If Gamania in 2018 can be defined in one word, the most representative word to the editor would be “adventure.” In this issue, G!VOICE is going to discuss the “original intention” we all have when embarking on a journey, and the discussion will start with adventure. The “original intention” can be described as the original intention of a novice adventurer, or the unknown original intention we are to explore inside us. Be it the original intention of the first adventure or the one inside us, we should go back to the purpose of the journey one way or another. Whichever the type of adventure you are taking, the essence of adventures shall always remain the same!
Different definitions of adventure
How would you define “adventure?” You can be cautious with life, but why not be more adventurous when it comes to living?” Adventures are not limited by scale, let alone boundary or scope. They can be a challenge to cross the end of the world, or they can be the courage to take the hand of the one you have a crush on. No matter which type of adventure you are taking, continuous advancement and curiosity are both human natures. People who explore believe stepping out of their comfort zone will benefit them more and make them stronger every second!
Roff Smith, a National Geographic Magazine photographer, said, “It comes as a puzzling surprise to me when someone says they are not curious about what’s beyond the next bend.” Curiosity of the unknown world drives people to explore. When overcoming fear or arriving somewhere beyond the reach of most people, many adventurers will have a sense of accomplishment beyond words. Try to imagine who would have the courage and patience to pursue dreams if the humans were deprived of the ability to adventure?
To the world, adventures mean changes
Tens of thousands of years ago, orangutans, human ancestors, took adventures to leave their familiar continent of Africa and initiated the human civilization. Without their spirit of adventures, we would have still been gorillas inhabiting in a corner in East Africa. Every journey taken for the sake of exploration is a big step toward “the unknown.” Although risks are inevitable along the journey, risks themselves are the greatest pleasure during the “adventures”.
Throughout the ages, numerous achievements are not meant to have an impact purposely. Some adventures are undertaken for the purpose of “exploration.” For example, Zheng He, a Chinese mariner of the Ming dynasty, spent 28 years on expeditions to Southeast Asia and South Asia and greatly strengthened the cultural and economic ties between China and Southeast Asia. Documents of his voyages overseas were even compiled into a book later, which broadened the vision of the Chinese. Christopher Columbus had a similar experience. In order to find a sailing route from Europe to the East, he accidentally discovered the continent of America, and initiated an era of exploration and colonization to the new world. It is an important turning point in the development of human history.
▲Zheng spent 28 years on expeditions overseas and greatly strengthened the cultural and economic ties between China and Southeast Asia.
Source of image: https://wiki.mbalib.com/w/images/a/ac/%E9%83%91%E5%92%8C.jpg
Other adventures are taken for the purpose of “creation.” Alan Turing, the father of computer science, decoded German encryption device “Enigma” and saved tens of millions of lives during World War II. His invention “Turing Machine” laid a foundation for the logic of modern computers and transformed the lifestyle of modern people.
Beyond science, another example is Coco Chanel, the founder of the international brand Chanel. Living in a conservative society in the early 20th century, the avant-garde Ms. Chanel broke the old rules. She popularized convenient and casual fashion for women and crafted women’s clothes in black, a color of mourning prohibited in the old times. Inspired by men’s suit, her clothes liberated women from the constraints of the corset and freed women from the convention through a series of clothing revolutions.
▲ Coco Chanel, a woman with revolutionary thinking. The clothes she designed changed women’s outlook and how they view themselves
Source of image:https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35430968
These revolutionary events in human history all started with an intention to “explore” or an idea to “create,” which led people to pursue their dreams while having a huge impact on others in terms of action and idea. They might further change the world view of a certain ethnic group, or even push the entire world forward; these changes all came from a whim of individuals to “adventure.” The whim then grew to be the great courage to “implement” and became the strength to “change.”
To Gamania, adventures means self-breakthrough
Albert, the founder of Gamania, once said, “Adventurous spirit is an attitude. It exists in all major human projects and the details in our everyday lives!” Although the corporate structure is constantly changing, “adventure” is the unchanged DNA that runs in the blood of Gamania.
There are countless battles in the history of Gamania. Among them, the most adventurous one is the phenomenon the game Convenience Store created in the market in the 1990s. It is tough for game developers to survive in Taiwan. In order to explore the mass consumption market, FullSoft, the predecessor of Gamania, launched the game Convenience Store, which is easy to play. What’s more, Gamania promoted the game using a unique marketing strategy, exploring the untapped female market and fighting piracy with quality game at low prices. These moves were highly risky against the backdrop of the consumer trends of the time. However, it turned out that the amount of female buyers who purchased Convenience Store equaled that of male buyers, a phenomenon that reversed the conventional game market where males outnumbered females. The brilliant performance of Convenience Store made game developers in Taiwan reassess the potential of the gaming industry and the unlimited possibilities of game development. Because of the phenomenon, FullSoft, a business that was originally known to few and faced the crisis of dissolution was reborn and transformed into “Gamania.”
▲ The release of Convenience Store was a blow to piracy and reversed the existing market.
In 2000, Gamania took another challenge with an online game Lineage. At the time, Gamania asked a question, “Is there a game that can be played by more players for different pleasures?” In view of the saturated markets in the U.S. and Japan, Albert traveled to Korea to inspect the market there in 1999, and saw a game Lineage, which was to be a hit across Asia, at NCsoft. After a deliberate discussion with partners once he returned to Taiwan, he decided to set up Asia’s largest server room for online games. Amid the negative opinions from competitors and criticism from financial media for “increasing capital too quickly and the company is expanding too fast,” the largest server room for online games in Asia, which cost NT$170 million, was completed. So far, Lineage has become an invincible legend in Taiwan’s game history.
▲ In 2000, Gamania took another challenge with Lineage. So far, Lineage has been the longest-running online game in Taiwan’s history
A decade-long dream named adventure
In the history of Gamania’s major adventures, the establishment of Gamania Cheer Up Foundation in 2008 saw its 10th anniversary in 2018, when the “Gamania Antarctica Expedition Team” (Note 1) was formed to pay tribute to the spirit of adventure. The team is led by Albert Liu, the founder of Gamania Cheer Up Foundation, with arctic ultramarathon athlete Tommy Chen as the polar coach, actor Chris Wang Yu-sheng as the dream mentor, and two dream youths Sherry Lin and Yuming Wu, teaming up for the Antarctic Expedition Team whose members come from different age groups and different fields. In addition, the documentary director Yang Li-chou, who filmed the documentary Beyond the Arctic ten years ago, will also document the whole expedition this time.
Human civilization dates back to thousands of years ago; however, the history of Antarctica exploration can only be traced back to a century ago. Along the history, the most prominent figures are Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (Note 2), the first person to reach the South Pole, English explorer Robert Scott (Note 3), who died without reaching the South Pole, and Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton (Note 4), who led three expeditions to the Antarctic all without success. Their expeditions inspire us to challenge our limits time and again.
▲ Gamania Cheer Up Foundation established Taiwan’s first Antarctica expedition team
As a matter of fact, not all Gamania’s adventures were successful. Gamania was once frustrated and suffered heavy capital loss in an attempt to expand overseas markets. Despite twists and turns, Gamania never thought about giving up. The spirit of adventure enables relentless Gamania to break through the status quo persistently. Profit brought by success and experience learned from setbacks are all forces that drive Gamania to create and progress.
In 2019, Gamania Group sets itself another challenge: to integrate its online strength accumulated for all these years into a multi-service platform “beanfun!” which will be launched in the first quarter of 2019. Through the upgraded beanfun!, Gamania will partner with other daily life industries and feature advantages such as easy cash conversion and diverse discounts to jointly create a life that is visionary and embodies “have a GOOD TIME!”
▲ The “beanfun!” platform is a challenge that Gamania sets for itself in 2019
To you, adventures mean a decision to set off
Whether it is the story of the Antarctic expedition teams, world famous people, or Gamania, they are all about the spirit of adventure. We hope that we could give this generation a little injection of adrenaline and force them to take the desire to pursue their dream inside them seriously.
Adventures make us more complete and move toward a specific target, as challenges make people evolve, and the adventurous spirit is the outset of creation. All new thinking starts with a little adventurous step! It doesn’t matter if you don’t take adventures, but it will definitely be very different once you start the journey!
(Note 1) “Gamania Antarctica Expedition Project”
The project is led by Albert Liu, the founder of Gamania Cheer Up Foundation, with Tommy Chen the polar ultramarathon athlete as the polar coach, actor Chris Wang Yu-sheng as the dream mentor, and two dream youths Sherry Lin and Yuming Wu, teaming up for the Antarctic Expedition Team whose members come from different age groups and different fields. In addition, the documentary director Yang Li-chou, who filmed the documentary Beyond the Arctic ten years ago, will also document the whole expedition this time.
From the moment when Gamania Antarctica Expedition Team set foot on the Antarctic, the challenge has begun under -50 °C and severe typhoon like 50 m/s wind speed in the midnight Sun. Everyday, the intense mental and physical challenge begins with 10 hours uphill cross-country ski in the isolated land.
“Gamania Antarctica Expedition Project” concept video
https://youtu.be/2Q4ULqX7ngs
Antarctic Expedition Exhibition x Let’s go to the Antarctica Bar. To sign up →
https://antarcticaexpedition.gamaniacheerup.org
“NOWNEWS” Antarctica zone
https://www.nownews.com/cat/antarctica-adventure/
“Gamania Cheer Up Foundation” Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/gamaniacheerupfoundation/
G!VOICE’s coverage of the event: UnderLine X Let’s go to the Antarctica. Let’s challenge something big!
https://brand.gamania.com/gvoice/tw/inside.aspx?insid=3&cid=_00000001&id=_00000802
(Note 2) Roald Amundsen (1872-1928)
Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, was the first person ever to reach the geographic South Pole in history.
His success lay in careful planning, good equipment, proper clothing, effective use of skis, well-trained sled dogs, and good use of their carrying capacity. After conquering the South Pole, he planted the Norwegian flag in the snow and named the land underfoot the King Haakon VII’s Plateau in honor of the King of Norway.
(Note 3) Robert Scott (1868-1912)
British explorer Robert Scott’s expedition to the South Pole commenced on November 1, 1911. The national team led by him was hyped up and became the attention around the world before departure. He wanted to be the first to reach the South Pole and bring back fossils of Glossopteris to confirm Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
On January 17, 1912, after a long and arduous trek, Scott’s expedition finally arrived at the South Pole, 34 days later than Amundsen’s team. When he saw the tent, flag and a letter left to Scott, all the joy he should have had was lost. “Great God! This is an awful place,” he wrote in his diary. This, in turn, caused Scott’s team to lose their fighting spirit and successively die on the return journey.
(Note 4) Ernest Shackleton (1874 – 1922)
On August 8, 1914, British explorer Shackleton led an expedition team, aiming to cross the Antarctic continent. He made three trips to the Antarctica all without reaching the South Pole, but he never gave up in the face of difficulties. He made a new plan to save all members and sought help, and no one died in the expedition. He was hailed as “the most successful loser” for his bravery.