Whatever gender you are, do you believe by simply playing a game you can experience the sexism that confronts a woman throughout her life?

Recently released in Chinese by the Beijing-based CITIC Press Group, Li Zhihui's Survival Game, a new South Korean role-playing board game and the debut work of 28-year-old game designer Gwon Su-in, is already a runaway success in its home country, where it has been featured on variety shows and set social media abuzz with heated discussions about the discrimination that modern women face.

The game features 32 scenarios where Li Zhihui is confronted with sexism, obvious or subtle, between the ages of five and 90. All were inspired by, as Gwon revealed, the sexism she and women around her have experienced or witnessed personally.

When asked whether the scenarios have been modified for the Chinese market, Li Jingyuan, CITIC editor for the game, said her team didn't see a need to do so as "women in East Asia all face similar dilemmas in their lives".

The game requires four to six players, with one playing Zhihui while others act as her father, mother, younger brother, male friend and female friend. They each represent a certain "attribute" of the protagonist, which are respectively social competence, self-esteem, pressure, submissiveness and sensitivity. Each attribute is 50 before the game starts.

As keeping Zhihui alive is the game's sole objective, it requires players to reach a consensus on how she should properly react to each scenario, according to the game's developer. Each choice awards different points to each attribute and Li Zhihui "dies" as soon as the attribute representing pressure hits 100 or one of the rest hits zero.

"It shocked us all that we weren't able to make Li Zhihui survive her 30s, even though we were the people who knew the game so well," said Li Jingyuan, recalling a playtest in early March she had with her business partners from DICE, a game studio who helped localize and optimize the game for the Chinese market.

The editor also told China Daily playing the game was a nerve-wracking process full of intense arguing and persuasion, as they all feared their choices may result in Li's death.

"What makes keeping Li Zhihui alive so hard is there's no such thing as the perfect choice for each scenario," the editor said.

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