Today, the game industry is in full swing, and electronic games have become a refuge for many young people to escape reality. However, by carefully examining the list of materials for cultivating Xiakong, a five-star resonator in a popular game “Mingchao”, we can get a glimpse of the layers of spiritual dilemmas behind the current entertainment consumption culture. The materials required for Xiakong to upgrade from level 0 to level 90 are like an intricate net, which tightly binds players in the mechanical cycle of “cultivation”, and the sense of accomplishment is overwhelmed by endless repeated brushing, material collection and consumption.
The complexity of the materials is incredible. Low-frequency, medium-frequency, high-frequency and even full-frequency tide erosion sail cores, from quantity to level, are progressive, with gorgeous but tiring materials such as burning phosphorus bones, golden wool, and iris blooming day, which makes people almost forget that this is a game, not a labor list of some modern purgatory. The so-called “cultivation” has long changed from easy character growth to an endless struggle with time and energy. Every player seems to be in front of the assembly line of modern society, constantly repeating the mechanical actions of “defeating the sighing ancient dragon” and “brushing the crystallized phlogiston”. There is neither fun nor autonomy, just to satisfy the addictive numerical improvement.
Such a design can’t help but make people think deeply. Is this the ingenuity of the game developers, or a deformed product of the contemporary entertainment consumption model? The game has become a kind of “modern hard labor”, which makes people addicted to it, but they can’t get real spiritual satisfaction. The consumption of coins and the accumulation of materials are just like the bottomless pit of constantly pursuing material and fame in real life, getting deeper and deeper. Players desperately save the so-called “golden fleece” in the virtual world, but they don’t know that they are also bound by countless virtual goals in reality and can’t extricate themselves.
It is worth pondering that a dish of “stuffed meat tofu” is also designed in the game, which can temporarily improve the efficiency of material drop. Behind the short-term “acceleration” is a longer period of grinding and waiting. Just like the Chinese in Lu Xun’s writings, they are always eager for change, but they are trapped by the shackles of tradition and the burden of society, and they are always difficult to break free. Players rely on the short-term effect of stuffed meat tofu, just like people in reality rely on temporary placebos. In the face of helpless life pressure and time consumption, they get temporary pleasure, but they can’t really get rid of it.
The material “Golden Fleece” in the game is even more intriguing. In legend, it represents a symbol of wealth and power, but here, it is restricted to a luxury item, and only fifteen can be purchased per week, just like the resources monopolized by capital and rules in reality, which ordinary people desire but cannot reach. The game designer reminds players that success is not easy to come by, and behind it is arduous investment and competition. In this process, players may fall into the endless pursuit of virtual “wealth” and ignore the real spiritual growth in real life.
In addition, the classification of crystallized phlogiston – impurities, crude extraction, distillation, and high purity, reminds people of the obsession with “perfection” in modern society. Whether it is academic, professional, or life, everyone is kidnapped by the standards of “better”, “higher”, and “purer”, constantly exploiting their time and energy, but in the end they get spiritual fatigue and confusion. Isn’t the “cultivation” in the game a microcosm of the “self-improvement” process in reality? It’s just that this process has been frozen by the program and turned into mechanical and repetitive labor.
If you think about it carefully, this huge list of materials is actually a reflection of the mental state of modern people. People pursue glory and achievements in the virtual world, but are trapped by tedious tasks and lose the ability to enjoy the process. As Lu Xun revealed the social ills, modern people’s entertainment is not really resting, but working in another sense; games are no longer a paradise for relaxation, but another form of “workplace”.
Therefore, we can’t help but ask, what is the real meaning of the game? Is it to provide a short escape, or should it guide people to better understand themselves and release pressure? Behind the list of Xiakong’s cultivation materials in “Mingchao”, there is a contradiction in contemporary entertainment culture: it is both addictive and tiring; it satisfies vanity and exhausts enthusiasm. How players can maintain themselves and find real fun and meaning in this endless “cultivation” is a question worth pondering.
In summary, the cultivation system of Xiakong in Mingchao seems to be meticulous and comprehensive, but it reflects the various drawbacks of the modern entertainment consumption model. The complicated materials and high-intensity repetitive labor are like a mirror, reflecting the anxious, confused and distressed mental state of modern people. Only by recognizing this can players and designers jointly explore a healthier and more meaningful game path. Otherwise, we are just small gears in this mechanical cycle, always running around, but unable to truly reach the other side of the soul.