On March 1, the official account of the China Youth Development Foundation Hope Project released a WeChat tweet "5 days, more than 90,000 people donated, I hope to shine because of you!" 》。
The tweet said that in just five days from February 24 to 28, Hope Project raised about 2.4 million yuan in new donations, and the donors of this money included players from "a certain god". In the donation certificate posted, many people signed "Dixia".
In fact, Dixia is a new character in the game Genshin. Earlier, "Genshin" announced Dixia's promotional video "Shaji Morning Light", and Dixia's good deeds in the plot touched a large number of players, and they began to spontaneously donate to the Hope Project.
What makes nearly 100,000 young people "shout for money"
The tweet said that the amount of donations is still rising rapidly, and the average daily donation amount has risen from the initial 10,000 to 100,000 per day. Among the donations of up to 2.4 million yuan, there are also donations from player groups to donate to the Hope Project 1+1 Education Aid Action.
It is understood that the Hope Project 1+1 Education Aid Action is to provide primary school students and junior high school students from economically disadvantaged families with financial difficulties with financial support for study and life, relieve the economic pressure of their families, improve students' learning and living conditions, and help them successfully complete their studies.
The starting point for the donation of netizens was the promotional video "Shaji Chenguang" of the new character "Dixia" of the game "Genshin".
Dixia is a desert mercenary, and in the story of "Morning Light in the Sand", Dixia escorts a group of orphans from the desert to seek refuge in a rich town. For the growth of her children, she used her years of savings to set up a fund called "Wall of Hope" to help all desert-born, homeless children.
Disia's story doesn't stop there, and in Genshin, the character is fully portrayed, giving legitimacy to his rescue of desert orphans.
In the game's plot, Disia's father disappears early, causing her to linger for years. As she grew up, Dixia gradually understood her father's hardships and her adopted life. As the plot progresses, Dixia finally understands her father, who chooses to sacrifice himself for Dixia's sake.
Because of this, Dixia donated her years of savings to help homeless children and pass on the goodwill.
"The player is the real hero"
The video sparked a discussion among many players on social media, and many netizens posted their donation records in the comment area. On the love wall of the China Youth Development Foundation website, there are also many netizens who use the character of Genshin as their avatar to give love.
After the user "Handsome Fan" donated 648 yuan, he wrote "Dixia can't stop) a single rush to the Hope Project", and posted a screenshot of the donation certificate.
Players also sympathize with each other, praising each other as "you are the real hero", which explains why donations are rising rapidly.
The enthusiastic participation among players also led the "retreat" to return and participate in this spontaneous charity action.
Although the user "Gellmansl" has not logged in to "Genshin" for several months, he was inspired by the high praise comments in the comment area of Dixia PV and chose to donate 188. There are also users who think that the "wall of hope" is like a project of hope in the virtual world, and this presentation of the game is very good.
This isn't the first time players have used games as a bond to spontaneously give love.
In September 2020, a B-site UP owner who shared CSGO game videos had no choice but to ask fans for help due to his mother's cancer. The story quickly spread among the player base, and in just about 5 hours, the fundraising platform received 300,000 donations. UP owners also received 20,000 donations from players.
At the beginning of the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, mobile game players issued announcements in the group, spontaneously publicized and organized fundraising, and some players used their own contacts to open up international procurement channels, dock hospitals, and deliver materials to doctors.
Ninth, can art contribute to public welfare?
As a cultural carrier of modernity, games have long been called the "ninth art". Thanks to the popularity of the Internet, the distribution cost of the game is extremely low, but the interactivity is extremely high. Young people love stories and prefer stories that they can participate in.
Genshin has maintained the vitality of its content for a long time, and since its launch, the game has always given players a deep sense of immersion. The plot of "Genshin" is both full and vivid. New versions are updated and often trigger large-scale discussions among players.
For example, Dixia, who triggered the discussion this time, only portrayed Dixia's strong and brave side as a mercenary in the plot before. In this video, it is Dixia who shows "Neirou", she reconciles with her father and past self, and gives up fame and fortune as a mercenary to help homeless orphans, which completes the character and creates character contrast.
This kind of shaping is easy to touch the heartstrings of young people, which promotes the enthusiastic participation of players in public welfare after being moved.
This is not the first time that Genshin players have broken the circle, in early 2022, the game launched the character "Yun Pan" that integrates traditional opera elements, and its opera singing section "Goddess Splitting View" has even attracted a group of fans overseas to delve into traditional Chinese opera culture.
The full story structure and world view lay the foundation for the quality of the game's content, and the complete character arc will trigger public discussion of the game. In this process, positive values and excellent culture can be skillfully transmitted. This donation event proves that when the game is integrated with humanistic care, it can have a positive impact on the positive values of society and the promotion of philanthropy.
Fictional truth is not necessarily untrue. Such is the value of games as the ninth art. Perhaps, as the player says, "There is only one Dixia, or... Everyone is Disia".