Text/Wang Dan

I thought that after the women in the country ran to the track this year, the competition was fierce enough. I didn't expect this to be more than that - "Codename Kite", which has not been launched in the national server, has a strong sense of presence in the mainland, and the community voice is no less than that of the head country B:

On social platforms such as Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin, there have been billions or tens of billions of discussions on topics related to this game;

The left is the topic data of Xiaohongshu, and the right is the topic data of Douyin

The game has also rushed to Weibo hot searches many times before, such as #Sun Ce chest muscle ##代号鸢尺度#等, which has triggered out-of-the-circle discussions; There are also quite a lot of secondary creations by players...... Therefore, if you want to talk about which women's mobile games are popular and well-known in the country, you really can't leave "Codename Kite" behind.

The second creation of the player, the source of the picture is Xiaohongshu

But for "Codename Kite" and their players and cloud users, such popularity may not be entirely happy: many outsiders have made a conclusion after watching some hot searches and discussions among netizens - this game is popular purely because of the large scale. "The popularity of this game does not rely on a sense of substitution or a plot or character design, but a very straightforward big breast", "grabbing the male protagonist to sell meat", "You are not ashamed to play these games", "Bad morals" and other comments began to spread in the community.

Like many games, players, and even ordinary people, who have experienced misinterpretations, others have hastily determined what "you" is by simply disseminating the most widely disseminated slice of information.

And the player came forward to explain, which further escalated the argument. Even the player's comments were implicated and were labeled as "crazy" and "quarrelsome...... I have a friend who plays "Codename Kite" silently and doesn't go to the community, and when he talks to others about playing this game during dinner, he is replied: "I heard that people who play this game are crazy?" "I was stunned on the spot.

This is not just a problem faced by Lingxi Interactive Entertainment, but it also reflects the trend of the domestic game community: the views of a few people do not necessarily represent the silent majority, but those views that are the sharpest, most gimmicky and topical are always the loudest and most easily heard by pan-users in the community.

From the player's point of view, this pot is also a little helpless: I played the game well, and suddenly I was said to be "quarrelsome" and "crazy", and I was scolded every day, what crime did I commit?

01

"Codename Kite" in the end

Where is the "No Meal Replacement"?

Of course, it's not that people who have played "Codename Kite" and posted their subjective feelings on the Internet are wrong. As a game consumer, every player has the power to comment and have a voice. It's just that the most widely circulated hot search content may become the only way for other people who haven't played it to learn about the game, making them mistakenly think that these hot searches equate to all the highlights of the game.

Take the most widely spread "large-scale" as an example, in fact, practitioners who understand the female-oriented category probably understand that they want to use this as the biggest selling point, which is unlikely in itself:

On the one hand, judging from the data, the initial online results of "Codename Kite" have been quite impressive. At that time, they were completely uncontroversial.

The Hong Kong server of "Codename Kite" has been online for less than a week

Enter the top 10 best-selling iOS games

On the other hand, recently, domestic women have become more and more bold and open to the depiction of intimate relationships in the entire category, especially the national B track. This year, many other women's products have been frequently praised by players for "eating well", and the number of games with an 18+ age limit is also increasing.

In other words, "Codename Kite" itself is not based on scale. And it's also unrealistic for them to rely on this alone to retain players, after all, there are too many meal replacements to choose from.

In that case, what is it that is so popular?

After in-depth community discussions and reading the evaluations of various players, it is not difficult to find that the popularity of this game is not because of the superficial gimmick of large-scale, but because it is very different from mainstream women, and it has broken through the boundaries of categories in terms of character building, plot, art, gameplay, etc. This is the reason why players can't find the meal replacement in Codename Kite.

First of all, let's talk about the character creation and plot of "Codename Kite", and what is special about it.

First, unlike previous female-oriented products, it does not only tell the story of the male and female protagonists, but a group narrative.

In addition to the male protagonist and the female protagonist Guangling King (that is, the protagonist played by the player), there are also a large number of secret agents in the game (players draw cards to obtain), such as Sun Shangxiang, Lu Su, etc. Each agent has their own backstory, related rumors; There may also be connections between spies and spies, forming a complex web of relationships.

This makes the image and personality of each agent more distinct and three-dimensional, and at the same time, it is equivalent to providing players with more consumable game content and opening up a broader space for players to create and imagine. The community of "Codename Kite" has a large volume of voice and a lot of content for the second creation, which has a lot to do with this unique group narrative content - players appreciate not only the male and female protagonists, but also this group of embroidered house agents.

The player made a self-made anniversary video, with the male protagonist and some of the rarer spies in the background. Video source: Xiaohongshu.

Second, when depicting women, the game takes a "de-feminine" approach.

Some players have noticed that this game will directly present the real names of female characters, instead of using titles such as "Mrs. X", "X Ji", "Mother of X", etc.; Moreover, these characters have their own abilities, and in the context of the troubled times, they have their own survival strategies and the pursuit of ideals.

It may be said that "Codename Kite" does not deliberately highlight their feminine characteristics, but emphasizes the human side that they share with other male characters.

This technique of weakening the impression of women is especially prominent in the heroine. The more many players play, the more they find that she did not simply inherit the title of King Guangling, but really deserved this title - she can fight, and she does not need to rely on others in terms of force; In the troubled times, he did not choose to escape and find a place where no one was to clean himself, but stood at the forefront; In terms of strategy, he will not want to move the world with love and kindness, nor will he easily listen to the people around him, but also fight wits and courage with princes from all walks of life; Although there is some entanglement with the male protagonist, he did not give up the country for love, and he can also go toe-to-toe with the male protagonist at critical moments......

She is very proactive and sober enough. understand that as the king of Guangling, he has the mission of protecting the people; can also carry it clearly, the only person who can rely on in troubled times is himself. Such a strong, hard-core heroine is not common in the female track.

In order to replace the Xuzhou Prefecture Pastor to make decisions

In front of the officer, he tore each other apart with Liu Wei

Third, the image of the male protagonist in this game is very subversive to mainstream cognition. Their personalities are multifaceted, and their personalities are not perfect.

When I privately chatted with a friend who played female orientation about "Codename Kite", the other party said: "It's hard for me to imagine that there are domestic manufacturers who dare to make such a male lead." "Because in the past domestic women-oriented games, although the male protagonist may have some painful growth experiences and some unspeakable secrets in his heart, when he gets along with the female protagonist, he is often omnipotent, close to perfect, and he also has absolute kindness towards the female protagonist.

But when you get here, you can obviously see some multi-faceted and multi-layered character settings in the male protagonist: Liu Wei loves the female protagonist very much, but he has a mentality of wanting to monopolize and even willing to die with the female protagonist, which makes him sometimes seem stubborn and crazy; Sun Ce looks like a sunny and enthusiastic little milk dog, but he will show a rather ruthless side when fighting; Yuan Ji always has a smile on his face, and he looks calm and kind, but on the contrary, he may be the most scheming and the most important person in the city;

Fu Rong obeys the heroine, but may have hidden his true identity from the heroine; As the master of the Hidden Kite Pavilion (Immortal Organization), Zuo Ci rarely participates in secular disputes, and Liu Wei once commented that Zuo Ci does not believe in humanity, but only in the way of heaven.

It's not that they don't love the heroine, it's just that in the context of troubled times, everyone is burdened with different families, forces, and missions on their shoulders, and they are dragged around and bumpered, and they can't help themselves; The female protagonist is the king of Guangling, and her status is not low, and in the face of the male protagonist, she is also emotionally pulled with equal power and even with a higher attitude, and will not be in a passive position. Such an equal and evenly matched relationship between male and female protagonists is rare in female-oriented mobile games.

Fourth, the game's portrayal of nameless people is also flesh and blood. They don't have the power and money, and they don't have a good kung fu, but they have their own helplessness or persistence in troubled times.

And the collision between the above characters and plots allows players to experience a story experience in the game that was rarely seen in women-oriented products before - it tells a story that is not kingly, the female protagonist and the male protagonist work together, and the end of the story that the player expects is not to live together and get married. It illustrates the experience of King Guangling growing up in troubled times on his own. She can't let go of her guard to trust anyone, and there is no absolute friend or foe, only cooperation and competition at the level of interests, as well as the feelings that were distorted in the troubled times, and the love and killing of the male protagonist.

Secondly, the card battle level of this game jumps out of the common "attribute restraint + numerical ratio size" gameplay design for women.

Some characters associated with the background setting may randomly trigger a combination of skills, such as Yan Liang and Wen Chou are present at the same time, and when Wen Chou is attacked by the enemy, Yan Liang will have a certain chance to jump out to block damage.

For example, in the more traditional female "attribute restraint + numerical ratio size" level, winning or losing is almost certain, and the player can beat it, and if he can't beat it, he can only draw cards, cultivate, and press over the value. But in the "Codename Kite" level, winning or losing is not fixed: when the player encounters a level that cannot be beaten, changing the lineup, or even just changing the order of the agent's position, may pass; Or if you're lucky, you can trigger the agent's passive or combo skills in the level, and you may also clear the level that you couldn't beat.

Lu Su's passive skill is to throw money to persuade a single enemy (regardless of HP), and his passive skill triggering will greatly reduce the difficulty of the level.

Compared with women's mainstream light gameplay and content-heavy approach, such card battles require players to consider more factors in the level. However, the variety of card combinations, as well as the coolness after clearing the level with different tricks, also opened a new door for them and allowed them to discover the fun of card games.

Finally, the artistic performance of this product ranks among the top in 2D women, and even refreshes the market's understanding of 2D expressiveness to a certain extent.

Many people may still remember that when the game was first launched, Fu Rong's Live2D animation of shrugging + rolling his eyes sparked heated discussions on the Internet. Because in the past, when talking about Live2D, many people would probably associate it with mechanical and repetitive body movements, but Lingxi Interactive Entertainment used Live2D to make silky and smooth micro-expressions and small movements for the characters.

Although it is not 3D, such a 2D expressiveness brings the characters to life in the details of eyes and expressions, and performs an immersive and realistic effect.

So, to this day, why are so many people still talking about this game? Why do many players still say that they can't find its meal replacement? The real longboard of "Codename Kite" is its plot and character creation that highlight the growth of characters in the context of troubled times, as well as challenging gameplay and outstanding 2D expression. And these, at present, there are still no competing products that can be fully reproduced.

02

Playing Codename Kite

Who are they?

Scale is not the core selling point of this game, which is obviously different from the impression of pan-users. Of course, players who play this game are not actually "crazy".

Arguments about subjective opinions aside, they, like most female gamers, are intellectually curious, curious, creative, and supportive.

First, in all fairness, the player of Codename Kite is probably the most female-oriented game audience that I have ever swiped on the Internet and likes to study history.

Because the background of this game is an alternate history, almost all characters with names can be found in reality. As mentioned earlier, this game is a group narrative, with many historical figures appearing, which provides a lot of "archaeological" space.

Many players go to museums, mausoleums and monuments to learn about the male protagonists and secret agents who really existed in history;

Players refer to the costume of King Guangling (one of them) to make their own costumes, and go to the Suzhou Museum to learn about the cultural relics related to Sun Ce. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Some people have also found that many scenes and small objects in the game can be found in real history. Subtly, these players play the game, but they learn history and have a deeper understanding of ancient culture.

Second, these players have a lot of creativity.

What impressed me the most was their various brain-opening memes;

Source: Little Red Book. In the game, Chen Deng is very concerned about the fishery of the people, and also has a preference for fish (as food), and shouts that the king of Guangling eats fish at every turn, so there is a related meme.

In reality, some people have organized rehearsals and put the plot of the game on the stage to share with the public the fun they have experienced in the game story.

Thirdly, these players are also particularly willing to help each other.

Due to the more complex level mechanics of Codename Kite, many people have posted quite detailed strategies on the Internet, and for the same level, you can often find different sets of card combinations. #代号鸢攻略#也成了除游戏内容之外, one of the topics that players frequent.

At the end of the day, most of these people are enthusiastic gamers who love the game and want to learn more about the game, and want to spread the fun. Players who like to provoke trouble for no reason and love to quarrel with others do not account for the majority. After all, under the character building and plot direction of "Codename Kite", many people have realized the importance of reason and independence, and they have paid more attention to self-growth.

Source: Little Red Book

03

The most widespread,

It may not be the whole picture of the game

Talking about this, it is not difficult to find that the root of this community controversy is a cognitive gap - "Codename Kite" and its players in the eyes of pan-users and outsiders, and "Codename Kite" and themselves in the eyes of players are not the same.

Because everyone's access to information and focus on it are different: what pan-users see is often gimmicks and topical content that are easier to spread on the Internet; Once you've played the game, you'll know that it's not the whole story, and it's not the deepest reason why you love playing the game and can't find a meal replacement product.

This kind of situation is not uncommon in the gaming industry, and it is also quite common in female-oriented games - there is always a debate in the community, but the success of the product's best-selling performance is not necessarily related to the degree of controversy, and finally formed a contradictory situation of "many people scold, but there are also many people playing".

Many players have actually noticed this phenomenon as well. I've seen more than once that under the official account of different women to the game, there are player comments asking the official to pay more attention to the results of the in-game questionnaire, that is, to pay attention to the players who are actually playing the game, rather than listening to the wind and the rain after the controversy in the community, because these voices may not represent the silent majority.

This situation is estimated to make many practitioners feel the same way. I also don't want to analyze what this has taught the industry and how practitioners should deal with it, because to be honest, I really don't know what kind of methods manufacturers and players at the center of community debate need to use to get out of the vortex safely.

It's just that sometimes, when we talk about these controversies with the practitioners around us, we will sigh: whether it is a practitioner, a player or a pan-user, it would be good if we could be more tolerant and understanding of games and players.

At the very least, until you get the full picture of the game, you should probably keep a neutral view of outside opinions, including my article. Just like "Codename Kite", which has not launched the national server, the most widely circulated content on the Internet is actually just the tip of the iceberg of the game, and it may also be a little subjective opinion of others. As for whether the game is good or not, I think this question may not be answered by others, and it should not be led away by other people's subjective words, and your own objective understanding and judgment is the most important thing after all.

When the general public can be less critical and more understanding and tolerant in the face of games, as well as players' interests, hobbies, and choices, the domestic game industry may be able to usher in the best era and make more blossoming products in the market demand of seeking common ground while reserving differences.

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