Last month during the Dragon Boat Festival, I went to Guangzhou to participate in an offline dragon boat racing event for RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds.
Forgive my limited eloquence; it is truly difficult to capture even a fraction of the shock this event brought me with just a few simple words. Though thousands of phrases rushed to my lips, all that remained was a return to simplicity, summed up in two crude words:
"Awesome."
Readers might think I'm forcing a conversation, spouting generic pleasantries, and engaging in meaningless mutual praise. But I must say, if you could see what I saw: hundreds of boats surging forward simultaneously from under a bridge amidst a sudden thunderstorm, the cacophony of voices beneath a sea of colorful umbrellas on both banks, and at the very end of a long row of "Taobao Flash Sale" stalls, a Western fantasy game called RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds standing out alone—you would likely share my sentiment—
"It's fucking awesome."
Being able to make such an exclamation clearly isn't just because I'm new to the industry. In just two days, my senior media colleagues and I, amidst constant astonishment, repeatedly and unanimously asked the liaisons and staff: "How on earth did you find this event?"
Ashamedly, although the Dragon Boat Festival is an important traditional holiday categorized under "time off," for me, a purebred northern inland landlubber, the actual significance of the festival really only amounts to having a day off and eating plain, unfilled cold zongzi. Dragon boat racing? That was merely an "airy castle" existing only on local TV channels and in classrooms.
So before coming, I had only mentally prepared for expectations similar to a variety show, thinking I would just casually row a dragon boat, eat some snacks from the roadside stalls after disembarking, take some photos, fly back, and write the article.
Although from a realistic perspective, the content I experienced was basically no different from the summary earlier, its grandeur absolutely exceeded my expectations. You could say this was the kind of cultural shock akin to "Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden" that I hadn't experienced since moving to the county town for middle school. Especially when I saw that local authorities had closed roads specifically for the Dragon Boat Festival activities, lining the bustling streets beneath skyscrapers with the most down-to-earth rural banquet tables, I couldn't even tell if I counted as a genuine Granny Liu anymore.
Later, as I stepped barefoot onto the exclusive dragon boat bearing the sign "RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds" in the drizzle, rowing vigorously to the beat of the drums, and watching the boat push through the waves at a steady pace, I felt like I had transformed into the "thin, dark beggar" who managed floods from my student-era textbooks, completely forgetting that I was technically working. Gazing at the Canton Tower not far away, I felt a sense of temporal dislocation, as if I were inside RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds, heading to the next mission location with my companions.
On the dragon boat, besides introducing game-related content, the liaison enthusiastically explained in detail the city beneath us, named "Guangzhou." From dragon boat folklore to daily life anecdotes, and even the nearly incessant rain of Guangzhou summers, it's hard not to associate half of my memories from this event with the city of Guangzhou itself, with this new map, the "City of Water," which is quite different from the current version of RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds.
Looking at the streets and crowds on the shore, I vaguely felt that everyone in this city, including us, was like an NPC resident in the game, rallying for a special event of the same game on a special date. Unfortunately, being somewhat introverted and reserved at the time, I ultimately failed to shout back to the curious passersby on the shore like my companions did: "We are from RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds!"
On the afternoon of the race, I struck up a conversation with a stranger also taking shelter from the rain in a corner. Curious, I asked him, "You were cheering so hard just now; did your favorite dragon boat win?" The guy burst out laughing instead. "I'm just a tourist here for fun. How could I tell which boat is which? I'm just here for the excitement. Someone's bound to win. Whoever crosses the finish line first, we cheer for them!"
Hearing such a response left me slightly stunned. Of course, I understand that the older gentleman's attitude is perfectly natural, but I realized that half of myself seemed to exist outside the realm of "natural." After all, no matter what, I came with a certain mission—I had my own boat in mind, or rather, a dragon.
But the dragon I saw was like my own child at a school sports day—invisible to most people present. At the time, a mood-killing thought crossed my mind: RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds was actually just like that older gentleman, merely an ordinary participant in the entire Liede Dragon Boat Festival. Although the venue was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, most visitors clearly weren't there specifically to meet this "Wild Dragon" appearing in the East, unlike me. And after all, the flying dragon in the game that has never touched water is somewhat distant from the dragon boats in the river right now.
Thus, I repeatedly raised questions during chats with fellow journalists: "The current version of RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds doesn't have longboats for players to control, nor bodies of water to swim in, so how did you come up with the idea for this dragon boat racing event?" Although this question sounds redundant and even displays a certain naive foolishness, it was this seemingly insignificant little question that puzzled me, who was half-working and half-enjoying myself.
At the dragon boat banquet, the liaison's answer was simple and sincere: "We hope that this encounter between Western dragons and Eastern dragons will serve as an opportunity to encourage more players to support our game."
To be honest, when I first heard this answer, I found it somewhat far-fetched. Rather than seeking common ground while respecting differences between the two dragons, players, much like the audience at the dragon boat race anticipating the winning longboat decided by the chants, are simply expecting a good game that can "cross the finish line" first. Moreover, latecomers to the "dragon boat race" are always placed on the rising water level in the rain, compared against the previous winner, the boat from the previous year, or the previous title.
RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds' position in the entire event mirrors its current status in the game market—it needs to be placed alongside similar and dissimilar games, collectively subjected to subjective judgments from the player community based on first impressions, psychological expectations, and available free time, and must strive to stand out among the rows of "stalls."
And this might be considerably harder than setting up a tangible booth in reality.
But perhaps this is precisely the advantage of offline events—face-to-face interaction.
During my two-day outing, what I experienced was a "Wild Dragon" from the UK, named RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds, transforming into an ordinary player to step closer from the virtual world into players' real-life视野. It took me, an online "Freljordian," to that special region called Guangzhou, to jointly explore this similarly unfamiliar and distant "southern map." This close-range real-world companionship becomes slices of memory, which will slowly evolve into nostalgia during future gameplay.
So, when I flew back to my rented apartment in Shanghai, opened RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds, and reflected on those two days from the perspective of an ordinary player, I realized the key point of the earlier statement wasn't the distinct features of the two dragons, but rather their "encounter."
At the same time, viewing my business trip through the lens of the game's protagonist, I realized it was equivalent to a long overseas journey with a mission in the game. While such behavior is simply called "gaming" within the game, in reality, we usually call it "travel." Even if stepping out feels "natural," I still consider myself to be traveling.
"Encounter, then travel; travel, and encounter."
This is not only my briefest summary of RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds, a game combining survival, building, and exploration, but also the personal experience shared by myself and other fellow journalists. Therefore, rather than calling this event a business trip, it felt more like several "travel buddies" from all over the country, playing the same game, temporarily forming a tour group to experience dragon boat racing, enjoy local specialty dragon boat meals, chat about gaming, and look forward to an unexpected encounter someday in the future upon parting.
But between this farewell and the next encounter, has RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds, as the host, fully prepared to welcome players with open arms?
I can convey my feelings to readers using emotions as storage points, but I cannot make my experiences become the collective memory of many players; that can only be created by personally playing the game. In other words, one must be strong oneself to forge iron; the quality of the game remains the core topic.
We also discussed this issue at the dragon boat banquet. We felt that in survival-building games like RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds, what players need to do is essentially gather resources, improve abilities, craft new equipment, and explore new maps. This is the most fundamental framework of such games, and its rationality directly impacts player retention rates. However, each aspect serves as a strict test of whether the game development team's production capabilities are seasoned and proficient.
Subsequently, the liaison for RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds alleviated my initially unnecessary concerns with a rough introduction to upcoming content updates—they not only lowered the price but also promised to continuously release more new maps in future versions and create new gameplay content based on player preferences.
Moreover, they equally value balancing players' exploration and building experiences, striving to ensure that the increasing number of new systems does not become a burdensome learning curve for players. For instance, regarding the game's signature feature, "Runes," they have made multiple "subtraction" adjustments to the rune system, placing various skills that might seem "overpowered" in similar games into rune magic. They hope players can use these novel elements to explore this land more freely.
Can these special gameplay mechanics and unique content, developed with such dedication, truly gain the love of a wide player base?
This is what RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds wanted to confirm with players through this offline encounter event. At the moment of parting after the dragon boat banquet, I even felt that they shared the same apprehension named "unknown" as I did on my first business trip—although I believed they were fully prepared for updates. In reality, we all know that the game is still in its early access stage, with many important features and gameplay elements yet to be expanded and perfected, making every decision at this stage crucial.
But after personally experiencing the full content of the game and having in-depth exchanges with them over two days, I must say that I hope even more than before that it will be seen by more people. With the major Simplified Chinese version update "Shadow Sands" officially launching at the end of June, RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds successfully achieved an excellent result, reaching seventh place on both domestic and global bestseller charts. Because of this, I am more willing to believe that after it launches on more platforms in September,embrace a broader future.
It's just that I can neither predict the future nor return to the past; otherwise, I would have gathered the courage to confidently say to the older gentleman watching the dragon boat race:
"Then please support RuneWorld: Dragon's Wilds!"