After 10 years in Beijing, I have only been to the Great Wall once. Not only because the Badaling Great Wall, which is the most popular for tourism, is far away from the city, but also because of the large number of tourists. On weekdays, there isn't enough time, but on holidays, the buses and even the city walls are crowded – the Great Wall is so attractive to tourists from all over the country.
The Great Wall is so popular and longed-for probably because it is very meaningful to the Chinese people. It is not only one of the new seven wonders of the world, but also carries very far-reaching national feelings.
The Great Wall was built in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and after Qin Shi Huang unified the Central Plains, the First Emperor sent Meng Tian to expel the Xiongnu and occupy the Hetao, connecting the old city walls of the Qin, Zhao and Yan national fortifications, so that it had the reputation of "Ten Thousand Miles of Great Wall". Most of the Great Wall that people can see today is the Ming Great Wall, which was mainly used to fight against the Northern Yuan and Tatars. It can be said that since its completion, the Great Wall has been protecting the land of the Central Plains and guarding the peace of a large territory. At the same time, its continuous shape also alludes to the yearning for the dragon in Chinese culture.
2024 happens to be the Year of the Dragon, and as an opportunity, people can actually see the magical landscape of the "Great Wall of Dragons" - the stretch of the city wall turns into an auspicious gilded green dragon soaring upward, and people look down on the earth on the back of the dragon. This is not a new-age legend, but a gameplay that can be actually experienced in the latest version of Peace Elite, "Dragon Leaping Great Wall".
Players will be able to see the spectacular sight of the Great Wall turning into a dragon in Peace Elite
Every year, "Peace Elite" will launch a version around the New Year that focuses on national style. The previous "New Year Garden" and "Dragon and Lion Welcome Ice and Snow" are very popular, and it also makes people look forward to what new work will be full of New Year's flavor in "Peace Elite" this year. And when the production team brought the iconic Great Wall to the game map, players were naturally pleasantly surprised.
More than just a sticker and an animation, "Dragon Leap Great Wall" restores several unique sections of the Great Wall into the island map and oasis world, allowing players to not only enjoy the unique battles in the antique Longji Mountain urban area, but also better understand the Great Wall in the historical buildings restored with digital technology, know how to protect the Great Wall, and even personally contribute to the restoration of the Great Wall.
Play a new version of the Year of the Dragon
In this version of "Dragon Leaping Great Wall", the new gameplay is mainly distributed in two maps. The so-called "battle on the island, defend in the oasis", the island map is a battle map, relying on the Longji Pass mountain range to build a Great Wall, the overall reference to the Ming Dynasty Great Wall at the same time, but also shaped the imitation of the dragon's head and half-submerged dragon tail. After the player climbs the Great Wall, activate the device at the dragon's head, which can make the Great Wall transform into a giant dragon and fly into the air, and hold the glider to go down the trend, you can see the main body of the Great Wall building, and there are very beautiful scenery in the morning and dusk and at night. Oasis World mainly includes protection gameplay, most of which are related to public welfare activities such as protecting and repairing the Great Wall. No matter what kind of gameplay it is, it combines quite a lot of ancient architectural elements and Chinese cultural features.
"Not to the Great Wall, not elite", the slogan of the new version fits the theme very well
The quaint central city at the foot of the Great Wall of Longji Mountain is a "battleground" for players, and it is very playable. The streets are generally spacious, making it difficult for players to find proper cover, but the good thing is that the low walls, railings, etc. of the ancient buildings are relatively high. So, someone quickly figured out how for novices to take advantage of the vision and position of these low wall cards. There are also some unexpected ways to use the environment, such as the cannon on the castle tower, which was originally used to quickly fire the player onto the eaves on the other side of the map, but also unearthed the use of "cover": as long as it is shrunk into the muzzle, it is difficult for anyone outside to reach it. This kind of fun gameplay is often used by players to "live" and record videos to share.
Many players have posted funny videos of themselves crouching in the barrel of a cannon to dodge or surprise other people on social networking sites
Some of the new items are also quite playable and fit the context as well. For example, wolf smoke can sometimes be found on the city walls, and after the wolf smoke is raised, the updraft allows the player to "take off on the spot" and then use the glider to find a suitable vantage point in the air. Of course, there are risks associated with using wolf smoke - there are quite a few skilled players who will crouch and snipe players who have just risen into the air, forming a kind of game see-saw on the battlefield.
Other props are particularly appropriate and lively. This time, players can find an item called "Firework Gatling" in the chest. Fireworks are not very useful for attacking enemies, but they can restore a certain amount of health and energy in the range, and they will also crackle in the air with words such as "Happy New Year", which is more like an atmosphere item than practicality. As a result, a lot of fireworks are placed in the area of the Great Wall where battles are prohibited, expressing the welfare and blessings between players.
The "horse" activity vehicle unexpectedly became an element of fun. In the overall near-future, light sci-fi style of "Peace Elite", the "horse" not only shows a retro and martial arts feeling, but also quite "smart" - when passing by the lawn, the player only needs to let the horse eat grass by itself, which can ensure its endurance, and in some specific terrains, the horse also has an acceleration buff. In addition, players can shoot while riding a horse, and there are many tips for riding and shooting. There have been players who have played the effect of "one horse surrounds one team" by riding a side attack.
Some of the more powerful players have released mounted archery tutorials
And the most impressive thing is the scene of "the Great Wall turning into a dragon". At the Dragon's Head on the Great Wall of the Island and in the central part of Longji Pass, players can activate the "Dragon Tower". After a spectacular CG animation, players and teammates will find themselves standing on top of a dragon's head, carried by a dragon to enjoy the panoramic view of the map from top to bottom. This feeling of riding the dragon is really fresh, and it is also very suitable for checking in and taking photos with friends in the game.
Protect the Great Wall and give back to the Great Wall
When players don't want to continue fighting on the island map, they can also visit the Great Wall surrounded by flowers in Oasis World, and participate in a variety of gameplay related to the archaeology and restoration of the Great Wall. Oasis World has always been a part of Peace Elite that is more social and casual, and this time it has also designed a lot of beautiful landscapes and intellectual interactions.
The ancient Great Wall is surrounded by lush mountain flowers, presenting a prosperous beauty
The most desirable thing is that this picture especially restores two very special sections of the Great Wall. One of them is the landscape of the Jiankou Great Wall, "Eagle Flying Upside Down", "Eagle Flying Upside Up" is to describe the steep so that even the eagle flying over has to turn upside down, which can be called one of the most dangerous sections of the Great Wall; the other section is the Great Wall of Xifeng Mouth, which is half submerged in the water, like a giant dragon bowing its head to draw water, which is a very distinctive section of the Great Wall.
As early as 2016, the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation and the Tencent Charity Foundation have joined hands to launch the Great Wall Protection Public Welfare Project "Protect the Great Wall, Add Me One" and launched a public fundraising campaign. From September 2016 to October 2018, nearly 400,000 people participated in the fundraising, making it the largest cultural heritage charity project on Tencent's charity platform that year. This time, the Jiankou Great Wall restored in the oasis world, and the Xifengkou and Xipanjiakou Great Wall have also been partially repaired, all of which have been funded by this public welfare project.
The picture shows the comparison before and after the repair of the second phase of the Great Wall of Jiankou, and the repair results are remarkable
For an ordinary person like me, it is difficult to really see such a special Great Wall in reality, even if we do not mention the parts that have not been completely restored and are not open to the public, even some open parts are often dangerous roads that can only be mastered by outdoor sports and mountaineering enthusiasts. Peace Elite's choice to present these two segments in the game to give all players the opportunity to observe them up close is enough to prove that the project team did a very detailed preliminary investigation of the existing Great Wall protection work when designing the event, and then showed the most special and meaningful content to the players.
Players can explore a lot of knowledge points about the Great Wall in the game
Because the archaeology and restoration work of the Great Wall has been ongoing, Peace Elite has also stocked up on a lot of knowledge points for players to discover. In the "Dragon Leap Great Wall" version, players can earn stamina every day by completing the day's tasks, and then spend stamina to explore archaeology and gain archaeological knowledge. For each knowledge point unlocked, Tencent Charity Club will give away a small red flower. After donating a total of 30 million small red flowers, the Tencent Foundation will fund the archaeological work of the fifth phase of the Great Wall in the eastern section of Jiankou, and players can also receive a Tencent Charity Medal.
At the same time, players can find Sister Jili in the map and answer a series of popular science knowledge questions and answers related to the Great Wall, and they can also get the "Descendants of the Dragon" headgear. If you play it, you will feel that these are very affectionate designs with practical public welfare significance.
A total of 30 million small red flowers have been donated across the server, which means that all players have unlocked 30 million archaeological knowledge points of the Great Wall together
I have always been interested in ancient engineering buildings, and naturally I am also very fond of the Great Wall, and I am very willing to participate in the protection and restoration of the Great Wall, but I have been unable to find a suitable way. And I really didn't expect to get this opportunity in the game.
Another thing I didn't expect is that behind "Peace Elite", the Tencent Charity Foundation and the protection of the Great Wall have always been very related.
The "Dragon Leaping Great Wall" version of "Peace Elite" was jointly created by the project team with the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, and the Tencent Charity Foundation. Tencent has a long history of cooperation with the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, and the aforementioned "Protect the Great Wall, Add Me" project is the result of this cooperation.
I can understand why people are so enthusiastic about the Great Wall. After all, the Great Wall has always had a special meaning in our history and culture. It is not only the frontier defense line to defend the vast Central Plains, but also carries the painstaking efforts of the builders of the past and the archaeologists and repairers of the present.
Therefore, among the many activities of this version of the "Dragon Leaping Great Wall", the "Protect the Great Wall" peace construction team is the one that makes me feel the most affectionate and the most suitable for temperament. The event was launched in the form of a live broadcast on December 22, 2023, and the host Yang Di was invited to serve as the leader of the "Protect the Great Wall" peace construction team. As the so-called "non-elite who don't go to the Great Wall", the participating anchors can join the construction team in the form of "applying", visit the Great Wall in the game, and experience the new version of various gameplay. During the live broadcast, Yang Di also chatted with the audience about a lot of popular science knowledge related to the protection of the Great Wall.
The most special design of this event is that the participating anchor IDs and fan IDs can be engraved on the digital Great Wall bricks in "Peace Elite". This is a parody of the rules of the Great Wall that were built and repaired in the past: the bricks and steles are inscribed with information about the time of construction, the people and the area where it was made. Now, in-game in-game inscribed IDs on digital wall bricks are like a ceremony full of promises – "In the past, we guarded peace on the Great Wall, and now we are peacefully guarding the Great Wall." ”
"Carving the name on a brick" is a recreation of an ancient classic, and it also has a special meaning in modern times
Digital technology and the big world make public welfare more "playable"
This is not the first time I have experienced a public benefit collaboration with Peace Elite. From the many collaborations, I gradually felt that each time Peace Elite has its own characteristics and advantages, which is different from other types of games.
Being able to use strong digital technology to restore the scenery and scenery in reality is the basis for creating advantages. In the live broadcast of the peace construction team, the anchors saw the Great Wall built in the game for the first time, experienced the scene of "the Great Wall turned into a dragon", and then rode the dragon in the air, they were all shocked by the realistic and gorgeous golden dragon. The magnificent view of being able to look at the map from the wind for a long time was also impressive.
Previously, the historical restoration that interested me the most was the scene of "Peace Elite" launching the "Digital Central Axis Temple of Heaven" in Oasis World in May 2023. Players can not only "travel" to the Temple of Heaven in the game, but also ring the chimes themselves, and even restore the three-tone stone and echo wall in the imperial dome building. These interactive gameplay cannot be done without strong "technical power".
Another prerequisite for the public welfare of "Peace Elite" to be "fun" is that its big world gameplay itself has strong plasticity, which can allow public welfare elements in different fields to be properly integrated. I can easily think of some examples.
In the event gameplay "Giant Panda Secret Land" in August last year, players can dig bamboo shoots to help feed the baby pandas, which is very satisfying for some people who want to become "giant panda keepers" and have personal contact with baby pandas. In addition, players can also observe giant pandas on the large map, learn about their Xi in a hands-on way, and experience the daily work of a ranger...... Many of the gameplay methods of "Dragon Leaping Great Wall" this time are also similar in the design of integrating public welfare activities and gameplay.
"Peace Elite" is very good at integrating public welfare activities with gameplay
After experiencing a variety of public welfare cooperation, I feel that the attempts of "Peace Elite" over the years have formed a very fresh and participatory way to carry out public welfare. Nowadays, there are many public welfare activities with very good intentions, and many people are willing to donate money and materials. But it's still not easy to really get the people who give their love to have a sense of participation, or even go a step further, feel a sense of pride and fun.
The various activities of Peace Elite do a good job in these areas. The variety of gameplay and interactions allows players to feel that they are really contributing to something in reality. For players, the sense of accomplishment that can make reality better by completing a task in the game is quite concrete, and it is a kind of benign cross-dimensional interaction.
I think this is the unique value of Peace Elite in similar public welfare activities - not only can it continue to bring players fresh gameplay, but also use solid digital technology and interactive design to integrate real-life cultural issues with game content across dimensions. The Great Wall of the Dragon Leap version once again showcases the strengths of Peace Elite in these areas, bringing a lot of fun to players on the eve of the Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon, and also drawing attention to a new round of repairs and conservation actions on the Great Wall.
Fun and public welfare complement each other, which is the success of several activities of "Peace Elite".
After all, for a game that operates for a long time, it is very important to constantly explore and expand its own value. In particular, this value also reflects the responsibility for social responsibility, and the game will gradually increase the cultural thickness. All of this makes the game closer to the player and more worthwhile for the player to stay in the world it builds. I'm looking forward to seeing the old Great Wall come back little by little thanks to the efforts of players, the general public, and experts, and I know that I've contributed to it.