January 27, 2018

"Live to the fullest and don’t be just a lonely 'frog-raising youth,'" the Communist Party of China advised because....

... so many people in China are fond of the Japanese game app Tabi Kaeru — Travel Frog — in which you gather clover for a cute cartoon frog who leaves but eventually returns with photos and mementos from some trip. The NYT reports that the game is very easy:
"You don’t need to do a lot of things, you don’t even need to think about anything,” said Yu Ting, a 28-year-old accountant in the northeastern city of Tianjin. “It’s not a competitive game, so it’s very relaxing.”

The game also has a strong connection to child rearing. Before the frog leaves on a trip, you have to pack its lunch. And in Chinese, the word for “frog,” wa, is a homophone for a word for “baby.”

“My friends and I all call the frogs our ‘frog sons,’ ” said Gao Lang, 22, a graduate student in Beijing. “After raising this frog, I suddenly understand the feeling of being a parent, at least partly. And I think when I am traveling somewhere far in the future, I will try to send some photos to my parents.”

13 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

My understanding is that the Chinese will eat just about anything so maybe caring for a virtual frog is a step in the right direction.

Darrell said...

No babies = virtual frogs.
Bandai digimon Japanese virtual pets-- Tamagotchi--prepared the Japanese to not show up for the future.

rehajm said...

Video game makers wrestle with how to engage with females since they aren't usually interested in multi player shoot em up games. While it's no Tetris it sounds like an interesting alternative.

Freeman Hunt said...

It is available in the Google Play store if one is curious to see what they're talking about. Lots of guessing for those who don't read Chinese. Suggested in the store for those looking at the frog game is Purrrfect Spirits, a game about cute cats and ghosts.

Roughcoat said...

Them Orientals are inscrutable.

David said...

It's something you can control in a society bent on controlling you.

Phil 314 said...

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!

Fernandinande said...

Raise Giant Frogs
A New, Uncrowded Industry
Good Profits – No Competition

Each pair of “Nufond Giant” breeders lay 10,000 eggs every year. With modern methods, up to 90% turn into frogs.
Giant frogs sell up to $5.00 per dozen everywhere.

++

"I suddenly understand the feeling of being a parent"

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

The Great Depression must have been a bitch.

William said...

I wonder if any Chinese athlete ever thought of taking the knee when they play the Chinese National Anthrm.

mockturtle said...

Interesting that both China and Japan are trying to get young people to emerge from their solitary, virtual lives and experience real lives. From what the futurists tell us, though, virtual is the future. Sad.

Darrell said...

The Great Depression must have been a bitch.

I don't see what's so great about it?
--Nancy Pelosi

JC said...

That last frame - She does know that frogs eat bugs?