玩不了口袋妖怪Go，中國網友態度不一

大家應該都聽說了，國外最近新出了一款名叫《口袋妖怪Go》（Pokémon Go）的游戲，火爆程度簡直風靡全球。它采用了傳說中的“現實增強”（簡稱AR）技術，通過手機攝像頭，將虛擬怪獸融入到了真實世界的環境中。該游戲已經成了有史以來下載次數最多的免費iPhone應用，并助推其開發商——任天堂公司的股價迅速飆升到了近33年來的新高。

除了許多年輕人，還有不少上了年紀的人也為《口袋妖怪Go》而瘋狂。他們傻呵呵地舉著手機掃蕩著大街小巷，尋找隱藏在各處的小怪獸和戰利品。不過若說《口袋妖怪Go》已經成了一個全球性的現象還不確切，因為這樣一款大熱游戲尚未登錄中國——一個擁有13億人口，每年花在視頻游戲上的錢多達223億美元的國家。

一名微博用戶在網上吐槽道：“我已經嘗試了各種方法下載《口袋妖怪Go》，但沒一種管用，我已經快瘋了。這是我第一次對一個游戲這么感興趣。誰能幫幫我？”

另一位網友哭訴道：“什么是孤獨？我覺得孤獨就是因為《口袋妖怪Go》沒在中國發布。面對著空蕩蕩的草原，卻連一只小怪獸都沒有，無事可做的我，只能坐在這里思考人生。拜托中國快開放《口袋妖怪Go》吧，我不想失去那些童年的回憶?！?

實際上，這款游戲目前只在美國、澳大利亞和新西蘭開放，因為該游戲的設計方Niantic Labs生怕它的服務器因為玩家的迅速涌入而崩潰。但是小小的挫折豈能難倒聰明智慧的天朝玩家。眾多中國網友們八仙過海，各顯神通，讓自己加入了《口袋妖怪Go》玩家的行列。

We’ve all heard it — Pokémon Go has taken over the world. The augmented reality video game, which superimposes lurid cartoon characters onto the real world as viewed through your smartphone camera, is the most downloaded free iPhone app of all time, and has sent developer Nintendo’s -3.86% stock soaring to an all-time, 33-year high.

Droves of youngsters — and older folk who don’t mind looking daft in public — are scouring their real-life neighborhoods, where the game craftily hides a mélange of creatures and loot to collect. But describing Pokémon Go as a global phenomenon come with one huge caveat — China, whose 1.3 billion people spent a world-beating $22.3 billion on video games last year, has not had Pokémon Go released in its territory.

“I have tried every method I can find to down load Pokémon Go, but nothing works and it’s driving me crazy,” posted one user of China’s Twitter-like microblog Weibo. “It is my first time to be so interested in a game, who can help me?”

“What is loneliness?” chin-strokes another. “I feel lonely because Pokémon Go hasn’t been released in China. Facing the empty prairie without any Pokémons, I have nothing to do but to reflect my life. Please release Pokémon Go in China, I don’t want to miss these childhood memories.”

In fact, the game has only been released in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand so far, as designer Niantic Labs wanted to be sure its servers could handle the influx of players. (And in hindsight, with good cause.) But Chinese gamers are nothing but resourceful, and have adopted myriad means to gate-crash the Pokémon Go party.

第一批吃螃蟹的玩家認為，通過更改手機的地區設定，或是購買在其他國家注冊的Apple ID，他們應該就能繞過地理上的限制。這種辦法在某種程度上還是管用的，只不過等他們進入虛擬世界之后，游戲的GPS參數無情地發揮了作用，中華大地上連一只可抓的小怪獸都沒有。

據科技媒體Quart報道，也有一些非法網站向中國玩家銷售了該游戲的非法版本。在這些地下版本中，美國舊金山的地理位置被挪到了中國的街道上。還有一些中國玩家購買了取消了地理位置限制的破解版。這些非法版本的發布速度極快，簡直是緊跟著官方版本發布。游戲設計商Niantic Labs終于忍無可忍了，聲稱對使用破解版的玩家要抓到一個封一個。

許多玩家只得選擇了《口袋妖怪Go》中華山寨版——比如《城市精靈Go》，借著《口袋妖怪Go》的東風，《城市精靈Go》的下載量也一路飆升。它的情節理念與《口袋妖怪Go》大同小異，只不過最重要的一點是，它沒有采用任何現實增強技術。玩家抓小怪獸和尋寶的設定雖然和《口袋妖怪Go》差不多，但全部情節都在虛擬世界中完成，玩家的屁股根本不用離開沙發，因此它更像是一款標準的角色扮演游戲。

當然，這種情況可能很快就會改變。特別是Niantic Labs最近表示，由于需求激增的原因，《口袋妖怪Go》的全球開放時間可能比之前預期的要晚一些。此外《口袋妖怪Go》入華還有一些特殊的障礙，首先是國內合作伙伴尚未敲定，其次是由于眾所周知的原因，用來登陸《口袋妖怪Go》的主要平臺——谷歌在中國仍未解禁。這只會讓中國游戲開發商們更有勁頭開發本地的山寨版本——當然還要配上必不可少的現實增強技術。

許多絕望的中國玩家甚至發誓永遠不玩《口袋妖怪Go》了，有些玩家甚至搬出國家安全這桿大旗。一名用戶在微博上稱：“不要玩具有GPS功能的《口袋妖怪Go》，美國和日本能用GPS探測我們的秘密軍事基地?！?

另一名玩家發微博稱：“任天堂在臉書上說臺灣是一個國家，而不是中國的一個省。同時它可能正在試圖收集中國軍事基地的信息。所以我還是玩另一個游戲吧?！?

唉，誰讓那些皮卡丘們實在太可愛了呢。 （財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

The first enterprising gamers thought that by changing the region setting on their smartphone, or purchasing Apple IDs registered in the official release nations, that they could skirt the geographical restriction. This works to a degree, except that upon entering the virtual world the games GPS parameters kick in, and the gamers are bereft of any Pokémon characters to catch.

However, illicit websites are cashing in by flogging Chinese customers illicit versions of the game in which San Francisco locations are superimposed on Chinese streets, reports Quartz. Other gamers have resorted to buying hacked versions of Pokémon Go that have the geographical restrictions removed. These appeared for sale online soon after the official release, though Niantic Labs has vowed to ban anyone caught using them.

Many gamers have instead opted for Chinese versions of Pokémon Go, like City Demon Go, which has seen a huge spike in downloads on the back of Pokémon Go fever. These are similar in concept except, crucially, none are yet augmented reality. Players hunt for monsters and treasure just like in the real game, except they roam a virtual world without the need to leave their sofa, much like any standard role-playing adventure.

Of course, that may soon change, especially since Niantic Labs has said that, due to burgeoning demand, global rollout will be slower than first anticipated. Plus there are hurdles specific to China, where a local partner for release hasn’t been confirmed, and Google — the main medium by which players log in to Pokémon Go — remains banned. That will only give impetus to Chinese developers to create local simulacrums, complete with the requisite augmented reality.

Many irked Chinese gamers have even sworn off the Pokémon Go — some citing national security concerns. “Don’t play Pokémon Go which has GPS functions,” posted one Weibo user. “Americans and Japanese can detect our secret military bases.”

“On Facebook, Nintendo depicts Taiwan as a country instead of a province that belongs to China,” posted another. “Also it probably tries to gather information about Chinese military bases. So I would play another game.”

And those devious Pikachu look so cute, too.