Sending red envelopes before seeing clear photos of friends is popular in WeChat circles. (File photo)

Tencent has launched a game where people have to send red envelopes before seeing clear photos of friends in their WeChat friends circle. The game went live on the evening of Jan. 26, 2016.

It means that players can only see a blurred image, seemingly behind frosted glass, when their friends post photos online. Only if they send electronic versions of traditional red envelopes containing small amounts of money to friends, could they see the original, clear photos, and then make comments and leave any praise.

Tencent holds the opinion that this interactive game gives new meanings and interests to WeChat circles. A large number of users have been posting their interesting photos such as family portraits, childhood photos and ID photos online, which inspired some unexpected social activities.

Sohu.com has conducted a public opinion poll of 16,888 netizens on this hot topic. Until 9:00 p.m. yesterday, 85.64 percent of people said they were reluctant to play this boring game anymore. Only 11.61 percent of netizens regarded that this game as interesting and wanted to participate in it.

This creative game has indeed boiled the blood of netizens in WeChat circles, but it only lasted for an hour. Then the golden icon turned back to the original color.

Media outlets suspected the reason why WeChat finished the test in advance was some users found a way to see clear photos without sending red envelopes and that there were maybe some pornographic pictures in WeChat circles.

According to the data, 16 million yuan worth of red envelopes were distributed on New Year's Eve 2014 and the number sharply increased to over 1.01 billion at the same time in 2015. In addition to the trend during the Spring Festival, 0.4 billion yuan worth of red envelopes were sent on May 20, 2015 and the number reached 0.5 billion yuan on Children's Day. 1.427 billion red envelopes were sent and received on Aug. 20 - Chinese Valentine's Day. 2.2 billion red envelopes enlivened the WeChat circle in the Mid-autumn Day of 2015.

Tencent has officially declared that sending red envelopes before seeing photos and shaking the red envelopes will be restarted during the Spring Festival.

This article was edited and translated from 《看朋友圈照片要先发红包？ 八成网友表示“没兴趣”》.Source: Beijing Daily. The author is Geng Nuo.