Here, players from all over the world can intuitively feel the strong Chinese style of "Colorful Harrier Spring Breeze", and experience the elements of traditional Chinese lion dance from the first perspective: jumping, squatting, rolling, and ...... Recently, high-quality domestic game IPs have also made overseas users "on top".
Screenshot of "Genshin Impact" Image source network
Whether it is the comment area of the app store or the discussion area of related game forums, there are recognition of domestic games from overseas users. Some players even said that they were attracted by the map in the game and wanted to travel to China for themselves.
The game going overseas has become a "conspicuous package" in the report card of major online game companies. In the "cultural track" where the competition is becoming increasingly fierce, why should the game "ride the wind and waves" and go overseas?
Shi Anbin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Professor of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, said in an interview with China News Service's "Ku Ding Xie News" that the excellent domestic game IP has realized the "gamification" processing and performance of traditional Chinese culture in many aspects such as character setting, background design and scene depiction, which not only realizes the communication effect of cultural mixture, but also gives new life to the "animation" of traditional Chinese culture going out.
What are the advantages of online games going overseas?
01
Create a fantasy world and talk to Gen Z
Games are a hobby for many "Generation Z" groups, and they have also become one of the best mediums to create immersive experiences and silently spread traditional culture.
Screenshot of "Genshin Impact" Image source network
Shi Anbin said that the unique advantage of the game is that it allows players to participate in and influence the development of the story in the process of "long-term operation" through the "game language", forming long-term interactions. Even after entering the market, games can keep pace with the times through content updates and version iterations, constantly revising their narrative content and methods based on feedback from users, the market, etc., which is incomparable to previous media forms.
However, if we want to get closer to young people, we also need to see the world and culture from their perspective, and this sense of identity means that we need to empathize with young people's ideas.
For example, in the video "Goddess Splitting Views" in "Genshin Impact", the sentence "add another stroke, say it and listen to everyone" conveys a way of thinking for young people to observe the world through their own eyes and tell new stories.
02
Integrating traditional culture and attracting attention with Chinese characteristics
The yearning for beauty and the pursuit of happiness are the nature of all human beings. From natural scenery to humanistic architecture, from costumes to customs, from characters to stories, integrating traditional cultural elements into the construction and development process of games is one of the important reasons why domestic games can attract global players.
"The domestic game IP that has successfully gone overseas has realized the 'gamification' processing and performance of traditional Chinese culture in many aspects such as character setting, background design and scene depiction." Shi Anbin said that these game IPs fully integrate multiple cultural codes and give new life to the "animated" traditional Chinese culture going out.
Genshin Impact Liyue Image source network
They skillfully integrate traditional Chinese cultural elements, the modern civilization genes of the Chinese nation and some "international" and "gamified" design concepts, making them not only Chinese characteristics, but also easy to be accepted by audiences with different cultural backgrounds.
How to "ride the wind and waves" when online games go to sea?
In the face of the market environment of "going out if you don't go to sea", how do domestic game brands "ride the wind and waves"?
01
Localize according to the context
Successful cultural and creative products must have their own cultural core, otherwise it is difficult to have vitality and penetration. Therefore, culture itself is also the core and soul of a boutique IP. In game IP, "culture" is not only reflected in the development and innovation of one's own culture, but also in the observation and understanding of other cultures.
《Puzzles & Survival》 图源网络
For example, "Puzzles & Survival" launched by Sanqi Mutual Entertainment chose the popular "doomsday" theme in Europe and the United States, which helped to quickly open up the European and American markets. In addition, during special festivals such as the Spring Festival, especially Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, etc., which are more important to European and American players, the game has launched special activities to further meet the needs of the local market.
Shi Anbin pointed out that when successful cultural and creative products enter overseas markets, they will adopt the localization strategy of "format licensing", including language translation and cultural customs adaptation, so as to better adapt to the target market. However, the context of Chinese is generally higher than that of other languages, and in the translation process, it is necessary to pay attention to the differences in context, and to appropriately retain the linguistic characteristics of Chinese (especially classical poetry), while also taking into account the acceptance of different overseas users.
02
Build an open game worldview
Looking at the domestic game brands that have successfully gone overseas in recent years, it is not difficult to find that they do not deliberately emphasize "culture going out", but in the form of an open world, so that the audience can unconsciously complete the reception of culture in the process of spreading goodwill.
Shi Anbin emphasized that we must not blindly think that Chinese games going overseas are "completely" Chinese culture going out, or adding this "monistic" cultural imagination to Chinese games that have both cross-cultural communication attributes, commercial profit purposes and game attributes, on the contrary, we need to look at this phenomenon from the perspective of "cultural mixture".
Edutainment, games are more than just entertainment
01
"Game + intangible cultural heritage" cross-border linkage
With the rapid development of China's game industry, games have gradually become one of the new cultural carriers. When launching game products, many game creation teams will choose to combine traditional culture such as folk customs and intangible cultural heritage, rely on Chinese culture to create high-quality content, and use games to tell Chinese stories well.
"Streamer Relics" source network
During the Spring Festival of 2023, Genshin Impact, a game project under miHoYo, will launch the long-term intangible cultural heritage protection and inheritance project "Journey of Streamer Relics", which showcases the legends and market life of Genshin Impact in Liyue in the form of intangible cultural heritage. Through the search for seven intangible cultural heritage inheritors, the seven intangible cultural heritage skills of woodblock New Year paintings, interior paintings, Longquan celadon, Gu embroidery, wheat straw paintings, egg carvings, and gold and silver craftsmanship were photographed, and the characters and scenes in the game "Genshin Impact" were reproduced, realizing the cross-border combination of "game + intangible cultural heritage", and setting off an upsurge of understanding "intangible cultural heritage" culture among young players at home and abroad.
"Sword Network 3" Zigong Lantern Festival Theme Block
"Sword Network 3" has also carried out cross-border linkage with traditional culture or intangible cultural heritage such as the Tang Palace Night Banquet, Zigong Lantern Festival, Taishan Shadow Puppetry, Suzhou Suzhou Embroidery, Yuhang Paper Umbrella, Fengxiang Wood Block Painting, etc., making the game successfully transformed into a digital carrier of traditional culture.
"Sword Network 3" links the intangible cultural heritage Fengxiang woodblock painting source network
02
A healthy gaming concept is indispensable
"Ensure that the game content is healthy and uplifting, avoid violence, pornography, gambling and other bad content, and provide positive guidance to young players."
Shi Anbin proposed that game manufacturers can implement an age rating system and anti-addiction measures to protect the physical and mental health of young players. This also requires relevant departments to formulate relevant laws and regulations to regulate game content and the market; For schools, students should be trained to use games reasonably and educate students to identify bad game content. Parents need to take responsibility for guardianship and guide their children to form a healthy concept of play.
He also emphasized that in terms of user privacy, it is necessary to respect and protect users' personal privacy, and reasonably collect and use user data. In addition, game manufacturers can also actively participate in the development of serious games, exploring the combination of games and more social functions such as education and medical care, so as to better practice technology for good.
Source: WeChat public account "庖丁解news"
Authors: Yin Peiyao, Wei Yuan
Edit: Yifan
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