Games were originally a pastime, a relaxing way to escape from reality. However, in the world of Mingchao today, the development of Xiakong reflects the most profound exploitation and loss of human nature in the modern game industry. Those dense material requirements – 29 low-frequency tidal eclipse sail cores, 40 medium-frequency tidal eclipse sail cores, 52 high-frequency tidal eclipse sail cores, 61 full-frequency tidal eclipse sail cores, as well as burning phosphorus bones, golden wool, and various crystallized phlogists, this is not only a superposition of numbers, but also an endless devouring of players’ time and money.
Such a design not only does not make the game easy and enjoyable, but it entangles people’s spirits like an iron chain. Players are forced to run back and forth between dungeons, bosses, challenges and tasks, exhausted by those seemingly necessary collections, as if the endless work and competition in modern society bring spiritual consumption rather than accumulation of happiness.
The Burning Phosphorus Bone can only be obtained by defeating the Sighing Ancient Dragon. The sighing ancient dragon seems to be a symbol of silence. Its sigh is a mockery of the player’s patience and time, and a hint of the endless desire of mankind. We are like those imprisoned prisoners, trying to break through one level after another, but it is difficult to see the dawn of freedom.
The Golden Fleece, the sacred object that should symbolize mythology and hope, is set as a purchasable and limited currency commodity in the game. The buying and selling of the Golden Fleece is a metaphor for the commodification of all good things in modern society. Between reality and virtuality, people use real money to exchange for a short-lived sense of superiority, even if that sense of superiority is a false bubble, they still strive to pursue it.
The four levels of crystallized phlogiston, from impurities to high purity, symbolize the four tests of life. The game requires players to refine from the bottom impurities all the way to the top purity, which seems to imply that only after passing layers of tests can they be recognized. However, this road is a dark road full of exploitation. The higher the player goes, the more he spends and the more exhausted he becomes, just like the endless pressure and competition in life.
Xia Kong’s weapon cultivation process is also an invisible shackle. The upgrades of the rings are like the weight of the shackles, and each step makes it harder to get rid of the shackles. Players are willing to be bound by these virtual shackles just to exchange for a moment of power. All this is nothing more than capital’s accusation and exploitation of the spirit.
The complexity of the resonance circuit materials makes people question whether this is for the growth of players or the profits of manufacturers. The “Day of Iris Blooming” can only be obtained through weekly challenges. The limited time and rarity create a false sense of urgency, forcing players to invest more time and energy. The game uses the efficiency-enhancing “Stuffed Meat Tofu” props to hide traps. On the surface, it is a welfare, but in fact it is a pusher for increased consumption.
The existence of the recharge platform connects the virtual with the real. Players use real money to buy moon phases and discounts, which accelerates the pace of growth, but also more firmly kidnaps the players’ time and money. The so-called discounts and offers are nothing but baits in the capital game, which lure people to keep spending money and forget their original intentions.
From all this, Mingchao Xiakong’s cultivation system is no longer a simple game design, but the exploitation and alienation of human nature by modern capital. Players are bound by countless numbers and materials and lost in a virtual cage. Games should be spiritual comfort and release, but they have become a bottomless pit of time and wealth.
Lu Xun once said, “Face the thousands of people pointing at you with a cold brow, and bow your head to be a cow for children.” Today’s players, aren’t they willing to be a cow for the game industry? In this digital cage, they are self-anesthetized and self-comforted, hoping for future growth and breakthroughs, but they forget to ask: What are we paying for?
Mingchao Xiakong’s world is a true portrayal of the mental state of modern people. The expansion of desires, the squeeze of time, and the shackles of money have eventually become spiritual shackles. What we need is not only growth in the game, but also reflection and awakening on our own situation.
Perhaps, only when players realize the truth behind this can they break free from the shackles of the virtual world and find their own freedom and happiness.