Recently, the newly launched five-star character “Xia Kong” in the game “Mingchao” has a long list of materials, which makes many players feel exhausted. Low-frequency, medium-frequency, high-frequency and even full-frequency “tidal erosion sail cores”, as well as various materials such as “crystallized phlogiston”, “burning phosphorus bones” and “sighing ancient dragons”, are constantly superimposed into an inescapable puzzle. Looking closely at this list, we can’t help but think that the complexity of the virtual world is not just a game, but more like a microcosm of modern people being bound, reflecting the helplessness and struggle of life.
Games should be entertainment and relaxation, and a pure land to escape from reality. But when we see such cumbersome materials piled up, it seems that the heaviness of reality has been projected into the game, which makes people fall into contemplation: Why do we always have to devote a lot of time and energy to these virtual characters and repeatedly brush those boring materials? How is this different from the suffering of running around for firewood, rice, oil and salt every day in reality?
The classification of low-frequency, medium-frequency, and high-frequency materials seems scientific and reasonable, but in fact it constitutes a layer of insurmountable shackles. We are like those pedestrians wandering in the downtown, constantly tied up by tasks and exhausted by waves of resource consumption. The size classification and attribute distinction of those “crystallized phlogists” are just like the constantly differentiated classes and resources in real life, persuading people to invest more labor and time to see a slight improvement.
And those materials with strange names – “burning phosphorus bones”, “golden wool”, “sighing ancient dragon”, seem to be an invisible shackle, hanging the hopes and desires of modern people. They are like treasures in mythology, but they are out of reach, making people exhaust their efforts to pursue them. The process of pursuit is often endless repetition, which is a ruthless consumption of individual patience and will.
Behind this list of materials, it also reflects the fast pace and pressure of contemporary society. The existence of “recharge discounts” and “discount codes” in the game silently tells the exchange of time and money in reality. Many people are willing to pay out of their own pockets just to shorten the growth time, just as some people in reality try to buy shortcuts in various ways, or exchange capital for quality of life. The helplessness and anxiety in this are just like those ordinary people in Lu Xun’s works who are swept up by the times, unable to change, and have to be swallowed by reality.
What is even more lamentable is that the short-term improvement item “Stuffed Meat Tofu” in the game has become the only life-saving straw for players to resist boredom. It seems to be a short respite for people in their heavy lives, an occasional vacation and short-term joy in reality. But as Lu Xun revealed, behind this short-term joy is deeper fatigue and loss. Time is gone, and those forced to repeat “monsters” and “collection” will eventually become a nightmare with no end.
Faced with such a complex development system, we can’t help but ask: Do modern people really need such a complicated game system? Is the original intention of the game eroded by the profit-driven design? Real life is already difficult. Are we being shackled by the virtual world and becoming more anxious and tired?
The “Xiakong” cultivation list is like a mirror, reflecting the mental state of contemporary people – in the seemingly free virtual world, everyone becomes a slave to their own time, enduring endless repetition and pressure. The seemingly gorgeous game world is nothing more than a variety of fancy names to cover up the inner emptiness and fatigue.
Lu Xun once said: “There is no greater sorrow than the death of the heart.” Perhaps we are now on the verge of a dead heart: disappointment in reality, confusion about the future, coupled with the dependence on and expectation of the virtual world, make life heavy and gloomy. The time and energy “kidnapped” by the game material list is actually a kind of consumption and forgetfulness of the self.
Finally, perhaps only by recognizing the dilemma behind this can we begin to break free from the shackles of virtuality and reality. What we need is more sobriety and resistance, not to let the tediousness of the game become the shackles of life, and not to let the tired mind die completely. Otherwise, no matter how bright the “summer sky” is, it is ultimately just a pile of cold numbers, not the real light of life.