"Is there any time to go online to help me lay down Sword Net 3?" I was suddenly arranged by the company on a business trip recently, can't go on the number, help me do the next guild task, otherwise my sixty thousand pieces will be in vain."
Zhu Xuan, a roommate who had not been in contact for a long time, called me, and on the phone, he was extremely anxious to find someone to do the task in "Sword Net 3".
When I heard that Zhu Xuan had charged tens of thousands more, I was shocked. Remembering that when he graduated two years ago, he recharged less than 10,000 yuan, I can't quite understand the reason, after asking colleagues and relatives and friends around me, I found that almost everyone has the habit of "krypton gold" in the game, the difference is the passive or active, more or less "kryptonite gold".
SwordNet 3 official website page. Source / Sword Net 3 official website
With tens of thousands of consecutive draws, the temptation of new characters is difficult to resist
"I swear, I will never use a lottery game like Krypton Gold "Original God", and when playing the game, you should buy skins, not draw cards to affect the balance of the game!"
When "Original God" first came out, his friend Hong Jie, as the ultimate fan of "League of Legends" and "Glory of Kings", extremely despised the "Original God" card drawing game, "except for Krypton gold to improve the character's ability, there is no skill to speak of, and there is no competitiveness."
But in just one year, Hong Jie told me that he recharged 15,000 yuan in "Original God", spending an average of 1,250 yuan per month. "I can't control Krypton's desire myself, as if I'm caught up in a kind of character collecting fetish, and I want to have a new character." He once calculated that according to the current role of "Original God", he wanted to get all the heroes, and if he was full of "destiny", he needed 10,000 yuan for each five-star character.
According to this calculation, in the case of each card draw is out of the guarantee activity, at least 243,000 yuan needs to be spent, if the price of the weapon is calculated, the original god is full of "full life" and each person has a weapon, then at least 320,000 yuan of card draw amount is required.
Hong Jie's "kryptonite gold", is it because of its own reasons, or because of the routine of the game business?
In order to find out why, I also downloaded the game "Original God", and I found that the problem also appeared on me. For the first few days, whenever the character had difficulty playing the dungeon, I would think, "If it's a new character with a lot of intensity, it should be a good fight." Or when the game bursts out a very good "holy relic" (equipment), it will also think "do you want to be a little kryptonite, otherwise such a good equipment will be wasted."
Looking at the "rough stones" obtained by doing the tasks every day, and then looking at the "holy relics" with perfect attributes in my hand, I still couldn't help but open the lottery page. After all, the rough stones I get from doing tasks for a month in a row can draw seven ten consecutive stones, and it is possible to get the desired role - "Thor" without "guaranteeing the bottom".
However, after seven consecutive draws, I have not yet drawn. There are still two ten consecutive draws left from my "guaranteed bottom" (Note: guaranteed bottom, the lottery mechanism of "Original God" is 9 10 consecutive draws will get an SSR character), in order to win the "Thor", I was hot-headed, directly recharged 648 yuan in the game, thinking "This is not enough to eat two meals of haidilao money".
"Original God" card drawing screen. Image source / parity screenshot
Some experts have analyzed that "game development and behavioral psychology are closely related, the game will mobilize the player's desire to compete, such as the built-in lottery 'unboxing' system, put some items and props that can greatly improve the player's game experience into the lottery system to tempt players, even if the probability of winning the lottery is not high, players will continue to draw lottery and 'unbox' after a high-level game props." ”
I suddenly realized that Hong Jie and I were unconsciously caught up in the "unboxing" routine of the game business, and only one character card of "Thor" let me go from "ninety consecutive draws at the bottom" to "30 yuan for the first charge", and then to the monthly card, the annual card, etc., a "Krypton" to the end. At the same time, in addition to the real expenditure of RMB, I spent a lot of time and energy on the exchange of game props and game equipment, daily check-in, daily login and other tasks let me unconsciously "move bricks" in the game for a long time, providing activity for game merchants.
For ultimate satisfaction, Krypton gold buys skins like faith
Some time ago, the "2021 China Game Industry Report" released by the Game Working Committee of the China Music and Digital Association and the China Game Industry Research Institute [2] showed that the actual sales revenue of China's mobile game market was 225.538 billion yuan, an increase of 7.57% year-on-year, the scale of mobile game users reached 656 million people, an increase of 0.23% year-on-year, and the per capita user kryptonite was 344 yuan.
Seeing this data, a large number of netizens questioned: "Who has dragged me back in the game Krypton?" ”
Most of my friends tell me that there are only two reasons to charge money in the game, "look good" and "get stronger".
Colleague Zhang Wei, every time "Glory of Kings" comes out with a new skin, especially his favorite skin, he will have the urge to buy, even if these skins are just good-looking, and there is no attack power or skill bonus.
"I row in the game without oars, relying on the waves, but as long as the skin is cool, I will feel that I am the most dazzling presence in the whole game, and can also play a 'deterrent' role." Zhang Wei said.
"Glory of Kings" Eight Precepts Skin, Source / Glory of Kings official website
Zhang Wei explained that when the proficiency of a hero reaches the point where he can gain a foothold in summoner canyon, "skin" is an important way to show his opponent his strength at the beginning, and to some extent, it is also a sign to distinguish whether they are strong or not. Cool skin is telling the opponent' 'I'm going to you later!' ”
Even, the game skin can also bring physical and mental pleasure, just like the clothes worn on their own body, and the hero with one hundred special effects is more "silky" to use.
In addition, whether it is "League of Legends" or "Glory of Kings", a large number of game skins have classic elements such as Three Kingdoms themes, blue and white porcelain themes, and Journey to the West themes. Zhang Wei is a loyal fan of the Three Kingdoms theme, and every time "Glory of the King" produces the skin of this kind of theme, he must buy it with kryptonite gold, "just like faith".
Glory of Kings Guan Yu skin. Source / Glory of Kings official website
In addition to kryptonite for "good looks", "getting stronger" is also the reason for a large number of players to "kryptonite".
Zhang Wei recharged the most game is a new game, "I have krypton gold in this game this year 2,000 yuan, in order to become stronger and krypton gold is essential, only gorgeous skills and powerful cards can make me have a sense of game experience." 」 He continued, "Although I am a micro krypton player, I can already feel the respect and recognition that is difficult to get in reality, which is really cool! ”
The biggest source of "kryptonite" for young people is to meet their own needs and thus obtain a sense of happiness, but this is also the result of careful calculations by merchants. According to the incomplete statistics of Photon Planet, as of December 31, 2021, "Glory of Kings" has released a total of nearly 500 skins and 108 heroes. For example, the seemingly free battle order limited skin, in addition to ensuring the game duration, also costs 388 bonds (38.8 yuan) to get the second one; the treasure limited skin needs to cost an average of 1500 yuan (glory crystal); and the annual/anniversary limit, noble limit, KPL limit are bound to time, scene, and emotion, so that users are willing to "krypton gold".
Source/Photon Planet
According to the financial report data, Tencent's game revenue in the local market was 33.6 billion yuan in 2021Q3, an increase of 5% year-on-year. The revenue of games in the international market was 11.3 billion yuan, an increase of 20% year-on-year, and Tencent recorded more than 4 billion yuan in the account after releasing the version update of "Glory of Kings" in January 2021.
The excuse for young people to escape from life is ultimately a palliative rather than a cure
During the Chinese New Year, I was in coffee shops and Internet cafes, and I could see young people playing games with mobile phones or computers.
Young people are playing mobile games. Photo / Visual China
I once asked a good friend of mine why he was able to reload fifty thousand dollars in the game without hesitation instead of taking it to eat and drink. His theory is, "It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't think it's worth it, whether it's in love, work, or work in real life, I'm already tired, and then I take money to socialize with various things, it's really better to have krypton gold in the game."
In his view, in reality, others look down on themselves, and the people in the game "talk well", as long as Krypton gold can harvest the friendship that cannot be obtained in reality.
The term "kryptonite" refers to meaningless and irrational consumption in the context of modern society. In the game Krypton gold, I saw the shadow of the bereavement culture. Of the 30 friend players I interviewed, nearly half mentioned stress.
Zhu Xuan is a bank manager who gets up early every day and commutes to work in the dark, under the pressure of mortgages, car loans, and marriages, he will give one-third of his salary to the virtual world every month. "You should get married", "Don't you feel ashamed that people make so much money", "The neighbor's son bought a new car"... Listening to his parents' nagging in his ears, Zhu Xuan chose to escape from life, indulging in games every day and unable to extricate himself.
For most young players, the game world is more like a real-life supplement, which can fill the gaps and dissatisfactions of real life and allow themselves to be temporarily relaxed and healed. However, in the long run, this excessive escape from real life will ultimately cure the symptoms rather than the root causes.
Resources:
1. "Those "Krypton gold" and "brick-moving" routines: game companies are addicted to players in this way", Half Moon Talk;
2. The "2021 China Game Industry Report" was released, and the average kryptonian gold of mobile game players was 344 yuan;
3. "Tencent Rises and Falls, 'Skin' Has Responsibility", Photon Planet.
*Hong Jie, Zhang Wei, and Zhu Xuan are pseudonyms