Beyond posts and tweets, our fourth Social Media Influencer influences the youth through his passion — video games.
Politics is no game – unless you make it one. The third influencer in our SMILER series is Cheng Lap, a curious game designer who changes political fortunes through his stature in the local gaming scene and the extended public.
Cheng Lap is followed by 6,369 users on Twitter and 7,039 Facebook users. His almost 5,000 Facebook friends include political stars Simon Shen, Kay Lam, and Paul Zimmerman.
Presumably some of this army of followers like his games.
Cheng exerts his influence most through his games. His 2011 hit, Age of 1911, is based on China’s history after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and has accumulated more than 1 million downloads between Taiwan and Hong Kong. The game Glory Chronicle, which Cheng is co-developing, currently has 9,466 likes on its Facebook page.
“Glory Chronicle” (光輝歲月), a role playing game set in 1980’s Hong Kong. The game will feature well-known political characters and motifs, including Long Hair and Margaret Thatcher, iconic Hong Kong locations and delicacies, and many motifs recognisable to Hong Kong’s youth, such as yellow umbrellas, tear gas, and violent police.
After switching gears to teach in a local Band 5 high school, Cheng resumed his career in video game development in 2009.
Is Cheng Lap your real name?
Yes, it is. But I use a pseudonym when I write columns so you wouldn’t recognise me.
What are your usual posts about?
Common sense (普及常識) and history.
If something happens or is said, and it is illogical or defies common sense, I talk about it. Or when some things have happened in similar ways in the past, and certain people responded to that in a certain way, I explain how current events can end in the same way.
How would you explain your fame on the Internet?
I began by listening to the people who play my games and befriended them. When we talk about social problems, as an engineer, I look for the origins of problems logically. When you look for the origin of social problems, you will involve politics. It was not only the players or developers who were interested in this. People looked at what I said and realized, “Oh, this is what the problem is.” Very naturally, the social media identity grew from the initial core audience to a general audience.
But there isn’t a clear explanation how. For example, during the lead-water scare, I provided some basic information regarding comments that the outer layer of pencils contained lead. I explained how the outer layer of many pencils from the early 20th century did have lead, but due to fear of children chewing on pencils, they removed it. I thought this post was very normal, but the number of views on this post was extremely high.
What is your political stance?
Some people might categorise themselves, but it’s difficult for me. Because I find my values to be different from others. I am in a minority so small that a category for it doesn’t exist.
But a very basic concept in my thought is what I call utilitarianism (功利主義). What it means is, I determine whether something is worth doing based on the result and not the process. [Ed note – not to be confused with the original meaning]
So which political faction do you think will result in a better Hong Kong?
It’s not about any particular political group, but about the individual.
Its about benefitting Hongkongers. To an extreme, even if it were between Hong Kong and the world, the priority should be Hong Kong
My sole judgement is based on one’s answer to this question: “When there is a conflict of interest between the almost 8 million Hongkongers and anyone else in the world, whether they’re American, Japanese, or Chinese, whose side will you be on?” Will they always answer ‘Hong Kong’? The closer their answer is to Hong Kong, the better they are for HK.
Its about benefitting Hongkongers. To an extreme, even if it were between Hong Kong and the world, the priority should be Hong Kong
A lot of your games are heavily related to politics, do you consider yourself an activist through game development?
We don’t see it that way. My profession is creating games, not activism. I only reflect issues for everybody to understand. We always say that we’re not promoting anything, but rather trying to explain issues.
It’s about the political and economic situation of the era you’re exploring. For example, my Republic of China period game has opium trading as a game feature. If someone wants to promote a political agenda through their games they might beautify certain things. I don’t do that. There was opium during the Republic of China period. It’s a fact.
In the game, there are advantages and disadvantages to using opium. It will cause your faction to lose reputation, but you will receive economic benefits. If you are poor and living in rural, mountainous areas where the economy is weak, it’s very logical to grow opium. The game doesn’t determine whether opium use at the time time was ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. It simply tells you – these are the advantages and disadvantages of your actions in a certain situation.
Is ‘Glory Chronicle’ a response to the Umbrella Revolution?
No, it is not a ‘response’. The game was in development long before [the Umbrella Revolution] happened. Instead it was both our game and society responding to these times. Something triggered Glory Chronicle, and that same thing triggered the Umbrella Revolution.
Something triggered Glory Chronicle, and that same thing triggered the Umbrella Revolution.
I would say our game also started out as a forecast. We sensed that society had a lot of structural problems. Our concept was to understand where those problems were, and we wanted to explain them through a more light hearted gaming and story driven method.
Through this concept, we began to develop Glory Chronicle, with the prediction in mind that a social movement could happen. But it happened during our development. It proved our observation was quite accurate, and it became an opportunity as the subject was the same. For us, what we are doing hasn’t changed, but people’s perception of us has.
What is your vision of an ideal Hong Kong?
An ideal HK is one that is mobile, where society is able to process its natural metabolism. Where the youth are allowed to replace the old when they have weakened. A healthy society is able to adapt quickly to external changes, instead of lingering on past arrangements in the system.
An ideal HK is one that is mobile, where society is able to process its natural metabolism. Where the youth are allowed to replace the old when they have weakened.
Look at the Democratic party, the people there are the same ones as 20 years ago. That’s not being mobile.
Social Media Influencers
Politics used to be waged in backrooms and the media. The new front is social media where intelligence, biting opinion and cutting satire can spread like wildfire to make or break a politician or policy initiative. Clippings are about yesterday’s news. Smart companies and politicians are monitoring social media to predict the news. HT looks at those people who are opinion makers in the realm of social media.
