Back to the topic of the metaverse, if you remove the problem of VR technology, what angle should the Chinese game industry build its own metaverse?
My view seems to be very unreliable, that is, the national tide meta universe, can be martial arts, can be steampunk, can also be cyberpunk, but also can be mysterious Chinese style virtual world.
The source of this idea is Henan Satellite TV's Mid-Autumn Festival Fantastic Tour.
Compared with the previous Dragon Boat Festival and the Spring Festival Gala Tang Palace Night Banquet, the biggest feeling of Henan Satellite TV's national tide party is that the integration of the national essence is stronger, the culture is deeper, but the proximity is more close.
Why?
After removing those bells and whistles, I chose how to make the national tide closer to the visual habits and sensory stimulation of the audience, while bringing a certain cultural resonance.
This is actually a kind of metaverse, which makes people deeply immersed, but they can't interact.
What if I switched to the game? The result may not be just for all ages.
In fact, the national tide is breaking the circle in various forms.
For example, "White Snake 2: Green Snake Robbery" released in July 2021, compared with the previous "White Snake: Origin", the biggest change is to jump out of the national style and enter the punk wind.
Letting the national tide and punk merge together, although it is not a "combination of skills" to praise, but at least it is a step forward.
And the "New God List: Nezha Reborn" in the first half of 2021, in addition to rubbing the popularity of "Nezha's Demon Boy Descending" on the name, the most eye-catching thing is the steampunk wind inside.
Therefore, this gives a possibility, whether it is the national style in the early days or the current national tide, it is not that there is no possibility of "modernization", but just to see how to carry it out.
At the same time, this also gives China's metaverse a possibility: instead of going to fantasy, quadratic yuan or magic, it is better to start from the national tide in order to truly differentiate.
Is it possible?
At least it is more real than a game company simply donating money to repair the Great Wall to win a like.
For example, in the game, a Yungang Grotto and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes are reproduced, so that these treasures that are being weathered by time can survive forever in the virtual world.
This, in fact, has been perfectly achieved in the early days such as Assassin's Creed, and can also reproduce the lost treasures, so it is not technically difficult to achieve.
The difficulty lies only in business, whether there is interest-oriented, so that more game manufacturers can join in, not just a public welfare action or gimmick.
After all, at present, many domestic national tides enter the game, which is indeed a gimmick.
For example, "Tianya Mingyue Knife" joined hands with 10 cultural institutions such as Dunhuang Research Institute, Palace Museum, Shanghai Peking Opera House, etc., to draw inspiration from traditional costume culture from the inheritors of intangible cultural heritage skills such as cloud brocade, filigree inlay, Su embroidery, and Cantonese embroidery, and launched 10 sets of cultural cooperation costumes.
Another example is the flying skin of Yang Yuhuan launched by "Glory of kings" and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes...
Most of them are just a momentary surprise, and the manufacturer's marketing needs are just that.
But commercialization is not impossible.
Under the National Tide Meta Universe, the racing cars (domestically produced) used in racing can be sandwiched between various national tide skins, and the street scene on the road can be a scene of modern and ancient style.
Players can cultivate immortals or open up wastelands in the world of The Han, Tang, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and hang out in the streets wearing their own Matching Hanfu and Tang costumes.
Or use your own design to open a shop in the virtual world, so that more people can buy skins...
Even the mythical version of steampunk wind in the Hong Kong comic "Fengshen Ji" is not an element.
Let the ancient style, steam civilization and modern temperament are intertwined, perhaps it is really the great era of the rise of the national dynasty, and the national tide meta-universe has the possibility of success.
As for VR technology, which is still far from mature, let it slowly mature.
No rush!
Who said that deep immersion must be achieved in a virtual world, the metaverse as a parallel universe, let us have the same but different but willing to explore, not to get.
Of course, the premise is that it does not affect work and study and others, people still have to live in reality, unless your source of life is in the metaverse...
Published in the People's Post and Telegraph on November 5, 2021, Column 312 of LeYouji
Author Zhang Shule, columnist of People's Daily and People's Post and Telegraph, senior commentator of The Internet and game industry