Genshin Impact UID300000000 was created last night, and someone bought it for a high price. Do you think it's worth it?

Reflections on School Vicinity Rentals

I was reminded of something when I saw this.

I work at a key high school with a large campus. Consequently, the apartments in the surrounding residential area are mostly rented to students who live far from the school.

Some students rent in a “apartment” style, with one bed per person. The price is about 1,000 per person per month without meals, and an additional 500 for one meal a day.

There are also cases where a whole apartment is rented, and the parents come to live with the student for better care and supervision, known as a “guardian apartment”. These are generally not rented monthly but have a minimum one-year lease, with common annual rents ranging from 30,000 to 50,000.

However, last year, a unique case emerged in the community. A guardian apartment was priced at 300,000 for a year’s rent. Why? It was marketed as the “Top Scholar Apartment” because the previous year’s top scorer in the city’s college entrance exam had lived there during their high school years.

We found it quite amusing in the office. A child becoming a top scholar is due to their innate talent and hard work; what does it have to do with the apartment they rented? It seemed like a ploy to fool the gullible.

And then, that apartment was quickly rented out.

It proves that we, the modestly earning educators, shouldn’t assume to understand the mindset of the wealthy.

Gaming Mod Impressions and Economics

Previously, the official “Don’t Starve” team held a mod competition, where I casually entered our mod, “Xi’er”, and then didn’t pay much attention to it.

After a while, I was notified by the officials that we had won a consolation prize. The prize was an activation code for a skin for each team member, which was either a Mandrake Backpack or a Lantern skin (I don’t quite remember clearly).

I didn’t really know what to do with these (as I never bought skins in “Don’t Starve”), and the distribution seemed quite random. In my team, the writer, coder, and designer each got one. Also, a helpful guy from Chile online got one, which was normal. However, at the same time, because both Qiongmei and Amiya mods won awards (I was the writer for one and translator for the other, albeit with minimal and poor-quality translation), I ended up with extra codes (two or maybe three), all for the same skin. After giving one to a friend, I still had one left, unsure of its use.

Another friend of mine was buying these codes online. He offered me 200 for it, so I sold it to him. Later, I heard he could sell it for around 280 on Xianyu (a second-hand online marketplace).

This experience left a deep impression on me. Firstly, because I rarely buy skins in games, especially in “Don’t Starve”, where I find mods more interesting than skins. Spending nearly 300 on a backpack skin seemed extravagant.

Secondly, I participated in another edition of the competition with the Xi’er mod. After finishing Xi’er, I pretty much gave up on modding and didn’t have another mod to enter. I almost forgot about the contest, but was reminded by a coder. Surprisingly, we won again the following year. The codes I received, which I had little interest in, could be sold for a four-figure sum, roughly equal to my total spending in mobile games and the Age of Empires series (yes, as of now).

So, can you understand this?

I can totally relate!

The amount I’ve spent on the Xi’er mod has already exceeded 5K, almost equal to my lifetime expenditure on games. Even if I had kept and sold all the team members' codes, it wouldn’t have covered the costs.

However, I feel that this spending was quite worthwhile, as it garnered several thousand praises.

You see, within the range of human financial capability, it’s normal to make some incomprehensible spending decisions, right?

It’s just that, for some people, their financial capacity is far beyond imagination.

Certainly, that’s definitely valuable for those in need.

Don’t mention Genshin Impact IDs; even better Penguin IDs can fetch a high price.

High-quality license plates can also be sold for a good sum.

Back when you couldn’t change your name on the Tieba forums, those godlike IDs could still command a high price.

Similarly, Weibo and other social platforms, as well as in-game nicknames in most games.

And so on.

All of this has a market.

The desire for comparison has never stopped.

Rich people are like this, not to mention consecutive license plates, I’ve even seen people selling consecutive Chinese currency before, claiming it has collectible value. We don’t really understand it, and we dare not ask. Anyway, the money is in their hands.

Genshin Impact: A Game Challenging for the Attention of Wealthy Gamers

For wealthy individuals, especially those who crave attention, Genshin Impact is a very unfriendly game. It doesn’t offer a place for showing off, lacks leaderboards, doesn’t have extravagant wings, and you can’t just spend your way to superior gear or weapons. Even when you combine constellation levels and weapons, the gap can’t be easily widened. Moreover, there are no guilds, organizations, or multiplayer scenes to flaunt yourself, not even restrictions on changing your in-game nickname.

So, all they can do is roll for ID numbers. The cost of this is relatively insignificant compared to their spending ability, and it serves as a means of social bragging for just a few days after the transaction. It can be said that it’s better than nothing.

Comparing it to license plates isn’t appropriate because license plates are like the extravagant wings you show off outside, whereas ID numbers can go unnoticed if not closely examined.

It can only be said that Genshin Impact’s popularity has attracted many people who are not a good fit for the game.

The era is calling for a high-quality MMORPG to emerge.

The Trend of Buying Special In-Game IDs: From Genshin Impact to NBA2K to League of Legends

This behavior is actually quite common in games, where some special IDs or names can attract the attention and favor of “wealthy” players, often purchased at high prices.

The reasons behind it may vary; some players genuinely like these IDs, while others do it to showcase their uniqueness. Regardless, with money to spare, the Genshin Impact player buying UID 3000000000 is not the first and certainly won’t be the last.

Let’s talk about a few similar incidents from other games I’m aware of:

In the past, about a decade ago, during the time of the game NBA2Kol1, there were rumors of players spending thousands to acquire an ID named “Westbrook” (an NBA star), as well as selling IDs with other basketball star names.

In more recent times, in League of Legends, some players scramble to secure Summoner IDs. In the past, when League of Legends didn’t allow the registration of duplicate IDs, various IDs were snatched up and sold at varying prices.

There was even a famous “League of Legends ID Bar” where many ID traders sold seemingly rare IDs, including names like “Little Fairy,” “Little Baby,” as well as IDs based on hero skills, anime, or professional players.

Early screenshots from the ID Bar show that prices were quite exaggerated, especially when the restriction on registering the same name was about to be lifted.

Although ID restrictions have been relaxed now, traces of these past activities can still be found.

This behavior is prevalent in various games, indicating that as long as a game is popular, there will always be wealthy players who have a liking for unique IDs. Some studios or players even specialize in snatching up special IDs and symbols, effectively creating a sub-industry.

It can be said that this is just another part of the “gameplay.”

I’ve seen a video before There’s a rich guy or rich girl It’s a pretty old account, Mondstadt at level ten or so hasn’t been opened Don’t do missions either, Every time a favorite character comes out, log in and draw until full health and full spirit, Don’t level up the character, just refine the spirit after getting the health constellation, Then log off and wait for the next character, This is also considered a way to play, I don’t really understand it.

Thanks for the invitation.

Rational discussions are, of course, not worthwhile.

I reminisce about the days when the skin “Eileen” in King of Glory was incredibly expensive, thinking it was limited edition. But later, it was reworked, and every player had one, and even the Valkyrie skin was obtainable.

Returning to Genshin Impact, I compete for UIDs in the Dragonspine domain, and these UIDs can sell for 100,000. It seems to be proclaiming that this is an abstract era, and we can only say that the colorful lives of the wealthy are beyond our imagination.

I’m more interested in how 100,000,000 and 200,000,000 are doing compared to this.

This is not as good as the one starting with 3, go buy it.

Incomprehensible Rich People’s Thinking

I can’t understand the mindset of wealthy individuals. A few days ago, I encountered someone similar, but it wasn’t about Genshin Impact, and the prices weren’t as outrageous.

I, a casual player, casually created a new account in a certain PVP game. However, due to my experience in PVP games, I had a high win rate from the beginning. A few days ago, someone offered me a four-digit sum to buy my account. At first, I thought they had ulterior motives, but after some communication and conducting the transaction through a secure platform, it didn’t seem like a scam. Although I still have other game accounts tied to that email, I can’t understand why an account with my mediocre skills and a decent win rate in a PVP game can fetch such a high price. Moreover, this game is no longer popular, and I only spent money on a two-month card; the new account doesn’t have any limited edition items.

Buying a UID for 100,000 RMB (Chinese Yuan)

There’s someone who bought a UID for 299,999,999 RMB from the same person who spent 100,000 RMB on it. What a deal!

They acquired this account to use it for live-streaming Gacha draws. I heard that the money earned from Douyin (TikTok) donations alone is enough to cover the cost.

Douyin live streaming ranked 26th in terms of popularity. What does that mean?

Huge Profits

The 21st century is the century of marketing, where such massive marketing can be generated at a cost far lower than this.

Currently, this issue is ranked fourth on Zhihu’s (a Chinese question-and-answer website) popularity chart. Buying an account ranked fourth on Zhihu costs much more than 100,000 RMB.

Not to mention Douyin’s popularity chart, which has even higher profit potential.

The person who bought this account is rumored to be wealthy. For a wealthy individual, creating such a high profit margin with a casual act is effortless.

The additional value brought by the traffic generated after the live stream far exceeds the 100,000 RMB spent on buying the account and on Gacha draws.

It could even be considered an investment.

Would ordinary people do this?

Clearly not, as there was no such popularity when the UID was at 200,000,000.

For a wealthy individual, the cost is close to zero.

But for ordinary people, the cost is too high.

Have you never seen someone buying license plates?

Or perhaps QQ fancy usernames and mobile numbers?

I want to know if the account with UID: 114514 has been purchased by anyone.

If it’s another game, when players break through the XXXX million milestone, they usually organize some events to give out rewards.

For the pros, there’s nothing much to compare in Genshin Impact, as there are no leaderboards or anything like that, so we can only compare here.

As an ordinary player, I think for such a once-in-a-century event, shouldn’t everyone receive 300 primogems to celebrate?

Genshin Impact itself can actually be played for free, so take it easy. If you can’t beat Floor 12 in the Abyss, it’s okay to leave it unbeaten. You don’t have to push for perfection on Floor 11 either.

However, there are still people who spend money to pull characters and weapons to the max at 6 stars or 5 stars. Is it worth it?

The evaluation is: If playing the game makes you happy, then it’s worth it. Calculating value for money every day might make it seem less worth it in the end.

Wealthy Eccentricities

Let me remind you of a true story a friend once told me:

At the neighboring table, there was a rich kid who, when bored, would go to the bank and withdraw tens of thousands of dollars in consecutive new 100-dollar bills. Then, he would sit at work and count them, pulling out and collecting the bills with numbers he liked.

Doesn’t that sound exceptionally dull?

And here’s another story:

I still remember watching someone play World of Warcraft back in the day. There was a woman who wanted a Grand Marshal title in the game, specifically as a Night Elf female character. Conveniently, there was such an account on that server. She went to great lengths to get close to the account owner and persuaded him to sell the account. In the end, under her influence, the account owner grew bored with the game and had no more aspirations. Luckily, someone was willing to pay a high price for it, so it was sold.

Doesn’t this one sound even more unbelievable and boring?

Yes, the thoughts of some wealthy individuals can be quite eccentric…

Pursuit of Unique Numbers

I can’t quite grasp the fascination with seeking out specific numbers, but as they say, to each their own.

Speaking of UID, my secondary account has a UID starting with 295. It was registered in the latter half of version 4.1. I use it to gather materials for my main account and record some world quest guides.

In other words, between the latter half of version 4.1 and the latter half of version 4.3, the official server generated over four million new UIDs.

The pace of creating new UIDs has significantly slowed down. During version 3.1 to 4.1, approximately forty million were generated.

Even though the rate has decreased by more than half, the absolute number remains substantial.

I suspect that most of them are account sellers and the like, along with players like me who create secondary accounts for training purposes.

When the railway opened in April last year, it had already been experienced.

As for whether it is worth it or not, it is a matter of personal opinion. As the middle school political textbook says, “The value of a commodity is determined by the socially necessary labor time required to produce the commodity.”

Some people need to show off their wealth…

As for why they would play a game like Genshin Impact with a low spending limit even though they have money, I can’t relate because I don’t have the money to do so.

I only truly envy wealthy individuals when I get one-shot in legendary games.