As a new type of social game, "Script Killing" attracts many young people to participate in it. However, the industry grows wildly, and some merchants embed horror, violence, and supernatural elements in game content, scene settings, etc., and use this as a gimmick to win traffic. The seemingly fresh sunrise industry is posing risks due to the lack of supervision.
"Zone of Terror" becomes "Garden of Eden"
The reporter walked into an "immersive experience hall" in a bustling commercial complex, but saw that the small room was dim and gloomy, the hall was impressively placed with two huge prop coffins, and the wall was posted with the remains of an old man. Five high school boys are sitting around a table, analyzing the plot under the guidance of the game host, and from time to time emitting terrifying screams.
The children are playing a script called "Ghost Man", which tells the story of "ghost catching people" in a remote mountain village. "The plot is suspenseful, the scene is terrifying, the experience is exciting, and it is very popular with children." The "script kill" host in the store said.
A "script killing" store displayed the key promotion script "Yin Ghost Man" Chen Chunyuan photo
The reporter of the half-moon talk visited the "immersive script killing experience hall" in some cities in the central region. In one store, the script propaganda poster hanging on the wall was grotesque and terrifying, and the owner took the reporter to several real-life rooms, which were decorated as cemeteries and other scenes, and the cemetery was opened with blood-red lights and some prop corpses. In one store, the owner focused on showing reporters the scripts containing horror and supernatural content such as "human charm", "nightclub spirit" and "pupil spirit person".
"The players are mainly urban white-collar workers and college students between the ages of 16 and 30, but there are also some curious junior high school and high school students. Now business is difficult to do, do not engage in some 'heavy taste' content, customers are not interested. One shopkeeper said that many similar stores have closed down today, and new openings depend on more exciting content to survive.
In the more than 10 stores he has visited, no matter how bloody and terrifying the content of the "script killing" is, he has not seen indicative notices such as "minors are not allowed to enter".
The entry threshold for new formats is low
"Script Killing" arose around 2010, from the first few young people sitting around a table to find clues and find murderers, in recent years, it has gradually expanded into various forms such as "escape room" and "immersive experience". With the continuous upgrading of the content and scene settings of the script, its experiential and stimulating nature has been continuously enhanced, and it has become more and more attractive to young people to participate. Since the beginning of this year, the number of "script killing" offline physical stores has grown rapidly, and the "script killing" hosting, script creation, plot design and other businesses have also had special professional groups.
Relevant data show that by the end of 2020, the number of offline "script killing" physical stores nationwide is estimated to be about 30,000. In order to attract customers and make quick money, some merchants have launched script killing projects with violent homicide content, such as poison killing, gun killing, secret room killing, etc.; some merchants have added horror and bloody elements to the scene setting, and some out-of-line content exceeds the psychological tolerance of ordinary people.
A "script killing" store displayed a key promotional script poster Chen Chunyuan photo
A person in charge of the market supervision and management department in the central region told the reporter that at present, the entry threshold for opening "script killing" stores is low, and there is no pre-approval condition, nor does it need to go through the content review of the cultural, public security and other departments.
"This is a nascent industry, and effective management measures or laws and regulations have not yet been introduced, and there are ambiguities in our law enforcement inspections." A person in charge of comprehensive law enforcement in the grass-roots cultural market said.
Guide the healthy development of industry norms
A patient's family told the reporter that the child asked his classmates to play a "script killing" containing violence, terror, blood and other content on the weekend. Out of curiosity, she also tried to participate in a script in which the props were made into a kind of "deformed person". The game also depicts the tragic situation of the dead, and the method of killing imitated in it is also "very cruel".
Chen Jianhua, a director of the Psychological Counselor Working Committee of the Chinese Psychological Association, said that she recently contacted a female visitor who had just graduated from college, and was once addicted to the "script killing" game with horror elements, and because of this, she had serious insomnia, could not turn on the lights and could not sleep, turned off the lights and was afraid.
"The guidance of the script and plot is very important, and it needs to be correctly value-oriented. Moderate role play is conducive to participants to release mental stress, enrich imagination, and strengthen interpersonal communication, but if the content is too scary and stimulating, the participants lack the ability to identify, but it will confuse reality and plot, and even produce psychological problems. Chen Jianhua said.
Yuan Xiaoping, deputy dean of the School of Public Administration of Nanchang University, said that in the supervision of new cultural formats such as "script killing", the relevant departments should put the protection of minors in a prominent position, introduce management systems and rules as soon as possible, and eliminate blind spots in supervision.
Source: Half Moon Talk, No. 17, 2021
Half Moon Talk Reporter: Chen Chunyuan Peng Jing | Editor: Xu Ning