Chinese "facebook" friends hooked on games

Source: China Daily | 09-17-2008 14:46

BEIJING, Sept. 17 -- Richard Gao has a problem. He owns 10 vehicles, ranging from a Harley-Davidson to a luxury SUV, and they are constantly in danger of getting parking tickets.

A players' page on kaixin001.com shows four virtual  parking spaces for his five virtual cars and a list  of his friends. An iResearch survey shows that internet  socializing is expected to grow.(Photo: China Daily)

"I have to keep an eye on my cars all the time so no one gives me a ticket," said Gao, a PR professional in Beijing.

Fortunately for Gao, these tickets exist only in the virtual world of an online game called "Parking War." Unfortunately for Gao, so do his cars.

Gao is one of a growing legion of Chinese office workers who are hooked on "Parking War", which is hosted by Kaixin (kaixin001.com), a social networking website.

The rules are simple: each user owns a street with parking spaces. If he catches a friend parking illegally, he can ticket the offender and collect a fine. Once he earns enough (virtual) money, he can buy more (virtual) cars.

"Playing 'Parking War' with my friends is fun," said Gao, 32, "and it brings you closer to your friends."

An estimated 30 million users a day log onto Kaixin ("happiness"), which combines a social networking service (SNS) similar to Facebook or Myspace with online games. Earlier services such as xiaonei.com and 51.com targeted college students; there are also dating websites, such as Jianyuan.com, and business websites, like Tianji.com.

According to the iResearch Consulting Group, the combined market value of networking services in China exceeded 500 million yuan ($71 million) in 2007, of which social networking services accounted for 280 million yuan, dating services 220 million yuan, and business sites. 4.5 million yuan. The total is expected to reach 1.6 million yuan ($229 million) by 2011.

"The SNS market in China is ready to take off," said Xu Bin, an analyst at iResearch. About 72 million Internet users per day visited SNS sites in July, compared to 25 million per day in February, according to Xu.

"That is quite an amazing increase," he said. "It is a natural step after the national frenzy of blogging and forum posting."

Kaixin, which experts say is a 'faithful copy" of Facebook, is the brainchild of Cheng Binghao, a former executive at Sina.com, China's leading web portal. Cheng has declined to comment on rumors that he has received a $5 million offer from venture capitalists.

Although Facebook launched a Chinese-language site six months ago and MySpace has many applications tailored to Chinese users, they have not been able to keep pace with local networking services. Kaixin appears to be the favorite of white collars in big cities, the most lucrative market for developers.

Kaixin's secret lies in its easy-to-play games and in its marketing strategy, described as an "invitation virus".

Once a user registers, the website sends out emails to everyone on his MSN contact list, according to Hong Bo, a well-known Beijing tech blogger. New users who might otherwise ignore the invitation are seduced by the presence of a familiar name on the email, according to Hong.

When Richard Gao, a former Facebook user, received email invitations to join Kaixin in May, he deleted them.

Two weeks later, however, Gao discovered that his co-workers were all playing "Parking War" or sending virtual "teddy bears" to their friends on Kaixin.

"Everyone was talking about it. They would even yell at each other if they got a ticket on their car. I didn't want to be left out," said Gao, who now has 70 friends on his Kaixin web page.

Facebook is widely used by ex-pats and Chinese who befriend ex-pats, but has not caught on with ordinary Chinese, according to media expert Jeremy Goldkorn.

"The reason Facebook and MySpace don't work in China is because they don't have enough local users to trigger the ripple effect," said Goldkorn.

The secret of Kaixin's success, according to Goldkorn and others, is that it combines social networking with gaming.

"The interesting part is that you are playing with people you know," explained Richard Gao. "Suppose you get a parking ticket from a total stranger. So what?"

Kaixin's clean layout and simple design also appeal to Chinese netizens.

"Yes, it looks like Facebook. But it looks more tidy and simple,' said Li Haibo, an editor of a popular science magazine in Beijing who joined Kaixin last month and brought 62 friends with him. "That's important for highly-stressed white collar workers."

In addition to "Parking War," Kaixin users play "Friend Sales," a game in which each user can be sold as a "slave" twice a day. "Masters" can earn money by forcing their "slaves" to work as singers, miners or toilet cleaners, or they can just "touch" them for fun.

Users say the games provide entertainment and enhance friendship.

"It is really fun to 'slave' your friends and ask them to serve a cup of tea or make them sing a song," said Zhao Yun, 27, a photographer in Shanghai.

"If you like a girl, for example, you can purchase her as your 'slave'. You might have to fight for her "slavery right" with other people, which shows how much you care for her."

Although many of its applications are similar to Facebook and MySpace, Kaixin succeeds because it is more entertaining, said Hong Bo.

"Kaixin is more about playing games than networking or finding a job at sites like Linked-in," he said.

Xu Bin from iResearch agrees that the site's simplicity appeals to users between the ages of 18 and 35, as well as to the increasing number of Internet users in rural areas. Sites like Facebook that allow users to further develop the application are not feasible in China, Xu said.

Kaixin's gaming component can be a double-edged sword, however.

The more users are attached to the games, the less they work on other content such as blogs or pictures, which are essential for the site's sustained development, according to Xu.

For Richard Gao, his relationship with Kaixin is a love/hate affair. He says he enjoys his new "toy", but has formed an "annoying" addiction to the website.

"I log on at least three times a day - in the morning, after lunch, and before I go to bed," he said. "Life is boring without it."

Editor:Zhang Ning