Since 1983

It is winter in Beijing.

A few girls wrapped in down jackets passed by a certain restaurant chattering, talking about the release of this year's Lunar New Year film and so on. There is a hat with rabbit ears on the head, and the ears can stand up when you pull it down. It is a new product of Elaine.

"Geyou?"

"New Year's card?"

An ordinary-looking middle-aged man came out of the restaurant and overheard a few words. Of course he knew about Ge You, but he hadn't seen it much, he only knew that it was very popular in China.

This person is Xiong Xiaoge, from Xiaoxiang. He went to study in the United States in 1986, got a green card, and worked in IDG.

IDG, the International Data Group of the United States, is the world's largest information technology publishing, research, exhibition and venture capital company. He is currently the president of the Asia-Pacific region and often travels to and from the mainland.

This time I was also inspecting a project. After dinner, I went back to the hotel and found a place where I could surf the Internet.

Skillfully type in the URL, and open the Sohu homepage.

This is the most mature, most potential, and most interesting site on the mainland. Xiong Xiaoge found out a while ago that he was experiencing it secretly, and even registered an email address.

"Huh?"

As soon as I opened it today, I saw a big advertisement: The Ninth City!

"What's this?"

He clicked in, entered a login page, and introduced:

"The Ninth City is a virtual community on the Internet, where everyone can build their own homes, grow vegetables, fish, show cooking skills, raise pets, and have various interactions, chat and make friends..."

virtual community?

Xiong Xiaoge tried to log in with his Sohu account, but got in. A simple "My Homeland" and a huge "Guide for Beginners".

Click to see.

"Do mission upgrades, add friends, grow vegetables, adopt pets, attack other people's homes..."

Whoa!

He was interested, so he filled in his personal information casually, clicked Finish, and a line popped up, "The task is completed, the experience value increased by 10, and the level increased."

Then I made a few more, "Level up, you get a bag of cabbage seeds, the vegetable planting function is turned on, go to the [vegetable garden]"

Click to go to a new page.

"How creative it is to combine with MUD!"

Before the popularity of online games, the first generation of netizens played MUDs, such as knights, Journey to the West, Fengyun, Jin Yong Heroes...

Xiong Xiaoge operated a bit, but there was nothing, the full text expression, only to see floating on the page:

"You planted cabbage seeds × 100"

"You watered the cabbage."

"You watered the cabbage."

"Too much water and the seeds die 50"

puff!

Xiong Xiaoge became addicted. After growing vegetables, he went to raise chickens. After raising chickens, he went fishing, and then adopted a native dog, named Jack.

Unknowingly upgraded to level 5, a message popped up suddenly: "The level is increased, and the diplomatic function is activated."

What's the meaning?

He went to someone else's home for a stroll, and suddenly found a large line of characters on the vegetable field: "Steal vegetables!"

I clicked subconsciously, but there was no response, and I read "10 minutes before the cabbage is ripe."

Oops, I feel bad for an instant! Then I went to a few places in a row, either immature or stolen. Just returned home, the message prompts: "Your pet Jack is attacking X."

"Your pet Jack has been killed."

Fuck! Can you still do this?

Xiong Xiaoge got angry from his chest, and wanted to get another pet to raise for revenge, but was reminded: "The first pet is free, and the rest can be purchased with gold coins."

Gold coins, where did I get the gold coins?

He fumbled around, come on, just sell the cabbage. In addition, the fish caught and the chickens raised can be exchanged for money.

Except for the seeds, fertilizers, feed, dog food, and fishing bait that were given at the beginning...they have to be bought with gold coins in the future.

Very simply, an industry chain was born: If you want to save gold coins, you have to sell the product, so you must prevent others from destroying it, and at the same time you can destroy others.

"Genius app!"

Xiong Xiaoge was full of praise. This idea is not uncommon. What is strange is that it has been applied to the Internet and created a concept of "virtual home".

joke! This is stealing food!

It once caused a social topic, and made countless sand sculpture netizens stay up all night to count the time, just for the game of stealing a bite of food!

Although the technology is backward and can only be expressed in words, this stickiness is too strong.

"..."

Xiong Xiaoge suppressed the excitement in his heart, left the ninth city, and went to BBS for a while.

Since last year's Qiong Yao drama discussion, Sohu has absorbed users at an astonishing speed, and BBS and chat rooms are undoubtedly the most popular. He clicked on the sports page, and the post was still at the top, with over 100,000 hits.

"Golden State doesn't believe in tears!"

Author Lao Rong.

On October 31, the Chinese team played against Qatar in Dalian Jinzhou and lost the game 2:3. On November 2, this article appeared on the BBS.

In just 48 hours, there were 20,000 hits. Countless netizens left messages: Let tears fill your eyes.

Since then, it has been reprinted by many paper media and has once again become a hot topic.

Of course, after losing to Qatar, the Chinese team carried out the usual operation: obviously only by winning can they qualify, but they chose to formulate a strategy of "keeping the tie and winning".

This can be called the unsolved mystery of the national football team, and the reason is still unclear.

"..."

Xiong Xiaoge looked at the BBS and made a decision easily.

IDG already has a venture capital business, and it is the first international venture capital to enter China, with many classic cases. 8848, 3721, eBay, Dangdang, and even Sohu, Penguin, Baidu, etc. all participated.

Because it is the Internet!

In the U.S., websites that have done a little bit have been carved up, and there is no target to be found. So IDG turned its attention to the east and found that there are still large treasures here.

Sohu is full of buffs, undoubtedly the most dazzling one.

…………

"Who the hell stole my food again?"

"Damn it, I have no money to buy seeds!"

"Brother and sister, please don't steal."

Times Internet Cafe, the downstairs is full of noise, and the upstairs is also in Hara.

Holding a boxed lunch, Zhang Huhu was chatting and laughing happily with the people below, he didn't look like a returnee toolman at all.

"Next year's World Cup, we should send someone to the scene. This way the topic will be up to standard, otherwise it will be reproduced by others."

"Hey, that's right, one person is not enough, at least two people."

"Three, more people are more powerful."

"Get you all out!"

Chewing his food, Fox Zhang said, "How much does it cost to travel abroad? There are three more people, do you know foreign languages?"

"What about the topic?"

"You have to go, two people at most. But you also know that we have no output now, only a little advertising fee..."

"So look for Mr. Xu!"

"Hey, Mr. Xu!"

Everyone is happy, Mr. Xu is so kind, and he is so willing to work under his hands.

"Mr. Zhang, is anyone looking for you?"

"Who is it?"

Zhang Huli stood up, and just took two steps, he looked at a person, and was pleasantly surprised: "Brother, why are you here?"

"Hehe, come and have a look."

The person who came was Xiong Xiaoge. The two had known each other since the 1980s, and they both went to college in the United States. He also commented that Zhang Huhu is a sunny boy who likes to dance... Ouch!

"Let's not see each other anymore, you should understand when you see me coming."

Xiong Xiaoge spoke succinctly, and Zhang Huli felt worried, and said: "Sohu is controlled by Times Venture Capital, you'd better find Mr. Xu first, and then we can talk together."

"Oh, where is he?"

"U.S."