Not on the same level! Spending money is not on the same level! Don't get confused!

Two concepts. One is to make dirty money, and the other is to make long-term benefits

Animation City 1

Animation Base

Generally several hundred million

Animation Base It mainly creates animated cartoons, online games, mobile games, multimedia products, etc., and provides entrepreneurs with services such as design, creation, display, interaction, and communication of domestic and foreign animation products. It is welcomed by animation enthusiasts and animation entrepreneurs.

Animation City 2 Animation and Video Game City

Millions

Animation and video game city seems to have opened all over the streets and alleys of Xi'an overnight, and the involved... Gambling behavior has caused many people to fall into it and lose their entire fortune. After nearly a year of short-term "brilliance", our province began to comprehensively clean up and rectify the animation and arcade cities. Almost overnight, all animation and arcade arcades fell into "darkness".

Should they be surrounded and annihilated on the spot, or should they be regulated and given a new lease of life? Whether it is the cultural department or the animation city boss, they all have their own ideas and thinking.

In 2008, it was the "Carnival" of Xi'an Animation and Video Game City. It seemed that overnight, animation and video game cities bloomed everywhere; in February 2009, almost overnight, all animation and video game cities blossomed. "Disappeared."

Xi'an Video Game City has closed down and transferred its operations

On the morning of February 12, at the "Hongdu" Video Game World diagonally opposite the Ankang Office on Fengqing Road, game consoles and connected machines were missing. , the entire hall was empty, dark and messy, with several staff sitting around on the sofa in a corner chatting. Outside the door, the original colorful door header has disappeared, replaced by a notice: Poor management, transfer.

"After the newspaper reported, the machines inside were suddenly emptied out and are now being transferred." The owner of a nearby store said, "It used to be very busy inside!"

"Closed" There are still many animation cities that have been "renovated" and "transferred". The gates of the "Happy" and "Yinhe" animation cities in Hanguangmen have been demolished and locked, and the "Super Creation" and other two animation cities in Zhuquemen The door of the Animation City is covered with a curtain. "Adventure Island" on Taibai Road and "Happy 100%" on Daxue South Road have posted "transfer" notices. There used to be a "Cool Spot" near Longshou Village that was being renovated. The animation city also stopped renovations and demolished all the doors. More animation cities such as the "Huanyu" Animation on the south side of Northwest University and the "Golden Ou" animation on Huancheng West Road are "closed for renovation."

A week ago, almost all animation cities were still a "booming" scene.

“There are not many people coming in the morning, but after 2 p.m., there are a lot of customers.” Xiaozhuang, who once worked in the animation city, said, especially in front of the “Animal Paradise”, where there is so much smoke that some Gamblers stay up all night "playing games." "An animation city with an area of ??200 square meters has a monthly turnover of at least 500,000 yuan, or even more."

What brings huge economic "benefits" to the animation city is the Golden Lion King , Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Chess King and other game consoles with gambling properties, while game consoles with real game functions, such as electronic gun shooters, dancing machines, simulated racing, etc., have become accessories in most animation cities and are placed in The entrance of the animation city serves as the "screen wall" or "screen" of the animation city. Some animation cities even have "free" signs for such game consoles. "None of these things make money, the real money is made by the ones at the back (gambling machines)."

According to the survey, a set of 8 connected machines sells for only 12,000 yuan. The large-scale Golden Lion King sells for 13,000 yuan, so the investment is not large. But after "program debugging", these gambling machines turned into "slot machines" that gobbled up money like crazy. According to Xiaozhuang's calculations, the animation city where he originally worked had 48 "slot machines". The daily attendance rate was calculated as 50, and one machine was calculated as an average daily "net income" of 200 yuan, (48×50)×200×30 ( days) = 144000. An animation city with 48 "slot machines" can earn more than 140,000 yuan per month.

"The actual situation is far from that. This number is very, very conservative and is only calculated according to the minimum standard." Xiaozhuang said that their original animation city had a monthly turnover of more than 500,000 yuan. , the main source of its profits is the 48 "slot machines".

The huge profits have driven the "booming development" of the animation and video game city. In 2008, Xi'an's animation city and video game city spread all over the streets almost overnight.

“The video game city in Xi’an first came from some cities in the south, and it was everywhere overnight.” Several police officers from the Xi’an Public Security Bureau revealed that since the second half of 2007, the video game city in Xi’an has It has developed rapidly. After in-depth investigation by relevant government functional departments, it was found that the electronic game console business industry in Xi'an has formed a large scale. Due to the lack of industry management standards, illegal operations, disorderly management and other chaotic conditions, the animation arcade that was supposed to promote physical and mental health has gradually evolved into an "invisible and open casino", where some gamblers have lost all their money. , wives and children separated.

In early February this year, the three departments of Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department, Department of Culture, and Industry and Commerce Bureau joined forces to comprehensively rectify the animation and arcade city. Subsequently, the Provincial Public Security Department began to crack down on the "protective umbrella" behind the animation and arcade city across the province. Subsequently, our province issued a policy that all unlicensed game arcades would be closed first and then reviewed and approved. Under the joint high-pressure attack of the three departments, the animation and arcade arcades have been "transferred", "decorated", etc.

The animation and video game city fell into the ice valley.

It is difficult to obtain evidence for gambling-related activities and the police are embarrassed to investigate and deal with them

The police have never stopped investigating and handling the animation city. However, the police encountered difficult and embarrassing problems when investigating and handling the case according to law.

The police found that in Xi'an Video Game City, electronic game machines with functions such as refunding coins, refunding steel balls, refunding coupons, and screen points accounted for more than 50% of the total number of game machines in the venue. On July 17, 2000, the Ministry of Culture listed more than 50 types of electronic game machines with gambling functions. However, with the development of society, the types and models of game machines are constantly updated, and now they have greatly exceeded the standards set by the Ministry of Culture many years ago. Gambling machine types. How to determine whether the game machines in the arcade have gambling functions? Since the Ministry of Culture has not issued the latest standards, the cultural authorities of our province and Xi'an City cannot identify it. This makes it extremely difficult for the public security organs to manage and investigate according to law.

“It’s not that we don’t investigate, it’s really difficult to investigate and deal with it.” A grassroots policeman from the Lianhu Branch of the Xi’an Public Security Bureau said frankly that when it comes to investigating and handling the animation city, the police’s authority is only “whether there is gambling”, and for this The judgment of the first issue is whether it is found during the inspection that the video game city uses cash or securities as prizes, or repurchases prizes. If not, the public security organs will not be able to handle it as a gambling-related issue in accordance with the law. "When I stared at them, I was stared back at them. No trace of gambling could be found at the scene." The policeman said that they could only investigate and deal with them "without pain" based on reports from the masses.

A police station director even talked about the difficulty of investigation. In their jurisdiction, the police investigated and punished an animation city five times in just one week. But after going there, the gamblers were still "pointing up" and "pointing down", and no one mentioned "refunding" the money. They looked at the gamblers, but had difficulty obtaining evidence. In the end, they could only temporarily confiscate the main board of the game hall based on the reporter's report, notify the boss of the animation city to go to the police station for questioning, and release them after punishment. Later, they parked the police car at the entrance of the animation city and stared at the animation city. After a period of "protracted fighting", the animation city posted a notice of "poor management" and moved to another place.

Based on this, many domestic cities have directly included animation cities in the category of electronic gambling, severely banned them, or even banned them from opening at all.

Some people are happy about the closure of the animation city and some are worried about it

Most citizens hold a positive attitude towards the closure of the animation city involving gambling, especially the family members of some gamblers who are deeply involved in the animation city. They even expressed "hate to the core" and said, "How many people have been harmed by gambling machines? Shut them down!"

But some people lamented the ban on the animation city. “Several animation cities have closed down.

"Li Xiaoquan, a clerk at a cigarette shop in Beishaomen, said that Xiao Jin, who used to work in a nearby animation city, often came to his store to buy cigarettes, but after the crackdown on the arcade city began, Xiao Jin never came to buy cigarettes again. "After the Animation City was reported by the media, Xiao Jin bought a pack of cigarettes from me, chatted with me for a few minutes, and said that their boss saw that this strict crackdown was serious, so he gave them a holiday. Xiao Jin also said that it’s hard to find a job now, so if you can’t find it, just go back to your hometown. He even comforted Xiao Jin at that time: "Checking the animation city is just a formality. It will be fine when the news passes." ”

Now, the government’s crackdown on gambling-related animation cities has far exceeded Li Xiaoquan’s “expectations.” He began to worry about Xiao Jin: “I don’t know if he has really returned to his hometown. His job is really not good now.” try to find. ”

When she saw the report that the animation city was going to be closed, Ms. Wang shouted “objection” in the office. She usually likes to go to the video game city to “shoot”, “drive” and “shoot basketball”. There are also a lot of game coins. “The animation city is closed, where can I play? "She believes that the "mouse droppings" involved in the gambling video game city have ruined the "pot of soup" of the entire animation city. "In the future, it will be difficult to find regular game arcades. ”

On February 10, someone asked the reporter: “Did an animation city owner just invest more than 2 million, and then the crackdown started, and he committed suicide because he could not recoup his investment?” "The reporter verified with the police that there was no case of suicide of the owner of the animation city in Xi'an. However, this rumor also caused some people to speculate, "The investment in these animation cities must be large, and they have a large number of migrant workers. Once they are all called If stopped, will it bring security risks to social security? ”

An official from the Public Security Bureau of the Provincial Public Security Department roughly estimated that in Xi’an alone, there are more than 500 animation cities of various sizes with gambling properties (including black video arcades without doors). , with a total investment of more than 500 million yuan, mainly distributed in Beilin District, Xincheng District, Yanta District and Lianhu District, which are relatively prosperous in economic development, accounting for 60% of the city's electronic game business sites, and the animation city has more than 30,000 employees. After the government "stopped" the animation city, these people also faced being "laid off". When the economic situation and employment situation are not optimistic, where will this group of people go?

"Is one size fits all appropriate? Should the government allow some officially operated animation centers to resume operations? "Some people have put forward such a view.

Can the overhaul be an opportunity for standardization

On the evening of February 12, several animation city owners Mr. Li and Mr. Lu had a gathering. This period of rectification has given them a "rare rest time". "Now whenever someone says there is a dinner party, I will go there immediately. "Mr. Li said that since the province began to reorganize animation cities, they have all closed their doors and have made appointments to travel to the south. "Anyway, we have plenty of time now. ”

Mr. Li and others also agreed with the media reports on the Animation City. In their view, the media reports and the government’s vigorous investigation and punishment of the Animation City may be able to standardize the operation of Xi’an Animation City. It provides an excellent opportunity. They even hope that the country will issue industry standards for animation and video game arcades to open up the Shaanxi market.

Mr. Lu and others are rare "certified people". This license has expired. As early as 2000, the animation city he ran had obtained a cultural business license issued by the cultural department. After the license expired at the end of 2001, he went to the cultural department for review many times and asked for an extension. The answer from the cultural department is: The country is currently regulating video game operations and has stopped approving new game console business locations.

The cultural department also confirmed Mr. Lu’s statement in 2000. In June 2019, the State Council forwarded a notice jointly issued by the Ministry of Culture and other seven ministries and commissions to specifically manage electronic game business premises across the country. Accordingly, Xi'an City comprehensively cleaned up and rectified game machine business premises. At the same time, the cultural department stopped inspecting new game machine business premises. After approval, a year or two later, all game console business locations in Xi'an were closed.

In 2006, the Ministry of Culture piloted the operation of game console business locations in nine cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Chengdu. Industry management standards are being prepared, but the industry management standards have not yet been released.

Since 2007, the Xi'an Municipal Culture Department has repeatedly applied to the Provincial Department of Culture and the National Ministry of Culture for approval to establish gaming machine business premises, but so far there has been no result. Game console business premises in other provinces and cities across the country have also not been approved for establishment.

Against such a general background, over the past few years, most of the gaming machine business establishments in Xi'an have been operating without a license.

The animation and video game city, which is operating without a license, lives in a crack. "Our game arcade has been operating, and the cultural department's attitude towards us is also 'lukewarm', neither confirming nor investigating." In such an environment, Mr. Li and others have also been looking forward to it. "Perhaps, the cultural department, like us, is waiting for the introduction of policies, the lifting and recovery of animation cities... Maybe both of us can feel that this is just a matter of time."

11 cities across the country Trying to reform the video game industry

In fact, it should be accurate to use the word "double-edged sword" to judge video game cities.

A staff member of the Cultural Inspection Office of the Provincial Department of Culture believes that from a positive perspective, today's large-scale, comprehensive, and branded game industry is no longer the same as the earlier game arcades. He said that the development of the domestic electronic game console industry is becoming an important part of the cultural and entertainment industry and is generating huge wealth. According to statistics, the output value of the domestic large-scale game console industry in 2005 was as high as 15 billion yuan. "It is undeniable that some deviations may occur in the specific operation process, such as suspected gambling." He said that 11 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou were divided into two batches and were used as pilot cities for the reform of national game arcade venues. We are working hard to explore development models and management experience. "We cannot stop eating because of choking. In addition to seeing the objective problems, we should also consider more about the prospects and positive social effects of this industry." He said that in April 2006, the country issued "On Promoting the Development of my country's Animation Industry" "Several Opinions" to encourage the development of the game industry and begin to draft industry standards for the large-scale game console industry. Although it has not yet been formally written, I believe that the introduction of this industry standard will not be too far away.

A few days ago, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued a notice (draft for comments) on further strengthening the management of entertainment and entertainment venues, which regulates the establishment, approval, supervision, planning, fire protection, etc. of entertainment and entertainment venues. Requirements are made from multiple aspects.

According to the required standards, the first thing to bear the brunt of is the establishment conditions of entertainment and entertainment venues. On the basis of comprehensive consideration of regional economic differences, the registered capital, minimum business area, single machine area and number of local entertainment and entertainment venues are stipulated. and other conditions. Moreover, game equipment should be products that have been reviewed by the Ministry of Culture, and the number of game machines in amusement and entertainment venues containing electronic game machines should not be less than 60. When conducting business activities with prizes, the unit price of prizes shall not be higher than the highest standard set by the provincial culture and public security departments. The prize catalog shall be submitted to the local county-level culture and public security departments for filing. Cash or securities shall not be used as prizes, and no repurchases shall be allowed. Prizes and more. "The experience of Suzhou and other places provides Xi'an with a reference." A staff member of the Provincial Department of Culture said, for example, the increase in the entry threshold for video game cities, the approval of game machines entering game halls, the publicity and hearing of video game cities, and the irregular review of game machines. The supervision of the video game city, including overt and covert inspections, has provided experience for the development of Xi'an animation. "Of course there are some not-so-good things that deserve our attention." He said that after Suzhou liberalized the video game city, business licenses were issued as long as certain standards were met. This also resulted in too many approvals, fierce competition, and changes in profit margins. Small or even losses. Some animation centers find it difficult to continue operating, and some take desperate risks and operate gambling machines secretly. "At this point, we need to carry out reasonable planning and layout."

In addition to reasonable planning and layout, he believes that if the game industry wants to truly break through, the key also depends on the business ideas of the operators. Mr. Liu said that the cost recovery of video arcades is relatively slow, which requires owners to update their machines in a timely manner while enhancing their competitiveness in marketing. How to survive and develop within the scope of national laws and cultural business licenses requires proactive thinking on the part of the owner, rather than taking advantage of legal and management loopholes.

"For example, using dancing machines to hold some dance competitions, or recruiting some video game masters to perform commercial performances? These methods can attract popularity and stimulate consumption."

Looking forward to raising the entry threshold, video game cities are expected to be reborn

“Just imagine, if the entry threshold for animation and video game cities can be raised, does that mean attracting some large-scale, comprehensive, and branded animation and video game operators?” A staff member from the Provincial Department of Culture personnel said.

The increase in the entry threshold has also been recognized by Mr. Li and Mr. Lu, the owners of Animation and Gaming City. "This is better. The greater the investment, the greater the cost of violation." They gave examples. He said that taking the hardware requirements of a video game city as an example, the operating area for applying to open a single video game city should be at least 800 square meters, and the number of amusement machines should not be less than 500. In addition to the costs of rent, management, operation, personnel, etc., the total Only when the investment reaches a certain amount can the business be opened. This means that the investment is large and the cost of violation is also large. Once illegal business activities are investigated and punished, the losses will be huge. Mr. Li also believes that this model can guide arcade operators to follow a standardized path and lead to a better trend in the entire industry. "If there is a very specific catalog of game console products, we will have more basis when checking gambling." The person in charge of the No. 1 Police Station of Yanta Branch of Xi'an Public Security Bureau suggested that the current game consoles on the market are updated too fast, and some The new gaming machines are not among the types of gambling machines specified by the Ministry of Culture many years ago. Another situation is that producers and operators "take advantage of loopholes." If the Ministry of Culture stipulates that a certain model of machine is a gambling machine, the game machine manufacturer will launch a "new model" in the form of changing its "face". He believes that we should learn from the approval system in the drug management system. Before a new game console is put on the market, it must be approved by the cultural department. Only after passing the approval of the cultural department can you enter the game hall. Otherwise, the illegal game console will be confiscated, confiscated or destroyed. .

"Open game machines and crack down on gambling machines!" This is also citizen Ms. Wang's hope for game halls. "Game machines cannot be left without game machines. I hope that the animation city can reopen."

Mr. Li and others are also full of expectations for the standardization of animation cities. “Although it is currently closed, it is undeniable that this has caused some economic losses to us, but from a long-term perspective, this is undoubtedly a major reshuffle of the animation and video game market in our province, and some of the video game cities will definitely be affected this time. Being eliminated during the rectification is also good news for us. I believe that the day when the animation city will be formalized is not far away!" Reporter She Hui

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