Hypergryph Donates ¥3M Worth of Books to Rural Yunnan Schools — Arknights Players Say 'This Is Where My Gacha Money Should Go'

In a community where NGA threads are usually dominated by arguments over power creep, gacha salt, and devs allegedly "backstabbing" players, one post managed to do the unthinkable — make the entire comment section unanimously wholesome. So what exactly happened?

The original post revealed that Hypergryph (the studio behind Arknights) partnered with the Taofen Foundation in 2023 to launch the 'Arknights Charity Plan.' Through sustained support, they donated books worth 3 million yuan at cover price (码洋, a publishing industry term for list price × quantity) to 14 institutions in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province — one of China's most remote and underdeveloped regions. They also established 3 Taofen Reading Rooms on-site.

The post included a helpful explainer: the Taofen Foundation is named after Zou Taofen, a pioneer in Chinese journalism and publishing. It's the only public welfare foundation under China's news and publishing sector, with the CPC Central Committee's Publicity Department as its supervising authority. As for '码洋' (mǎoyáng), it's publishing industry jargon for the total cover price of all books — so the actual market value might be somewhat below ¥3 million, but as one commenter put it: "public welfare has heart, knowledge is priceless."

A commenter on floor 9 also shared a screenshot from the Taofen Foundation's official website showing the donation records, further corroborating the authenticity of the charitable contribution.

The comment section on NGA was something you'd call a "once-in-a-millennium" sight. The most upvoted replies were all pure positivity — "good deeds deserve praise," "donated = good," "this is great" — short, punchy, zero snark. The real mic-drop moment came from floor 17: "Based. My gacha money SHOULD go to stuff like this." Honestly, that probably sums up every Arknights player's sentiment.

But the most emotionally heavy comment came from floor 5. A self-identified former public school teacher who spent two years teaching in Honghe, Yunnan shared a firsthand account: the kids there don't lack intelligence or motivation — they lack opportunity. Dropping out isn't a choice; it's the environment. "The teachers are the most respected people there," they wrote, "because the kids think teachers know more than their own parents." That testimony alone puts the entire donation into sharp perspective.

Floors 4 and 6 offered their own contributions — explaining to fellow readers what '码洋' actually means and noting the donation's real value is likely under ¥3 million in market terms, but "public welfare has heart, knowledge is priceless." Floor 3 shared a personal reflection on growing up seeing the name 'Taofen' in textbooks and only realizing its true significance as an adult.

One small but telling detail: the original video link in the OP was broken, and players immediately rallied to provide a working Weibo mirror link in the comments. The OP and helpers coordinated to 'patch' the post together — the kind of wholesome community energy that reminds you why gaming forums exist in the first place.

Bottom line: in a sea of daily complaints about "devs being cringe," "power creep ruining the game," and "losing the 50/50 again," Hypergryph's charity initiative is a genuine W. 3 million yuan worth of books and 3 new reading rooms for rural kids in Yunnan — that's the kind of 'where does my gacha money go' answer that shuts down every skeptic.