卡洛琳·張 雷蒙德·鐘 付小燕

You want your children to do well in school. You want them to have nice friends and interesting hobbies and to not go out with creeps. You may even want them to be happy.

But in this computer game， you can always start over with a new digital child if things don’t work out as planned.

A new game in China puts players in control of those most fearsome of characters： Mum and Dad. The mission？ Raise a son or daughter from cradle to college.

In a nation of famously demanding， scolding and， yes， sometimes loving mothers and fathers， the game， Chinese Parents， is a hit. Since its release in September last year， it has found a huge audience on Steam， an online marketplace run by American game maker Valve. There are no official figures for how many people have downloaded the game， but it has provoked heated discussion online， while earning tens of thousands of reviews.

Yang Ge Yilang， a founder of Moyuwan Games， the independent studio that developed Chinese Parents， said he hoped to produce an English version this year.

The success of the game does not appear to be driven by people hoping to exact1 revenge for their own upbringings. Quite the opposite： Some fans have written that， by letting them experience childhood from their parents’ perspective， it had moved them to tears.

“I used to not understand many things my mum made me do when I was little，” said Kang Shenghao， 19， a professional blogger in the north-eastern city of Qinhuangdao. “But when I play the game and try to boost up figures for my son so he can unlock more achievements and marry the prettiest girl in school， I start to understand my parents more.”

All the joys and trials of raising children are here. Players choose between pushing their digital progeny2 to attain conventional success and allowing them some semblance3 of childhood innocence. They must give career guidance and endure （just barely） their teenager’s first dates. Everything leads up to the gaokao， the highly competitive college entrance exam that decides the fortunes of so many young Chinese people.

Virtual offspring

Yang said he also hoped to make a smartphone version of the game that allowed players to see how their virtual offspring stack up against those of their friends. Chinese parents love nothing more than boasting to their peers about how wonderful their children are.

For many decades， an official one-child policy meant that Chinese boys and girls carried the entire weight of their parents’ hopes for betterment. Population controls have eased （though the game’s children do not have siblings） and economic growth has created more opportunities for advancement. Scoring well on the gaokao is no longer the only ticket to a brighter future. Parents today are more likely to wonder whether unhealthy amounts of stress are turning their children into emotionally dampened4 automatons.

In Chinese Parents， a virtual child’s life unfolds over 48 rounds. In each round， players arrange courses and activities—piano lessons， swim classes， creative writing， coding and more. You can also buy gifts： ice-cream， toys， even Learn to Speak with Jack Ma， a book featuring the billionaire co-founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

These choices shape how your child develops along six dimensions： intelligence， emotional intelligence， physical fitness， imagination， memory and charm.

A bar on the screen reflects how much psychological pressure the child is feeling. Pile on too much schoolwork， and the child may crack. But don’t let your score for “parental satisfaction” fall too low， either. Another score captures the concept of “face”， supremely important in Chinese culture. If a child loses face by doing badly in school， a summer trip to Europe could be cancelled.

Myriad career possibilities

A child’s final scores determine what happens after he or she leaves home. There are more than 200 colleges， including vocational schools and elite universities， that might offer a spot. The socially adept have their pick of compatible mates. There are myriad career possibilities： taxi driver， celebrity author， e-commerce mogul， Beyonce.

The earliest version of Chinese Parents gave players only the option of raising a son. In the current version， those who choose to have a daughter get reminders about attitudes that remain common in China. Her virtual grandmother says girls don’t need to do as well as boys in school. Her mother says that for a girl， the ultimate goal of hard work is to marry a good man.

‘Race that never ends’

Chinese Parents does not end when the digital child is grown. If he or she ends up with good character scores and a solid education and career， the next generation in the game starts out with better character scores.

Kong Qingxun， a 21-year-old blockchain entrepreneur in the southern city of Guangzhou， has raised eight generations of sons in the game. He let the first boy play lots of soccer and video games. But he didn’t get into college， so Kong changed his approach.

He drove his next son hard in school， earning him admission to the famed Tsinghua University in Beijing. From then on， it was easier for Kong to keep his boys on a path to accomplishment. By the seventh or eighth generation， his children were so gifted that they could goof off5 yet still excel academically and date pretty girls.

This feels true to life， Kong said.

“At the beginning， you think it’s just a 100-metre run，” he said， referring to life. “Then you realise it’s a marathon. And finally you understand it’s a relay race that never ends.”

你希望自己的孩子在學(xué)校表現(xiàn)出色，希望他們有不錯(cuò)的朋友和有趣的愛(ài)好，不要和討厭的人交往。你甚至可能希望他們快樂(lè)。

但是在這款電腦游戲中，如果事情沒(méi)有按計(jì)劃進(jìn)行，系統(tǒng)總是能生成一個(gè)新的虛擬孩子讓你從頭再來(lái)。

中國(guó)的一款新游戲讓玩家可以控制最可怕的角色：爸爸和媽媽。任務(wù)嘛，就是要把兒子或女兒從搖籃撫養(yǎng)到上大學(xué)。

中國(guó)的父母以嚴(yán)苛而聞名，當(dāng)然，嚴(yán)中有愛(ài)，在中國(guó)，這款名為《中國(guó)式家長(zhǎng)》的游戲大受歡迎。自從去年9月發(fā)行以來(lái)，它在美國(guó)游戲制造商維爾福公司運(yùn)營(yíng)的游戲平臺(tái)Steam上獲得了大量用戶。雖然還沒(méi)有官方數(shù)據(jù)顯示究竟有多少人下載了這款游戲，但它已在網(wǎng)上引發(fā)了熱烈討論，并獲得了數(shù)萬(wàn)條評(píng)論。

《中國(guó)式家長(zhǎng)》的開發(fā)者是獨(dú)立工作室“墨魚玩”，工作室創(chuàng)始人楊葛一郎說(shuō)，他希望今年能推出英文版。

這款游戲的成功似乎并不是因?yàn)槿藗兿胗盟鼇?lái)發(fā)泄自己成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中的不滿。恰恰相反：一些粉絲寫道，這款游戲讓他們可以從家長(zhǎng)的角度來(lái)體驗(yàn)童年，把他們感動(dòng)哭了。

“小時(shí)候媽媽讓我做的很多事情我都不理解。”19歲的康勝浩（音）說(shuō)，他是中國(guó)東北部城市秦皇島的一名自媒體博主，“玩這個(gè)游戲，我得努力提升‘兒子’的屬性數(shù)值，讓他能解鎖更多成就、娶到?；?，我開始更理解父母了?！?/p>

游戲里要經(jīng)歷養(yǎng)育孩子的所有歡樂(lè)和磨難。玩家需要在逼迫他們的孩子獲得傳統(tǒng)的成功和讓他們保留一些童真之間做出選擇。他們需要為孩子提供職業(yè)指導(dǎo)，勉強(qiáng)忍受他們十幾歲孩子的第一次約會(huì)。所有的一切都是為了高考（即高等院校入學(xué)考試），因?yàn)楦呖几?jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈，決定著眾多中國(guó)年輕人的命運(yùn)。

虛擬子女

楊葛一郎說(shuō)，他還希望推出一款手游版《中國(guó)式家長(zhǎng)》，讓玩家可以看到自己的“子女”與朋友們的“子女”相比如何。中國(guó)家長(zhǎng)最喜歡的莫過(guò)于向同齡人吹噓自己的孩子有多棒。

中國(guó)曾實(shí)行了幾十年的獨(dú)生子女政策，這意味著中國(guó)的男孩女孩們肩負(fù)著父母對(duì)美好生活的全部期許。現(xiàn)在，政府對(duì)人口的控制已有所放松（不過(guò)這個(gè)游戲里的孩子沒(méi)有兄弟姐妹），經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)也為人們創(chuàng)造了更多發(fā)展機(jī)會(huì)。在高考中取得好成績(jī)不再是通向光明未來(lái)的唯一途徑。如今的父母可能更想知道，過(guò)重的壓力是否會(huì)讓孩子變成情緒壓抑的機(jī)器人。

在《中國(guó)式家長(zhǎng)》中，孩子的生活在48回合游戲中展開。每一回合中，玩家都要給孩子安排課程和活動(dòng)——鋼琴課、游泳課、創(chuàng)意寫作、編程，等等。你還可以給孩子買禮物：冰激凌、玩具，甚至是《跟馬云學(xué)口才》——這本書的主角是中國(guó)電子商務(wù)巨頭阿里巴巴的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人、億萬(wàn)富翁馬云。

這些選擇將塑造孩子在六個(gè)方面的發(fā)展：智商、情商、體魄、想象力、記憶力和魅力。

游戲過(guò)程中，屏幕上會(huì)有反映孩子心理狀況的壓力值。給孩子太多的功課，他可能會(huì)崩潰。但也不要讓你的“父母滿意度”分?jǐn)?shù)降得太低。還有一個(gè)屬性體現(xiàn)的是“面子”這個(gè)概念，這在中國(guó)文化中極為重要。如果孩子因?yàn)槌煽?jī)不好丟了面子，暑假去歐洲的旅行就可能被取消。

無(wú)數(shù)的職業(yè)可能性

孩子各項(xiàng)屬性的最終得分決定了他/她長(zhǎng)大后的結(jié)局。游戲中有200多所學(xué)院，包括職業(yè)學(xué)校和精英大學(xué)，孩子可能會(huì)考入其中一所。善于社交的人可任意挑選合適的伴侶。職業(yè)選擇多種多樣：出租車司機(jī)、著名作家、電子商務(wù)巨頭，還可以成為碧昂斯。

在最早版本的《中國(guó)式家長(zhǎng)》中，玩家只能選擇養(yǎng)兒子。在最新版中，選擇養(yǎng)女兒的會(huì)得到提醒，內(nèi)容是中國(guó)仍然普遍存在的觀念。孩子的“奶奶”會(huì)說(shuō)，女孩子在學(xué)校里用不著學(xué)得和男孩子一樣好。孩子的“媽媽”會(huì)說(shuō)，對(duì)一個(gè)女孩來(lái)說(shuō)，努力工作最終是為了嫁得好。

“永不結(jié)束的比賽”

這款游戲并沒(méi)有在虛擬孩子長(zhǎng)大之后結(jié)束。如果孩子最終擁有良好的性格屬性、良好的教育和職業(yè)背景，那么游戲中的下一代從一開始就有較好的性格屬性。

廣州的區(qū)塊鏈企業(yè)家、21歲的孔慶勛（音）已經(jīng)在游戲中養(yǎng)育了八代兒子。他讓第一代的兒子盡情踢足球、玩電子游戲，結(jié)果孩子沒(méi)考上大學(xué)，所以孔慶勛改變了做法。

他給第二代兒子加大了學(xué)習(xí)壓力，讓他考上了清華大學(xué)。從那以后，孔慶勛讓孩子們走上成功之路就變得容易多了。到了第七代或第八代，他的孩子們已非常有天賦，即使不努力學(xué)習(xí)成績(jī)也出類拔萃，還可以和漂亮女孩談戀愛(ài)。

孔慶勛說(shuō)，這款游戲很像真實(shí)的生活。

“開始時(shí)，你會(huì)覺(jué)得它只是百米賽跑?！彼傅氖侨松?，“后來(lái)你發(fā)現(xiàn)它是一場(chǎng)馬拉松，最后你會(huì)明白，它是一場(chǎng)永無(wú)休止的接力賽?！?/p>

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)選手）