‘Revenge on Gold Diggers': Why a Chinese dating scam game went viral
But this meet-cute does not have a happy ending. The man is quickly manipulated by his new girlfriend who steals all his money by asking for expensive dinners and luxury gifts.
This is a storyline from a recently released live-action video game Revenge on Gold Diggers, which has sparked intense interest and debate across China.
Billed as China's first interactive anti-scam video game, players assume the role of Wu Yulun, the game's male protagonist, who had once fallen prey to a pig-butchering love scam.
Determined to get even, Wu embarks on a mission to infiltrate a crime syndicate led by several women who con lovelorn men out of their money before vanishing into thin air.
Since its release on Jun 19, the game has sold over one million copies, soaring to the top of gaming charts - and even surpassing Black Myth: Wukong at one point on the leading global gaming platform Steam. It has also garnered rave reviews for its realistic and interactive gameplay and storylines.
At the same time, it is being slammed for portraying misogynistic and harmful gender stereotypes.
'Its provocative anti-scam content is infuriating,' wrote one user who goes by the handle Uncle You, adding that the game was 'cheap entertainment barely elevated from lowbrow clickbait'.
Writing on the Sina Weibo microblogging site, a feminist blogger who goes by the user handle Always-bebrave, criticised the game for 'forcibly associating women with emotional fraud'.
'Real anti-fraud education should make people see how power can harm relationships, rather than teaching people how to hate a certain gender,' she said.
'This is what happens when a video game relies on manufactured conflict, fabricated storylines and playing the victim card for clout,' said another female gaming blogger on Weibo by the handle Qiufengyuan.
TAPPING INTO SCAM PARANOIA
Ongoing social anxiety about scams, combined with polarising discourse around gender inequality and dating culture in China are some reasons the game went viral, according to Shen Cuihua from the University of California, Davis.
'No matter where you stand on this issue, a polarising and emotionally charged story usually gets people worked up, and it can be highly shareable - perfect for short-form video platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu,' Shen said.
According to a report by China's Supreme People's Court published in March, around 40,000 cases of telecom fraud, involving 82,000 people, were recorded in 2024 - marking an annual increase of more than 26 per cent.
Love scams, including pig-butchering schemes, are classified under telecom fraud - an umbrella term for scams that exploit victims through digital communication tools.
Pig-butchering, or 'sha zhu pan' in Mandarin, refers to a common scam tactic in which victims are 'fattened up' through weeks or months of developing an online relationship.
Once trust is established, scammers strike - defrauding victims of their hard-earned savings, effectively 'slaughtering the pig'.
The game's developers said they drew inspiration from real-life experiences, insisting that the storylines were intended to explore broader and more complex gender themes - with no intention of vilifying women.
But as outrage grew and online backlash continued, the game's Chinese title was changed from Lao Nǚ You Xi, meaning 'Gold Digger Game', to Emotional Anti-Fraud Simulator.
Its English title, Revenge on Gold Diggers, remains unchanged.
Many took offence at the usage of the Chinese term lao nǚ, often used in a derogatory manner to describe scheming gold diggers who take advantage of men for their personal gain.
Sun Jing, a game scholar and associate professor at the Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, said the game was 'clearly male-oriented' and also 'reinforced prejudice against women' - showcasing women as 'dominating, manipulative gold diggers' while portraying men as 'innocent victims and brave avengers'.
'Recent years have seen growing discussion on gender issues in China, including among gaming communities,' Sun said, pointing to recent hit Chinese video games like Love is All Around, an interactive romance game.
'Games are usually (developed for) two mainstream perspectives: misogynists and feminists,' she added. 'In this case, Revenge on Gold Diggers is clearly designed to appeal to the first group.'
SEXIST TROPES
Daniel Ahmad from video games market research firm Niko Partners noted the growing popularity of interactive simulation games among Chinese gamers, which feature lifelike characters and branching storylines.
'This game is mostly about taking revenge on women said to be 'catfishing' or emotionally manipulating men with the goal of taking their money,' he said, adding that 'players made their own choices (over) eight hours of live-action content and more than 200 decision points'.
'The situation underscores the delicate balance required when tackling sensitive societal issues through video games - not just in China but also globally,' he said.
'The game (plays out) more like a film rather than a (conventional) video game. It's interactive, educational and uses gaming as a medium to strike up conversations about social topics - progressive or conservative,' said Zoe Zhao, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Gamers who spoke to CNA shared mixed reviews.
Fa Zai, a gaming blogger, said the game's storyline was 'meaningful and realistic'. 'Good guys and bad guys are everywhere - there's no need to argue. If this game made you uncomfortable, I guess it hit a nerve somewhere.'
Liu Dayuan, a 29-year-old gamer, said he had never experienced the situations depicted in the game. 'So it's hard to imagine what it would be like if it happened to me.'
Another player, who went by the handle MMY, said the game's plot about 'pursuing gold diggers' was obviously unrealistic but offered an intriguing plot line.
'The dialogue does feel pretty real - maybe some of the conversational tactics are used in real-life,' he said.
Shen brought up the 'mean world syndrome' condition - which shapes how people view the world from TV, video games and other media - perceiving the world to be more dangerous than it actually is.
'In this case, it's possible that gamers heavily exposed to the game's narratives might start to see women as being stereotypical gold diggers - and intimate relationships as merely transactional,' she said.
'And over time, this might lead to a distorted view of dating and gender roles, especially among young and socially isolated gamers.'
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