China ascendant? Pt 2

The second trend has been the most spiteful non-violent protest a people has raised against a government policy that could result in an outcome that could be inadvertently wonderful. With the impending US decision to ban Tiktok in the US, hundreds of thousands of American "tiktok refugees" have jumped ship to xiaohongshu, or Red Note. Ostensibly, the Tiktok ban is motivated by national security concerns over China's ease of access to American users' data, so instead of returning to US-based social media apps as expected, users have maliciously migrated to mainland China's own social media platform, voluntarily handing over to China their personal data on a platter. US Gen-Z's (mostly) collective raised middle finger to their own government is unhinged, inspired and hilarious.

The unintended consequence of this overnight mass migration is unprecedented. Ordinary people who have been told to be suspicious of each other by their respective governments are now meeting each other in a common space en masse and discovering that they have more in common than not. These past few days, people from two different gated communities have engaged on friendly terms and are fully experiencing a grand scale cultural exchange driven by genuine curiosity about each other. So far, the general consensus has been that while their governments are creating tension between each other's countries, the people themselves have no issue with one another.

Of course, no one knows how long such cordial exchanges will last. The Internet usually starts out promising friendship and understanding, but human nature will eventually attract trolls and spoilers that will ruin it for everyone. But in the meantime, people are learning each other's languages and cultures... and lifestyles. American users have been shown how their Chinese hosts live -- not in squalor or poverty as the common stereotypes portray but in better circumstances than most Americans. Chinese people's cost of living is comparative low: they own their own houses or rent at much lower rates than their US counterparts, and utilities, groceries and healthcare are enviably affordable compared to what Americans pay for the same. Some American commenters even compared the USA to a third world state in response to such eye-widening revelations.

These events remind me of the fall of the Berlin Wall in '89 which marked the end of the Communist grand social experiment. Pure Communism did not work, and once the people who lived under that regime decided that they didn't have to and shouldn't live under government restrictions and material privations, previously Communist states reshaped their economies to embrace some level of private entrepreneurship, and freedom of expression, while keeping a firm grip on public order and a commitment to providing essential social services. Something similar is happening now in the USA in that it has become almost a total Capitalist state. Every citizen has to foot their own bill for everything that they need, while (simplistically) the profit motive keeps prices high. Inflation is running rampant, and wages have been unable to keep up. The American Dream is now run by an Oligarchy with a disreputable businessman being sworn into its highest office in a couple of days. Could 2025 be the turning point when the American people themselves decide they don't have to and shouldn't continue living under government restrictions and material privation? When pure Communism fell with the Berlin Wall, could pure Capitalism also fall with the great firewall?

It's still early, but I, and I guess many other people too, are hoping that ordinary people inadvertently bridging the communication gap via the banning of a social media app can pave the way to a more peaceful, understanding, and united world moving forward. If not, at least this week has provided a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy outlook over the near future.

China ascendant?

Two trends have pinged for me recently. The first is the massive uptick of players of video games made by Chinese developers corresponding with the equally massive decline of players of American-made games. "Black Myth Wukong" (BMW), based on Chinese mythology featuring the Monkey God as the protagonist captured hundreds of thousand players on the Steam platform compared to American releases which were struggling to get tens of thousands of regular players. Big budget multi-player game, "Concord", even shut down after a few weeks of launch due to lack of player interest. Game Science, the Chinese developer of BMW certainly seems to have made monkeys out of its Western competitors.

Recently (and ironically) another Chinese developer, NetEase Games, has captured much of the gaming market with its release of "Marvel Rivals" making use of American publisher, Marvel's, widely renowned characters like Captain America, Hulk, Thor and a host of other household superheroes with more promised every new season.

One simplistic factor for the popularity of non-American video entertainment is that foreign developers are not hamstrung by activists insisting that diversity, equity, inclusion, or DEI, has to feature in popular entertainment so as to not exclude people who do not conform to mainstream stereotypes. Now, although I believe that DEI is a noble agenda, the numbers are telling us that people who qualify as DEI do not represent the market that buys and plays video games. The vast majority of gamers tend to be vanilla mainstream people who like their game characters to be identifiably mainstream with few but very clear distinctions that help us tell one character apart from another. For example a clear male-female dichotomy with males exhibiting a more angular body shape, and females with softer, rounder curves. Easy. There's no need to delve into any character's sexuality or preferences which is of little relevance to a game in which people are shooting each other for fun. Besides, if I were to be shooting at your character who is exhibiting identifiable DEI characteristics, wouldn't my intentions be even more actively discriminatory?

Anyway, insisting on a DEI agenda in video games is ultimately self-defeating from a marketing standpoint. People who identify as DEI, are identifying themselves apart from the mainstream. It makes little sense to push non-mainstreamers into the mainstream. It's confusing for everybody. DEI individuals pride themselves on embodying very unique characteristics that distinguish them from everyone else. Distilling character types from such a wide range of unique qualities creates character designs that at best only partially represent a person, so a DEI person is unlikely to see themself fully reflected therein. But the stereotypical male-female body shape is a silhouette that anybody, DEI or not can see themself in as it is the lowest possible common denominator. So there is little to gain from fragmenting the market and chasing after the smallest demographic that may not even exist. And then be shocked and outraged when games that target the widest possible audience do so much better at attracting players.

But depending on the game, character design may not even be a key issue for a game's success or failure. I'm not playing "Rivals", I'm playing "Path of Exile II" developed by NZ-based Grinding Gear Games. POE2 is an isometric ARPG in which my avatar is relatively tiny in comparison to the playing field and is constantly lost in explosions, fog, and other environmental effects. My current character is a female witch (player classes have no gender options), but her body shape is not of any prime concern as the idea is to layer her up in protective armour so it really doesn't matter what she looks like. As long as she can kill things fast, keep a forward progression, and find gear upgrades, that's all I care about. Is the game fun to play? Yes. That's it.

So, now the Chinese know how to make video games fun and pleasing to play, are targeting the people who actually play games and are doing well as a result. In contrast, corporate America has bogged down American games with unnecessary encumbrances, pulling down the fun factor in their greedy and misguided attempt to appeal to every potential niche customer, but pleasing essentially no one. American gamers are rejecting such games and have no qualms jumping ship to Chinese games that actually offer them what they want. Ironically, the capitalists have forgotten that in a free market the customer is king.

This one has gone on for much longer than I intended. I'll cover the second trend in my next post. Stay tuned!