In the end, they vote on who they think the murderer might be. The plot develops as the players go around the table, talking in character, taking hooks from the script and the host. The script offers character backgrounds, relationships and potential storylines. In one club in Beijing, for example, players descend into a fantastical martial arts school where they don robes and assume roles like a peach fairy or a dragon. Then they engage in an elaborate role-playing game, asking questions of the host and each other, until they determine which one of them did the deed. Each player is assigned a character from a script, including one who plays the murderer. Scripted homicides, known as jubensha in Chinese, require players to gather in a group to discuss a fake murder or other crime. “The script is the foundation to everything in this game.” “There’s a huge demand for good scripts that’s just not met,” said Zhang Yi, 28, a Shanghai resident who played more than 90 games in just over a year. It has also led to a proliferation of clubs and competition for new and compelling scripts that players and owners alike say has become, well, cutthroat. The growing popularity has sparked some concerns from Chinese government officials about their sometimes gothic or gory content. This macabre entertainment is expected to generate more than $2 billion in revenue this year, by one count.
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