"Favorite Cards"
Dismantling cards online is as exciting as exploding equipment in a game.
Clicked into a live broadcast room with curiosity, even at 18:31 on Thursday afternoon, the number of viewers at the same time was 2,132. Today's anchor is dismantling a set of anime IP cards, she is doing a patterned card dismantling action, while interacting with the comment area with a sweet voice, the comment area is constantly scrolling, some people ask the price of the anchor's cards, some people envy the buyer of this order to draw the UR card, some people and the anchor asked her what time she gets off work, and some people sighed again and again, "How can you do it so good?"
This kind of heat has also spread offline.
At 3 p.m. on a Sunday in late October, a flagship card game store in Beijing gathered more than a dozen teenagers and parents. Although the mall has recently been energy-saving and emission-free, and there is no air conditioning, which can make you sweat for a while, it still can't stop the enthusiasm of collectors to play cards. In the middle of the flagship store is a white round table surrounded by Ultraman card bricks, and the store manager told me that this is a rest area, so that card players can sit here to open or change cards.
Parents sitting in the lounge area are silently playing with their mobile phones, giving their children space to entertain and socialize. The teenagers sitting here also have a card album, which is full of Ultraman cards, different series, different patterns, and different IPs, which are placed according to the rules. They exchanged card albums with each other, carefully flipped through them one by one, staring closely at the cards in the card album, and did not let go of any of the "intended cards" that they had been looking for for a long time.
Among the many parents, there is one that is a little different. He is the father of a 4-year-old who is holding up a card and asking if another teenager who looks like a junior high school student can trade it in. He's a regular here and can come at least once a week. At its peak, it takes 10 minutes to drive your children here in the morning, noon, and evening on weekends.
According to him, his child has just been in contact with the cards for two months, and has already collected two card albums, but most of the cards in the card album are collected by him for the child, because the child is a little shy and embarrassed to take the initiative to find other players to change the card, the father took the initiative to help the child change the card. The measure of a 4-year-old child is only "whether it looks good or not", and the old father is also heartbroken, and sometimes the cards that cannot be exchanged offline will go online to trade with other collectors.
A father and his child collect Ultraman cards
A few meters away is the competitive area of this flagship store. 8 tables for 64 players to play against each other at the same time. There is a tablecloth-like card cloth on each table, and five areas for playing cards are planned, including "Card Library", "Rest Area", "Energy Zone", "Configuration Zone" and "Damage Zone", which standardize the form of duel. However, due to the fact that a matchup was just held here the day before, there are not many players who come to play the duel today, only 4. They play Ultraman's Hero Duel Card, and they play a duel based on the level of attack value and support value. Usually a round lasts 15 minutes.
On top of that, the other players who sit in the arena are trading cards. A male college student who came with his girlfriend bought his girlfriend an egg boy party rubber sheet, and then went to the competition area with his black card album to exchange cards with another young player. While looking at the cards in the other party's card album, he used his mobile phone to open the applet and search for the illustrated card book.
I stayed in this store for two hours, and according to rough statistics, a total of 146 card lovers came, 80% of whom were young people, and 20% were card lovers who had already entered the society. Looking at the beautifully packaged card boxes in the store, and those players with a relatively large age span, I can't help but be a little confused, the current card gameplay has evolved like this?
A new generation of social passwords
My memories of cards are still stuck in the '90s.
At that time, "Pokémon" cards, "Yu-Gi-Oh" cards, Magic and other competitive cards born abroad began to spread in China, and card competition also became a pastime for many young people. Then, in 1999, the Water Margin hero card launched by Little Raccoon simply swept the campus with the help of the IP influence of "Water Margin", and most young people also started their first "collection journey" in their lives from this time. In order to collect 108 cards, it took a lot of effort. Hou Zheng, a 38-year-old card collector this year, still remembers that at that time, in order to collect the cards of 108 heroes with his classmates, "eating instant noodles (drawing cards) and eating all the stomachs." ”
Every Water Margin card that "eats" in his hand is the sustenance of Hou Zheng in his youth to his heroic dream. And now, among teenagers, they rely more on IP characters in different animation works to place their heroic dreams.
Also as the father of a 6-year-old child, Hou Zheng also told the "Houlang Research Institute" that from the end of 2021, his son and his classmates have already had an Ultraman card book.
Hou Zheng took the initiative to take his son into the pit by himself. In order to help his son "grow face" in front of his classmates and open up his social circle, he took his son to gather a whole card album.
In Hou Zheng's view, Ultraman cards have become a social currency among little boys. Many classmates have taken the initiative to find their son to change their cards, whether they are the same age or a little older, this IP is the sustenance of their heroic dreams.
A generation has a generational memory. The Water Margin hero card and the 98 version of the Three Kingdoms accompanied the post-80s generation to spend their pastime, and the Three Kingdoms Kill and Three Kingdoms-themed games left traces in the youth of the post-90s, and new cards such as card games such as the Three Kingdoms and Hero Duel have also set off a frenzy of collection in the post-00s group. Although the times are different, this kind of socialization brought together by the same hobbies and dreams can be completely unrestricted and hindered by age.
He Rui, a post-80s card collector, after accidentally coming into contact with competitive cards last year, went to the offline card game flagship store in Chengdu to play a duel in his free time, which has also become He Rui's new pastime. In the store, he always has the opportunity to play against young players, and through this entertainment, He Rui has achieved offline interaction across age groups.
He Rui's relationship with cards can be traced back to elementary school. His first collection is a little raccoon simply noodle around the "Water Margin", "Dragon Babu", "Fengshen Bang" IP to create a food card. When he grew up, he began to collect stamps and coins. In recent years, GUNPLA, Naruto cards, and Transformers cards have also become his favorite collections.
Every once in a while, He Rui likes to turn these collections out, looking at these collections, he can think of the process of collecting at that time, which are all precious memories. For each collection, He Rui does not have a specific measurement standard, as long as he likes it, he will be in his pocket.
He Rui's collecting behavior also represents a part of young people. In order to further understand their card collecting preferences, the "Hou Lang Institute" released a small survey on young people's collecting behavior. A total of 562 people participated in the survey.
In our survey, 36.15% of young people have collected cards, second only to book collectors and trendy figure players.
Among these card enthusiasts, more than 60% of young people prefer collectible cards.
Among these collectible card players, 64.07% will collect anime IP cards, nearly 4 percent of young people like to collect game IP cards, and 29.94% of young people are collectors of cultural and creative national tide cards.
Among competitive card players, 49.7% of young people like to play "Hero Duel" cards, 26.95% are "Pokémon" card players, and 17.37% are "Yu-Gi-Oh" card lovers.
As for the reasons why young people like to play cards, different people have different opinions. There are nearly 6 percent of card lovers who simply like and are interested in cards, and 55.09% of young people choose to collect because of the appearance of cards, and 50.9% of card players are because they have special feelings for the content of cards.
Ren Qian, 21 years old this year, has been playing cards since November last year, just because a good friend showed her her collection of Ye Luoli cards, Ren Qian was attracted by the appearance of the card face, and embarked on the road of card collection. So far, she has taken a fancy to the advantages of the cards that are "good-looking and easy to play", and she has started the Ye Luoli, My Little Pony and Detective Conan series respectively.
In less than a year, Ren Qian has collected two card albums. One of her favorite cards is my Little Pony's second Radiant Moon SGR (card level), which she usually takes out from time to time to look at it. Later, she took a photo of the card she received, and her friends in the community were envious. This also brought Ren Qian a sense of emotional satisfaction.
Ren Qian's Pony SGR
There are also some young people, for whom cards are a means and proof to keep up with the trend.
Xiao Yu, a 39-year-old competitive card enthusiast this year, as one of the earliest players of board game cards in China, has been in contact with card games since 07 and 08. At that time, his classmates were playing card games such as "Magic: The Gathering" and "Yu-Gi-Oh", which were developed from abroad, and the reasons why everyone came into contact with cards were similar: "Whatever is popular in the market, everyone will play it."
In the game-by-game duel, the relationship between the players has become closer.
Competitive cards are a bit stickier than collectible cards that can be played by one person, "because it's not something that can be played by one person." Xiaoyu said that if you want to complete a card duel, you need not only an offline store, but also a sufficient number of cards. Although this will raise the threshold for entering the pit, it will also greatly increase the possibility of making friends with similar interests.
From niche to mass
A palm-sized square card has awakened the childhood memories of many players.
A young man just saw his son's collection of hero duel cards, and felt that the craftsmanship of the card surface was good, and after an in-depth understanding, he entered the pit "Card Game Three Kingdoms". Looking at the characters on the card, my thoughts will always drift to the days when I was a child, squatting in front of the TV to watch "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and the happy moments when I once played the IP game of the Three Kingdoms.
Card game Three Kingdoms cards
Among all the cards, his favorite is the heroic Guan Yu. This loyal general with excellent martial arts and brave fighting skills is a hero idol in the hearts of many post-80s and 90s.
A generation has a generation of heroes. What player hasn't gone to great lengths to get their hands on a favorite item? The charm of the card doesn't stop there, it's also the emotional connection between players.
Li Ming is the father of a 9-year-old child, and in 2019, when his son was still in kindergarten, Li Ming pulled him to collect cards together. On the one hand, I want my son to improve his child's literacy ability through the numbers and words on the cards, and on the other hand, he also hopes to cultivate some of the same interests and hobbies with his son, "establish some connections and avoid the embarrassing situation of having nothing to say in the future".
Even if his son is in elementary school, Li Ming has never thought of hindering his pace of collecting cards, "You suddenly interrupt him with a hobby, which will also affect the continuity of his future work." After all, every child will go through this stage of immersion in a hobby, and will slowly grow up under the influence of this hobby.
In order to ignite his son's enthusiasm for learning Xi, Li Ming specially explored a set of reward mechanisms with him - as long as he raised his hand to answer the questions in class, Li Ming would reward him appropriately according to the number of times his son answered the questions, and if he reached a certain standard, he would reward the corresponding cards.
After collecting cards with his son for 4 years, Li Ming was pleasantly surprised to see that his son's personality had changed qualitatively after he started playing cards, from not daring to take the initiative to put forward his own needs when he went out to eat before, to now he can take the initiative to communicate with other children. Furthermore, Li Ming's relationship with his son is no longer the traditional father-son relationship, but more like a friend, "He has a better relationship with me than he has with his mother." ”
And Hou Zheng, after collecting cards, has also explored a new career path.
In the three years of the epidemic, as a practitioner of education and training, the offline education and training stores opened frequently encountered large-scale shutdowns, and at most, they could even lose hundreds of thousands of yuan a month, and even the Mercedes-Benz E at home was replaced by Wuling Hongguang. After deciding to accompany his son to open the card together, out of interest, Hou Zheng simultaneously released a video of the card opening on the video platform. Unexpectedly, it rose by 20,000 fans in two months. It happened that Feng had nothing to do at home at that time, so Hou Zheng discussed with his wife and decided to do a "live broadcast of card splitting".
Hou Zheng took his son to collect cards together
In April last year, Hou Zheng conducted the first live broadcast. Then every night at 9 o'clock, it was his live broadcast time, broadcasting for 6-8 hours a day, rain or shine.
At the peak, there were nearly 100 people in Hou Zheng's live broadcast room. Although it is far inferior to the 2 or 3,000 simultaneous viewers of those head card splitting anchors, the user stickiness is very high. Most of Hou Zheng's fans are young people, including the post-80s who bought cards for their children, and the post-90s who bought their own cards, and they discussed their own childhood memories in the live broadcast room, such as "This (the pattern on the card) is the Xth episode of "Saint Seiya"!"
Hou Zheng has also made a lot of customers and friends, every holiday, they will even send Hou Zheng's family special products, Tianjin twist, Haihe yogurt, lychee, longan, loquat, milk powder...... Hou Zheng feels that these are all intangible assets brought by cards.
Xiaoyu has turned a hobby into a career. After graduating from Fudan University, Xiaoyu worked in a consulting company for three years. By chance, in 2014, he represented China in the WCA World Esports Championship and won the runner-up in Hearthstone, a strategy card game produced by Blizzard Entertainment. Naturally, he became a professional card player, traveling around the world to participate in card competitions and embarking on an unconventional career path.
At that time, he would spend 10 hours a day Xi. He has won the top 4 of the Central European Masters, the top 4 of the Viagame House Cup in Sweden, and the champion of the Dream Hack Summer Tournament. In 2015, he founded his own card club, and although it ended in failure, Xiaoyu did not give up his love for the card business. Until now, Xiao Yu, who has been away from the arena for many years, is still engaged in card-related careers, joined a card company, and has been working in his field of interest.
Over the past 20 years, Xiaoyu, who has been deeply involved in the card field, has witnessed the development and changes of the card industry - from the initial niche hobby and piracy, to now it has become a popular entertainment method that can meet the needs of social networking, and has also given birth to more and more domestic card companies.
"With everyone's money and leisure, the entire card field has actually been developing. Xiaoyu said that although the card card does not have a clear flashpoint and growth point like the online car-hailing and takeaway industries, "it has always been in a process of steady development." ”
The ever-expanding card industry is also committed to providing more gameplay and value for young people in a more standardized and professional way.
On the one hand, the card is committed to co-branding with more IPs that young people are familiar with and interested in, creating cards with multiple functions of collection, entertainment, socialization and competition. In the 21st China Toy Fair held in October, well-known IPs such as Three Kingdoms, Dream of Red Mansions, Marvel, Ultraman and Transformers showed their unique charm in the exhibition area in the form of cards.
On the other hand, cards are also silently moving forward on the road of inheriting traditional Chinese culture. Taking the industry's head card game as an example, from 2020, the leading brand of Chinese card culture has begun to lay out Guochuang IP products, and has successively launched Guochuang IP cards such as "Douluo Continent", "Qin Shi Mingyue", "Card Tour of the Three Kingdoms", "Chang'an Thirty Thousand Miles", etc., and cooperated with Chinese painter Dai Dunbang this year to obtain the authorization of his four famous IP illustrations, and based on this, the development of cards and other derivatives is carried out. Some parents have said that through these original or co-branded card forms, children can imperceptibly understand Chinese culture.
For young people, the IP of "Card Tour of the Three Kingdoms" not only reminds them of the story of the Three Kingdoms they liked when they were children, but also gives them a new bearing and sustenance for the heroic dream hidden in their hearts in their childhood. Every young person can have a heroic dream, and every young person can be a hero. In the world of "Card Game of the Three Kingdoms", the heroic dreams of young people have ignited a new spark. It is reported that at the beginning of the 24th, Card Game will also launch the theme video of "Card Game Three Kingdoms", inviting Tang Guoqiang and tank, two representatives of different eras, to interpret the heroes of the Three Kingdoms in their hearts, so that more people can recognise this excellent traditional IP.
More and more valuable IP, more and more exquisite production technology, and more and more complete industrial chain...... In the company of players and enterprises, cards are also entering the field of vision of more consumers with a new image. Cards that were once niche and not well known to everyone have attracted the attention of more and more young people, and have also left a beautiful imprint in the hearts of generations of young people, and their memories have been preserved and cherished.
New collections continue, new dreams come true, and the stories of young people and cards continue to roll forward in the tide of the times.
(At the request of the interviewee, except for Hou Zheng, the names in the article are pseudonyms.) ）
This article is from the WeChat public account "Houlang Research Institute" (ID: youth36kr), author: Yang Xiaotong, 36 krypton is authorized to publish.