The spread of Dungeons & Dragons-style video games and their subsequent enormous popularity peaked in the West with Massive Multi-players Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) like EverQuest and World of Warcraft. But a confluence of technology and culture has created a new gaming craze that's become so popular so quickly that the Chinese government is condemning its use. Welcome to Honor of Kings.
[h=3]Is It Really a RPG?[/h]The media regularly characterizes the Honor of Kings (also translated as "King of Glory"), is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena game developed by Riot Games:
The game also features an adventure mode, in which the characters unlock awards by exploring on a map. The game features three different currencies (gold, gems, and vouchers) which can be spent to purchase items and customize the characters. In this regard, Honor of Kings has the logistics and exploration elements similar to Dungeons & Dragons, but with more of an emphasis on combat between players.
The game is distinctly Chinese, with characters named after ancient Chinese figures, rather than translations of foreign names.
Unlike its predecessor, League of Legends (which is also massively popular), Honor of Kings is a mobile app. It's specifically designed for mobile devices, with smaller maps, shorter play times, and mobile-friendly controls. It might be better characterized as a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA).
[h=3]Why It's So Popular[/h]Honor of Kings is closely tied to two social media platforms in China, QQ (an online chatting tool) and WeChat (an instant messaging app like WhatsApp). To put the game's global reach in perspective, WeChat has nearly 940 million monthly active users:
An American parallel would be if Facebook decided to create its own online fantasy RPG and integrated it with the social media platform. Mobile accessibility and social access are two pillars of Honor of Kings' popularity, but the fact that the real life identities of players are tied to the game is certainly an additional factor:
Xiaoguang's not kidding. When players encounter each other, the game shows their relative distance in the real world.
The money-making opportunities are enormous. The game has more than 200 million registered players, about one for every seven people in China and about 80 million daily active users; the equivalent of the entire population of Germany. The average user now plays Honor of Kings for about six hours per week. In the first quarter of 2017, Honor of Kings generated $875 million in revenue:
In June 2017, Honor of Kings became the world's highest-grossing mobile game in the world. According to some reports, over 60 percent of students are playing the game. And you know what that means...
[h=3]The Inevitable Backlash[/h]In China, Honor of Kings is experiencing all the challenges of a popular gaming platform that are familiar to tabletop players in D&D's heyday, including rumors that youth are being corrupted by the game:
The Chinese government characterized the game as a "poison," a term used to describe addictive games. This negative press caused publisher Tencent to implement a child lock feature:
It's not just kids who are addicted to the platform either, as adults are hiring "proxy players" to quickly raise their ranking:
If Strike of Kings is as popular in the U.S. as Honor of Kings is in China, we may soon all be playing an Asian-themed fantasy game that does not draw on D&D’s European roots.
Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, communicator, and a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to http://amazon.com. You can follow him at Patreon.
[h=3]Is It Really a RPG?[/h]The media regularly characterizes the Honor of Kings (also translated as "King of Glory"), is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena game developed by Riot Games:
Players take the role of a Summoner, which is the only aspect constant between battles. The player chosen Champion can gain experience and level up during a battle but its upgrades does not carry over to the next battle. Summoners gain gold, experience and rune points after a battle and level up when experience reaches a certain level. Certain level unlock spells, and each level increases hero attribute in adventure mode.
The game also features an adventure mode, in which the characters unlock awards by exploring on a map. The game features three different currencies (gold, gems, and vouchers) which can be spent to purchase items and customize the characters. In this regard, Honor of Kings has the logistics and exploration elements similar to Dungeons & Dragons, but with more of an emphasis on combat between players.
The game is distinctly Chinese, with characters named after ancient Chinese figures, rather than translations of foreign names.
Unlike its predecessor, League of Legends (which is also massively popular), Honor of Kings is a mobile app. It's specifically designed for mobile devices, with smaller maps, shorter play times, and mobile-friendly controls. It might be better characterized as a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA).
[h=3]Why It's So Popular[/h]Honor of Kings is closely tied to two social media platforms in China, QQ (an online chatting tool) and WeChat (an instant messaging app like WhatsApp). To put the game's global reach in perspective, WeChat has nearly 940 million monthly active users:
Honour of Kings players have to log in via QQ or WeChat. Once logged in by WeChat, the system shows them if any of their friends are online. They can then team up to battle rival players in a fantasy landscape while talking to each other via live chat. Tencent rates players by their gaming skills and a player’s ranking is visible to their WeChat friends – creating a kind of peer pressure that makes players such as Zhao Lei, a government clerk in Xian ( 西安 ), keep playing.
An American parallel would be if Facebook decided to create its own online fantasy RPG and integrated it with the social media platform. Mobile accessibility and social access are two pillars of Honor of Kings' popularity, but the fact that the real life identities of players are tied to the game is certainly an additional factor:
By some estimates, one in seven Chinese citizens plays Honour of Kings. At a forum in Hong Kong last month, Yao Xiaoguang, vice-president of Tencent, told participants that “Honour of Kings is not only a game for Chinese smartphone users, but also a new way of socialising”.
Xiaoguang's not kidding. When players encounter each other, the game shows their relative distance in the real world.
For Cai Jian, a designer in Shenzhen, the social aspect of the game is its main draw. “There are so many people in China playing Honour of Kings. If you don’t play it, you can’t join their conversation,” he explained. Whenever Cai meets colleagues in his office, instead of saying “Hello”, they now greet each other with the same question: “When shall we play Honour of Kings together?”
The money-making opportunities are enormous. The game has more than 200 million registered players, about one for every seven people in China and about 80 million daily active users; the equivalent of the entire population of Germany. The average user now plays Honor of Kings for about six hours per week. In the first quarter of 2017, Honor of Kings generated $875 million in revenue:
To put that into perspective, the country's mobile gaming revenue jumped by 4.5 billion yuan to 27.5 billion yuan during that period. It was the biggest increase in growth for two years...For Honor of Kings, Gamma Data revealed that players pay an average of 11 yuan-a-month to upgrade their game characters and costumes to help them advance to the next level...The rise has been fueled by a young generation that earns less than 8,000 yuan a month. Data also showed that 54 percent of the 200 million gamers are young women...
In June 2017, Honor of Kings became the world's highest-grossing mobile game in the world. According to some reports, over 60 percent of students are playing the game. And you know what that means...
[h=3]The Inevitable Backlash[/h]In China, Honor of Kings is experiencing all the challenges of a popular gaming platform that are familiar to tabletop players in D&D's heyday, including rumors that youth are being corrupted by the game:
It linked a string of tragedies and problems to the game, including the case of a 13-year-old boy who jumped off a building after being scolded by his father for being addicted to the game, and an 11-year-old girl who spent 100,000 yuan (US$14,700) of her parent’s money on equipment for her game roles, and another in which a 17-year-old boy had a stroke and nearly died after playing the game for 40 hours straight.
The Chinese government characterized the game as a "poison," a term used to describe addictive games. This negative press caused publisher Tencent to implement a child lock feature:
On July 4, Tencent rolled out a series of measures to restrict play time for the game’s young users. Real-name registration is now required for all players. Those under age 12 are limited to one hour daily play time, and are banned from logging into the game after 9pm. Those aged between 12 and 18 are limited to two hours of game time each day.
It's not just kids who are addicted to the platform either, as adults are hiring "proxy players" to quickly raise their ranking:
A marketing executive at a foreign enterprise told The Economic Observer newspaper that he paid hundreds of yuan for a proxy player to help him reach a higher ranking. He played the game at the recommendation of his subordinates, but as he is much older than his colleagues, he found he could not play very well.
[h=3]Why Should We Care?[/h]Westerners may look at this craze with a shrug. To date, no developer has created a Western fantasy mobile game to match Honor of Kings' popularity -- Wizards of the Coast has tried a few times to translate Dungeons & Dragons to mobile platforms with mixed results. They may not need to; TenCent plans to roll out Honor of Kings to Western markets this year:
The self-developed Honour of Kings, in which players hack and slash their way through battle arenas, has been gradually introduced to select markets beyond China, such as Turkey and Thailand. Now it also will launch in the U.S., France, Italy, Spain and Germany, the people said. Those versions of the title are expected to incorporate local touches: some of the existing international takes let players assume the mantle of Van Helsing or Batman for instance, in a tie-up with Warner Bros. Interactive and DC Entertainment. Tencent’s already renamed the app Strike of Kings in many non-Chinese markets.
If Strike of Kings is as popular in the U.S. as Honor of Kings is in China, we may soon all be playing an Asian-themed fantasy game that does not draw on D&D’s European roots.
Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, communicator, and a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to http://amazon.com. You can follow him at Patreon.
