When I first saw the red and white sign on the battlefield of Erangel, I was stunned. Not because of its color, but because it looked too much like something in a familiar corner of my memory. You know, the kind of small shop across from the square where you worked in college, which has been open for many years and the air conditioning is always too strong. The kind of hot fried chicken and fries that you saved up for two weeks of pocket money after school in high school when you were hungry.
But this is not the real world. This is a battlefield.
Erangel, a simulated island, is given the meaning of “survival” by the program. When you are born, it means fighting, looking for weapons, props, teammates and hiding places. You have to run away from poison, shoot, and survive. You can’t be distracted, because if you are distracted, you may die.
But now, on this battlefield where you thought there was no breathing space, there is suddenly a “fast food restaurant”. A self-service ordering machine with a light on, quietly waiting for you to approach. You press that button, and your game nickname will appear on the screen, just like the little you who is queuing in the convenience store, and finally it’s your turn, and you can finally say: “I want a fried chicken meal.”
Is that you? You who still want to eat fried chicken in the war? You who still look forward to “eating well”.
The game sets all this up very “reasonably”. Fried chicken is a first aid kit, French fries are bandages, and drinks are energy drinks. They do help you “survive”. But what’s more real is that when your character uses them, he will make a very “redundant” action-he will bite off a chicken leg and eat it seriously. That bite of chicken leg, in the war, is like proof that life is not willing to die.
You can’t order food endlessly. Each fast food restaurant only allows you to use it once, and you have to wait until the game enters the fourth stage before you can order it again. This restriction seems cold, but there is a human logic in it: you can’t indulge yourself all the time, you need to fight, but you also need to remember to eat at some point.
I asked myself: Is this the designer’s humor? Or is it a gentle reminder to the players?
Fried chicken shops are not only found in Erangel, but also in Miramar, Sanhok, and Vikendi. Even on the planes carrying players across the battlefield, KFC banners are hung high, like some kind of untimely advertisement, or like a mother’s reminder – “Have you eaten?”
It is no longer just a brand icon, but like a piece of life fragments implanted in the battlefield, reminding players that you are still a human being, not a killing machine.
Yes, we are used to surviving under high pressure. In the game and in reality. We are too good at running, fighting, calculating and defending, but often forget to ask: Do we still remember how to sit down and eat a meal quietly? Do we still allow ourselves to relax a little in the tension and have a bite of warm food in the killing?
That bite of fried chicken may be fake, but it awakens our real yearning for life.
And the deeper metaphor is that it makes us realize that we are used to turning all “human nature” into “functions” to deal with. Are you hungry? Give you a blood recovery prop. Are you tired? Give you an energy drink. Are you lonely? Then show your name on the screen to confirm your “existence”.
We thought we were playing a game, but in fact, it was the game that told us what we had lost.
So, between the sound of gunfire and the shrinking of the map, between lying on the ground and shooting, someone squatted down, pressed the ordering machine, and took a bite of fried chicken.
Maybe it’s not because of hunger, but because I still don’t want to forget: what it means to live well.