Hello, games community
I’m 26, born in 1999 in a small Chinese town. Call me French Fry Noob — or just Fry.
In China’s Battlefield community, new players are called “French fries.” Fresh, get eaten alive, but always show up in large numbers. A self-deprecating way of saying: I’m still learning, I’ll die a lot, but I’m here to have fun.
I grew up blowing into Famiclone cartridges, sneaking into arcades, renting PS2 time by the hour, and using a PSP as an MP4 player. Same story, different place.
I don’t work in games. Just a player.
Recently I wrote a long piece about how my generation in China grew up with games — Famiclone to Steam. Console ban, grey market, the Steam tipping point, and why “piracy” was never the full picture. Chinese gamers liked it.
I’m working on an English version now. It’s about why a kid from a small Chinese town bought a physical PS2 copy of Most Wanted years later — just for closure. Not politics. Just games.
Will post it here soon.
I’m new to Lemmy. Still learning etiquette. Feel free to correct me.
Thanks for reading. And if you play Battlefield… sorry in advance.
– Fry
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Welcome! Glad to have you! I think the etiquette is to take memes seriously and get in fights over trivial differences between definitions in words. If you have a sense of humor about yourself you should do fine.
Tomorrow I’m planning to write a short piece about how a simple translation difference created an unexpected connection between two games that couldn’t be more different in style. The way Chinese gamers turned that into a running joke really says something about our sense of humor — self-aware, playful, and deeply rooted in the quirks of language.
I’d like to learn more about foreign gaming meme culture and emojis — where people share them, how they evolve, that sort of thing. Do you have any recommendations on where I should go to observe and participate? And out of curiosity, where doyoupersonally go for gaming memes?
I don’t work in games. I’m just a player.
With that backstory you worked to play games.
You might notice no Battlefield 6 there. Truth is, my PC can barely run it smoothly, so I didn’t buy it. That’s the reality for a lot of us.
And yeah, you see all those games? We have a tradition in China: buy first on sale, think about playing later. (laughs) It’s a whole thing.
EA has a special pattern in China — either no discount at all, or suddenly 90% off. So we wait. We always wait. That’s the “Pin Hao Bing” (Scrounged-Together Soldier) way.
“Pin Hao Bing” is a joke in the Chinese Battlefield community. It means someone whose rig is barely holding on, but they’re still out there grinding, dying a lot, and telling their squad “I gave it my all.”
That’s me. That’s the French Fry Noob way.
Thanks for reading the fine print.
– Fry
We have a tradition in China: buy first on sale, think about playing later.
I think we share this tradition on the whole globe 😄
Not too different here in the states! Steam sales aren’t quite the cultural events they used to be about 10 years ago but they’re still great ways for getting cheap games!
Welcome, and people are people everywhere you go. 😉
One more thing, kinda unique to Chinese players I think.
When a new Battlefield game drops at full price, and a new player buys it right away — unless they’re a huge fan — we’ll jokingly make fun of them a bit.
But honestly? We also feel bad for them. It’s not that we’re cheap or looking down on anyone. It’s just that we really care about spending money wisely. Getting burned by a full-price game that flops? That hurts.
So the joke is also a way of looking out for each other.
And yeah, we complain about EA all the time. A lot. But that’s because we genuinely want them to do better. To make something world-changing again. Like they used to.
That’s the real talk.
we complain about EA all the time. A lot. But that’s because we genuinely want them to do better
That’s such a… rational take. In here, we just go “BURN”
“I personally feel that Chinese players care more about gameplay experience when it comes to EA, while they tend to be pickier about operations and originality when it comes to online game companies like Tencent. So even though EA often gets criticized, I’m still looking forward to them doing a good job with series like Battlefield and FC.”
In the west we make fun of and complain about EA a lot too, but we do it because we hate them and wish they would go bankrupt.
EA ruins all it touches.
100%, I didn’t buy Battlefield 4 until it was 20USD with all of the expansions and everything. My friend urged me to get it at that point and honestly, one of my favorite shooters I’ve ever played. I haven’t picked any BF game up since then though, as they haven’t really been the thing I’m looking for—my favorite thing to do in BF4 was to fly people around on a helicopter, or fly myself around in the attack copter. I got REALLT good at circle-strafing around buildings and shooting people in them, once I got a flight stick! With a keyboard and mouse, I am not able to take off and land without exploding hahaha.
Do you have a link to what you wrote? I’d be interested in reading it.
Follow me first, I’ll take a look at the forum rules, and I’ll be able to post next week.
