The recently popular mobile game “Mingchao” has welcomed the new five-star resonator “Xiakong”. The list of materials required for her breakthrough, skills and exclusive weapons is very detailed and requires a lot of effort from players. However, a closer look at the complex way to obtain these materials and the immersive experience of players can’t help but remind people of the seemingly weak but solid boundary between the virtual world and real life.
The game world and the real world are originally two parallel and non-intersecting categories, but now they seem to be cleverly woven into an intricate network by layers of data and activity rules. “Xiakong” is like a ladder of progressive levels, from the primary low-frequency tide erosion sail core to the medium-high frequency and even full-frequency materials, which are like a ladder of progressive levels, step by step and layer by layer, which seems to be the fame and fortune in life that rises step by step and accumulates layer by layer. Although in the name of the game, it actually repeats the endless labor of reality.
The “Burning Phosphorus Bones” come from a powerful enemy called the “Ancient Sighing Dragon”, and players need to do their best to fight for them; the “Golden Fleece” needs to be looted in the Linaxi Tower or purchased with shells, and there is a limit on the number, which is quite like “court limits and Jiedu control”. Such a setting inevitably reminds people of the sayings of “thresholds” and “levels” in the officialdom of ancient and modern times. Players are like officials, repeatedly intercepted by layers of levels, and work hard to get the hope of “promotion”.
Speaking of recharge discounts, the 22% discount promoted by Treabar.com is a typical modern business strategy, which actually induces players to keep investing money in exchange for the so-called “rapid growth” shortcut. This situation is just like the common practice of “spending money to buy time” and “capital squeezing leisure” in today’s society. Players are always pulled by the word “recharge” in the double gap between virtual and reality, and they can’t escape the clutches of “capital operation”.
Isn’t the process of playing the role of “Xia Kong” a metaphorical interpretation of modern people? In the game, fighting monsters and upgrading, accumulating materials, it seems that young people in reality work overtime and run around, dreaming of the “90-level” self, the “Xia Kong” who can truly break through the shackles of self. However, the seemingly fair mechanism in the game is actually another form of “class solidification”: those who can invest more time and money can pass the level faster and gain glory; on the contrary, they can only sigh in despair, and over time they will feel powerless.
It cannot be ignored that the game designers use extremely sophisticated mechanisms to lock players into repeated cycles of collection and challenges, creating a “sense of dependence” and “sense of investment”, making players willing to accept or even actively seek recharge and time investment. Here, the relationship between people and games is no longer a simple entertainment and being entertained, but a dual interweaving of economy and psychology. Capital uses the game as a carrier to create a virtual “ladder” to drive players to climb up continuously.
Let’s look at the detailed names of dozens of materials in the game, such as “containing impure crystallized phlogiston”, “roughly extracted crystallized phlogiston”, “rectified crystallized phlogiston”, “high-purity crystallized phlogiston”, etc. Although they sound awkward at first, they cleverly decorate the game world with scientific terms, giving people the illusion of “real existence”. This reminds us of the endless “proper terms” in the academic world, which build an impenetrable fog of knowledge. It seems that only by mastering these terms can we be considered as real “insiders”. In the game, players must collect these materials one by one, just like people in reality are firmly bound by knowledge systems and professional terms and cannot break free.
In addition, the cooking prop “stuffed meat tofu” provided by the game for players can increase the material drop rate by 50% when defeating the enemy, which is like a symbol of “efficiency improvement” in reality. This detail also reflects the general recognition of the value of “efficiency first” in contemporary society. When people pursue efficient output, they often ignore the emotional experience and inner feelings in the process, and finally fall into mechanical “production” and “consumption”.
In summary, the acquisition of the “Summer Sky” material in “Ming Chao” is, on the surface, a technical detail of game design, but it deeply reflects the mentality of young people in modern society facing the dual pressures of virtuality and reality. For them, games are both a safe haven and a battlefield; both a spiritual sustenance and a capital trap.
Perhaps we should see a more real metaphor of life from this virtual material list: on the road to growth and breakthrough, young people need more understanding and support, rather than being forced into an endless cycle of “recharge” and “killing monsters”? Only in this way can we break through the barriers of the virtual world and regain the freedom and brightness of real life.
If Qian Zhongshu had such a description, he would have ridiculed the absurdity of this era with his unique wisdom and humor, reminding people not to be trapped by illusions and strive to find the free world that truly belongs to them.