I am a new member of Second Life (SL). Not only I, but few my Chinese friends know the game. I read the news of Ailin Graef , a Chinese Germany who becomes the first millionaire in SL from a Chinese online forum only several days ago. However, a google search tells me that Anshe Chung's avatar in SL has had been on the cover of Businessweek almost two years ago. I searched online and found that SL is always the top 3 in game rank in the USA. However, only a small group of Chinese people are the fans of SL. In China, there are unaccountable games and game players, why SL cannot catch its place in China market and Chinese game players are not interested in it?
First, I think maybe different cultural background determines different points of view of people. In China, most people think a game is for kids and youth. The majority of players are the teenagers and adults in twenties, like my twelve years old nephew. Their main interests in game are to win in the competition, instead of exploring another different life style in a visual place. The attractive point of SL is that you can win real money in it. However, usually the people who can afford to buy something in SL are never interested in playing the game; but those people who play games do not have their own money to buy what they like.
Second, SL not only brings a new idea of game, but set up a total different scene for Chinese people. The 3D visual image is so cool and amazing for me as the new comer, but I often get lost in it. Americans are quite familiar with those settings in SL, but for Chinese players, most settings are strange and exotic. More over, the communication is a problem. All rules and guides and conversation are not in Chinese (they even have Japanese interface). I logged in a SL forum in China and found that some players who attended in SL are for learning English, which totally depart from the game goal.
These are the two points that I can think of for now. I really hope SL can consider China market more seriously. It is really a big cake. More over, I cannot wait that more Chinese folks enjoy such an amazing game!
The link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982002.htm
First, I think maybe different cultural background determines different points of view of people. In China, most people think a game is for kids and youth. The majority of players are the teenagers and adults in twenties, like my twelve years old nephew. Their main interests in game are to win in the competition, instead of exploring another different life style in a visual place. The attractive point of SL is that you can win real money in it. However, usually the people who can afford to buy something in SL are never interested in playing the game; but those people who play games do not have their own money to buy what they like.
Second, SL not only brings a new idea of game, but set up a total different scene for Chinese people. The 3D visual image is so cool and amazing for me as the new comer, but I often get lost in it. Americans are quite familiar with those settings in SL, but for Chinese players, most settings are strange and exotic. More over, the communication is a problem. All rules and guides and conversation are not in Chinese (they even have Japanese interface). I logged in a SL forum in China and found that some players who attended in SL are for learning English, which totally depart from the game goal.
These are the two points that I can think of for now. I really hope SL can consider China market more seriously. It is really a big cake. More over, I cannot wait that more Chinese folks enjoy such an amazing game!
The link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982002.htm
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