[Register now] Attending the recent Age of Wushu global PvP tournament as a special guest this past weekend, Jet Li was 1 of the major highlights of the event itself. China media website 17173 managed to have an exclusive interview with Jet, and finds out he has quite the gaming knowledge.
Only a few of the interview questions and answers are translated below, and some of the are summarized/ localized for easier understanding. Read on!
Q: When did your interest in gaming started?
A: When I was 20 years old, while filming my 2nd movie. There was a cameraman with his own computer and I got in touch with this game, where I hit things in the sky. That was back then when I was young, I played whenever I wasn’t filming.
Q: You did mention that you only play casual games these days. Since appointed as Age of Wushu’s spokesperson about a year ago, do you have more thoughts now on such big games?
A: Back in 2000, I read about Korean games coming into China and were very popular. I wanted to understand more, and even thought of making a game to spread Chinese culture globally. But then, I did not have time to play the rather complicated games.
In 5 to 10 years’ time, I hope to see China games being the market leader in the industry. For now, the biggest and globally recognized genre China studios are developing is wuxia.
Q: Why did you start researching about games?
A: In the early 1990s, I was so engrossed with games related to guns that I didn’t want to sleep. Around the year 2000, I was involved in the production of 2 games, and my interest in the industry started to grow. There are many scenarios which are unable to be captured in movies, but anything can be done in the gaming worlds.
Q: Can you tell us what kind of wuxia world would you like to create?
A: I fell that with movies having only 1 ending, the audiences are somehow left aside from participating. I thought of having all materials in 1 game, where different choices will mean different outcomes. For many people, some regrets or mistakes cannot be changed, but it is possible in games. They will then tell themselves not to make the same mistake again, with many more choices ahead.
I told the American developers that killing innocents in a game will gather some negative energy, but positive energy can be claimed by doing the right things. This will lead to players having multiple choices at each turn. However, the American developers felt that my idea was too idealistic, with too much focus on moral values.
Q: You are a national wushu champion, so what is your view on virtual gaming being coined as a sport as well?
A: If poker card games and chess both have the players sitting down and are considered sports, why not virtual gaming as well? There are 2 kinds of sports, 1 physical and 1 mental. There is no good reason to debunk virtual gaming as a sport, and I believe the participants of such virtual PvP events have the same mentality as physical athletes.
