Video games have been regarded as a new art after painting, sculpture, architecture, music, etc. Since video games increasingly penetrate young people's lives, it's important for game developers to make games a cultural medium that spreads correct and fine culture.

For years, Chinese cultural elements that appear in western video games often look weird. Western game developers always mix Chinese culture with that of Japan, South Korea or even South East Asian countries. False presentation leads to misunderstanding of Chinese culture by players.

The good news is that, Chinese game producers are working to redress the balance. For example, in King of Glory, an extremely popular video game across China, 80 percent of the characters are based on figures in Chinese history. Experts from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Peking University serve as cultural consultants for the game developers.

Properly used, video games may help to inspire adolescents’ interest in Chinese history and culture and even historical poetry and philosophy. For foreign players, such games are a window to learn about Chinese history and culture.

As a civilization with 5,000 years of history, China is rich in legends and literature classics. Creating video games with typical Chinese characteristics by delving into the rich culture will help to promote Chinese video games not only to domestic players, but also to the rest of the world.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article published in Guangming Daily on October 17)