Zon: A new online Chinese learning game (BETA)

I'd have thought it would remain free forever, because it's a project by Michigan State University for educational use, rather than a commercial project.

Awesome game! Just discovered it today. My only possible complaint would be the slow and not so intuitive user interface. This really has a lot of potential. Does anyone know is this game will remain free?

It says on the Zon blog:

"...we are working hard to implement many of the changes by April 1st."

I haven't noticed any big differences yet - maybe there are new locations in Zon or something. At least they're listening to feedback.

http://enterzon.com/blog/

They've updated Zon so that there is finally something to do in the bedroom!

If you click on the TV you can watch videos about Chinese culture and about pronunciation/grammar. I've not looked at them much yet, but they look quite interesting.

Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up when I said there was something interesting in the BEDROOM. You never know...

I forgot to say how much I like the background music on Zon. The only problem is that I find it really distracting whenever I'm listening to spoken Mandarin (so I have to turn it off) - maybe the melody of the music interferes with tones???

Are there any more games like this on the web? I'd be interested to hear if there are.

Factual error totally wrong in the airport...Beijing airport, 1 bottle of water, at least 15 RMB... not 5 RMB.... always get ripped off buying water in Bejing's airport. Same price I'd pay in America I remember.

Just started playing this. Kind of interesting. Just find it odd at the beginning in the airport that no one even looks Chinese, but I guess that will change soon? They speak English, and not even a broken Chinese English...

Wow! I really love this game (though I am fast becoming too addicted). It's a fun way to get to know a bit more about Chinese culture, as well as picking up a bit of vocab. Cool.

Do you find that the 'About' audio clips don't always work?

Actually, there are a lot of things you can eat/drink (cookies, cake, coffee, tea, water, etc.). Each of these gives you 10 points of additional power. The thing is, I don't think your power ever goes below 20...I'm guessing again, since this is still beta. There are lots of little glitches I've come across so far.

Another thing you can do now is exchange unlimited amounts of money at the airport. I'm assuming that once this goes "live", you'll actually have to pay for play money. Just a guess though.

what happens when you run out of energy? Im down to abut 28%. I thought maybe if I ate something but as you say, you cant.

Pretty amazing game.. makes me hungry though. Have only been able to get a Jianbing so far.

I know...you can't even drink from the mini-bar...or crash on the bed...or use the bathroom...might as well just be a bum on the street!

You've been further then me. Have you been up to your hotel room? You can't do much in it though.

Oh, one other thing. Why can't you buy anything from the Breakfast Stand Vendor? I want to buy a freaking 油条 yóutiáo (fried breadstick) but he doesn't offer to sell anything. What kind of Chinese entrepreneurial spirit is that?!

Okay, I'm gonna get a life now and stop playing........

This thing is evil...I must stop playing! It actually is a pretty good learning tool though, especially for cultural history (the Flash interface is a bit slow however). RJ, you can talk with typing (like IM-ing). You just click on a person, then click "chat." Typing is like slow motion though.

I think I've gone as far as the beta version will go. I want to hop on the bus and go to Tiananmen Square, but it won't let me.

So far I've been in the airport, hotel, Jianbing Street, Hotel Street, and Market Street...the tea house, silk store, post office, etc. Has anyone been able to go to any other streets/locations? Bazza, have you completed the game yet? :)

I tried it out and will be back. I saw you were there brent. Is there a way we can chat with keyboard. It seems to want microphone. are there any instructions anywhere inside this game?

Some of the videos are really funny. There's one of 3 women at a street market. They decide to get some "Chengdu" snacks, fish on a stick or something. After eating, one of the women says:

天哪！ 够辣的。 我要喝水。

tiān na! gòu là de. wǒ yào hē shuǐ.

Jesus! So spicy. I need some water.

I couldn't stop laughing!

I just bought a nice red jacket in the hotel shop. It has some excellent lessons, there's also a few video examples as well.

I'm at the hotel now. :)

Yep, Calkins, could definitely be addictive. Spent time with a Mandarin teacher there, too. Good stuff!

omg addiction

Hee! This is fun! :)

Excellent. :)

Pretty cool ! I took a walk around the airport a bit...exchanged some 美国钱 and bought a 中杯 of cappuccino from Starbuck's (wonder how much they kicked in for that ad!).

Lots of fun...could definitely see it becoming addictive. Hopefully they'll speed it up a bit after the beta version.