Online April Fools' game a pie in the face

By Wang Wen (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-01 07:50

Online games are all the rage among Beijing office workers, who are turning to the Internet, rather than traditional props markets, for their April Fools' Day high jinks.

Renren.com, a Beijing-based social networking website that is popular with college students and white-collar workers, last week launched a tricky game.

Users can throw virtual garbage, such as rotten tomatoes or cream cakes, at their friends, who can see the barrage of rubbish coming their way on their computer screens.

"The game is special for April Fools' Day and it will end April 1," said Song Tiantian, a spokeswoman for the website. Renren.com has more than 150 million users in China.

Song said the game has attracted more than five million daily players who toss an average of more than 100 pieces of garbage.

Many white-collar workers did not hesitate to join in the tomfoolery. Many took up the silly sport as early as the week before April Fools' Day.

"I noticed the game as soon as the game was launched and I feel very happy to throw garbage at my friends because the blow cannot hurt them and all of us can get fun out of the game," said Li Qilin, 25, who works in Beijing.

Li said every day he has thrown more than 20 items of garbage at his friends. As his level in the game was increasing, Li can throw more web-offensive objects such as smelly socks and slippers.

Other websites, including www.ce.cn and www.it.com.cn, have joined renren.com in the April Fools' Day shenanigans. The most common trick is changing the sound or screen images on computers.

But for the vendors of physical trick props such as fake spiders and screaming rubber chickens, the rising popularity of Internet fun is going down as well as a flat whoopee cushion.

"My business is not very good those days because the tricky props have been sold for several years and are not fresh any more," said Jiang Qianyong, who sells props and toys out of a shop in the Tianyi market, the largest wholesale market in Beijing.

Jiang said he sells about 50 props every day. Because he is a wholesaler that number is unsatisfactory.

Business was worse than it was several years ago, although he is one of the only two shops in the market selling such wares.

Two women who work in a nearby office visited Jiang's shop on noon Wednesday but did not buy anything.

"We just want to find some new ideas to trick our friends with tomorrow, but unfortunately the props here are all old-style," said one of the women, surnamed Li.