The current gaming industry is like a huge and complex stage play. The shaping and growth of characters do not only rely on the skills of the players, but more on the long list of materials. Taking “Xia Kong”, the latest five-star character in “Ming Chao”, as an example, its list of development materials is almost comparable to the ancient cultivation secrets: from “Tide Eclipse Sail Core” to “Phosphorus Burning Bone”, from “Crystallized Phlogiston” to “Sighing Ancient Dragon”, the names are gorgeous and colorful, like the dream of an “alchemist”. However, behind this long list, there is the psychological manipulation of players by the contemporary entertainment industry and the complex entanglement of human desires.
Let’s talk about this list of development materials first. Its length and complexity are like an obscure classical work. Readers want to read it all over, but are afraid of falling into the endless quagmire of details. Each material is marked with “low frequency”, “medium frequency” and “high frequency”, which is nothing more than a rigorous plan for time allocation and resource management. Players have to mix various materials and go through layers of hardships like ancient alchemists before they can create their favorite characters. However, is this process a pleasure for players or an invisible oppression of “digital labor”?
Magicians in the entertainment industry are “well versed in human nature”. They know that desire is like Pandora’s box, which is difficult to close once opened. When players first enter the game, they may be playing to kill time, but later they are gradually engulfed by the task chain of “cultivating materials” and become a passive pursuit. Paying, brushing copies, and repetitive labor are like the exploitation of labor by modern capital. The game world is also full of “surplus value” excavation.
Among them, “recharge discounts” and “discount codes” have become invisible temptations, just like the meticulous power and interests of literati and scholars when they pursued official positions. Players are both protagonists and slaves in this “virtual labor”. Desire prompts them to spend time and money again and again, but often ignores the purity of their original intentions.
From the perspective of human nature, this list of materials reveals the contradictory psychology of modern people towards growth and achievement. We are eager to see quick results and pursue the immediate improvement brought by “high-frequency” materials; but we have to immerse ourselves in the complicated labor of “low-frequency” and “medium-frequency”. This is just like life, which has both lofty ideals and the daily necessities of life. People struggle and hesitate between fast and slow, desire and reality.
The name itself is also worth pondering: What is “Sighing Ancient Dragon”? What is “Golden Fleece”? These mysterious names are actually “symbol games” created by industrial designers to stimulate fantasy. They borrow the aura of classical myths and legends to give boring materials a romantic color, making players mistakenly think that this is a unique epic journey. However, the truth is that this “symbol game” is nothing more than the creation of a new “false demand” and a disguise of desire.
From a cultural perspective, this list of materials can be regarded as the materialization of “anxiety” in modern society. We are required to constantly upgrade ourselves, pursue efficiency and output, but often ignore inner peace and true happiness. The complexity of the development materials is like the ladder of society, layer upon layer, daunting.
Behind this, there is a more ironic fact: many players do not really “enjoy” the game itself, but “live” in the mechanical labor of completing tasks and brushing materials. This runs counter to the traditional “entertainment” and becomes another form of “work”. This reminds me of Qian Zhongshu’s own joke: “Life is like a play, and a play is like life.” It’s just that this play is directed by capital, the lines are written by desire, and the actors themselves have lost their identities.
Perhaps we should reflect on whether this kind of game and development system is the crystallization of human wisdom or the slavery of business logic? Can players really find a sense of accomplishment and fun in the endless list of materials, or are they exhausting their life energy on an endless “rat wheel”?
Finally, if we can jump out of this endless development cycle and learn to enjoy the process instead of just focusing on the results, perhaps we can rediscover the original meaning of the game, the joy of life, and the glory of human nature.
This list of materials for developing Xiakong in Mingchao is not only a microcosm of the contemporary digital entertainment industry, but also a key to our understanding of the complex desires and time allocation of modern people. It shows us that behind the glamorous digital world is an eternal struggle between control and anti-control, desire and freedom.