Chapter 10 Chapter 9 Is the art of war a unique skill or a crooked way

In modern society, the market is like a battlefield, business operations are like fighting with soldiers, and competition is the soul of the market.The battlefield is full of gunpowder, and the market is fighting openly and secretly. The two show similar characteristics.Therefore, the "Thirty-Six Strategies", which is rich in the essence of the art of war, was repeatedly studied and studied by businessmen and used in business.In the process of Shi Yuzhu's business operation, we can also see the flexible use of "thirty-six strategies". He does not follow common sense and creates new rules for the game market by himself; he uses the strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside" to expand channels, and takes a diversified route to expand the scale; Focus on research and development; he tried his best to dispel public opinion, used actions to resolve people's misunderstanding of online games, and a series of actions, all of which showed his business wisdom to the world.

However, there are different opinions on whether he showed the unique art of war or the crooked ways, and there is no conclusion. In the field of cultural ideology, expressing superficial and immature opinions or literary and artistic works to draw out other people's brilliant and perfect opinions or works is often referred to as attracting jade; in commercial activities, it generally refers to sacrificing a small price to get more Interests. In China, Shi Yuzhu's name is not a household name, but melatonin is known to all women and children. "No gifts will be accepted during the holidays this year, only melatonin will be accepted as gifts" has worn out the ears of people all over the country. The popularity of this advertisement is due to its repeated broadcast on the one hand, and its vulgarity on the other.Despite this, its advertising effect is very powerful, and the huge income brought by advertising to melatonin has enabled Shi Yuzhu to "be a man again".China's "first liability" paid off all the debts of the giant building, and once again completed capital accumulation, paving the way for future entry into the online game industry.

People often mistakenly think that the success of melatonin depends entirely on advertising, but it is not.Melatonin came out in May 1998. Before developing and promoting Melatonin, Shi Yuzhu did a long-term market research in Jiangyin, Jiangsu.During the investigation, he found that in the health care product market, advertising can only play less than 20% of the role, and brand promotion mainly depends on consumers' word of mouth.If health care products want to make money, they must rely on word of mouth to play an advertising effect and earn money from word of mouth.Only in this way can we grow bigger.

Consumers are the best teachers to test whether a product is good or bad.Especially in today's living environment surrounded by a lot of information, people turn a blind eye to the street signs on the street, and are accustomed to the bombardment of commercial advertisements everywhere every day. They will only become interested when they hear strong recommendations from relatives and friends.At the same time, we will also find that when consumers buy a certain type of product, the first thing that comes to mind and the easiest thing to do is to consult relatives, friends and people around them.Good products will be recommended and widely disseminated, while poor products will only fade away in the hearts of consumers and disappear slowly even if they are advertised overwhelmingly.

Of course, advertising is also useful, spending money on advertising can attract the first batch of people.However, no money can be made from this group of people because of the high upfront investment.At this time, we should look forward to repeat customers, and attracting repeat customers mainly depends on the effect of the product.The same is true for making games. The final shape of the game depends on whether it can attract players.Doing online games is the same as making health care products. The real money depends on repeat customers. Liu Wei is an important assistant of Shi Yuzhu. He is familiar with the sales strategy of Melatonin, so he doesn't understand the widely circulated saying that "Melatonin gets rich by advertising and cheating".He said that it was an illusion created by the outside world because they did not understand Melatonin's marketing strategy.Advertising prices are getting higher year by year, and advertising alone will definitely not be able to support the market.In the end, it depends on repeat customers, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable.

Shi Yuzhu claimed that he has done three things in 10 years: health care products, financial investment, and online games.From a business point of view, he has done all three of these things very successfully, but they have all been criticized by public opinion.Melatonin has been the leader in the health care product market for 10 consecutive years. Shi Yuzhu believes that the secret lies in the repeat customers.Because a product can deceive consumers for 1 year, but it is impossible to deceive consumers for 10 years. What Shi Yuzhu wants to tell people is that he does not rely on exaggerated advertisements, let alone deceit or deceit, but to attract repeat customers with effects and word of mouth, and to speak for himself with facts.Therefore, when summarizing the product strategy of health care products, Shi Yuzhu said: firstly, health care products must be effective; secondly, the effect of the product must be felt by consumers, so that consumers are willing to actively introduce the product to people around them.Only with these two factors at the same time can the product become bigger and stronger.Generally speaking, the cost of health care products is not high, and deceptive products also need cost. In this case, why not make the product seriously?

When making online games, Shi Yuzhu and his team translated the strategy of Melatonin, aiming to make the most fun game in China, and let participating players actively introduce and recommend this game to others. "The number of people online has nothing to do with publicity, and it has nothing to do with the theme and image spokesperson." Although Shi Yuzhu's words are a bit too absolute, there is still a certain truth, that is to say, from health care products to online games, the internal logic of products There is consistency. Shi Yuzhu is a shrewd businessman, he doesn't do stupid things like killing chickens and taking eggs, and he doesn't do business that defrauds and defrauds his conscience.Whether it is free, promotional, or gift-giving activities, they are all bricks he throws to the market in order to get the "jade" that the market feedbacks to him.

Anti-customer-oriented, used in the military refers to try to find ways to exploit loopholes in war, seize favorable opportunities, annex or control others, strive to change from passive to active, and strive to seize the initiative in the war.In the process of "anti-customer-oriented", we must pay attention to orderly, step-by-step, and not impetuous.Once the secret is revealed, it will only be clever and be misunderstood by cleverness. Variety is the characteristic of Shi Yuzhu, a "good attacker". He is used to breaking the rules and playing cards not according to common sense.When fee-paying games dominated the world, Shi Yuzhu held high the banner of "free online games" and broke through the ice; when the industry followed suit, Shi Yuzhu unexpectedly announced to return to the fee-paying model; But he boldly said that his game should be classified as "level three".Several shots made the industry experts dumbfounded several times, and all online game manufacturers were stunned by Shi Yuzhu's "strange tricks".

On December 29, 2005, under the banner of "free for life", "Zhengtu" successfully realized profits during the public beta stage.This caused an uproar in the traditional online game market, which still relies on the fee-based model to achieve profitability. It turns out that the free-to-play model is not only suitable for casual online games.In the case that the charging model of relying on point card consumption to make profits has been weakened, the profit of the free model of "Zhengtu" has given domestic online game manufacturers a shot in the arm. Before 2004, all online game companies followed international practice and mainly charged players for the time spent logging in to the game, and game players spent about 50 yuan per month.In order to attract a large number of players who are online at the same time, many online games even design monthly subscription cards with unlimited time.In 2003, as long as a newly operated online game can attract more than 100,000 people in the public beta, and can guarantee 50,000 loyal users when it is officially charged, the game will definitely make money.

This industry rule continued until 2005. During this period, although many heavyweight software and Internet companies such as Jinshan and Sohu joined the online game industry one after another, raising the capital and cost threshold for online game operations, many small companies went bankrupt, but the fees charged There is no fundamental change in the industry law of making a game for two years with a card fee of tens of dollars. All this did not change until the appearance of "Journey", Shi Yuzhu broke the previous industry rules. Shi Yuzhu jumped out of the previous point card or monthly card charging model, and focused on the "free" sign. The idea of ​​"free mode" comes from Shi Yuzhu's own thinking characteristics. He once publicly stated: "I don't like to play cards according to common sense, I like to do it according to my own ideas. I don't despise the rules, but ponder and create rules by myself .”

At the beginning of the operation of "Zhengtu", the industry was generally skeptical of the free model, thinking that the "props" charging model insisted by Shi Yuzhu, an "online game layman", would definitely not succeed.But a few years have passed, and "Zhengtu" has become more and more lively. In April 2008, the number of concurrent online users reached 2.1 million, becoming "China's No. 1 online game." In the past few years, the free-to-play mode has become an online game business model that stands alongside the card-based model, and more and more free-to-play online games have appeared in the online game market following "Zhengtu".Driven by the free model, China's online game market has been expanding year by year, reaching 4.43 billion in the second quarter of 2008. The "free model" of Zhengtu made Giant Network win the "2006-2007 China Internet Market Annual Innovation Business Model" award, which was the only online game company that won this honor that year. 2006 was even called the "free year" of online games in China by industry insiders - 84% of new games were "free", while the online game market was still growing rapidly.According to statistics, an online game with an average of 100,000 online users can earn about 10 million yuan per month based on traditional point card billing; after the game fee is waived, the monthly income exceeds 15 million yuan. The success of the "free model" lies in the continuous tapping of the consumption potential of users through various value-added services, so as to obtain more income.Liu Wei, President of Giant Network, said: "When "Zhengtu" became profitable after one year of operation, the Chinese online game market also entered a second period of rapid development due to the surge of free online games, which directly created a wave of IPOs one after another." Since its establishment at the end of 2004, Giant Network has successfully operated games such as "Zhengtu" and "Giant", and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange at lightning speed.Liu Wei attributed the giant's success to the "free model" pioneered by Shi Yuzhu and the boutique strategy he vigorously advocated. "Previous online games had rules, but rules are not laws and can be broken." For Shi Yuzhu, there are opportunities to make money everywhere, except where the law restricts.For Shi Yuzhu and "Zhengtu", most people in the online game industry are sincere and fearful. On the one hand, they shake their heads frequently, thinking that Shi Yuzhu has broken too many rules recognized by the international online game industry; But it is the essence of the operation that is advancing day by day. Shi Yuzhu is not a person who plays cards according to common sense. He broke the rules and created his own success, which is also doomed to people's "extreme" evaluation of him.Those who like him fall in love with him and regard him as an idol; those who don't like him can't understand his publicity, criticize him and even speak ill of him.However, no one can deny that Shi Yuzhu succeeded, although this success seems a bit crazy. Of course, breaking the rules is not blind and random, but you must first understand the rules, adapt to the rules, and then establish new rules.Shi Yuzhu "turned the host into the guest" and considered the issue from the player's standpoint.After fully understanding the market, grasping consumer psychology and market trends, he created a free online game model and achieved success. Capture the thief and capture the king, when used in military affairs, it refers to capturing and killing the leader of the enemy army or destroying the head office of the enemy, so that the enemy will fall into chaos, so as to facilitate the complete defeat of the enemy.Commanders can't be satisfied with small victories, but must look at the overall situation and expand the results of the battle to win a complete victory.If you miss the opportunity to let go of the enemy's main force and leader, it's like letting a tiger go back to the mountain, and there will be endless troubles. Doing business is the same as war, we must grasp the main aspects and find the key to the problem.In market competition, it is necessary to judge the most threatening opponent in advance and find out the source of the threat to oneself.Only by recognizing the root of the problem can we find a solution, and then prescribe the right medicine to fundamentally prevent such problems from happening.For Shi Yuzhu, it is necessary to firmly control the company's equity. Only in this way can he grasp the fundamentals of the company and not fall into a passive situation.It can be seen from this that Shi Yuzhu's approach and concept are completely different from Ma Yun's in terms of equity. Shi Yuzhu's concept of requiring absolute control of the company has a long history.In the early days, Shi Yuzhu insisted not to cooperate with outsiders unless he controlled the company himself. In 1997, out of the moral support of "saving" the giant, Anhui Gujing Gong and Zhejiang Wanxiang Group successively sought cooperation with Shi Yuzhu, but all failed.Wang Jian, who was the executive vice president of Giant Group, commented, "Shi Yuzhu's biggest shortcoming is his aloofness, his biggest weakness is his communication with people, and his biggest limitation is his zero-debt theory."Some people analyzed that these "defects" of Shi Yuzhu's character are destined to make the giant group very authoritarian and closed.Liu Wei, President of Giant Network, once said, "We can't keep up with Lao Shi's thinking, can you veto him? In the end, we will be brainwashed by Lao Shi."The rise and fall of giants are crazy, because no shareholders or other investors can supervise and restrain Shi Yuzhu. Shi Yuzhu insisted on maintaining the status of sole proprietorship in all "root companies".He does not promise equity to executives, but rewards them with high salaries and bonuses, which are even more than the share dividends they should receive.At least in his own opinion, this model is correct. In fact, although the concentration of equity is beneficial to leadership and jurisdiction, excessive concentration of equity will also have a negative impact on the development of the enterprise, especially in the stage of stable development of the enterprise.Later, Shi Yuzhu gradually became aware of this problem. Shi Yuzhu's capital awareness started from backdooring "Qingdao Domestic Products". Since then, he has gradually learned to use the power of capital to magnify assets.Afterwards, he bought shares in Hua Xia Bank and Minsheng Bank. When the stock market was booming, he made a fortune with the "bank stocks" in his hand.Later, he established the Giant Internet Company in the form of a joint-stock company. He even said that he wanted to make it a listed company in the end, because the company would be more transparent, with more supervision and stricter supervision.If a person is not regulated, it is easy to make mistakes. Later, he also reflected on his past.He concluded that Zhuhai Giant directly led to the loss of a large number of outstanding talents because it did not carry out shareholding as early as possible.The more far-reaching consequence is that because there is no one to restrict the decision-making, the result is the absolute authority of the patriarchal system, and a series of major decision-making mistakes are closely related to this. With the rapid development of the joint-stock system in China, Shi Yuzhu's original intention has also changed.After getting involved in the online game industry, he only holds 68.43% of the shares in Giant Network.For the first time, he used the shareholding system to cooperate with the team. Liu Wei, Zhang Lu, He Zhenyu and other people who have followed Shi Yuzhu for a long time all own the shares of Giant Network.However, the parent company Giant Company is still solely owned by Shi Yuzhu, and after the listing of Giant Network, the role of the shareholding system was maximized. Although Shi Yuzhu is aware of the danger of excessive concentration of equity, he still does not approve of excessive dispersion of equity.For example, he criticized Sina's relatively dispersed equity, and believed that the dispersion of equity would seriously affect the development of the company.It can be seen that with the development of enterprises and changes in the economic environment, Shi Yuzhu's idea of ​​equity concentration will also produce new inspiration and models, and he will use new methods to properly solve the problems of corporate power and shares.But no matter what, he must ensure that the company is in his own hands. Surrounding Wei and saving Zhao originally refers to the method of Qi army besieging the capital of Wei State during the Warring States Period, forcing Wei State to withdraw its troops attacking Zhao State and saving Zhao State.Back refers to the tactic of attacking the enemy's rear stronghold to force the attacking enemy to retreat. Similarly, to solve business problems, we must avoid the reality and solve the problem with twists and turns.Shi Yuzhu's development of online games, while reaping huge profits and greatly increasing his strength, also hides many problems, the most important of which is the lack of order and rules in game coins and in-game products. This anarchy leads to chaos in the economic system.This is a problem that has existed in the online game industry for a long time, but it was only when Shi Yuzhu came here that he began to seriously solve it.In the face of the crisis, Shi Yuzhu did not try his best to refute it, nor did he argue with others tit for tat, but took a roundabout way to resolve it invisible. Compared with the money and items that can be seen and touched in real life, the currency and items in online games are all virtual.But similar to the real economic system, in the virtual economy, once there is an abnormal fluctuation in a certain part of the supply and demand system, the entire economic system will be affected.In severe cases, it may even lead to chaos and even collapse of the social system in the game.Therefore, both virtual and real economic activities must conform to economic laws. A balanced and stable economic system is conducive to the healthy development of society, and the same is true in online games.But the online games currently on the market don't pay attention to this point, and most operators don't care about the balance of the economic system.They waited until the inflation gradually worsened, the game currency continued to depreciate, and finally the game currency even lost the effectiveness of the general equivalent, and they regretted it. Playing games also requires knowledge, and you need to have a certain amount of research on economics.The economic theories of Marshall and Samuelson that Shi Yuzhu learned in college are not useless.Economics reminds people that players accumulate wealth over the course of the game, causing inflation.Shi Yuzhu learned from economics that games also need macro-control. The overall amount of currency released, the charges for various services, the rate of killing monsters, and the level of tax rates all need to be controlled as a whole. From this point of view, to a certain extent, Shi Yuzhu manages online games as real society.In reality, the economic system is an important factor for social stability, but in the virtual world it is a measure of the life cycle of a game.The failure of a game operation is often due to its chaotic and fragile economic system. The online game economic system of Giant Network once had the problem of inflation, but due to the timely macro-control, the problem did not spread and worsen. Specifically, Shi Yuzhu's solution to that inflation was to control the supply of money.He did not directly cancel the item that caused inflation, because players would be dissatisfied after the cancellation, but adopted an appropriate reduction method, strictly grasping the extent of the price reduction, so that there is no more, no less.Most importantly, since then they have added currency recovery items to the game, and the economic system has finally been restored to balance.It has to be said that this is another pioneering work of Shi Yuzhu. Shi Yuzhu is still very confident in the economic system in his game. He said: "Our game will never have inflation, because I studied mathematical economics when I was a graduate student. If there is any problem, a few macro-control measures will help Solved. In addition, our current design is also very difficult to have inflation, that is to say, the supply and demand curve must be balanced.” Real economics can also be used in the virtual economy. The online game market is currently very hot, but most online game operators only pay attention to the current money-making, and do not pay attention to the problems of the economic system.In terms of the economic system, they do not manage or act, and let it develop, which is completely anarchic.Compared with most people who only care about short-term interests and don't look at the long-term, Shi Yuzhu's vision is undoubtedly very long-term. Facing the problems of the online game economic system, Shi Yuzhu did not turn a blind eye to the problems like other businesses, but took the initiative to stand up and solve them.When solving problems, he does not simply cancel the project, but also repairs and improves the virtual economic system through changes in technology and sales, and finally enables the economic system to operate safely.This is a model of the strategy of encircling Wei and saving Zhao in the business world, from which we can see Shi Yuzhu's vision and wisdom. Transplanting flowers and plants, as the name suggests, is to graft flowers from one tree to another so that they can continue to bloom.If the grafting is done properly, sometimes unexpected miraculous effects can be obtained. Not only the grafted flowers will bloom more gorgeously, but also the grafted tree will change and be stimulated to be full of vitality.This method is also often used in the military. After the military leaders analyze in detail the comparison between the enemy and the enemy in terms of weather, location, and people, they get the basic model of the entire war, and then look for similar war patterns in history. Borrow the strategy and tactics of the victor, so that one's own side can win the war.Again, this approach works wonders in business.Shi Yuzhu once applied this strategy to business wars, but what he moved was his own "wood".He copied Melatonin's marketing techniques to the promotion of online games, and it produced miraculous effects. Relying on the strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside" and the promotion of the ground marketing team, Shi Yuzhu achieved great success in managing health care products.When he later joined the online game industry, he achieved no less results in the same way. When doing Melatonin, Shi Yuzhu was best at advertising in newspapers and TV, but people who play online games don't read newspapers or TV, so they turned to ground promotion.Moreover, in view of the fact that online games are a sensitive industry and are restricted by national regulations, TV advertisements are not easy to spread in an all-round way. But Shi Yuzhu did not completely give up TV advertising.More than once on TV, such concise advertisements as ""Zhengtu" network, network "Zhengtu"" and "Giant Network, Internet giant" have appeared. The advertisement of "Zhengtu" even appeared on CCTV. On December 1, 2006, a group of hilarious online advertisements for Zhengtu officially appeared on CCTV. During the prime time of CCTV 1 and 5, TV viewers could see a young woman in red laughing endlessly at her laptop.This is the first time that a domestic online game operator landed on CCTV with a simple image advertisement. However, in the field of online games, his most important and most successful marketing method is to inherit the idea of ​​"encircling cities from rural areas" in "Melatonin Ideas", actively bypassing first-tier cities and focusing on developing second- and third-tier cities. The marketing team of "Zhengtu" is very large, with 1,800 branches across the country, and it was established by Shi Yuzhu within one year.Its rapid development is naturally due to borrowing the marketing channels of second- and third-tier cities in the melatonin era. Shi Yuzhu attaches great importance to the training of the marketing team. In November 2007, Giant's marketing team had more than 2,000 people, and it was increasing at a rate of nearly 300 people per month. Shi Yuzhu made a bold statement for this: "In three years, our marketing team will expand to 20,000. people.” It is with a strong marketing team as the backing that he can quickly seize the vast rural market.At the beginning of his career in the online game industry, Shi Yuzhu pointed out that the marketing methods of online game companies are the most backward and least technical among all domestic industries.Most online game companies only pay attention to the markets of big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, but ignore the expansion and development of markets in small and medium cities.Shi Yuzhu wants to use his marketing team to "break" a new world. The execution ability of marketing personnel is also an important magic weapon for Shi Yuzhu to occupy the channel.Shi Yuzhu once said: "As long as we need it, we can publish the advertisement of "Zhengtu" network in 50,000 Internet cafes across the country overnight." Giant's promoters are very dedicated, and they even go to Internet cafes every day to check whether their posters are covered. .Most of the colleagues just put up the posters and left.In second- and third-tier cities, more than half of the players play games in Internet cafes. The posters of "Zhengtu" are simply "impressive" to them. The effect of such advertisements is quite amazing. According to market research, in medium-sized cities, "Zhengtu" posters already occupy 80% of the resources on the walls of Internet cafes, and in small cities and county towns, "Zhengtu" almost completely occupies these resources.After completing the "occupation" of small and medium-sized cities, Shi Yuzhu lowered his gaze again: "Our goal is to set up offices in 1,800 counties across the country." After that, the more games you operate, the more quickly you can dilute the cost of ground promotion. As a means of promotion, the marketing staff of "Zhengtu" took the initiative to teach the network administrators to play the game, and then influence the players through them.They also carry out various activities across the country to promote their online game products.One of the activities is to regularly book 50,000 Internet cafes across the country on weekends.On the day of booking, "Journey" is the only game these Internet cafes can provide. Facts have proved that the melatonin model is very effective in the online game marketing.In a very short period of time, the user base of "Zhengtu" has grown very large. "Zhengtu" later became the third online game in the world with more than 1 million simultaneous online users, and it became Shi Yuzhu's cash cow and cornucopia. It should be said that a unique marketing strategy and a sales network extending to every corner of the country are the keys to the success and profitability of Shi Yuzhu's online games.What he uses is not innovative means and superb models, but "transplanting flowers and trees" and copying himself.As early as when melatonin was all the rage, this method was overwhelming in the market, and the effect is equally astonishing when it is applied to online games.The so-called "recruitment is not new, useful is effective". Creating something out of nothing is a tactic often used in military affairs. It refers to deliberately provoking troubles, making waves, making excuses for starting a war, or deliberately creating false appearances to confuse the opponent and make the opponent make mistakes in judgment.Shi Yuzhu also used "creating something out of nothing" in the business war, but his "creating something out of nothing" is an aboveboard "creating something out of nothing", literally creating something from nothing. After entering online games, Shi Yuzhu's success is not only due to the marketing methods similar to Melatonin, but also because he can prescribe the right medicine and develop online games suitable for China's national conditions.Compared with marketing strategy and company strategy, Shi Yuzhu himself is more willing to answer questions about product improvement and player experience.He spends more than 15 hours in online games every day, and the daily management of the company is left to the president Liu Wei, and he rarely even attends high-level meetings. It is precisely because of his dedication to game development that he is determined to "develop the most suitable games for Chinese players". The "Zhengtu" game carries this huge mission. After "Zhengtu" was launched, the closed beta soon set a record for the number one online game in China.Simple and fresh interface, convenient operation, vivid and diverse tasks... It is called "the pinnacle of Chinese online games" and "the most suitable game for Chinese players". The "Zhengtu" model is a watershed in the development of online games in China, providing a new direction and thinking for the development of online games.Shi Yuzhu said: ""Journey" is independently developed by us and has our own intellectual property rights." "Journey" lived up to its mission, which doubled Shi Yuzhu's confidence in it.He believes that those companies that represent foreign games are not his opponents at all, because those foreign games are all based on their cultural perspective, and what they promote is their values ​​and outlook on life.To put it more seriously, this is a form of cultural aggression. Shi Yuzhu regards himself as a banner against foreign "cultural aggression".Therefore, his games highlight local characteristics, are highly targeted, and are completely "tailor-made" according to the characteristics of Chinese players.Many games are adapted from the background of Chinese historical stories, whether in terms of character modeling or plot arrangement, they are more in line with the tastes of domestic players. However, industry experts also pointed out that many online games try to form national characteristics, mostly by making a fuss about the profound Chinese culture. From ancient myths to modern romances and legends, they have been moved into the game again and again, becoming a theme that runs through the game. mainline plot.The recurring situational tasks and familiar background stories make many players gradually lose their freshness.This is the challenge that needs to be faced in developing local games. In order to deal with this gradually lost sense of impression, Shi Yuzhu first started from the content background. After "Journey", Giant's second game "Giant" is still based on carrying forward the national spirit, but the main background of the game is set in the future 2060.At that time, China's technological strength was very strong, occupying the most cutting-edge position in the world, and becoming a world leader. 14 passionate youths were deeply concerned about the "burning of the Old Summer Palace" incident that happened more than 200 years ago. For the sake of shame, they traveled through time and space and came to China in 1855.The Qing government was still weak and incompetent, and peasants who had lost their land revolted one after another.These 14 patriotic youths who have traveled through time and space have worked tirelessly to focus on improving the knowledge level of the broad masses of the people.With their efforts, the cultural quality of the people has improved rapidly, 200 years ahead of Western countries.Therefore, when the Western powers were preparing to invade again, what they faced was the Chinese people's tanks, aircraft carriers, missiles, aircraft and other modern weapons.This makes Chinese players full of novelty and excitement. "What belongs to the nation is also what belongs to the world." This sentence is also applicable in the field of games.The future of domestic games should not only allow Chinese players to play games with Chinese characteristics, but also make foreign players interested in these Chinese characteristics.It is Shi Yuzhu's creation out of nothing and independent innovation that gives domestic games an advantage in the market and enables traditional Chinese culture to be passed on in games. Outflanking is a tactic often used in warfare.The enemy's strength is very strong. If you confront it head-on, you will inevitably lose both sides, and you may even kill yourself with an egg hitting a rock.In this case, if you bypass the enemy's main force, advance in a detour, and develop yourself where the enemy's strength is weak, you can greatly increase the possibility of victory. This strategy has been fully embodied in Mao Zedong Thought, which is the policy of "encircling the cities from the countryside" often mentioned in modern history textbooks.Shi Yuzhu admired Mao Zedong very much, often read Mao Zedong's biographies and articles, and learned business wisdom from the strategy of governing the country. The strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside" is one of the Mao Zedong Thoughts that he learned and used in commercial marketing. The countryside is Shi Yuzhu's blessed land. Whether it is melatonin or online games, his products are all successful in the countryside first.In fact, Shi Yuzhu had no real experience in rural life. He was born in Huaiyuan, a small county town in northern Anhui, and his parents were both government officials.Perhaps the only thing that brought Shi Yuzhu into contact with the countryside was his first job after graduating from university—as an investigator in the rural sample survey team of the Anhui Provincial Bureau of Statistics.This job gave Shi Yuzhu the first opportunity to really understand the countryside. The first choice for Melatonin to start is Jiangyin. Shi Yuzhu spent 100,000 yuan on advertising in Jiangyin to open up the market.He chose Jiangyin for a reason.Jiangyin is very close to Shanghai and Nanjing, which can better connect the rural market with the urban market.Moreover, it is located in southern Jiangsu, which is an economically developed area among rural areas, with dense urban areas and strong purchasing power.But since it is only a prefecture-level city after all, 100,000 yuan, which is not enough to do a newspaper advertisement in Shanghai, can produce extraordinary results in Jiangyin.It is this kind of marketing idea that Melatonin has found a new world in the field of health care products. As soon as the 100,000 yuan advertising fee was invested in a county-level city like Jiangyin, it immediately produced a sensational effect, and the influence quickly spread to Wuxi urban area and two other county-level cities in Wuxi.Seeing the gratifying development of the situation, Shi Yuzhu quickly brought the flames of war to Nanjing, driving the entire Jiangsu Province.At the same time, the sales of Melatonin in Jilin Province were also fully launched, and soon, Ningbo and Hangzhou also started.In the spring of 1999, Melatonin successfully entered the Shanghai market. Melatonin gave Shi Yuzhu a taste of the sweetness in the rural market. In 2001, when he launched the golden partner, he still chose the rural market.His first round of test sales is still concentrated in 5 small cities - Zhangzhou, Xiangfan, Jilin, Weihai, Mianyang.The golden partner subsequently succeeded.Obviously, "encircling the city from the countryside" is an important magic weapon for Shi Yuzhu's marketing.Shi Yuzhu likes the strategy of "encircling the city from the countryside". After entering the online game industry, apart from making it free, another thing he did that shocked the industry was that he aimed at the rural market.People in the industry exclaimed: Shi Yuzhu used the way of selling health care products to promote online games. At that time, although the first-tier cities in China were at the top of the pyramid, the overall market size was limited, with a total population of only tens of millions, but the second- and third-tier cities gathered hundreds of millions of people, and the market space that could be tapped was quite large.But most of the online game developers at that time were unaware of this huge market, except for Netease who paid more attention to ground promotion in medium-sized cities. Since Shi Yuzhu is a latecomer to the online game market, in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, the market share of online game pioneers such as Netease and Shanda is already quite high, so the promotion costs of the entire market have also risen accordingly.However, Shi Yuzhu, a spoiler in the online game industry, found a breakthrough in the second- and third-tier cities that others did not pay attention to. Before that, he had done related investigations.It's just that today's Shi Yuzhu no longer needs to go to the countryside to investigate in person, he only needs to collect information online as a player. "I have talked with at least five or six hundred players online." Shi Yuzhu said, "After our research, we found that the pyramid of online game users in China is actually larger, with 70% of the players in small cities and rural areas. I used to go directly to Internet cafes. Chatting with players, one player is a farmer from a certain township in Lixing County, Anhui. He told me that it is common for dozens of farmers to gather in Internet cafes to play games in their free time. Survey figures show that farmers in some provinces 60% of the time in a year is unemployed, and now there are Internet cafes in most towns, and for these players who have a lot of time, 'boosting' can even become a good part-time income for them." These important messages are more firm Shi Yuzhu's confidence in "encircling the city from the countryside". Unlike players in first-tier cities who play games at their own homes, many players in towns and villages mostly gather in Internet cafes to play games.Even in second- and third-tier cities, at least 60% of players will play games in Internet cafes.Shi Yuzhu's ground promotion team just came in handy, and the effect was very significant. Players in the second and third tier cities have brought rich returns to "Zhengtu". In March 2007, the operating income of the "Zhengtu" game exceeded 160 million yuan, and the monthly net profit exceeded 120 million yuan.Based on this calculation, the company's operating income in the first quarter will exceed 480 million yuan, and its net profit will exceed 360 million yuan. The successful application of the strategic idea of ​​"encircling the cities from the countryside" enabled Shi Yuzhu to achieve brilliant victories in the marketing of Melatonin and the online game "Zhengtu". Precautions, this idea is applied to the military, which refers to the analysis of various possible situations before the outbreak of war, and the formulation of corresponding countermeasures to prevent problems before they happen.Shi Yuzhu successfully used this idea when he entered the online game industry.He took precautions, and took the initiative to exclude minors from his target users at the beginning of the game "Zhengtu", avoiding the huge impact encountered by his peers. When Shi Yuzhu entered the online game, it was at the early stage of the industry's development.A series of problems caused by teenagers addicted to online games and abandoning their studies caused online games to be widely questioned, especially many parents expressed strong dissatisfaction, and people from all walks of life also joined the team of criticism, which has the potential to wipe out the industry Potential. In 2007, the launch of the "Online Game Anti-addiction System" and the implementation of the real-name system for online games undoubtedly had a considerable impact on China's online game industry.Shi Yuzhu's "Journey" game is in the middle, and must also take active countermeasures.Shi Yuzhu said that the anti-addiction system will not have the slightest impact on "Zhengtu" because "Zhengtu" itself is a game designed for adults, and minors cannot enter "Zhengtu" at all. From the day when online games became popular, the demonizing remarks have been lingering like a shadow. Various negative news have been published in the media. Many parents and teachers strictly prohibit their children from playing online games.Shi Yuzhu used the term "demonization" to describe the unfair treatment of the online game market by the outside world.He believes that the outside world, especially the media and parents, have not looked at the online game market with enough objective eyes, which is exactly what he meant by the word "demonization". As for the problem of addiction that is often mentioned by the outside world, Shi Yuzhu believes that the responsibility does not lie with the online games themselves.He said that the results of psychological research show that any child who is addicted to playing games must have an unhappy family.Even if he is not addicted to online games, he must be addicted to other things. In response to the demonization of online games, Shi Yuzhu suggested classifying online games and implementing partition management.After the industry is divided into one, two, and three levels, the protection of minors will be easy to operate.The demonization of online games will also be alleviated. As soon as Shi Yuzhu entered the online game industry, he knew how to plan ahead and actively deal with the challenge of demonization of online games.Perhaps part of the reason is that he has learned relevant lessons from the criticism and doubts he suffered when he made products such as Giant Building, Melatonin, and Golden Partner.在网络游戏领域，虽然很多人对他仍然颇有微词，但是作为一个网络游戏运营商，史玉柱已做了他应该做的，已经尽了一个企业家对社会应尽的责任。 史玉柱已经在努力改变人们对网络游戏的“妖魔化”看法，试图化解危机，前途无限光明，但道路依然崎岖，史玉柱任重而道远。