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从中国网吧的发展看人们对电子游戏的正负面热情

发布时间:2016-07-07 11:15:02 Tags:,,,

作者:Lisa Hanson

当提到对于中国硬核游戏玩家的描述时,“热情”可能远远不够去形容他们。当提到网吧中这些玩家的热情时,正面元素和负面元素是同时存在的;另一方面,多亏了硬核游戏玩家,网吧产业又一次复苏了,并成为玩家玩像《英雄联盟》和《魔兽争霸2》这种基于团队的游戏的热门场所,但随着网吧又一次风靡起来,数字游戏的不安全性又一次被敲响了警钟。

在2015年,与10年前相比,网吧的整体数量从35万的最高值下降到了13.5万。即在那之后几年,消费者开始广泛购买家用电脑,并且一旦他们拥有了自己的电脑便不会想再融入网吧环境中了。而随着网吧获得更多投资并且为了争夺用户而不断完善设备,它逐渐成为了朋友群去玩像《英雄联盟》的5对5模式的最佳场所。

niko 1 icafe(from gamasutra)

niko 1 icafe(from gamasutra)

今天的网吧都非常欢迎电子竞技游戏玩家以及那些喜欢看职业和业余游戏竞赛的观众们,中国互联网访问服务协会(IASAC)表示在2015年底的网吧数量统计值为14.6万,连续两年这一数值都在上升。需要注意的是,在政府发起有关健康和安全的法规前网吧的数量达到了35万,而在全球兴起有关电子竞技热潮前(特别是围绕着像多人在线战术竞技游戏MOBA这类型,既主要以《英雄联盟》为首),也就是2013年的时候网吧数量仅有13.5万。

可以肯定的是,竞争游戏拥有良好的社交环境。但有时候中国游戏玩家会太投入于自己的数字角色,如果是这样的话网吧便会变成一个悲伤之地。中国游戏玩家在某种程度上会非常沉迷于升级并提高自己在游戏中的能力,所以他们会长时间地待在网吧里,甚至有人在那里独自生下了小孩,也有人死在了网吧。在过去几年里我们听过了太多来自网吧的悲伤故事。因此现在的我们更希望能够听到来自网吧的社交竞争游戏和职业电子竞技游戏的好消息,因为他们会让我们去相信这些悲伤故事将不再上演。

在2015年5月,在中国南昌一个24岁的孕妇在网吧玩游戏的时候默默地生了个孩子。根据《赫芬顿邮报》的报道,该孕妇甚至拒绝来自旁边震惊了的旁观者的帮助并在之后继续回去打游戏。

在这个新闻前几个月,另外一个中国游戏玩家来到了上海的一家网吧并在这里待了19个小时后死亡了。根据《每日邮报》的报道,这个24岁的游戏玩家毫无间断地玩了19个小时的《魔兽世界》。其他网吧中的客人表示,他先开始咳血,然后便倒在了椅子上。虽然有人叫了救护车,但在等待过程中,这个玩家还是继续在打游戏。而当救护车到达时他已经不治身亡了。

我们可以发现,随着游戏市场的更快发展,我们看到了更多这种极端游戏沉迷所造成的悲剧。但其实早在2012年,便有一个台湾玩家在连续玩了40个小时《暗黑破坏神3》后因为长时间坐着不动而形成了血块。在那之前1年,一个33岁的男人也因为在网吧连续待了27天在玩游戏而暴毙(游戏邦注:将近玩了650个小时的游戏)。甚至在那之前,还有一个26岁的男子在花了一整个新年假期(7天)在玩游戏而死亡,那是在2007年的时候。

根据中华人民共和国文化部,中国在2015年于国内网吧的投资已经达到了200亿人民币。文化部希望鼓励健康网吧的发展,并推动着他们去升级系统于设施。其它部门也声称在过去几年里颁发了许多有关健康与安全的法规,既包括网吧的开设必须与学校保持一定距离,限制18岁以下的用户进入网吧以及各种环境规则等等。

政府是绝对不会去鼓励那种极端的网吧顾客不健康的行为。网吧的作用是提供给人们方便,帮助他们在没有网络的时候可以上网,此外还可以提供给人们电子商务,观看视频或电影,玩游戏等服务。最近Niko的调查中便问了人们一个问题:“你去网吧的主要原因是什么?”以下便是人们关于这一问题的答案:

niko 3 pie chart(from gamasutra)

niko 3 pie chart(from gamasutra)

从中国的网吧的发展中我们意识到,这会是经得住时间考验的场所。它们从不断的淘汰中生存了下来,做了相应调整并最终从一个人们查阅电子邮件的场所变成职业游戏竞技区域。事实就是,尽管具有各种负面新闻,但正是人们对于电子游戏的正面与负面热情推动着中国和全球的在线游戏市场的不断发展。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

The Good and the Bad of the Passion for Gaming in Chinese Internet Cafés

by Lisa Hanson

When it comes to describing hard-core gamers in China, “passionate” might be too gentle of an adjective. Both positive and negative components exist in this passion particularly as it relates to gamers in Internet cafés; on the one hand, the I-cafe industry is experiencing a grand resurgence thanks to hard-core gamers, becoming the hotspot to play popular team-based games like League of Legends and Dota 2, but with this resurgence in popularity has come cautionary tales of taking digital gaming to unsafe levels.

In 2015, usage of Internet cafes appeared to be on the decline as the total number of I-cafés had fallen to 135,000 from the high mark of 350,000 shops across the country a decade before. In the ensuing years consumers had been buying home PCs, and once they had a PC they no longer wished to visit the generally foul I-cafe environment. However, investment into I-cafes and greater competition to recruit a dwindling number of users led to improvement in facilities, and then I-cafés fell into the good fortune of being the perfect spot for groups of friends to play games such as League of Legends in a 5 vs 5 set up, right next to each other.

Today I-cafes warmly welcome eSports gamers and people who enjoy watching professional and amateur game tournaments, and the Internet Access Service Association of China (IASAC) says they numbered 146,000 at the end of 2015 having increased in number for two years in a row. It should be noted that 350,000 existed before the government initiated major regulations for health and safety, and that the low number of 135,000 was in 2013 before the surge in global popularity for eSports, particularly around games in the Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre, of which League of Legends is the leading title.

To be sure, a social environment for competitive gaming is fine. But sometimes Chinese gamers get a bit too involved with their digital lives in a perpetual universe, and at that point the I-café becomes home to a sadder story. Chinese gamers have taken their passion for leveling-up and being the best in their games to extreme levels, going to unthinkable lengths to stay in I-cafes, including birthing a child unassisted and even dying. We have heard of too many examples of sad stories in I-cafés over the years of tracking the Chinese digital games industry. Hence, the happy news that I-cafés nowadays are cleaner settings for social competitive gaming and professional eSports is welcome to our ears, because they give hope that the sad stories will not happen again.

In May 2015, a 24-year-old pregnant woman in Nanchang, China silently gave birth in an I-cafe while playing an online game. As reported by Huffington Post, the woman rejected help from the understandably shocked bystanders and returned to her game.

Just a few months before this Nanchang woman brought new life into the world, another Chinese gamer visited an I-cafe in Shanghai. 19 hours later, he was dead. As reported by Daily Mail, 24-year-old Wu Tai played World of Warcraft for 19 straight hours without a break. Fellow patrons of the I-cafe said he started coughing up blood before eventually slumping into his chair. Onlookers called an ambulance, but while waiting for the paramedics to arrive, Wu (much like the pregnant woman) continued playing his game. Wu was dead by the time medical crews arrived.

And before that, in January of 2015, a 32-year-old man was found dead in an Internet café after playing games for three days straight. He was proclaimed dead from cardiac failure and it was speculated that he had passed several hours before anyone noticed his death because his body had already begun to stiffen, according to CNN.

It just seems that the more the gaming market has risen in prominence, the more we’re seeing these events of extreme gaming fanaticism (a negative type of “passion”). But in 2012, a teenager died in Taiwan after playing Diablo 3 for 40 hours straight, tentatively from a blood clot formed due to sitting still for such a long period of time. A year before that, a 33-year-old man died after playing games in an I-café for 27 days in a row (approximately up to 650 hours of playing games). And even before that, a 26-year-old man died after spending his entire New Year holiday break (7 days straight) playing games…and that was in 2007.

According to the Ministry of Culture of the PRC, investment in domestic I-cafes exceeded RMB 20 billion ($3.1 billion) in 2015. The Ministry of Culture is encouraging healthy growth, pushing I-cafes, many of which are in national or provincial chains, to upgrade their systems and facilities if they have not yet started to do so. Other ministries have also instated many health and safety regulations over the years, including keeping a fair distance from schools, restricting users to 18 years old and over, and many environmental rules as well.

The government in no way is encouraging the unhealthy behavior of the extreme I-café visitors who keep playing to the detriment of their own well-being. I-cafés are used for utilitarian reasons, to simply get online when a person has no other Internet access point, and for more: e-commerce, watching online videos or movies, and playing games, to name a few, as a recent Niko survey asking the question “what is your primary reason for going to an I-café?” shows us:

If we’ve learned one thing about I-cafes in China, it’s that have so far stood the test of time. They have survived, adapted, and are now thriving in their transition from a place to check email to live-streaming professional gaming arenas. Because the truth is, despite the negative headlines, both the good and bad aspects of passion for digital games seem to be driving the market for online gaming higher and higher in China, and globally.(source:gamasutra

 


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