"The fatal experience of the 21 levels gives you the most realistic violent escape" "You can not only enjoy the wonderful dance of the top brand of our hospital (Yihong Hospital), but also enjoy a night of spring snacks with the high price"... Half a year ago, with the recommendation of a friend, the 17-year-old boy Xia Ding (not his real name) killed the script of "entering the pit". "Almost every week, he" carpooled "with his friends, and now he has played nearly 20 books". In Xia Ding's opinion, script killing can not only entertain but also make friends. It is "the most fashionable social activity at present".

In recent years, immersive entertainment activities, such as secret room escape and script killing, have been sought after by young people. According to CCTV Finance, in 2019, the number of physical stores killed by scripts in China soared from 2400 to 12000. According to the industrial and commercial registration information, there will be more than 3100 new script related enterprises in China in 2020.

At the same time, some cases of escape from secret rooms and violent, bloody, pornographic and other barbaric growth in script killing have aroused concern. Recently, a reporter from the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network found that some businesses, in order to attract young people, printed on their promotional posters such pictures as "ghost food evoking souls", "nightmare cycle", "puppet spirit" and "spending spring nights together".

"The rapid development of new forms of entertainment may not only bring new entertainment and social experiences to young people, but also bring risks in consumption, social interaction, security and other aspects to young people." Sun Hongyan, director of the Children's Research Institute of China Youth Research Center, believes that to regulate the healthy development of the script killing entertainment industry, we must strengthen management from the source, clarify the norms and bottom lines in copyright, content safety, environmental safety, minors protection and other aspects, and conduct "three pronged" supervision before, during and after the event, so as to promote the sustainable and healthy development of the secret room and script killing industry.

Long term obsession with script killing or "role confusion"

"Looking at the blood red light in the secret room, and the barefaced bat and some monsters hanging on the shed, I was scared to death, and now I dare not turn off the light when I sleep at night." Recently, a netizen with the signature of "Xiaosong" told about his horror experience of playing script killing for the first time.

"Script killing", formerly known as "The Mystery of Murder", is a project for players to experience reasoning in live venues. During the game, players play the role in the script, collect clues and find out the "real murderer" hidden in the game.

According to the Research Report on Youth Immersive Entertainment and Protection of Rights and Interests (2021) jointly released by the China Culture and Entertainment Industry Association and the China Youth Research Center (hereinafter referred to as the "Research Report"), more than 60% of young people say they like to play, or even like to play secret rooms and script killing immersive games. The younger the minors are, the more they like the terrorist themed secret room. The proportion of children under 12 years old is 66.7%.

The research report also shows that fun, strong sense of participation and experience, and relieving stress are the main reasons why teenagers like this kind of games. Being able to make friends, exercise ability, and increase knowledge and skills are also important reasons for teenagers to think it is fun.

"This has a lot to do with the physical and mental development characteristics of minors." Sun Hongyan analyzed that such entertainment methods as secret room and script killing integrate technology, art, culture and innovation, which can bring a strong immersion experience to young people. Teenagers have strong curiosity, love challenges, seek stimulation, have high enthusiasm and participation in secret rooms and script killing, and prefer terror.

Sun Hongyan reminded that due to the immature cognition and psychology of minors, they are prone to impulsive behavior, emotional extremes and other problems. Some scripts are mixed with bad behaviors such as smoking and drinking, or elements such as different worlds, split personality, feudal superstition, and soul attachment are added. "These contents are not suitable for minors and are not conducive to their physical and mental health.".

Liu Dan (a pseudonym), a girl from Shandong after 1995, also had a horrible secret room experience. "At that time, I was paralyzed by fear and was carried out of the secret room by the staff."

Xie Ling, associate professor of the Criminal Investigation School of Southwest University of Political Science and Law and tutor of master students, said that script killing is an immersive experience game, which can temporarily separate people from the real environment. Long term obsession with script killing may lead to "role confusion", which makes it impossible to switch between real and virtual roles independently, and inverts and confuses the norms and requirements of specific roles. In serious cases, there will be "dissociation", that is, cognitive barriers between individuals and themselves, gradually losing the control over the "I" consciousness, personality and memory in reality, losing the sense of reality, and losing the sense of self belonging.

Xie Ling analyzed that once the cognitive function of a person is impaired, a series of somatic symptoms may follow, such as dizziness, palpitations, shortness of breath, and transformational symptoms, such as inability to control perception and motor nerves, inability to stand, inability to speak, and convulsions.

False experience may encounter "real crisis"

Xiaowen, born in 1999, is a professional screenwriter. In June 2021, she graduated from college and devoted herself to script writing because of her love for online literature. She told reporters that there are two types of people in the script killing industry, "one is the industry's' gold diggers', who regard script killing as a 'cake', and everyone wants a piece of the cake, and the other is from love".

Xiaowen sighed, "People who really love them will not allow low-quality scripts to enter the market."

However, some "gold miners", in pursuit of economic benefits, buy a large number of scripts containing "violence", "blood" and "pornography" for consumers' entertainment. In order to restore the scene of the homicide case, businesses will also use pig blood, chicken blood, dog blood, etc. to create a horrible atmosphere of blood splashing. In Jiecai, some young people told reporters that they "really can't understand this practice" and "hope to strengthen supervision".

"There are still some unsatisfactory aspects in the secret room and script killing." Kong Ming, secretary-general of China Culture and Entertainment Industry Association, said that some immersive entertainment activities have problems such as low theme and script quality, serious homogenization, unsafe environment, unhealthy values, etc. Some secret rooms escape from the terror theme with elements such as blood and violence, so as to enhance the perception of players.

Kongming analyzed that for businesses, the deeper the player experience is, the better. At present, businesses are still in the training period of their ability to scientifically layer user groups. "However, the less discriminating and self-control minors have for inappropriate and unhealthy products, which means that they face greater risks."

In Sun Hongyan's opinion, the environment for such recreational activities also has potential safety hazards. In order to enhance consumers' "immersive" experience, the game scene is usually dark, closed and narrow, and there is no safety prompt. With the movement, pursuit and fear in the game process, safety accidents are very likely to occur. At the same time, a large number of electrical equipment and combustible decorations are placed in the space, so the fire risk is high.

Say goodbye to barbaric growth and let the industry develop

With the explosive growth of the script entertainment industry, a new way of children's education and entertainment, children's script, has recently come into the public eye. "Three months bring 150W+" "three days' revenue 2.8W" "An empty classroom can open children's script killing"... In the face of such a marketing situation, Sun Hongyan can't help but worry that "it is not a bad thing for children to grow up in experience, but the key is to see whether such children's script killing sessions are really suitable for children".

Sun Hongyan stressed that while pursuing economic benefits, script practitioners should pay special attention to social benefits, especially the protection of minors. "The special session for children should be truly suitable for children. Whether from the content, form, consumption, or safety, social and other aspects, everything should be based on the premise of protecting the healthy growth of minors, and comply with the relevant provisions of the Juvenile Protection Law."

In fact, most script creators and secret room operators are post-90s or even post-00s. They operate because of their love, but not all of them have the experience, professionalism and social responsibility that practitioners in this field should have.

On June 27 this year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other five departments jointly issued the Notice on Strengthening the Management of Playplay Entertainment Business Places, which for the first time brought new business forms of playplay entertainment business places, such as script killing and secret room escape, into the management nationwide and implemented record management. The insiders believe that this means that the disorderly development of "script killing" may come to an end.

On October 25, Fujian Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and other six departments jointly issued the Notice on Strengthening the Management of Playplay Entertainment Places, specifying that except for national statutory holidays, rest days and winter and summer holidays, playplay entertainment places shall not be open to minors. Liaoning, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and other places have also issued similar management regulations.

"The industry practitioners are the 'first responsible person' of script content management, and they should shoulder the responsibility of protecting the healthy growth of minors, and should ensure the first pass of script content." Kongming said.

Kongming analyzed that the purpose of the introduction of relevant systems is not to "control the small" and "control the dead" of the industry, but to cultivate self-discipline in the industry while clarifying the bottom line standards, and urge enterprises to keep the safety bottom line and operate in a standardized and orderly manner. We will encourage operators to improve their sense of responsibility, constantly improve their ability to create and identify content, and present high-quality cultural content that is truly creative, innovative, and of high quality to young people.

Kong Ming revealed that at present, China Culture and Entertainment Industry Association is organizing representative enterprises in the industry to cooperate and supplement each other through self-regulation and government supervision to jointly establish a diversified social governance mode. Since 2021, the Association has gradually established an industry self-discipline mechanism on issues such as content safety, minor protection, production safety, copyright protection, etc., and has produced several safety reminder videos, publicity posters, age appropriate reminders, etc., which will be launched in immersive entertainment venues across the country and will be fully rolled out in the future.

Xie Ling pointed out that the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors stipulates that the protection of minors should be strengthened, and cultural products should not contain content harmful to the physical and mental health of minors, such as the promotion of obscenity, pornography, violence, heresy, superstition and suicide. She believes that relevant industry standards should be issued to manage script killing content by levels, and the corresponding levels should be determined according to the age of players and script content, so that different consumers can get what they need. At the same time, the identification of minors and anti addiction measures should be implemented to reduce the impact of "bad books" on minors of inappropriate age.

Sun Hongyan suggested that a multidisciplinary collaborative evaluation mechanism should be established for the script entertainment industry. Under the leadership of script entertainment related industry organizations, a youth protection committee should be established jointly with government management departments, youth research experts, cultural industry research experts, media units, etc., and norms and standards for the protection of minors should be formulated to provide professional guidance for secret rooms and script killing industries across the country. It also gives play to the advantages of multidisciplinary collaborative research, timely tracks, studies and monitors the product quality and service measures of script entertainment, forms a long-term evaluation mechanism, and combines the self-examination of business units with the reexamination of professional institutions for script, environmental safety, business consumption and other environments. At the same time, we will strengthen the value guidance of secret rooms, scripts and new professional groups, and achieve an organic balance between "meaningful" and "interesting".

"We should respect minors' cultural rights, development rights and leisure rights, comprehensively and objectively look at the growth needs of the new generation of minors, and rationally understand minors' entertainment needs. Therefore, we should strengthen the protection of minors' rights and interests in the entertainment process, not simply exclude minors from new cultural entertainment methods." Sun Hongyan said.