The game “Honkai Impact 3: Star Dome Railway” has attracted countless players with its rich character settings and sophisticated game mechanisms, and the character in it, Na Ke Xia, is the product of all these designs. His breakthrough, light cone, and the advancement of his tracks seem to be full of challenges, but they are nothing more than the mobilization and guidance of the game world to the players’ desires. For these players, the growth of the character seems to be a hard struggle, but for the game developers, all this is just a carefully designed “consumption inducement”. Such a cycle seems to reflect our fate of being bound by desires in real life.
1. Breakthrough and light cone: the “bait” and “trap” behind the game
For Na Ke Xia, the breakthrough from level 0 to level 80 is not achieved overnight. Each step requires a lot of time and energy to collect specific materials. Each breakthrough in this process is a bait set by the “game rules”, which cleverly guides players into a cycle of continuous investment. These materials needed for breakthroughs seem to be the key to “enhancing the power of the character”, but they are actually conveying a hint to the players: by investing money and time, you can gain power and satisfaction.
From “Ethereal Omen” to “Echoing Wail” to “Eternal Lament”, the names of each breakthrough material are all filled with a hint of sadness and desolation. They seem to hint to the players that, whether in the virtual world or in the real world, there is always an untouchable emptiness behind the hard work. This emptiness is not only reflected in the process of breakthrough, but also in every “reward”. Players invest time and money, but get nothing more than a glamorous virtual reward, and whether this reward really brings substantial satisfaction, I am afraid only the players themselves know.
The light cone system, as another highlight in the game, is also full of temptations and traps. The acquisition of each light cone means the improvement of the character’s attributes, which seems to give the player more combat power and sense of accomplishment. However, is this improvement a real enhancement of the player’s personal ability, or is it that the game designer uses a sophisticated mechanism to manipulate the player to constantly “chase” higher-level goals without stopping? It is not difficult to see that what is hidden behind this is the ruthless capture and consumption of human desires.
2. Traces Materials: The Continuation of Vanity and the Pursuit of Self-identity
The trace system in the game is also full of symbolic meaning. In order to improve the character’s attack power, skills and ultimate skills, players constantly collect materials such as “sketches”, “dynamic outlines” and “exquisite color drafts”. These seemingly trivial tasks are actually the epitome of the struggle of the “lower class” and the show-off of the “higher class” in society. In the virtual world, players need to constantly “collect” and “improve”, just like most people in the real society constantly pursue external recognition and identity verification, and desperately strive for those seemingly shiny but empty labels.
The names of these materials also reveal a profound real problem to some extent-the process of pursuing material and vanity is ultimately nothing more than a game of self-deception. Every “messy sketch” and every “dynamic line draft” are like the “achievements” shown by some self-proclaimed successful people in real life. They seem brilliant, but lack real connotations. Their “shine” is short-lived, momentary, and fictitious.
3. Social metaphor behind the game mechanism: We are all “manipulated players”
If we analyze it from a deeper level, the game mechanism of the entire “Honkai Impact 3: Star Railway” itself is a satire on the real society. Players constantly collect materials and upgrade characters in the virtual world, as if it is a microcosm of people in modern society who constantly pursue external goals to satisfy their vanity. Whether it is the breakthrough, light cone, or trace materials in the game, they seem to be promoting the growth of the characters, but in fact they are silently depriving players of their time, energy and money.
What’s more ironic is that the “breakthrough” and “growth” in this game mechanism are precisely the true portrayal that cannot be avoided in many societies. In order to get some kind of virtual success and recognition, people are willing to make countless efforts for meaningless goals until they lose themselves and can no longer see the direction ahead. The character upgrade in the virtual world symbolizes that some people in the real world keep moving forward for “fame and fortune”, but eventually find that they have been stuck in the quagmire and cannot extricate themselves.
4. Human indifference in the virtual world: the shackles of desire and the numbness of human nature
For those players who pursue virtual rewards, Na Kexia’s “breakthrough” and “light cone” are nothing more than a catalyst that prompts them to immerse themselves more deeply in this game world. However, just like many “successful people” in real life, they may have reached a certain peak and obtained a certain form of “halo”, but they may ignore the emptiness and indifference deep in their hearts. Behind the glory of the virtual world, there is often a kind of numbness of human instinct: in the process of constantly pursuing external recognition, people gradually lose themselves and lose their perception of what is really important.
Just like Na Kexia’s growth process in the game, the virtual world does not bring real satisfaction to players, and the “sense of achievement” it provides is often short-lived and empty. Every breakthrough and improvement seems to tell the player: “You are closer to the goal”, but what is the goal? What can it bring? In the face of these question marks, we still can’t see the direction of progress.
5. Conclusion: Can the desires in virtual and real life really be satisfied?
Through the analysis of the character advancement system of Na Ke Xia in “Honkai Impact 3: Sky Railway”, it is not difficult to find that the game itself is not just entertainment, it also reflects some profound problems in today’s society: vanity, desire, endless pursuit and consumption. Players invest a lot of time and money in order to break through, for the light cone, and for materials, but what they finally get may be empty rewards and false sense of achievement.
This endless pursuit is just like people’s desire for success, status and wealth in real society. People continue to invest their youth and energy to pursue those seemingly important goals. However, how much real satisfaction the goals can bring, I am afraid that only when the “game” ends, can its true veil be unveiled.
Perhaps, as Lu Xun said: “The tragedy of mankind is not failure, but pursuit.” We are always chasing some unattainable virtual goal, and in the process of chasing, we lose the most precious thing-ourselves.