On March 15, the operator of "Ragnarok" officially authorized mobile game "Ragnarok: Guarding Eternal Love", Xindong.com announced that Stefanie Sun, the first spokesperson of "Ragnarok", is about to return and will once again sing a new single for the game. The new characters and plot will also revolve around the "music wizard" Sun Yanzi who once again enters the world of wonderland.
Sun Yanzi’s Weibo preview
When it comes to game spokespersons, what do most people think of? Is it the role-playing role played by Hong Kong and Taiwan film and television stars in the flashing pop-up window due to excessive hard work, or the "source of all evil" in the MEME culture with flashing smiles, or the dress-up suck of popular idols that touch people's hearts with every smile eye?
's endless and varied endorsement cooperation seems to be full of the macro strategy of "cross-border cooperation" and "fan resonance", but they are submerged in more follow-up products of the same type. The game endorsement has been extended to an extremely wide road. What is its starting point?
NPC implantation, derivative point card replacement, a theme song, a MV-many online game endorsements are roughly the same. Relying only on the simple interaction between popular stars and cute products, "Ragnarok" finally made a steady start in the Chinese mainland market with the third version, and gradually opened up a path in a series of veteran Korean online games.
But, is the story really that simple?
The unknown "Twilight of the Gods": The transmission dilemma of "Ragnarok"
People are used to calling "Ragnarok" "RO", which is the abbreviation of "Ragnarok Online". Ragnarok comes from the ancient Scandinavian language and refers to the well-known "Twilight of the Gods" in Norse mythology, that is, the destruction of the world caused by the great battle between good and evil.
In the era when many terms such as Odin, Thor, Quake, Gungnir, etc. have not been widely used in film and television and game works, the trendy value of Nordic mythology is too advanced and the introduction of domestically weak translations, Let it become a bunch of indifferent settings that completely cannot make Chinese players have any beneficial associations.
Takes the description of the important monster "Bakili" and the related "Bakili suit" in "Ragnarok" as an example. The table of "The War Girl who serves Odin" is cute, but it can The powerful monster that knocked you down once made many people really puzzled. It was only after many years that people discovered that this beautiful angel-like girl is actually the "Valkyrie" who will frequently appear in many games in the future-we usually call her "Valkyrie" or simply "Valkyrie". However, considering the Valkyrie, which was translated as "Vagre frigate" in the contemporary "StarCraft", Bucky's name seems to be acceptable...
actually can’t, because the translation of this mystery has been retained to this day
As a result, when the game’s original comics are very different from the game itself, and the game’s world view is still in chaos, the early publicity of "Ragnarok" in mainland China once fell into the embarrassment of "you can hardly find other words except cute". Situation. The unique style of "Ragnarok" is certainly a key factor in the game's popularity worldwide, but in terms of the domestic game environment at the time, the "highlight" of "cute" actually has quite a wealth of PvE gameplay for a game. Korean-style MMOs that can meet the needs of players' PvP will also have a counterproductive effect-many people have misunderstood due to the style of painting, and missed this masterpiece. The difficulties that
placed in front of the operators at the time directly gave birth to an important celebrity endorsement event in the history of Chinese online games. After seeing Hanbok easily attract fans through the endorsement of star Lee Hyo-ri and complete the image of the game, as a Chinese mainland and The idea of using celebrity spokespersons also emerged from the game Shinkansen of the general agent in Taiwan.
Stars and Online Games Encounter: First Miracles and "Dream Sky"
In 2002, Singaporean female singer Stefanie Sun appeared on the cover of "Asia Weekly", an international Chinese current affairs weekly that analyzed the emergence of "Sun Yanzi in Asia" in a rare 10 large pages. Phenomenon"-At this moment, Stefanie Sun, together with Jay Chou, maintains the 21st Century with a 40% market share.The dominance of the Chinese pop music scene in the beginning of Ji. The
game Shinkansen has extended an olive branch to this popular idol, and this is a hit with the team of Stefanie Sun, who intends to create an "e-age technological idol". Therefore, in the 2003 EP3 version of "Ragnarok" (the national server version is called "Dream Island"), Stefanie Sun officially became a partner of "Ragnarok".
"Dreamland" version of Stefanie Sun's cooperation post
Facts have proved that Stefanie Sun's successful joining is undoubtedly a key role in the promotion of "Ragnarok". According to the data provided by the game Shinkansen, the total number of registered accounts of "Ragnarok" was 2.09 million before Stefanie Sun endorsed it, and the highest number of online users was 186,000. After Stefanie Sun's endorsement, the number of online users and the total number of accounts in "Ragnarok" doubled in a short period of time.
If the above data was only obtained during the rising period of the game, which is not so convincing, then the sales of the "limited monthly card" in July 2003 may be the most favorable proof of this trend of Stefanie Sun-the game's Shinkansen and Stefanie Sun After the cooperation, two million "39 Yuan Stefanie Sun Prepaid Monthly Cards" were produced. These monthly cards were sold out by crazy players shortly after they went public. In the follow-up "Happy Month Card Pack" (without Stefanie Sun), the sales speed and total quantity did not reach the astonishing value of "Stefanie Card".
, the "Dream Island" advance card
that triggered the rush to buy, the excellent market feedback made the game Shinkansen later add more cooperation with "Stefanie Sun". When EP 5.0 "Dream Sky" was released, Stefanie Sun became the absolute protagonist of the game promotion. The game Shinkansen not only released a new TV commercial "Dream Sky-Angel Polly" with Stefanie Sun as the protagonist, but also let Stefanie Sun sing the theme song "Dream Sky". This popular classic song became "Wonderland" An indelible link between the fans of "Legend" and Stefanie Sun fans.
v.qq.com/iframe/player.html?vid=i0851rx02vg&tiny=0&auto=0
"Angel Polly" is the second TV commercial of "Ragnarok" and the first TV commercial before "Sun Moon Lover" 》Flash animation adaptation from Japanese server players. "Angel Polly" should be the first original advertising story from Chinese people, very fashionable...
"Dream Sky" version of the surrounding surroundings, Stefanie Sun's image is very eye-catching
eternal "Sun MM" and no one knows Ariel: The "miracle" created by Stefanie Sun in the game endorsed by Stefanie Sun is undoubtedly an indelible mark of the times in the history of "Ragnarok", but if only the Stefanie Sun effect is used to fully summarize this empathy Happened, in fact, it was somewhat biased. After the game's Shinkansen ended the operation of "Ragnarok" in mainland China, the new agents that took over "Ragnarok" have all worked hard on the issue of "spokesperson". In the long life cycle of "Ragnarok" from now on, there are many stars of the same level as Xiao Yaxuan, so why only Stefanie Sun has left a deep impression?
This has to talk about an NPC updated after EP3. Ariel, the
hair stylist, appears with Kmoshima. He is a gravity star NPC wearing trendy clothes. He is responsible for providing hair dyeing and hair change services to players who are dissatisfied with their own hairstyle. In essence, she is like an ordinary NPC responsible for completing in-game purchase tasks for players, and is limited by the developer Gravity Interactive's incomprehensive in-game payment mode and overly optimistic about player gaming enthusiasm. This hair stylist provided The service is a bit silly-the materials used for dyeing hair need a long farm to collect. After paying a very high fee, only a few hair styles and colors are provided at the beginning of the game. The huge price and poor return make this NPC almost nothing People are interested in...
in the mobile game Ariel (actually the function of Stefanie Sun)
is a brainstorm, or after careful planning, after the EP3 version of the national service is installed, Ariel has evaporated from the national service and replaced it. Is an exclusive with the same name as Stefanie SunNPC. The new NPC not only has an independent and exclusive appearance, but also has a completely different important mission-Stefanie Sun can not only restore the player's magic power and health in the town for free, but also transfer the player to some unrestricted mazes and practice for free Level point. This change of
is undoubtedly the finishing touch that Stefanie Sun's endorsement can be remembered by players. In the era when magic recovery potions were not provided and teleportation was more expensive, these two practical skills quickly made Stefanie Sun the most popular NPC besides Capra (the in-game storage and town teleporter). The strong sense of participation in the game not only fulfilled the original propaganda promise of "fighting with Stefanie Sun" when endorsing, but also made up for the embarrassment of the spokesperson's weak connection with the game. At the same time, because it is closely related to the in-game production and Farm's functional group, the flow of people can gather around Stefanie Sun, forming a starting point for many touching memories. Many players who are not Fans of Stefanie Sun gradually become familiar with the name.
Of course, behind Stefanie Sun’s deep memory is also Ariel’s "disappearance of presence"-although Ariel and her functionality are completely restored in the game when Stefanie Sun’s endorsement expires, her sense of presence is not It did not continue to increase, but because of a change, the meaning of existence was completely lost. In EP8, the new "Wandering Hair Stylist" provides new hair coloring functions, including several initial non-selectable hairstyles...
has never been The remembered Ariel has silently become an important witness of the history of "Ragnarok": with the further proliferation of offline plug-ins and private servers, this popular game has begun its overall slow but sometimes ups and downs. The lagging plug-in processing, the outdated core gameplay and the lack of creative sequel thinking made this originally dazzling IP dust in the corner, and the tortuous experience of four easy agents and three times to welcome the sunset is even more like this forgotten NPC. .
People approach you not because of your own existence, but your existence reminds people of the youthful years surrounding Stefanie Sun in the past.
Ending
Nowadays, game manufacturers use celebrity endorsements to explore the marginal effect of fan conversion time and time again, and in the analysis of big data and questionnaire surveys, they will be accurate to the point where other types of advertisers are respected. Unfortunately, how much of the actual effect of advertising comes from stars is still a metaphysical problem that is difficult to define. Practitioners in the advertising industry have a few words in their heads when they talk about the meaning of advertising. They carefully compile "the commonality of product attributes and celebrities" in the dark night, and use data narrative text to portray very A suspicious and serious picture. Although
has parted ways with the original tweaked and uncomfortable in terms of cooperation dimensions, marketing capabilities, coverage and celebrity acceptance, there are still not many things that can truly become "feelings". The sensational effect of the early celebrity endorsement games in the development of the Chinese game industry seems difficult to continue.
"Star endorsement games" may be a topic that particularly reveals the age. Just say "stars" or "games", even if they could be in the big waves at that time. Standing out may not be able to withstand the test of time. Passed and forgotten people or works account for the vast majority. The superposition of these two can simply pull a Mariana trench between two generations.
is not who I have played the game "365 Days of Proposal 2" of the last century and "pursued" Cecilia Cheung in it. Those who know the "Star Volunteer" series may have long forgotten that the spokesperson of "Star Volunteer 2" is Hou Xiangting; although Stephen Chow He Zhou Xun is still active in the film industry, but their first generation of online games in China has been a very long time. At that time, the distance between celebrities and the public was not so close, and it was relatively "high". Most game manufacturers follow the traditional industry Propagating and disseminating thinking, choosing stars is purely to increase the exposure and attention of the game.
can be popularized on the Internet, talent shows are popular, and the influx of Japanese and Korean idol cultures, the threshold for entering the entertainment circle seems to be low, and the identity of a star It's not so "valuable" anymore, even idols are becoming more and more like a service job. They have "personal design" and need to maintain their fans through "business". Now go to the one who pursues idols the most fanatical A group of people, endorsements for games, singing theme songs, etc., may represent resources and traffic for them. Their idols have "started business again", and the promotion of the game itself can only be said to be icing on the cake-if Product positioning and fan group matching may be transformed into buying spirit, but thisPropaganda is only effective for fans, and basically does not reach people other than fans. Not to mention that in China, the film and television industry may have good works, but the music industry is generally in depression. The songs that can become popular now are either the theme songs of film and television dramas, or come from variety shows, or rely on the spread of live broadcast or short video platforms. As for the singles that dominate the charts of various charts, almost all of them are the data generated by the fans-they brush the charts, rotate the gambling, and rush the rankings. In order to help the idols get better resources, it is a matter of opinion. But these lists seem to have nothing to do with the general audience.
In the past, Jay Chou wrote the Chinese theme song for "Warcraft 3". This "Half Orc" was also placed on the first track of the album "Octave Space"; JJ Lin's second album "Second Heaven", the same The famous song is also the theme song of "Paradise 2"; the title song of the album of the same name sung by Huawei's online game "Perfect World" by Shuimunian, and even the Spring Festival Gala; the "Dream Sky" sung by Stefanie Sun for "Legend of Ragnarok" is also a serious story. The land was included in the selection. But now, the theme songs and promotional songs sung by stars and idols for endorsement games do not seem to have such a strong sense of existence.
In this context, Stefanie Sun’s very emotional second endorsement has attracted countless fans to respond enthusiastically on related publishing websites, which makes people reminiscent of the cicadas that made people miss in the summer of 2003-going around. After a long lap, the glory of the past still shines as before.
