the attention of the whole society and the requirements of the competent authorities, the Chinese game industry has adopted relatively comprehensive and strict restrictive measures.
The benign interaction between games and society is the common expectation of different countries and societies.
In fact, content industries such as film and television, animation, live broadcast, and advertising, as well as cultural heritage tourism, industrial manufacturing, smart cities, autonomous driving, medical medicine, and more are all drawing energy from the technological and cultural innovations of the game industry .
The overall game literacy of the society is also constantly improving, which not only means that people can better deal with the negative effects of games such as "too addicted" and "excessive krypton gold", and get happiness and beneficial elements from them, but also reflected in people's ability to In the industry you are engaged in, make good use of existing games or gamification methods to produce a positive effect of "game +".
In order to achieve such a benign interaction, or in other words, to make the game play a greater social positive value, it requires the participation and efforts of the social community of "government, industry, learning, research and application".
(Finish)
Respondent profile:
He Wei is a professor at the School of Art and Media, Beijing Normal University, and deputy director of the Digital Creative Media Research Center of Beijing Normal University.
Director of the Game Publishing Working Committee of China Audiovisual and Digital Publishing Association.
Research fields include social media and online public communication, game research, popular culture and cultural and creative industries, etc.
His research achievements have won the first prize of the Beijing Philosophy and Social Sciences Excellent Achievement Award, the third prize of the Ministry of Education's Higher Education Scientific Research Outstanding Achievement Award and the Youth Achievement Award, the first prize of the annual academic evaluation monograph and the first prize of the Chinese University Film and Television Association prize.