It’s quite interesting to talk about the game “Mingchao”. Xiakong, the new five-star resonator, has a mountain of materials, including low-frequency, medium-frequency, and high-frequency tide erosion sail cores, burning phosphorus bones, golden fleece, and a large number of crystallized phlogistons, which makes people wonder whether he is cultivating a character or being an alchemist. Don’t say it, I have seen many players who are really “hard” to the point of doubting their lives. This reflects not only the game design, but also the entanglement of the entire player group with time and sense of achievement.
Let’s talk about the number of materials first. To cultivate Xiakong to the full level 90, you have to upgrade the resonance circuit and the special weapon to the maximum, and pile up hundreds of materials. In fact, to put it bluntly, it is a game design routine of “cutting time”-the stronger you want to become, the more time you have to spend, brushing dungeons and bosses every day, and even spending money to buy time. In recent years, there have been many games with extremely high “hard work”. Everyone says “playing games is relaxing”, but they actually know in their hearts that they are often “forced to work hard” by the game.
You can only buy 15 Golden Flees per week, so you can’t do it quickly. This design is to extend the life of the game, but it also forces players to take their time. But is it really reliable to take your time? The pace of real life is fast, who has so much time? Most players are actually caught between the pressure of reality and the desire to play games, and they are in a dilemma.
And you can see the materials of the special weapons – various shackles, from simple to special, and the names are quite appropriate. Shackles are originally shackles, but in the game they become “props” for you to improve your combat power. This design is quite interesting. It is very similar to the “shackles” in real life: we want to break free and want freedom, but we are often more and more tied up by responsibilities, tasks, and pressure. The game uses shackles to upgrade, which is also a reflection of reality to some extent.
Let’s talk about crystallized phlogiston. These things have to be brushed by “Condensate Field·Confession Abyss”. The name sounds quite sacred, Confession Abyss, as if the soul is about to be purified. In fact, it is just to brush the book repeatedly, which makes you feel dizzy. What is reflected behind this is a kind of anxiety of contemporary players: in order to become stronger and to satisfy the self-worth in the virtual world, they can’t breathe in reality.
The material “Day of Iris Blooming” can only be obtained through the weekly challenge of “Wheel of Fate”. The name is poetic, but full of helplessness. It takes a lot of time to challenge once, and you have to try again if you fail. Isn’t life like this? Countless challenges, countless failures, and finally piece together a little light. The relationship between games and life is here, who can tell which is more cruel?
Not to mention the recharge system. The economic rules of the real world are directly moved into the game. If players want to get resources quickly, they have to spend money. This is the most naked capital game rule. Game companies turn players’ time and money into profits through krypton gold. On the one hand, players want to escape the pressure of reality, and on the other hand, they are firmly bound by the economic rules of reality. The more money you spend on playing games, the better the game experience, but your burden in reality is also getting heavier.
“Stuffed meat tofu”, a prop that improves the efficiency of material drops, is a small detail, but it can make people understand a lot of things. It reflects the worship of efficiency in modern society. Everyone wants to complete the task quickly and make progress quickly, but efficiency brings tighter time pressure. Players use stuffed meat tofu to get more materials within 30 minutes, which is actually another way to tie themselves tighter.
In the final analysis, the material design of “Mingchao” Xiakong is not aimless, but reflects the psychological state of the modern player group: time anxiety, lack of sense of achievement, and the contradiction between reality and virtuality. Players “liver” the game, sometimes it is really helpless, and sometimes it is a way of self-salvation-finding a “sense of control” in the virtual world to make up for the passivity and powerlessness in reality.
As players, we must recognize the contradiction in this: games can give us happiness and escape, but we cannot be kidnapped by “liver degree”. Moderate games and healthy life are the long-term path to self-salvation. I hope that game manufacturers can consider the player experience more, reduce meaningless repetitive work, and design more truly interesting content.
This is the story of Xiakong in Mingchao, and also the story of our generation of gamers. I hope we can find a balanced answer in both the game and reality.