30年前的“氪金游戏”长啥样？
最早在国内，“氪金”一词的来历是比较值得玩味的。它本身是《魔兽世界》里的一种稀有矿石，过去亦有“瞎了我氪金狗眼”的流行说法。后来人们发现“氪金”的读音与日文“課金”相似，意喻着花钱，于是顺理成章的将两者混用了起来。
但现在提到氪金，你脑中闪过的，很可能是需要充钱抽卡的“免费”游戏。琳琅满目的卡片上，满布着性感可爱的姑娘们，默默等待着玩家砸过去的钻石、金币或是其它什么东西。
这种常见的模式，受到了集换式卡牌和扭蛋的影响。但在上世纪 90 年代，一股收集“商品条形码”的风潮，同样与“氪金抽卡”的萌芽和发展息息相关。
条码战士
条形码是个随处可见的东西。当你在超市结账时，收银小哥每“嘀”一下，账单上就会多出一行令人心痛的费用。即使在游戏中，“杀手 47”的后脑勺上也有一个。而在人气颇高的剧集《假面骑士 帝骑》里，同样充斥着扫码（扫卡）变身的搞怪桥段。
对于懵懂无知的孩子们而言，条形码就像个黑洞，未知且神秘，蕴含着引人瞩目的神奇魔力。直到我长大后才发现，这种幼稚的憧憬并非个例。
时间回到 1992 年，发明家诺曼·伍德兰（Norman Joseph Woodland）整理好衣装来到华盛顿，等待着总统乔治·布什为他颁发“国家技术创新奖”。他的功绩，是在 18 年前将首个带有通用产品代码的商品，带到了俄亥俄州的一家小超市里，从而极大缩减了排队结账和商品出入库的时间。
伍德兰可能未曾想到，此时在大洋彼岸的日本，基于这项技术制造的一款掌机正卖得火热。
和如今前沿的 AR 技术正好相反，20 世纪 90 年代的日本开发者，正在想方设法的“将现实里的东西带到虚拟世界”。借着玩具起家的日本公司 Epoch，更是敏锐察觉到即将引爆的潮流。于是在 1991 年，他们推出了一台玩法独特的游戏机 —— Barcode Battler。
彼时各大店面的货架上，摆的不是 GameBoy 就是 GameGear，一款画面落伍的 LCD 设备想要脱颖而出，没有一些看家本领显然是不行的。Barcode Battler 的特色，在于能够读取不同商品的条形码，然后根据一套算法将其转换成游戏中的角色，接着在掌机屏幕中显示血量、攻击和防御等数值。
你可以使用这名角色和电脑或玩家对战，或是再通过“扫码”给自己的人物穿上装备，强化能力。相比官方附赠的条码卡片，玩家们更喜欢“不走寻常路”，翻出垃圾桶里的包装袋，或是对着超市里的商品挨个扫，看看会有什么意外的惊喜。
收集和探索理念，与日后爆火的《精灵宝可梦》一脉相承，背后也牵扯到日本的虫文化。当时日本小学的暑假实践作业，多是让学生们去捕捉昆虫，然后向老师提交观察报告。而将两只强壮的独角仙放在笼子里对战，可以说是一代日本人的浪漫。
Barcode Battler 的出现恰好填补了这种需求，对应稀有角色的条形码被保存下来，接着在玩家们自发组成的“黑市”里流通。你可以用多余的条形码来兑换其它角色，或是用 50 日元和粗点心从别人那里“买过来”。某种程度上，这可以视为氪金的早期形态。
同期以 Barcode Battler 为灵感的《条码战士》（光码战士）开始在小学馆连载。当时这部漫画充满了话题性，外表看起来楚楚可怜的“女主”有栖川樱，到头来被曝出是个伪娘。这位伪娘界的启蒙人物，也间接带动了游戏机本身的热度。
随着越来越多的人调侃自己是“条码战士”，Epoch 顺势推出了第二代 Barcode Battler，新产品多了一个单人模式，玩法上更为丰富。甚至连任天堂也被条码游戏的创意所吸引，将自己的 IP 授权 Epoch 拓展内容。
Barcode Battler 上就有一款专属的《塞尔达传说：众神的三角力量》，与游戏一同发售的还有 30 张条码卡片，包括英雄、敌人，物品和咒语。玩家可以选择扮演战士或巫师，利用物品卡增加武器属性、恢复生命，强化防御。当所有的杂鱼都被击败时，才可以扫描“加农”卡，与最终 Boss 进行战斗。
“专属塞尔达”理论上没法以生动的形式给你讲太多故事，它和桌游十分相近，人物背景都被印在了条码卡片上，剧情主要靠玩家自行脑补。游戏的文字介绍也显得更加轻松和俏皮，难免有些微妙。至于感官更好的条码游戏，恐怕还得从大大小小的“附加设备”说起。
下一页：没落与继承
没落与继承
第二代 Barcode Battler 本身就是个附加设备。虽然能够单独运作，但游戏机的左侧也有接口，可以通过数据线连接 FC，画面最终会输出到电视机上。最初与之配套的是一款名叫《条码世界》的游戏，支持任意商品的条形码，预设了很多帅气的机甲角色。
后来 Epoch 又与任天堂联动了几次，比如延续《条码世界》玩法的《条码勇士战记》，画面变得更为精细。SFC 的《英雄传说2：屠龙者》和《鲁邦三世：传说的秘宝》同样加入了一些扫码可得的内容，目的都是为了让玩家挖掘现实素材，从而增强可玩性和互动性。
随着第二代 Barcode Battler 的热卖，手握大量 IP 的万代也坐不住了，加紧研发了一款名叫 Datach 的外设。它可以直接插到 FC 的卡槽里，玩法上还是老一套，将条形码塞入设备的“卡缝”里一刷，屏幕上便会有相应的反馈。
国内玩家可能对 Datach 的捆绑内容更加熟悉，诸如《龙珠Z 激斗天下第一武道会》和《幽游白书 爆斗暗黑武术会》，都是 FC 上相当有趣的格斗游戏。由于它们当时遭到盗版厂商的破解，可以直接输入条码数字调出角色，因此大多数人的记忆中都没有“扫码”的片段。
《龙珠Z 激斗天下第一武道会》除了基础的人物码和道具码之外，还加入了一些能力码，可以让角色习得新的技能，甚至是多段“变身”，非常贴近原著。Datach 也支持任意条形码，但据坊间传言，官方为了保证平衡性进行了一些限制，通过这种方式获得的人物相对偏弱。
Barcode Battler 和 Datach 的风潮并没有维持多久。它们核心乐趣无疑是收集和对战，但软肋也很明显，那就是丝毫没有成长要素，只需要花时间找个数值爆炸的条码，战斗的结果基本被卡死，久而久之难免令人厌倦。
到了 1994 年，绘制《条码战士》的小野敏洋声称“条码游戏机”的热潮已过，于是停止了漫画连载。
而在欧美市场，当地年轻人始终沉浸在 Game Boy 和 Game Gear 带来的快乐之中，完全没有兴趣去“捉虫”。他们认为 Barcode Battler 的玩法重复、体验糟糕，这款产品也很快被大众所遗忘。
不过，条码游戏的玩法还是继承了下来。在 1997 年的 PS 游戏《怪兽农场》中，Tecmo 开发了一套“CD 读取”系统，可以通过载入不同的光盘产生随机数，从而定义怪物的属性、品种和特性。从 PS2 上的《怪兽农场3》开始，DVD 类型的介质也被纳入其中。
针对这一系统，开发团队精心设计了很多小彩蛋。如果在玩《怪兽农场4》时读取《哈利波特与密室》的 DVD，那么便会获得一只造型独特的猫头鹰。插入圣诞音乐专辑的结果，是出现一个“圣诞老人”怪物。放入《死或生》的光盘，则会看到一个名为“霞”的小精灵。
自千禧年伊始，日本街机厅开始引入“街机卡牌游戏”，它们显然受到了条码游戏的启发。坐在机器上轻轻一扫，那些属于你的特殊角色和道具便会出现在屏幕上，球星、赛车、机甲，应有尽有。此时半吊子的条形码早已被取代，变成了卡片上的专属编号，相较之下少了一些随机探索的乐趣。
但街机卡牌游戏的玩法却有很多突破。世嘉旗下的《三国志大战》便是直接把卡片扔到机台上，以此作为控制媒介。玩家可以根据 Cost 的限制选择多张卡片上阵，武将和军队的移动，和物理意义上的卡片位置一一对应，用手盖住卡片还能激活特殊能力，相当有趣。
与此同时，原本的“条形码”成了明码标价的氪金物品。在《三国志大战》中，花 600 日元就能打三把游戏，然后随机赠送卡片，卡片上会展示武将们的立绘和数据。前几年登陆街机厅的《舰队 Collection》印卡则需单独花钱，每张新卡的价格是 100 日元，收费方式各不相同。
不难发现，这种模式随后影响了一大票 F2P 内容，逐渐形成了如今常见的手机抽卡游戏。
值得一提的是，在街机卡牌游戏赚得盆满钵满的 2001 年，任天堂才后知后觉的推出了 GBA 外设 e-Reader。它配备了一个 LED 扫描仪，可以读取印有特殊编码的纸质卡片。
e-Reader 本身不提供什么玩法，只是通过扫码，玩家可以获得《超级马力欧》新关卡、《动物之森》道具，或是《马力欧派对》里的迷你游戏，可以视为 Amiibo 的前身。
至于家用机方面，PS Eye 算得上是条码游戏的“最后守护者”。
2007 年时有一款名为《审判魔眼》的 PS3 作品，需要将配套卡牌和九宫格桌垫置于 PS Eye 的镜头内，接着屏幕上就会显示对应的角色和怪物，双方互相对战。由于 PS Eye 本身的普及度不高，再加上《审判魔眼》的卡片相当难以买到，在此之后，主机上的条码游戏便逐渐销声匿迹了。
随着智能手机的普及，各种“码”的扫描都可以一次性解决，Barcode Battler 这种类型的条码游戏机更是变得无关紧要。
但它所引发的热潮，仍然对业界造成了相当深远的影响。条码游戏的最大遗产，或许是提醒设计者们跳出思维定势，无论是 Amiibo，或是氪金卡牌游戏的商业模式都是自此衍生而来。还有一些人认为，它最终为《精灵宝可梦》的出现铺平了道路。
参考资料：
Commerce Conflict Barcode Battler Handheld
Not even Mario and Zelda could make the Barcode Battler any good
真实的孔子，究竟长啥样？
孔子，子姓，名丘，字仲尼，鲁国人，先祖为宋国贵族，远祖为殷商王族。
《孔子家语》记载：
孔子的得姓始祖为六世祖孔父嘉，后家道衰败，后裔孔防叔（孔子的曾祖父）逃亡鲁国，以孔为姓氏。
孔子的父亲叔梁纥是鲁国很有名气的勇士，娶施氏为妻。
施氏生育了九个女儿，却没有生下一个儿子。
叔梁纥的小妾生育一子孟皮，却有足疾而不适合继嗣。
叔梁纥于是又娶了颜徵，生下次子孔子。
孔子出生前，母亲颜徵曾在尼丘祈祷，故取名为丘，字仲尼。
《史记》记载：“叔梁纥与颜氏女野合而生孔子。祷于尼丘得孔子。”
《论语撰考谶》也有类似的记载：“叔梁纥与徵在祷尼丘山，感黑龙之精，以生仲尼。”
孔子三岁的时候，父亲去世，家境越来越贫寒。
孔子少年时期就聪明好学，二十岁时被时人赞誉“博学好礼”，他继承了父亲的英勇过人，身材魁梧，臂力超凡。
孔子酒量也不一般，从来没喝醉过，而孔子却不以勇武、善饮而自豪。
孔子曾做过管理仓库、牧场的小吏，以治理有方得到升迁，历任中都宰、司空、大司寇、代理宰相等官职。
后遭小人排挤而出游列国，历经十四年无法实现自己的抱负。
孔子六十八岁时，携弟子返回鲁国，打破传统的教育垄断，开设私塾，弟子多达三千人，其中七十二贤人成为诸侯列国的栋梁之才。
关于孔子的身高，史书说法不一，但身材高大是公认的。
《史记》记载：孔子身高“九尺六寸（1.96米）……人皆谓之‘长人’而异之。”人们称呼他为大个子，感到非常神奇。
《太平御览》记载：“孔子长十尺（2.21米），大九围，坐如蹲龙，立如牵牛，就之如昂，望之如斗……”
说的是孔子身高一丈，腰围九尺（2米有余），身材魁梧高大，坐着像蹲龙星，站着像牵牛星，到了近前如同昂宿，远远望去依稀南斗六星。
孔子“海口”，就是嘴大，说话时像含着水，舌头有七层纹理，嘴的形状四四方方，像斗，两颗门牙连在了一起，长有两个喉结，手掌像老虎的爪子，驼背像乌龟一样。
《荀子》记载：“仲尼之状,面如蒙倛。”
意思是孔子面貌狰狞，像戴着驱邪的面具。
《史记》记载：孔子路过郑国，郑国人评价说：“东门有人，其颡似尧，其项类皋陶，其肩类子产，然自要以下不及禹三寸。累累若丧家之狗。”
这段话的意思是：东门的那个人的额头像尧帝一样饱满，脖子像皋陶一样粗壮，肩膀像子产一样略向前倾斜，腰部以下比大禹要短三寸，现在的样子很疲惫，像丧家犬一样。
孔子通过弟子子贡的转述，欣然一笑说：“形状，末也。而谓似丧家之狗，然哉！然哉！”把我说成这样，也未必恰当，不过说我现在如同无家可归的狗狗，说的确实不差啊！确实不差啊！
孔子的相貌众说纷纭，一直没有一种固定而相对清晰的描述。
其相貌究竟如何并不重要，重要的是，夫子留给后世的巨大精神财富，无论他长相如何，都无愧于伟大的思想家、政治家、教育家的称谓。
东北大学、约翰霍普金斯录取的Essay长啥样？
Essay是美国大学申请中最重要的材料之一，如何写出一篇好的essay是很多小伙伴头疼的问题。今天就为大家2篇college Essays范文，2020年分别被东北大学、约翰霍普金斯大学录取，有借鉴才有创新，仔细琢磨论文写作怎么才能见解独特又引人入胜吧！
录取 1—东北大学
Fire.
Successfully creating this source of warmth and light has eluded even the most skilled survivalists from time to time, due to the delicate balance of fuel, oxygen and ignition required.
Despite the knowledge that creating a fire was a well-known challenge, it was my job to generate one out of the materials I could find on my grandfather"s farm, and I only had one night to make it happen.
"You"re gonna do what the cavemen couldn"t," my father told me. I didn"t point out that he was actually incorrect. Cavemen had successfully built fires, I"d learned in school — but if I shared that information, it would only make me look worse if I was unable to create one on my own.
Some kids learn how to make a fire in Boy Scouts or on Outward Bound excursions, but that wasn"t going to be my experience. "We aren"t joiners," my dad liked to tell people. "We do things on our own."
That meant learning to swim in nearby lakes and rivers. While other kids participated on swim teams, I would be at the edge of an algae-ridden pond, clinging to a tree root as water snakes slipped past my feet. It also meant I"d spent my afternoons building a horse pen with my brothers while my classmates made shoe racks in the after-school woodworking club. Whereas the "joiners" came home with a sanded, stained and varnished Father"s Day gift to proudly offer their dads, I worked with my father on unexpected first aid concepts as I came into contact with thorns, stray staples and rusty nails during my building project.
After telling me that my new task was to create a fire and ensure that it burned all night long, my dad disappeared back into the house. The only tool I had was the knowledge I"d gained from watching my parents and grandparents make fires for the prior 15 years of my life.
I gathered leaves, sticks, dried grass and logs from around the property and took them to a rock-encircled area where we"d made many fires before. I set up my tepee of materials over the black stain that showed me where our previous fires had burned. I organized my tinder, kindling, logs and leaves in a perfect formation.
I walked into the woods to seek material that might work as a fireboard when I saw something unexpected. A small stream of smoke was rising from a part of the woods we"d always described as "no man"s land." It was where local teenagers would gather, and from the looks of the trash they often left behind, to drink beer and smoke. They"d obviously done exactly that this very night, around a fire, which they"d since abandoned.
The fire was clearly winding down to the "nearly just embers" stage. I sat down and threw some leaves on it, and then blew on it to ensure that the new flames would grow. After that, I put a branch with dead leaves into it. Once it lit up, I took that flaming torch and walked back to the logs I"d set up around our family fire pit.
Back on my family"s property, I held the torch against my tinder and watched it ignite, blowing on it and rearranging my setup to ensure that my fire would take hold. As the flames traveled from the dry grass to the leaves to the kindling to the logs, I leaned back to watch it.
I kept that fire burning all night long, and the next morning, when my dad asked how things went, I told him the truth, although I knew there might be a chance I"d have to start over again.
He stared at me for a few seconds and then smiled before he spoke.
"We may not be joiners, but we"re not idiots either."
录取 2—约翰霍普金斯大学
Translating My Story Into Words
My eyes widen. “It’s all Greek to me,” I whisper under my breath. Sure enough, The Apology by Plato is in Greek.
My eyes dart across the page, looking for a word or phrase to grasp onto. Unable to find a familiar word, I take a deep breath. The Greek letters jumble into incoherent words and I am left to the mercy of an incomplete translation. I shake my head, unsure of what to do next. My eyes drag from one word to another, heavy with defeat. Upon the sixth word, however, they stop. My initial scan of the text left me negligent of a simple word meaning “number.” Passion overwhelms my senses. “Number” becomes the most important word of the clause, providing context to the adjacent words. I turn to the lexicon and search for words that fit into a coherent translation. With the last word, I feel satisfaction and pride. The whirlwind of emotions repeats: Confusion, passion, satisfaction. Before the bell rings, I finish translating 20 lines of The Apology.
I was fifteen when I successfully translated The Apology, and soon after, I fell in love with translation. Through translation, I learned the value of perseverance and hard work; it even helped me convey ideas in different mediums such as figure skating.
On a bright January morning, cold wind slapped against my face, chastising me for falling again. I stood up and brushed thin sheets of ice off of my knees. A shock of pain went through my body as I lightly touched a new bruise. I contemplated defeat. In the midst of choreographing my next program, I speculated the translation of music into skating. I yearned to convey every pitch and emotion in a visual performance, so I listened to Chopin once again and closed my eyes. Upon hearing the cadenza, I went back on the ice, picked up speed and turned my body. Leaping from the ground, I wrapped my arms around my torso and spun one, two, three times. My body descended and a sharp skid sounded the air. I smiled, waiting in anticipation for the next jump. That day, I translated every note into a jump until my body understood the music.
Translation has become my frame for viewing life and now I am using it to translate passion into activism.
In July 2018, part of my activism was conservation focused. Recognized as a Discovery Guide Leader, I was chosen to lead a Mugwort removal cleanup at Meadow Lake. The tedious logistical process of scheduling a time, obtaining a permit, and learning the proper removal process made July a strenuous month. Still seeking to translate my plan into action, I persevered with the importance of conservation in mind.
Finally, the day came. Twenty pairs of eyes watched me as I pointed out Mugwort along the shore. The hot sun hit my back as I pushed the shovel deeper in the soil. The ground released its hold on the plant and I picked it up by the stem. I walked throughout the shore and helped each person learn the proper removal technique. Together we were able to eliminate 4.2 pounds of Mugwort. I was proud of everyone and myself. I learned the benefits of conservation, translated that knowledge into a productive plan to remove an invasive species, and spread that knowledge by leading my eager group of volunteers.
Despite translating The Apology by Plato years ago, the lessons I learned from translation continue to thrive in my actions today. Just as I translated texts from Greek to English, I will convert more songs into programs, and I will change more plans into action. Although there are still many things in the world that are all Greek to me, I strive to learn and translate my knowledge into action that creates change.
海归名师 精确定位
高端文书 量身定做
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辟谣：2021申请季被“误解”的五件事！
