Recently, there is a game called “Mingchao”. The list of materials for the development of the character “Xiakong” is clearly displayed in front of us. There are many types and fancy names, such as “Tide Erosion Sail Core”, “Burning Phosphorus Bone”, “Crystallized Phlogiston”, etc. On the surface, this is just a task goal set by the game designer to increase the fun and difficulty of the gameplay. However, upon closer inspection, it is not difficult to see that behind this complicated list of materials, it reflects the numbness and alienation of people’s spiritual life in modern society.
In today’s society, all living beings are like animals, running between the maze of material and virtuality, often losing their way, and spiritual anxiety and loneliness have become common diseases. And this complicated list of development materials is just like the countless “tasks that must be completed” set by the current society. They make people exhausted and helpless. Players mechanically collect materials and brush dungeons every day, investing a lot of time and money, with the sole purpose of making virtual characters powerful and showing their own sense of existence. This scene is just like many people in reality who desperately pursue the so-called ladder of success, but gradually lose the weight of their souls.
“Erosion Sail Core” and “Crystallized Phlogiston” and other seemingly mysterious terms are actually just props designed in the game, but if they are replaced with real-life names, such as “promotion assessment” and “performance indicators”, what is the difference? They are just shackles in different packages, which make people hold them tightly and difficult to break free. People are caught up in the social structure, like players who constantly collect materials in this game, repeating monotonous labor, hoping to get that fleeting sense of satisfaction and belonging.
However, this sense of satisfaction is false and fleeting. The “five-star character” obtained by the player is just a string of code in the program, an accumulation of numbers, rather than a real self-value improvement. It is also the case in reality. Many people focus on external fame and fortune, but ignore the call of their hearts. The repeated collection and swiping of cultivation materials is like an endless mental labor. It makes people accustomed to being arranged, accustomed to running for the illusory “powerful” goals, but forget to stop and ask themselves why they live.
The names of these game materials are like symbols, metaphors for the illusions created by capitalist society. Capitalists package these illusions and set “achievement” traps to induce players to continuously invest resources. The so-called “burning phosphorus bones” are obtained by defeating powerful enemies, but in fact they are a metaphor for the “exploitation” and “squeezing” of laborers by capital. Players pay time and money for a temporary brilliance, but they don’t know that behind this brilliance is spiritual fatigue and emptiness.
If you observe carefully, this system of cultivating materials is similar to the class structure in the real world. Bottom-level players must spend more time and effort to accumulate enough materials and get the qualifications for character growth; while players with financial ability can quickly obtain them through recharge and quickly “leap”. This undoubtedly reflects the inequality and class solidification in real society. Capital controls resources and power, and ordinary people can only struggle with limited opportunities.
This is also a manifestation of spiritual alienation in modern society. People are kidnapped by tasks day after day and become mechanical “material collectors”. Their spirits are cut into countless fragments and difficult to integrate into a complete self. Games have become a refuge for escaping reality, but they have also become a battlefield for spiritual consumption. Those who indulge in them lose themselves, become mentally numb, and eventually become tools of capital.
Looking back at “Ah Q” in Lu Xun’s works, he deceived himself with spiritual victory to paralyze himself. Today, players are not also seeking the sense of achievement of “five-star summer sky” in the virtual world, pinning their lost dignity and hope? It’s just that Ah Q’s spiritual victory method has now been replaced by more complex game mechanisms and capital logic, making it more difficult to see the emptiness behind it.
In this spiritual dilemma, only awakening and reflection can bring hope. We should not be swallowed by the complexity of virtual materials, but should regain our attention to reality and reconstruct the cornerstone of self-worth. Putting down those “tide-eroded sail cores”, questioning our lives from the bottom of our hearts, and finding true freedom and meaning are the way out for modern people.
In summary, the list of materials for developing Xiakong in Mingchao is not only a design of the game mechanism, but also a metaphor for the spiritual alienation of contemporary society. It reminds us not to let the complexity of virtuality cover up the essence of reality, and not to be enslaved by the symbolic game of capital. Life should not be just a pile of materials, but also a spiritual enrichment and pursuit of freedom.