In today’s society, people are struggling between material and spiritual, chasing countless illusory “growth materials”, behind which is a suffocating spiritual alienation and vanity expansion. In the recently popular game “Mingchao”, the numerous lists of materials required for the growth of the character “Xiakong”, such as “Tide Erosion Sail Core”, “Phosphorus Burning Bone”, and “Crystallized Phlogiston”, are not only game system settings, but also a microcosm of the portrayal of contemporary people’s lives.
This list of materials, seemingly cold numbers and names, is like a mirror, reflecting people’s anxious mentality and distorted values. In order to obtain the “Five-Star Xiakong” in the virtual world, players must spend a lot of time and resources to repeatedly collect these materials, just like the endless performance appraisal and consumption tasks in modern society. We live in such an era: countless people are like driven machines, accumulating so-called “capital” and “achievements” day after day, but rarely stop to ask themselves, what is the purpose of such pursuit?
“Erosion Sail Core” and “Phosphorus Burning Bones” are mysterious names, but they are just fancy labels. In fact, they are a test of players’ patience and wealth. In reality, we are also bound by a variety of “must-dos”: work indicators, social etiquette, and consumption trends. Capital uses these “materials” to package desires, which makes people fall into an endless competition and run around without knowing it.
What is even more chilling is that this game mechanism implies class differentiation. Rich players can easily obtain the required materials through recharge and quickly cultivate powerful characters; while ordinary players need to pay more sweat and time to barely catch up. Isn’t this a microcosm of the gap between the rich and the poor in real society? The power of capital forces the weak to work hard, while the rich enjoy the priority allocation of resources, resulting in a terrible cycle of class solidification.
The accumulation process of this material is actually a spiritual exhaustion. Players are immersed in the cycle of “brushing materials”, gradually losing their sense of autonomy in life, and becoming vassals behind the numbers. Ah Q’s “spiritual victory method” is no longer applicable. Instead, it is replaced by a kind of virtual slavery that is carefully designed. Vanity and sense of achievement are capitalized and become the poison of spiritual numbness.
The “stuffed meat tofu” and other efficiency-enhancing dishes in the game symbolize the efforts of the capitalist society to cover up the inner emptiness with fast food culture and quick skills. People try to pile up their fragile self with more “materials”, but they are unable to face the real weight of life. Behind every “five-star summer sky” is a gradually disappearing self.
In short, the complexity of the summer sky cultivation materials in “Mingchao” not only reveals the ingenuity of game design, but also reflects the alienation of the spirit of modern society. We are enslaved by the invisible list of materials, exhausting time and emotions, but cannot get back true freedom and happiness. Perhaps, only by awakening and letting go of vanity and anxiety can we get out of this spiritual cage.