and when we first started looking into it, we couldn't believe it.

當我們第一次檢視它, 我們簡直無法置信

Even now, looking at this,

即使現在再看一次

I keep thinking that there's gotta be something about this that I just don't understand.

我還是相信這裡面還是有我無法理解的東西

Like, I must be reading this wrong.

我想必是看錯了

it's just so clearly something out of dystopian science fiction.

但裡面的某些東西真的彷彿像是來自反烏托邦科幻小說

And yet, here it is in our world.

然而，這裡是現實世界

And people are actually embracing it.

人們卻真的在擁抱這些東西

Apparently, China has gamified being an obedient citizen.

顯然，中國開始將『成為一個順服的人民』遊戲化了

Going under the innocuous name of "Sesame Credit",

藉由一個叫做『芝麻信用』這個無害名字的評鑑方式

China has created a score for how good a citizen you are.

中國創造了一套評分標準 以衡量一個人是否是一個好公民

And that's one of the scariest things I've heard in quite a while.

而這真是我好一陣子以來聽過最可怕的事情

It's jointly run by Tencent: Yes, that Tencent,

他現在正在騰訊底下運作. 沒錯, 就是那個騰訊

the one that owns Riot Games, and has a significant share on EPIC and Activision Blizzard,

那個擁有 Riot, 而且同時持有大量 EPIC 和 Activision Blizzard 股份的騰訊

and also the ascendant Chinese competitor to Amazon: Alibaba,

他也同時是阿里巴巴的大股東. 而在中國, 阿里巴巴就是 Amazon 最大的競爭者.

hence the name "Sesame".

也因此有了『芝麻』這個名字. (譯註: 阿里巴巴芝麻開門)

So the owners of China's largest social networks have partnered with the government to create something akin to the US credit score.

所以現在等於是中國最大的社群網站公司和中國政府聯合起來打造一個類似美國信用評分的機制

But instead of measuring how regularly you pay your bills,

但不同之處在於, 這套評分機制並不評鑑你有沒有按時付帳單

it measures how obediently you follow the party line.

它評鑑的是你有沒有遵循黨的規則

They dredge data from your social networks,

它會收集個人在社群網站上的資料

so, if you post pictures of Tiananmen square,

假設你分享了一張天安門事件的圖片

or share a link about the recent stock market collapse,

或者是分享了最近股市崩盤的消息

your Sesame Credit score goes down.

你的『芝麻信用』分數就會下降

Share a link from the state sponsored news agency about how good the economy's doing,

但如果分享的是國營媒體下經濟情況樂觀的新聞

and your score goes up.

你的分數就會提高

But Alibaba and Tencent are also the largest online retailers in China.

但是還有一點, 阿里巴巴與騰訊同時也是中國最大的網路零售商

So Sesame Credit is also able to pull data from your purchases.

也就是說『芝麻信用』同時也有辦法從你的購物記錄中得到資料

If you're making purchases the state deems valuable,

假如你購買了國家認可的, 有價值的東西

like: work shoes or local agricultural products, your score goes up.

譬如說是鞋子或在地的農產品, 你的分數就會增加

If you import anime from Japan though, down the score goes.

不過如過你買的是比如日本的動漫, 分數就會下降

And this score has real-world consequences.

而這個分數在現實生活裡是有影響力的

Like many games, Sesame Credit has tiers and levels.

就像許多遊戲一樣, 『芝麻信用』也有分等級

And having a higher score give you special benefits.

當你的分數愈高, 你就擁有愈多的好處

Like: making it easier to get the paperwork you need to travel,

比方說更容易獲得旅行所需的文件

or making it easier to get a loan.

或者更容易獲得貸款

Now currently, there are no consequences for having a low score,

目前為止, 信用分數低還不會造成影響

but there's been talk about implementing penalties once the system becomes mandatory in 2020.

但有消息說, 一旦 2020 年這套評鑑系統強制實施之後, 具體的懲罰方式也會上路

Penalties like: slower internet speeds for low scoring citizens,

懲罰包括: 對分數較低的人降低網速

or even restricting the jobs that a low-scoring person's allowed to hold.

或甚至限制他們所能擔任的工作

But there's one more layer to Sesame credit,

但『芝麻信用』影響的層面其實更廣

and here's where this goes from being repulsive to downright insidious.

以下就來看看當這套機制強制之後, 事態會變得多糟.

Because this is all part of a social network, it also scans your friends.

因為評鑑機制是社群網路的一部份, 它也會監視一個人周遭的朋友

So you will lose points for having friends with low obedient scores,

因此你可能會因為周圍分數低的朋友而受到連帶影響

and it tells you this.

而系統也會提醒你這件事

At any point, anybody can check anyone else's score.

每個人在任何時候都可以查看他人的分數

And when you check your own score,

當你在查看你的分數時

Sesame Credit provides a handy map of your friends

系統也同時提供方便的手段讓你獲取他人的分數

to show you who's dragging your score down.

你便可依因此輕易地看到是誰在拖累你

Have you ever had that thing, where you play a game with somebody who wasn't doing very well,

你有過和遊戲技巧差的人一起玩遊戲的經驗嗎?

and you've tried to change their behavior to make them do better?

也許你會試著改變他們, 幫助他們做得更好?

Or maybe after a while, you just sort of stopped playing with the people who were holding you back?

但也許不久之後你就放棄了, 選擇直接不和那些扯你後腿的人玩了

That's at the heart of how the system works.

而這種心理正是這套系統運作的核心

And it's also what makes this one of the most terrifying tools of authoritarian oppression I've ever read about.

而這也讓它成為我所聽過最駭人的統治者壓迫手段之一

Because like: mass censorship, jail time, assassinations,

像群體的自我審查, 刑期或者暗殺

those are all big messy implements for keeping a population in line.

這些東西都是為了要『維持大眾秩序』而產生的骯髒手段

That messiness and severity foster resentment, eventually rebellion.

而這些骯髒手段和嚴刑峻法只會產生怨恨,最後導致叛亂

They're expensive, they're unwieldy.

他的的代價是很高昂的, 也並不靈活

In the end, those tools are impossible to maintain.

最後, 這些手段根本不可能維持下去

But social pressure? Ostracization?

但如果訴諸社會壓力呢? 以放逐作為懲罰呢?

Those things are free. They happen on their own.

這些並不需要統治者刻意製造. 他們是自發的, 本來就會存在於人群間

And as a government tool, they don't have nearly the same potential for going embarrassingly, disastrously wrong.

而且作為政府手段, 它們也幾乎不會有相同的潛在毀滅性

With a system like this in place,

當政府手中握有這套系統

a government doesn't even have to tell neighbor to spy on neighbor to read each other out.

政府甚至也不必告訴人們要互相監視

Because that's all built into a seemingly innocuous game system.

因為這一切早就已經內建在這一套看似無害的系統當中

The government need not step in!

政府甚至根本就不必介入任何一步!

Re-education will be handled for them, by friends, classmates, and relatives who want to maintain a high score.

政府操縱著這種『再教育』, 卻是藉著個人的朋友, 同學, 還有那些想要得高分的關係人們的手

And if that doesn't work,

即時這種再教育對個人沒有作用

then potentially dangerous ideas still end up quarantined by the social isolation this game system causes.

那些 (譯編: 在那些再教育失敗者身上的) 潛在的危險觀念也不會被散布開來, 因為製造孤立也是這個系統的能力之一

Expressed, or help to spread too many radical ideas,

如果你表達或是幫忙散佈太多激進的想法

and people will stop associating with you.

周圍的人就會跟你切斷聯繫

And not because some jack-booted thugs showed up at the door with threat,

並不是真的有人可能會來查水表

but simply because associating with somebody with those ideas

而是和這些異議份子保持聯繫

will lose them all the privileges they've worked so hard to obtain.

會使得自己失去他們要靠努力才能維持的特權

It re-contextualizes obedience to an authoritarian regime.

這也將對當權者的服從放入了一個不一樣的情境

In the past, you obeyed such powers because you were afraid.

在過去, 這種服從是來自恐懼

Fear kept you motivated, but fear is negative.

恐懼也許能使人保持動力, 但恐懼終究是負面的

It fosters resentment.

恐懼只會滋生怨恨

The world we're stepping into instead,

然而我們將要踏入的世界

uses positive reinforcement to promote being subservient to the will of the regime.

使用的卻是正向的強化來使人們屈服於統治

Its big brother's kinder, gentler hand.

老大哥動作變得慈祥而溫柔

And the things that make this scary, is that we've seen the efficacy of this only too well in games.

然而這之所以可怕, 是因會我們早在遊戲中見識過他的效力

You may not actually know this:

你可能並不知道

But when World of Warcraft was in its early stages of development,

當魔獸世界這套遊戲在發展早期

it had an unrested penalty mechanic.

他有一套機制, 用來懲罰沒日沒夜進行遊戲的玩家

That started limiting experienced gains for players who had played too much.

他們會限制這種玩家得到的經驗值

And players hated it. They resented it, and they complained about it every day.

最後玩家們恨死這個機制了

So, after brainstorming on this for a while,

而遊戲團隊在一番腦力激盪之後

Blizzard had the idea to simply change how the mechanic was presented.

他們決定改變一下這套機制的呈現方式

Without changing any of the existing numbers or systems,

在不改變任何數字與系統的前提下

they started referring to the unrest experience penalty state as normal, and made it the default.

他們把原本懲罰模式下的經驗值稱為正常模式的經驗值, 並改為預設

And they started calling the original normal experience gained state as rested.

而原本的正常模式下的經驗值, 則改為沒有過度遊戲所獲得的『獎勵』

That's all they changed, and everybody loved it.

他們就做了這些事, 然後每個玩家都很滿意

People would log on every day just to get that bonus.

玩家會每天打卡以獲取這些『獎勵』

Positive reinforcement works wonders.

正向強化豪棒棒!!!

But unlike World of Warcraft,

不像在在魔獸世界中

which built a system just to get people to embrace meaningless grinding,

這套系統僅是用來使人們享受無意義的打寶練功

Sesame Credit has built a system to get people to enjoy falling into line.

『芝麻信用』則是建造了一個系統, 試圖使人樂於服從規矩

Now the system's not mandatory yet.

現在這套系統還未強制

It's opt-in right now, but it's going to be mandatory in 2020.

使用者仍可以選擇自由參加. 但在 2020 它即將變為強制

And there's a terrible brilliance to phasing that in.

而這當中又有某種邪惡的智慧試圖引導

The early adopters are going to be people excited about this system.

那些早期加入系統的, 可能是對這套系統感到有興趣的人

People who are already patriotic, and are eager for anything that'll help display that patriotism to the world.

或是那些本身就是愛國主義者, 也急於展示自己是愛國主義者的人

And as early adopters, they're gonna talk it up.

這些早期使用者會開始談論起來

They're gonna give it an air of being positive and fun.

他們也會製造出正面有趣的氛圍

Then it will be foisted on the society as a whole.

這種氛圍最後會混進社會當中

More than that though, the early adopters are going to compete.

不僅如此, 這些早期加入者也會開始競爭

Already you can see hundreds of thousands of tweets,

你已經可以看到成千上萬的推文

displaying people's high scores, or showing off the new milestones they've hit.

開始秀自己的高分或新成就

Giving a hard numbers to their patriotism,

將他們的愛國精神打上分數

and giving them bragging rights for being the most patriotic, most right-thinking person they know.

並給他們權力炫耀自己是最愛國、思想最正確的人

And that's gonna set the tone for how Sesame Credit is intended to be used:

這也會為『芝麻信用』將如何被使用定下一個基調：

As a competition to see who can agree with the government the most.

作為一個競爭誰能更順從政府的平台

We've talked about propaganda games on this channel before,

我們曾在這個頻道上討論過關於『宣傳式遊戲』

but for all the time we've spent examining and deconstructing terrible games that espouse hate,

但在所有檢視和拆解那些擁護仇恨的遊戲的時刻

and for all the studies on propaganda games James has done,

以及在那些所有 James 所做的宣傳式遊戲的研究當中

this is the use of game systems that frightens me the most.

遊戲的這種用途是讓我最覺得可怕的

Because to most people, Sesame Credit will seem benign, perhaps even fun.

因為對於大部分人來說, 『芝麻信用』看起來似乎是有好處的, 甚至有點好玩

It's a conversation starter, something to share with your friends.

它可以當作聊天的開場白, 也是和朋友分享的話題

But it's making heavy use of all the psychological motivators

但這當中其實運用了大量的心理動力原理

that we game makers deploy in scoring systems, and ladders, and levels.

而我們這些遊戲開發者也正是依靠這套原理, 設計出了評分, 階梯跟等級的系統

Systems that we built to shape play habit,

我們利用這些系統來形塑玩家的遊戲習慣

and to keep people coming back.

也用來讓玩家回流

Like I said, I'm still kind of in a state of disbelief looking at this.

如同我說過的, 在探究這一切時, 我還是有點不可置信

If any of you are watching this from China, please tell me if I'm misunderstanding this thing,

如果你們有任何人是從中國看到這段影片, 並且覺得我有所誤解, 請告知我

because I would love to be wrong about it.

我真的很希望這件事是我錯了

if not,

如果我並沒有誤解

well, I hope this episode can do some small amount to help the fight to keep such a system from becoming mandatory.

我希望這段影片可以為防止這套機制變為強制 盡一點小小的努力

For everyone in the rest of the world,

而對世界上的其他人來說

I hope this helps remind us all how important it is to be aware and to be vigilant.

我也希望這段影片能提醒我們, 保持清醒與戒心是多麽地重要

All of these gamification techniques we've learned through making games,

所有我們在做遊戲中學到的遊戲化技巧

offer incredible opportunities for making this world a better, more engaging place.

都為讓世界更美好迷人, 提供了難得的機會

But, every great tool carries with it the potential for misuse.

但這些優良的工具也同時帶有被濫用的可能

And it's on us as a community who understands this amazing new medium,

而做為一個知道這些媒介的社群

to do what we can to stop that.

盡所能地阻止這一切, 是我們的責任

We'll see you next week.

下星期再見!

Hey everybody, just so you know, the extra credits team is gonna go on hiatus for the next couple weeks

so that we can all get some rest, and spend some time with our families and such.

But we will be back at the start of the new year

with more extra credit, more extra history, more stuff on extra play, everything we make.

So, I hope you guys have a fantastic holiday. Thank you for watching,

and uh ya, we will see you in January. so long!