The dilemma of Chinese users, rewards farming, suggestions

[aoaobear]

Hello everyone. First of all, I am from China.
You must not know: China’s bambu machines are region locked. What does this mean?
This means:

1. Actually, there are two different bambu handy APPs now. You are currently using the international version, version number is 2.6.1. In China, the APP version number is 1.9.1.
   
   Two apps installed on my phone at the same time.

2. The international version is an email account (Makerworld website account). The Chinese version is a mobile phone account. The two are not interoperable.

3. For Chinese bambu machines, the region can only be selected in China and can only be bound to the Chinese version of the APP.
   If I try to bind with the international version of the APP, an error message like this will appear.
   

   
   
   Translation: “The printer and the current account are connected to different servers. Please select the correct area in the print account interface and scan the QR code again.” ——But sorry, only China can be selected in the printing account interface.

4. The Chinese version of the APP does not have makerworld related content. It can only view and control the printer, and cannot directly send models to the printer from the website.
   

   
   
   Left: Chinese version. Right: International version

Now you may ask: so what?

Let’s sort out the logic…

As a Chinese user, after purchasing a Bambu machine, I can only use my mobile phone number to log in to the Chinese version of the APP and bind it to my machine. In order to download and share the model, I need to register an email account on makerworld, use this account to browse the website and download the model, use bambu studio on the PC to slice it, and send it to the printer via WIFI for printing.

All Chinese users can only do this. For models on Makerworld, we can only “download” them, but cannot “Model Prints” or rate them.

On the other hand, there are no restrictions on registering an account at makerworld, you only need an email address. This gives opportunities to cheaters and rewards farmers. As I said in another article, any company that provides click farming can easily register a large number of accounts and increase the “downloads” (not “prints”) of the model. This has become a phenomenon and I have reported quite a few such cheating accounts in recent days.

Today, a BiliBili UPer (Bilibili = a fairly large Chinese video website, UPer = youtuber) posted a video saying that his Makerworld account has been restricted. He is a very talented original model creator and designs all of his models himself.
I think I might know why. As a blogger on a Chinese video website, his viewers are all Chinese users. When viewers go to Makerworld to download his models, the number of “downloads” of his models will increase significantly, but the “Model Prints” will not increase. To the person doing the review, this looks a lot like something that would happen to a “rewards farmer.”
Video link: www.bilibili.com/video/BV1WK42147EE

In fact, as a Chinese, I understand and even support bambu’s decision to lock the region. I have absolutely no intention of complaining. Just to make some suggestions in response to the current increasingly confusing situation:

1. Even if the international version of the APP cannot be used, the makerworld account should be allowed to be associated with printers purchased in China. This can be regarded as a means of account authentication to combat the behavior of batch registration of accounts. (The trick of requiring a verification code to register is ineffective for them! Trust me).
2. Go one step further on the basis of 1 and change the rewards calculation method. For example, only the number of account downloads from certified machines will be involved in the calculation of rewards.

My English is very poor, I hope I made it clear. Thank you for reading.

[FLOWERS_GEAR]

EN：Perhaps we can wait for the official launch of MW in the Chinese region, considering it is currently in the BETA version. Let’s give it some tolerance and time for growth. If it is launched in the Chinese region before all the rules and content are fully formulated, it may lead to more confusion.
CN：也许我们可以等待国区MW正式上线，毕竟现在还是在BETA版本，给它一点宽容与成长的时间，如果在所有规则内容完全制定前上线国区，恐怕会带来更多混乱。

[aoaobear]

Yes, you are right, this is still a beta version.
Therefore, I propose to only use the Chinese machine number for account verification in makerworld. Only authenticated accounts can participate in the reward mechanism. This can at least to a certain extent limit the farming behavior of registering accounts in large quantities.

是的，你说的对，这还是beta版本。
所以我提议只将中国机器编号用于makerworld的账号认证，只有认证过的账号才能增加奖励。这样至少可以限制大批量注册账号的刷分。

[FLOWERS_GEAR]

EN：Establishing a content quality rating system and intensifying the pre-exchange point review process is valuable. If an account’s exchanged points are linked to low-quality content, they should be directly deducted. At the same time, there should be strict daily reviews of irrelevant content, adopting a ‘zero tolerance’ approach towards accounts engaging in point manipulation. In cases of system misjudgment, a manual review process can be implemented, and notifications can be sent to high-level content rating users through internal messages. Additionally, differentiating between domestically registered accounts and overseas registered accounts can be effective in combating point manipulation using a dual standard. However, this approach is not aligned with the company’s core values and positive social discourse.

Furthermore, as demonstrated in the example you provided, if someone genuinely likes a brand and aims to drive improvements, it’s crucial to communicate directly with the brand and offer optimization suggestions. Publicly opposing and boycotting the brand without prior communication reflects a stereotype often associated with Western perceptions of Eastern thought.
CN：建立内容质量评级体系，提升积分兑换前审核强度，一旦账号兑换积分中有积分来源与低质量内容，直接扣除，同时严格日常垃圾内容审核，以“0容忍”策略对待刷分账号，对于系统误判采取人工审核制，可以以站内信的形式发送至内容评级高级别用户，由优质用户群体完成初步筛查，通过国区与海外区注册账号区别对待双重标准的方式限制刷分账号，并不符合企业发展价值观与良好的社会舆论导向。
同时，像您展示的案例中，如果他真的喜欢一个品牌，想推动品牌做得更好，未经与品牌沟通解决方案，提出优化建议，而是选择在公众媒体言论抵制与反对，这种态度 真的很符合西方世界对东方思想的刻板偏见。

[aoaobear]

Agree. I just received several more system prompts that some of the accounts reported yesterday have been banned. I believe the community will be better in the future.
确实。刚才我又收到几条系统提示，昨天举报的一些账号已被封禁。相信社区未来会更好。

[J.lifer]

Thank you for the explanation. And your English is way better than most Chinese I have dealt with. And my Chinese is non existent. The explanation does make it clear why there are models with LOTS of downloads and very few prints.

[Neiljt]

Do they not use set limits to prevent farming, be it bili or fb groups ?
and id assume regional apps are the new norm, with obvious language barriers making it more suitable for character based languages to be set in those regions,

[royeiror]

Is there a reason you know of that chinese people are locked to the older app?

[aoaobear]

Yes, especially for Chinese-friendly models (e.g. assembly methods explained in Chinese). Often have hundreds of downloads but single-digit print counts

[aoaobear]

Internet censorship in China is very strict. Apps must pass review before entering the store (Google play is not accessible under normal circumstances in China, which is a built-in store of each mobile phone brand), and the review requires a long process and time. Moreover, an APP with a global community may have difficulty passing review.

Therefore, even though Bambu is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Chinese people are different from the rest of the world in using Makerworld.

[royeiror]

Weird that chinese government doesn’t hold all of BambuLab products to conform completely by chinese standards.

[aoaobear]

With globalization, China is gradually becoming more open. As with most things, managers can pretend not to see it, as long as they don’t take it too seriously. Expressed in Chinese, it is“睁一只眼，闭一只眼” (open one eye, close one eye)

[kip]

Thank you, that is some good insights. I never knew about region locked and another version of the app.

[Neiljt]

China is gradually becoming more self efficient . Xi`s goal

[joeturczak]

First of all, your English is spot on!

This does help explain a lot of the issues. Thank you. I’m actually glad to hear some of these things.

[aoaobear]

Haha, thank you. And thanks to Google translate, it brought down the Tower of Babel

[user_3490374403]

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Your English is much better than my Chinese.
I appreciate the “in depth” information provided.

[joeturczak]

Yeah but it’s been my experience in the past that if you don’t use perfect language Google doesn’t seem to translate properly. Apparently it’s gotten better!

[user_4199643780]

我觉得这个问题很好解决吧，只有在机器打印完成的时候才给模型作者奖励，隐私方面提前告知下载的用户同意就可以

[m_altmann]

It turns out that the international version of Bambu Studio can be directly connected to MakerWorld ?