Text | The Internet refers to the north, the author | Yuting Zhang, Editor | Pu Fan
In the development process of China's Internet industry for more than twenty years, the matter of "online love" has almost never been absent.
For example, in a 1998 online novel called "The First Intimate Contact", the protagonist Cai Zicai met the girl "dancing lightly" in the form of a "BBS message" and used it to develop the main story line. This was the first time that the genre of online dating had entered the literary world in a formal form, and as such, it would be defined in many later descriptions as a milestone in the history of the Chinese Internet.
(It was later remade into a TV series)
And just after crossing the millennium, online dating has completed the influence out of the circle and entered the public eye with a swooping posture. For example, in 2001, the sitcom "Networm Diary" written by Ning Caishen chose to use online love as the beginning: the protagonists played by Huang Xiaoming and Lu Xiaopin unexpectedly got together because of "online love running", and no one expected that after the face base were all foot-cutting men - of course, there were no such words at that time.
(The more representative role of Lü Xiaopin is Niu Xiaowei, the grandfathers of the Northeast)
Then to the emergence of "6 yuan spicy hot", "open blind box", "see the light and die" and other internet popular stems, "online dating" has become one of the most common Internet use scenarios in Chinese, and has also begun to promote the opening of Internet entrepreneurs, "tide some" called stranger social, interest social, "sinking" called "marriage platform", "local community".
However, if you want to discuss "who defines the way Chinese netizens are online", the answer may not be so rich. Because there is almost no category of products, it can make Chinese netizens more serious than "online games" to "lead the network and cherish this relationship".
<h2>01 Sprouts</h2>
It is no exaggeration to say that since the birth of the concept of "Chinese online games", Chinese netizens have been trying to find objects in the game.
In 1997, the "Jianghu Chat Room" represented by "Bihai Yinsha", "Proud Dragon Jianghu", "XiaJian Jianghu" and so on began to appear in the Chinese Internet world, and the developers embedded the newly born "Network Chat Room" into the previously popular MUD games, allowing many players to experience for the first time what is called "real people interaction", MUD games have become more abundant because of "real people interaction", and the necessary bridges in martial arts novels such as door schools, grudges, vendettas, robbery darts and so on. It is also better presented under the new product form.
As an indispensable part of the framework of xianxia games, "children of the jianghu, happy love and hatred" has been fully developed in this process - players can not only "fall in love" with other players in the game, but also obtain more and more "emotional expressions" under technical support, which is no less rich than various AAA masterpieces with "open world view" as the selling point today.
(Playing this game relies on all text imagination)
Take "send flowers" as an example. In the jianghu chat room, male players "express love" to female players by clicking on "give flowers" on the web page, and get more favorability, at this time, a photo of the rose will appear in the chat box (that is, the public screen of the chat room), and the woman needs to confirm "accept" or "reject".
From the perspective of gameplay, this operation is very similar to the old iron of brushing rockets for anchors in the live broadcast room today - and the same thing is that as an important precondition for establishing a relationship of love (marriage) between players, the man will often send a series of flowers in order to obtain "enough" favorability, very similar to today's "gift combo" - the only difference is that female players can refuse, and refusal will also come with a "dynamic effect" for male players, which will bring you comfort and tell you "where there is no herb at the end of the world." Why should a hero love a flower alone?"
This is more or less a shadow of Japanese galgame.
The "flower" itself also has a lot of details. Players can choose the variety of flowers, which can be divided into roses, paradise flowers, chrysanthemums, carnations, and can also choose the scene of sending flowers.
Some people once suffered a tragic case because "sending flowers did not arrive in place". A heroine broke into the rivers and lakes and was injured by bandits, and then a knight sent a chrysanthemum to show comfort, and later felt inappropriate and then made up an expensive "heaven flower", the result was that the woman not only directly refused but also launched a "vendetta" against him. It is said that this story comes from "Proud Dragon River".
(Players in jianghu chat rooms exchange gifts and express their love)
The wedding ceremony can also be completed in this form, and the system will send some words of blessing to the whole station, which can be seen by players throughout the game. "Couples" can buy a house that belongs to two people, and after marriage, the system will notify the two to move into the "love hut." If they want to raise offspring, the woman can also choose to "have a child". If you can't be a "husband and wife", you can apply to be a "lover of the century". If the marriage breaks down, just click on the "Love Has Faded" button to dissolve the marriage.
In short, if you were born in that era, and happened to have a computer around you and loved games, then there is a high probability that you will most likely get such a new identity for surfing the Internet: you are the seventh brother of Chengdu Tangmen, and your wife is from the Huashan sect in Shaanxi.
Under the setting of "jianghu love", the online love at that time more or less had "net text color".
The online love story of the webmaster of the "Nine Days jianghu" jianghu chat room "breaking the shadow into a pair" was very famous at that time. The general synopsis is that when "broken shadow into two" first entered the jianghu, he met the "new moon dangkong" who had just entered the jianghu but always liked to "steal other people's money", so he gave her more than 1 million yuan (trying to persuade her to be good) - but he did not expect that "the new moon was empty" was very happy, so that the appearance of "good deception and cuteness" directly touched the heart of "broken shadow into a pair", leading to his decision to "propose marriage on the spot".
Later, they really became lovers in reality.
<h2>02 Development</h2>
Of course, it is not so much that "the jianghu chat room has sprouted the awareness of online love among Chinese netizens", but more accurately, it should be "online dating has chosen the jianghu chat room".
In theory, the millennium era, which is popular in jianghu chat rooms, is also the era when the Internet has just entered the popularization. At that time, ADSL broadband Internet access has begun to replace dial-up Internet access, so that thousands of netizens no longer worry about "disconnecting the Internet as soon as they answer the phone", but at that time, Internet access was still standard as a luxury behavior:
Network operators in accordance with the time limit, speed limit to develop tariff packages, a large number of netizens monthly use time is therefore limited to 90 hours, 120 hours; computer input method does not have the concept of "cloud thesaurus", "cloud association", intelligent ABC promotion before the most efficient way of typing is the need to recite the root of the five strokes; the computer itself is expensive, "I Love My Home" Jia Zhixin bought the "big ass" desktop is worth 5,000 yuan, Using a Windows 3.2 system that doesn't consider network applications at all...
Under such objective conditions, the portraits of people who were able to access the Internet at that time and could spend time on the Internet in a luxurious way to play games were easy to converge, which can be roughly summarized as young people with "good economic ability", "strong learning ability" and "strong energy".
And when young people get together, "hormonal collisions" become perfectly normal. Coupled with the fact that the "jianghu chat room" as an "online game" has "extremely low" requirements for hardware configuration and is fully "backward compatible", the timeline of the two naturally coincides.
You can even say that the early online games' exploration of "online love" was the same way. For example, the developers of the Legend private server love to work marriage, create a marriage system in their own server, set UP NPCs similar to the old moon and the game nickname suffix exclusive to their partners, and also add corresponding equipment such as wedding rings (which can increase the value of blessings) according to these two systems, which is well received by players.
However, in the later stage, the significance of online games to online love is far from limited to the budding of "feelings". With the enhancement of picture expression, the reduction of network tariffs, the improvement of network speed, and the popularity of equipment, online games have gradually begun to include "everything that can be experienced in love". By the era of "Fantasy Journey to the West", the inclusiveness of online games for "online love" has reached a new peak.
(Players visit the church in the game)
The marriage system of "Fantasy Journey to the West" inherits everything that players in the previous era explored and aspired to, and many important links have also been targeted and improved, so that players can not only complete the "love - love - marriage - have children - divorce" or "acquaintance - love - breakup" in the traditional sense of the "love closed loop", each link in the closed loop will also be directly fed back to the subsequent game experience, which is very able to implement the traditional concept of "marriage is the top priority in life".
Take a wedding, for example.
In the Fantasy Journey to the West, the threshold for marriage is actually not high, and only two players need to reach enough favorability (1000, which can be improved by fighting together, which makes the East Sea sea full of prospective couples who are ready to "get married"), and they can register for marriage in the moon elder in Chang'an City.
But the wedding process is not simple at all. On the one hand, the dream journey to the west simulates all aspects of the traditional Chinese wedding, such as the customs of flower car patrol, worship hall, happy wine, etc., the newlyweds will wear a dress, under the auspices of the old man, the worship hall parade will begin, and the onlookers will get random thrown candy and get some of the game props wrapped in it. In addition, when getting married, the system will help both husband and wife to automatically send good news to all in-game friends, and both the main and guests will have a very sense of substitution.
On the other hand, marriage also symbolizes that the player has entered a new stage of the game - which is somewhat similar to the meaning of entering a new stage of life - the launch of the childbirth, house (feng shui) system will give the "married" player a certain advantage in the game.
(Children in Fantasy Journey to the West, can be understood as strong BB)
It is difficult to say whether it is the popularity of the fantasy westward journey, attracting the imitation of other online games, or the positioning of the fantasy westward journey MMORPG is naturally suitable for "the big success of online game online love", but it is certain that in the years when the fantasy westward journey was hot, the positioning of the marriage system in the online game began to gradually converge, entering the fixed mode of "acquaintance - marriage - getting a new game scene".
Of course, some people choose to amplify the "process", and the rise of "Audition" has allowed a person to discover the new world of online dating.
(Audition operation page)
Although the prototype of "Audition" comes from the dancing machine, after transplanting to the PC, it is infinitely similar to the music game, compared with the mainstream RPG online games such as "Fantasy Westward Journey", "Adventure Island", "Magic Baby", "Tianlong Babu" at that time, lacking enough plot and character growth line development, but due to the full efforts in character model design and player social networking, "Audition" can also carry the online love needs of players.
For example, the development of game character costumes in the official mall of the game is quite powerful, from the popular "pencil pants" and "fashion MM clothes" in the season, to the linkage jewelry with other well-known IP. Coupled with the big eyes, five-headed body and thin legs of the Korean series of "Audition", it was very popular with female players and young players at that time - the former was a "scarce resource" in the online game environment, and the latter was "the hardest core group indicator of online dating".
Audition's Game Store)
Officially launched the "CLUB DANC Mode" to help players make dating appointments. Male and female players can earn 5 hearts by participating in the "CLUBDANC Mode" mode, and then obtain the qualification to apply to become a couple.
(The wedding scene of "Audition")
The same type of game "QQ Dance" also has a similar design.
In "QQ Dance", players can apply to become "Hani", "girlfriend", "close friend", "baby", "heart and liver", "relatives and friends" and other relationships with other players, and after the relationship is established, playing together can enhance "favorability".
"QQ Dance" also designed the game's couple mode, two single players can choose whether to formally communicate after the end of the game. Engaging players can host a companion registration ceremony in the New Marriage Tree, a new building on the world map. Both parties to the wedding can invite friends to act as groomsmen and bridesmaids, and other players can also enter the registration ceremony to watch the ceremony.
Furthermore, there is no marriage object, there is no need to worry, there is also a "fate space" prepared for single players in the "marriage tree", registered as a member of the "fate space", the daily system will introduce the most suitable opposite sex to members according to the personal information of the fate space, which is no different from the real life marriage agency.
The beach community in the game also has the shadow of "Moving Forest". In the beach community, players can fish, pile sand, pick up shells, coconut smashing, driving, etc. basically have nothing to do with "dancing", focusing on interactive entertainment projects, and even players can get experience by hanging up and resting in the community - this seems to be infinitely close to the existence of "online love simulator".
(Wedding ceremony in QQ Dance)
But online dating under the Audition model also meant controversy at the time.
Some people think that the existence of "Audition" and "QQ Dance" is easy to induce "early love", and pointed out that under the influence of the immature concept of love such as "early love", it is easy to form a "pathological way of love" in the game, such as two players who determine the relationship after the horn is very popular with each other, so that the world channel appears "xxx, ╰ → we love each other __ゥ" Confession, the longer the confession hangs to prove that the deeper the feelings (or a party is more powerful), and a horn corresponds to a 5-second time, the price ranges from 3 cents to 5 yuan.
There is also a low-end version of "early love". There are countless rooms in the "QQ Dance" game lobby called "Hire 7 (Wife)" and "Hire F (Husband)"; the world channel also scrolls to refresh the player's wedding announcement or partner search announcement. In the QQ Dance Sticker Bar, there are still a large number of posts that record and share online dating experiences.
(QQ Dance Bar's online dating record sticker)
Some accused Audition of lowering its aesthetics and blindly tying complex ornaments, exaggerated makeup, and colorful hair with high value. According to many media research, the famous "funeral love family" in social networks is very likely to originate from the family model of "Audition".
Under these factors, for many people who have experienced that era, the most memorable place for "Audition" is often not "music" or "operation", but three other keywords: non-mainstream, Martian text, and online dating. Before the "jihad culture" became popular in D8, there was also a popular activity of "installing grey pigeon Trojans for Audition players to force them to uninstall the game".
Now that I think about it, it was a "hardcore and wild" era.
<h2>03 Now</h2>
Which generation of Chinese netizens likes to "fall in love in the game"? Statistically, the answer could be now. Whether it is in Douban, Zhihu, or in Tiger Poker, B Station, in the game, "CPDD" as a classic topic has appeared at the top of the information flow every day, including people to play happily.
(Tiger punch online game cp running posts are not uncommon)
"Game online dating" is no longer the exclusive domain of players and "otaku", and the entertainment industry has repeatedly seen idols and underground lovers being arrested for "playing games together" and "leaking double-row records".
(Love cheats are the glory of kings)
But you can also easily feel the difference between contemporary "game online dating" and the past, because online games no longer carry people's entire love process.
It no longer initiates love. The "couple black" you encounter may come from the square of soul, QQ's expanded match, which has become the most commonly used path for strangers to quickly increase their favorability after they know each other. Some people also drew inspiration from "online game online love" and "PIA drama" respectively, promoting the rapid professionalization of accompaniment and game CP, charging prices ranging from 10 yuan to 20 yuan / round.
It also no longer offers any love experience. Some people complained about the harassment of the "straight men" in the game, inadvertently promoting the awakening of the Zuan girls; some people used the player's mentality of "online love as if it was a real love" to design a serial set, and in September 2020, CCTV exposed a series of scams with "online game marriage" as a gimmick, and the victims involved more than 10 provinces and cities such as Henan and Shanghai.
You can also find plenty of reasons to believe that this is indeed only the "fading of love" that only appears in "online games", after all, in 2018, "Love and Producers" drove a group of orange-light women to the love text to go out of the circle - can "smoothly" flow back from online games to single machines, which is probably very illustrative that people do not need the sense of love created by the game -
The problem is probably in the game itself.
With "Peace Elite" and "Glory of Kings" defining the mainstream form of online games today, the fast pace of the game seems to have become the most familiar online game environment for players. Coupled with the limitations of MOBA and FPS games themselves, few players have become accustomed to watching scenery, planting grass and fishing in the game.
Even if there is, it is largely due to the migration of players who have experienced the last online game era, similar to "Sword Net III" to "Against the Cold Water".
However, this group of players probably got married and had children a long time ago.
Or maybe the problem is online dating itself.
In the era before the glory of the king, whether it is online games or online dating seems to mean a "different from the past" experience - online games can make the martial arts dream of "happy and vengeful" come true, which is not accepted by the secular mainstream; online love can break through the "shackles of fate and worldliness" and quickly locate the same kind of people - so game operators are committed to socializing, applying to become "relatives and friends", proposing "marriage", and smoothly binding players with this fixed social relationship.
But when the Internet becomes a daily life scene, and the boundaries between online and offline begin to be completely broken, these meanings have obviously disappeared, and some people even feel that they have magnified the mess: what is the difference between the wild man who greets him in the game now and the street skater he encounters on the street?
(Lovers System in Glory of Kings)
It can only be said that twenty years ago, netizens probably did not expect that online dating can now be transformed into such a simple, do not have to religiously guard the big computer, but also get the other party's response, as long as the heart is connected, you can end the long-distance love and go to reality. It is even more unexpected that today's young people will choose the most difficult love road to manage love.
Maybe no one will fall in love in the game in the future, and those stories about online dating in games should only belong to that era.