“I’m fascinated with playing,” said Chen, who works for a media organization inShanghai.
“It’s not just about the fun of the game but also the interaction with people; the jokes,the laughter.
“It’s a million times better than looking at some cold screen all night,” she added.
Chen is among a growing section of society - largely teenagers and 20-somethings- who are cutting back on cyberspace to spend more time playing card and board roleplayinggames, a trend sociologists say is being fueled by a desire to reconnect in theInternet age.
“Today, young people are immersed in the Internet all day long, for work andrecreation,” said Xia Xueluan, a sociology professor at Peking University. “It has created asituation where people long for face-to-face communication to enhance friendships andfoster interpersonal relationships in diverse ways.”
So does that mean that the Web, long regarded by some as the ultimate form ofescapism, is something people now need an escape from?
Zhu Hong, a 27-year-old Beijinger, said she believes the anonymous nature on theInternet damages social attachments rather than improves them, while the new wave ofboard games offers a sense of reality and intimacy.
Computers have taught people to conceal their identities, giving them a strong desireto hide, said the advertising agency manager, pointing out: “That’s why when we talk tosomeone online, we’re not even sure if they’re a man or woman.
“We never reveal ourselves as much and as truly as during the new board games. Wediscuss everything - work stress, rumors, family, kids - things some people rarely talkabout,” said Zhu.
The games, which are played in large groups (often huddled around tables in 24-hourrestaurants, university bars and games studios), are a mixture of luck and team strategy,meaning players must work together and discuss tactics if they want to win.
It is this interaction that experts say helps people develop closer relationships, in andout of the game.
Chen now plays with her friends and colleagues every day, squeezing games in duringlunch breaks, happy hours on Friday nights and just before bed. They even played as theywatched 2010 summer’s soccer World Cup finals in South Africa, looking up only to watchthe slow-motion replays of goals.
A winning hand
The market for board and card games has been largely in decline since theintroduction of the Internet. Yet, sales are now booming.
Yoka Games, a Beijing-based company launched in early 2008, reported that itspopular game Sanguosha, or Killers of the Three Kingdoms, made 20 million yuan (3million) in sales in 2009. That figure is expected to rise to 100 million yuan in 2010.
As one of the first card-based role-playing games with Chinese elements, Sanguoshahas won many fans in China. Using characters from the classic novel Romance of the ThreeKingdoms, each player is given distinct skills and weapons.
Chen said one of the interns in her office was even nicknamed Xiao Qiao after acharacter in the game. “It gets into everything you do, into your bone marrow,” she said.
The rising popularity in card and board games, particularly in China’s major cities, isalso a boon for games studios.
According to Dianping.com, a popular lifestyle website, there are 534 such studios inShanghai and 150 in Beijing (one promotion for a business in the capital saw 8,000 ticketssold in just 24 hours).
Rong Minfeng, a board game enthusiast in Shanghai, said he has discovered at least30 studios scattered throughout the city’s bustling Xujiahui shopping area.
“There are about five in one apartment building, each having about seven tables,”
he said. “We still have to book ahead on weekends, though, or we’d have to wait in longlines.”
The potential opportunity for profit has led to sharp increase in the overall number ofgames studios nationwide.
Chen Kai’en, 22, opened Gamebox in Shanghai with five friends in early 2010,although he insisted the business was about helping people to enjoy the games rather thanmake money.
“Entertainment activities are diverse today but students and office workers withmodest incomes still have few options,” he said.
Compared to karaoke clubs, which can charge hundreds of yuan for just a few hours,and restaurants, bars and games studios are an extremely cheap option, costing only about30 yuan (4) a time.
Gamebox, which is in a 90-square-meter unit of a downtown office building, barelymakes enough to cover the rent, but Chen Kai’en said he does not care.
“Soccer is for men, karaoke requires a good voice, swimming needs a good physique- but card games are for everyone,” he said.
“There’s no limit on the number who can play, either. It’s not unusual to see 20 peopleinvolved in one game,” he said. “It’s just a good way to unwind from work and expandyour social network.”
Generation game
It could be argued that the infatuation with new role-playing games among Chineseis simply a repeat of the fever that surrounded mahjong in the late 1970s. Like the moderngames popular today, people played in large groups almost every day, often through thenight.
“I used to lie to my wife that I was working overtime when I was playing mahjongwith colleagues,” said Liu Yuhe, a 67-year-old retired driver in Beijing. “We playedmahjong in the workshop all night, drinking only tea so we stayed sober.”
Since his retirement, he has traded in his tiles for Chinese chess, which he plays withthe dozens of other elderly men who spend their days in the park near their residentialbuilding.
As time has passed, the popularity of Liu’s traditional games, such as mahjong,Chinese chess and go, has waned among young people.
“It’s natural for games to change rapidly from generation to generation,” said ZhouXiaozheng, a sociology professor at Renmin University of China. “All trends fade awaywith the time.”
However, the surge in modern role-playing games could present an opportunity fortraditional pastimes to make a comeback, say experts.