Chapter 643 - The Highest Peak of the Art of Domestically-Produced Standalone Game (1/2)

“So, what does the game maker really want to express?

“It is actually very easy to distinguish.

“The reality problem reflected in the game, which is the content in the official Weibo post, is that it has the role of the mirror. It reproduced the elements of reality so that everyone could see reality with it.

“However, if it were to fully mirror reality, then obviously, documentaries would be a better choice of medium to show the contents to everyone more objectively.

“Yet, ‘Struggle’ is a game. The reason why such a format is chosen… is because the producer could combine the content that he wanted to express with the game mechanism!

“Therefore, those parts integrated with the game machine implied through this ‘mirror’ are the true intention of the game producer!

“Next, there are a series of questions and answers. These questions are the irrationality that the producer left in the game. It is precisely because of that irrationality that they are puzzles.

“Everyone can think about the meaning behind them.

“[1] Why is the game divided into the poor and the rich versions, priced separately, and stipulated that the purchases could not be discounted together?

“On the one hand, pricing itself is a kind of art—to emphasize that there was no second chance in life for example. We can choose in games, but we cannot choose our old lives. On the other hand, the poor are encouraged to buy the rich version. The producers encouraged the poor to buy the rich version so that they could truly substitute for each other’s living environment.

“In the game, the living environment of the poor and the rich are so different that they can no longer understand each other.

“The protagonist of the rich asked: ‘Why can’t the poor spend time with their children? Could they be busier than the President of a large company?’

“This is because the protagonist of the rich had never brought himself into the situation of the poor so it is impossible to understand why the poor at the bottom cannot control their own time…

“The protagonist of the poor believed that as long as you struggled, you will get a better life, learn from good people, and change the thinking of the poor. By then, you will be able to change your life.

“That was because the poor could only see the efforts advocated by the rich. However, they often overlooked the blessings provided by the massive resources behind the rich. Many rich people preach that ‘wealth beyond hard work is zero’ and that they started from scratch. The poor believed it, why? It is because the poor cannot have the rich people’s thinking, educational background, etc.—which benefited the rich.

“The murderer thought that the rich man was a liar… because he originally believed in the rich and later realized that the rich only told part truth.

“Therefore, this pricing strategy itself encouraged the poor and the rich to experience each other’s lives in the games, step out of their cognitive blind spots, and look at this issue from a more comprehensive perspective.

“This approach is to break the dimensional wall and use real-life decisions to determine your experience in the game. This approach can only be achieved by expressing this art in the game.

“[2] Why use the English name Struggle?

“This is precisely the brilliance of language. If it is just to simply express the meaning, then ‘fight’ or ‘strive’ would obviously be better. These two words are more positive and in time with the original meaning.

“But the word ‘struggle’ not only means to fight or strive. Combined with the background story in English, it is easy to find the pun: the rich are striving while the poor are struggling.

“Looking back at the Chinese translation of the word ‘fighting’ after understanding it will add a layer of irony. You know that, even though it is all a struggle, the struggles of the rich and poor are hardly the same thing.

“The struggles of the rich are in the ethereal cloud. You can only fight if you fly up. If you don’t want to fight, you can lie down and roll. However, no matter how you struggle, you will still be in amongst the clouds…

“However, the struggle of the poor is always sinking into the quagmire, and hard work is just to prevent oneself from falling any deeper. Once they stop struggling, they will be swallowed by the quagmire.

“[3] Why are the characters in the game so lacking in individuality?

“When playing games, everyone would find that the rich are handsome and glamorous while different poor people are in line without stereotypes of such people.

“The style of the game exaggerated the appearance, demeanor, and expression of each character so that they no longer look like the faces of real people.

“This obviously was not in line with the theme of the game because the realism theme wanted to highlight the sense of reality. It must be as real as possible, and the facial features and exaggerated art would weaken this sense of reality.

“On the one hand, it weakened the player’s discomfort; on the other hand, it always allowed players not to indulge in the perspective of the character itself. To look at these issues with a higher dimension and a more detached mentality.

“The facial makeup was the highly condensed image of each character. At the same time, it also symbolizes that the story of Struggle is the highly condensed story of many stories.

“In the game, each face is used to represent a certain type of person, and the game also uses the lives of a rich and a poor person to reflect the lives of the poor and the rich.

“It was the same with publicity. It was obviously an implicit expression full of symbolism.

“[4] Why does the game only have one ending and cannot be changed?

“The rich will be killed no matter how they choose. The poor will fall into a poverty cycle no matter how they choose.

“At the beginning, I thought this is fatalistic thinking, implying that you cannot change your own destiny no matter how hard you worked.

“But I quickly realized that this is clearly wrong.

“The reason is very simple… because the producer of this game, Boss Pei, is not a person who believes in fatalism!

“I have never met Boss Pei myself, but anyone who knows the inside story knows that Boss Pei is different from the protagonist of the rich man in the game. He really started from scratch!

“From ‘The Lonely Desert Road’ to successful games and then industries, we have witnessed the rise of Tengda in the past two years. No matter how hard we worked, we have not been able to find any signs of capital intervention. All signs indicate that Boss Pei is someone who was born in an ordinary working-class who took things one step at a time.

“Boss Pei is someone who changed his life entirely on his own. How is it possible for him to preach about fate?

“It is like a student who studies diligently and took 100 points in every test but tells you that studying every day is useless; would you believe it?

“If you use your brain a little, then you will know that this view is totally unfounded!

“Then why does the game only have one ending and cannot be changed?

“As I said before, the lives of a poor man and a rich man are used to reflect such lives.

“Everyone’s life is different. The difference between people of the similar class is also huge. Once there are multiple endings, it will dilute the thoughts that the game wants to express.

“The game imposed a unique outcome for the poor and the rich. There are two considerations.

“First, like most stories and movies, a single ending can ensure the integrity of the entire story and allow the creator’s ideas to be expressed.

“If you don’t limit the ending, you will not be able to make the beginning and the end echo with each other.

“The kind rich people ended in tragedy and the kind poor people also ended in tragedy. The story will be tenser. If a happy ending is used, the tension of the entire story will be diluted, and the ideas that the creator wanted to express will be going off-track.

“Second, this is a more advanced form of ‘fatalism’. It does not emphasize that people cannot change their own destiny but emphasize that, in this social environment, a certain individual’s choice cannot change the entire class.

“It is possible for the rich to die or enjoy their twilight years, and many of them would enjoy their twilight years. However, the hatred between the classes has been established and the hatred of the poor for the rich is irreversible so ‘kill the rich’ will become an inevitable event—the difference is ‘who killed the rich’ and ‘which rich was killed’.

“The poor may counterattack and become rich, or they may go bankrupt and become beggars. However, the relationship between the rich and poor remains unchanged. Like in a game, if the poor are always exploited by the rich in various ways, then the poor will always be poor. Even with individual exceptions, the perspective of the entire group… will become increasingly unsolvable.

“Therefore, the game deliberately locked the ending, letting us open up various branches in the game over and over again, make different choices, look for two versions of the hidden plot… but in the end, nothing was changed.

“Why can’t we change the ending? The game machine is restricting us.

“And by extension, the poor in the game cannot change his life through struggles because the game mechanics of the entire society restricts him.

“Here, the dimensional wall of the game is broken again. In a certain game rule—no matter how hard you work, you will not become a real winner.

“[5] There is only one clothing brand that repeatedly appeared in the game. What does this mean?

“Many people should have seen the luxury brand, which is that golden ‘LL’ logo. This is the only brand that appeared throughout the game, which was controlled by the protagonist’s father and inherited by the protagonist. It has also appeared on many characters.

“From the perspective of the game, a player’s memory is very limited. You might be confused if there are two brands so the best way is to make only one brand representing luxury goods. The ones without the label are ordinary products. This is the basic idea of game design: Occam’s Razor Law[1] which expresses something in the most concise way.

“But this expression is very magically integrated into all aspects of the game. It is just not a decoration.

“Have you noticed the biggest difference between the rich and the poor version? In the rich version—no matter what you choose, you will only change from one kind of success to another. In the poor version, you have limited choices. You will immediately fall and be ushered faster into the poverty cycle if you made any mistake.

“What is the difference between them? In fact, the hint was given in the game, and it lied in the numbers.

“For the poor, it is a lifetime of long series of numbers because you have to calculate carefully. Once one number is wrong, it will trigger a chain reaction which will cause the entire chain to collapse instantly. All previous efforts would be grounded to zero then.

“Now, look towards the rich. No matter what he chooses—no matter how much money he spent, there will always be more money and resources.

“Therefore, the game mechanism had been controlling the money in the game, constantly ‘setting the struggling poor man back to the right track’, trying to clear his money back to zero, and finally ushering in the only ending.

“Why do poor people continue to spend more money as their income grows? Some people think that it is because many poor people lack financial awareness and are brainwashed by consumerism. However, we must pay attention to the fact that there are many expenditures in the game that we have no right to choose.

“For example, why did the poor man need to spend one month’s pay to purchase a luxury suit, a belt, and a briefcase? Does he really need these things? Can he really not use the cheaper items?

“Yes, he really needs them.

“Because in the game environment, if he were to wear cheap clothes, he would be outcast by his colleagues and others around him. He will never be able to integrate into that circle.

“That is why so many people want to maintain their ‘face’… because it is just not a matter of face, but a real issue of self-interest.

“That’s right, this is what we know as consumerism.

“And this brand, luxury, is the condensation of consumerism; it is a concrete symbol.

“In the game, both the poor and the rich wear this brand. The only ones who did not wear it were the homeless.

“Once the poor protagonist finds a better job, he must use luxury items, live in better houses, and drive better cars. Because if you don’t do that, the people around you would use malicious or well-intended means to remind you.

“Malicious people will stay away from you, repel you, and prevent you from entering certain circles. Well-meaning people will remind you and tell you why you need these things.

“Therefore, no matter whether you are the protagonist or a player, you have no choice. This is another design that broke walls.

“You are very angry because you obviously made the right choice but are still unable to save money. Mes, the poor protagonist in the game feels the same in the game.

“What’s even more ironic is that the protagonist of the rich never wears luxury. Is that because he is more disciplined? No.

“That is because he is the son of the President of Luxury. He has a private racecourse. So what if he did not wear it? No one will have any doubt if he can afford it or not. It is normal for him to wear it to support his own family brand. Not wearing it would afford him the virtue of simplicity.

“The rules and regulations that bind the poor do not exist for the rich because no matter what the rich choose, it will become a virtue under the blessing of a certain halo effect.

“If you think a little deeper, the rich might not be wearing luxury, but they are using the brand to harvest high profits from the poor indefinitely. The rich desperately advocate consumerism and the quality of luxury goods. It makes you feel like you can have the same life as the rich if you use it. The entire group had formed a consensus that will spontaneously reject the poor who cannot afford it. That in itself creates a cage for the poor where the rules cannot be broken. The rich wishes no matter how they choose.

“It is like playing dice. The poor are fighting with luck while the rich profit no matter how they rolled.

“[6] Does the game really only have two classes?”

“Obviously not.

“I believe many people are trying their best to find the connection between the rich and the poor protagonists. They may even feel that the rich protagonist was killed by the poor protagonist or his son.