[Billing] Talking about BTS from the perspective of a social game swamp [Time Zone]

The desire to add together the things I love, part 2

It's an otaku's instinct to want to dig deeper when there's a connection between things they love.

I spent several years in a Chinese-style social game swamp that was rumored to be "unrivaled when it comes to making you spend money". I'm still in touch with the friends I made back then, and I still give them advice and provide materials.
I was talking to them in the middle of the night and felt nostalgic, so this time I decided to talk about Bangtan from the perspective of my memories of the social game (SNS game) swamp!

As usual, the content feels like "who is going to read this?", but don't worry, there are several social games in the Bangtan world, including "In the SEOM".
I believe there are friends who will understand, so let's go!

By the way, the first part was about the Takarazuka Revue, but you don't need to read it to understand this story, so it's fine.

Social games in the Bangtan world

It seems that BTS-related social games (SNS games) are divided by IP, with one title for each.
There is "In the SEOM" which BTS was involved in creating, "Cooking" handled by the two-headed characters TinyTAN , and there was also a puzzle game by the official LINE icon series BT21, although it has already ended.

BTS Island: In the SEOM Puzzle

The one I'm playing is "In the SEOM". I like puzzles and the characters are my favorite, so I'm steadily continuing with it. I'm around level 1200 now.
You can play for free if you take it easy, but once your collector's spirit is ignited, I think spending money is essential. All-pen (fans who love all members) fans, be careful...!

They release these limited-time costumes exclusively for purchase periodically. However, the set periods are quite long, so I don't feel that much pressure to spend money. If they came out weekly, I think the all-pen fans would have died of anger.

By the way, there will be a collaboration stream with Jin on Weverse starting at 20:00 on 2024/10/30. I'm looking forward to it!!

The official page also has production videos from Bangtan and survey responses (development logs), so be sure to check them out!
The handwritten answers also have Japanese translations, making them easy to read. I recommend visiting via the link above as it's the easiest way to see them.

BTS Cooking On: TinyTAN Restaurant

By the way, I was slightly interested in the Tiny TAN cooking game "Cooking On," but the moment I saw the game screen, I closed the browser.

Sorry, I've played this game system to death... (;∀;)
This is a standard genre for apps that cost 0 to 100 yen, and there are tons of variations. They must have had a budget, so why did they choose this one of all things? I sentence the person in charge of planning to dance to "IDOL" for 8 hours a day.

I'm already full of sushi, pizza, cake, and cafes, so could you at least make a game where I feed Jin mulhoe, or a game where I grill samgyeopsal for Jungkook, please...!

LINE Hello BT21

I heard there was a BT21 game in the LINE Bubble series, but before I knew it, it was over. I wonder if the next one will be Tsum Tsum.

What kind of swamp was I in?

As I mentioned at the beginning, I used to be in the Chinese social game swamp.

It was a type of game where you create groups of users (countries) by server and periodically have server-versus-server wars.
Since it's easy for users from the same country to gather, Japanese servers, Arab servers, international servers, etc., were created, and we would survive the war period while forming alliances and betraying each other.
I love translation, document creation, and strategy games, so I was totally hooked.

Oh, of course there were Korean servers too!
They spent a ton of money, provoked us without hesitation, had 300 people in the same chat acting in perfect unison, and were masters at using bots, so they were tough opponents... (˘•ω•˘ )

It was around this time that I realized Korea is traditionally a powerhouse in PC gaming.
Since getting hooked on Bangtan, I've seen them invite e-sports players as guests on "RUN BTS" (EP.114) and play LoL (online game) together, and I was impressed by how deeply PC gaming has penetrated there compared to Japan, thinking, 'As expected of a country that mass-produces gaming gods (hardcore gamers)...'

Bangtan and time zones

Since the games I was hooked on were like that, the opponents were almost all foreigners.
Moreover, since enemies and allies changed with every war, the first thing we checked was, 'Which country is the main force? (What is their time zone?)'

When you team up with a country in the same time zone, strategy meetings and joint operations are easy, but it's difficult because sleep and work hours overlap, making it impossible to fight 24 hours a day.
For the same reason, time zones are super important when attacking enemies, so spies were also active, and we often had conversations like, 'This country's main force is in China,' or 'Is it a one-hour difference?'
When we teamed up with Russia, it was tough because there were time zones within the country itself, and a pseudo-Ukraine war would start in the in-game chat (;∀;)

By the way, since we needed to share war schedules with our allies, I made event lists in 'UTC & English' and 'JST & Japanese' every time, and converting time differences was a pain...

We are in the same time axis

Wanting to have the same things as your bias is an instinct as a fan, but the first time I felt "I'm so happy to be with Bangtan...!" was definitelytime zone.

Isn't it super wonderful to be able to share the same sense of time as your bias!?
Except when there is a time difference due to tours, we are living in the same flow of time.
We don't have to convert the time for events that the official side announces based on Korea, and it's heart-warming to think that domestic ARMYs are staying up late together to watch notifications that arrive at midnight in Coordinated Universal Time!

By the way, I once read about the struggles of ARMYs in different time zones in TIME magazine. Speaking of time... no, never mind, *cough cough*

Come to think of it, I was surprised to see opinions from the "Seoul is the center of the world" faction who are dissatisfied with company announcements being based on Coordinated Universal Time.
If you want to compete with the world, UTC is the standard. There is hardly any country in the Far East (+9) that has an advantage, except maybe Micronesia in the middle of the Pacific!? ← Don't mix this with social games.

Well, it's true that I was shaken during the FESTA period when announcements were dropped one after another at 0:00 AM, but by now, everyone must be used to Coordinated Universal Time.
There are all sorts of opinions, the world is a big place. Though my opinions are usually off the beaten path.

Billing System

Speaking of social games, there's billing. In particular, the game I was playing had a fairly solid billing funnel. The Chinese market is highly competitive and has looser regulations compared to Japan and the West, so there are many apps that lead you to pay with great momentum.
By the way, the billing rate is 91% in China, 80% in the US, and 68% in Japan (according to Asmarq). I wonder about Korea.

Even if I say billing, it might be a world unimaginable to good ARMYs who have never done such a thing, so I will try to write down common billing forms.

I'm playing "In the SEOM," but as far as I can see, I don't feel the same pushy funnel as Chinese social games yet. You get quite a few items for free.
If I were an evil organization, I might add voices or photos to costume packs to raise the price a little more, shorten the sales period to swap them frequently, and periodically do "Reprint Chance! (but purchase is limited to gems = please buy gems)" to strengthen the billing funnel. I'm glad I'm not the operator...!

I wonder if there is no VIP system. If that exists, it gives a sense of having stepped up a level.

VIP customers get faster support, so I kind of want that. Honestly, I wish they were always fast, but as a second-best option, it's tempting.

However, this is a priority system for big spenders (=whales/heavy spenders), so it creates a dynamic like a landlord and peasants, where the commoners flock to the big spenders and petition them, saying, 'Could you please ask this question/make this request?'
As a result, it ends up acting as traffic control for questions... I suppose.

By the way, Nintendo has also introduced a billing system for 'Kirby's Dream Buffet' with Gem Apples (gems/paid items), but since you can finish all the billing for about the price of a single game, it was called 'clean billing'.

The downside of social games is that the content you paid for disappears when the service ends, but 'Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp,' which recently announced its service termination, is attracting attention because it will be playable as a one-time purchase game. Sorry for the complete digression.

Billing in the BTS world

Buying discs or merchandise is basically classified as a 'donation' in my book, so I don't count it as billing.

When people hear 'billing,' many probably think of gacha (getting items through random picks), but personally, I think photo cards (trading cards) are basically the same system.
Looking at photo card exchange hashtags, I tremble at how deep that swamp seems to be.

When I went to a BTS movie and received a photo card (random) for the first time, I was impressed, thinking, 'This is real-life gacha...!', but I was surprised again to find that 'B★Verse' also had photo cards.
I mean, 'B★Verse' costs twice as much as a movie ticket, right? With Suga's 'D-DAY' or Jungkook's 'I AM STILL,' at least you know whose you're getting, but with 'B★Verse,' there are 7 members and it's a random draw on top of that—what are all-member fans supposed to do!? (Anemia)

I was also impressed when card games were all the rage back in the day with things like 'Love and Berry: Dress Up and Dance!' and 'Mushiking: King of the Beetles,' but cards are just printed matter, aren't they?
The cost price is known, so it's like printing money, they don't take up space to store, they last a long time, and there are collectors—the person who thought of this is truly a devil.

By the way, when we talk about billing on Weverse, it's Jelly (gems used for video rentals = items exclusively for billing).
A while ago, there was an announcement regarding changes to Jelly specifications, and I sensed a desire to revamp things! Billing is all about the flow, but I wonder how well they can organize it for K-POP fans around the world?

In the K-POP world, stage videos are uploaded aggressively by various channels, so I think users are accustomed to free consumption, but I wonder how much they can extract. I'm quite curious.
Well, I'm part of that target audience too. Oh no, for a second I just became a mere watcher (/ω＼)

Summary

So, talking about BTS from the social game swamp, the conclusion is 'keep an eye on future billing trends.'
Both are content businesses, so ultimately, the billing flow is what matters. I'd like to pay happily if possible, so management, fight!

By the way, I think there's also a way to enjoy things without paying.
I've been both a 'non-payer' and a 'micro-payer,' and I've found that there are things you only see once you start paying.

I haven't spent any money on "In the SEOM" so far, but I do spend on renting/purchasing videos on Weverse and various streaming services. I want to organize my streaming service subscriptions, but since content has increased on Lemino, I'm wondering what to do...

Even though I don't have enough time to watch everything, I impulsively bought SOOP the other day just to see the EPISODE. These days, I've even gotten used to paying in won.
I'm spending my days persuading myself to work hard for the sake of my "offerings," while firmly resisting the urge to fast-forward time all the way to retirement.