Web3 New Citizens: Love games, love reading, love chatting, be interesting and don't be pretentious

Prosperity of the Game Industry

The prosperity of the modern game industry is reflected in the globalization of the game market and the diversification of game types. The game market offers a wide variety of game types, such as action games, role-playing games, simulation games, puzzle games, sports games, strategy games, etc., catering to the interests and needs of different people. It can be observed that more and more young people, adults, and seniors around the world are using various media to participate in diverse gaming activities. The thriving market has also driven surrounding industries, such as music, painting, storytelling, film, and forums, all becoming part of game culture.

Among many games, role-playing games (RPGs) like The Elder Scrolls, The Witcher, The Legend of Zelda, Dark Souls, and Assassin's Creed are highly praised by players. Players can assume fictional roles, complete tasks within the game, experience storylines, and gradually immerse themselves in the world created by the game.

At the same time, with the help of electronic devices and the internet, online multiplayer role-playing games (MMORPGs) have also gradually emerged, opening up many richer gaming domains and becoming increasingly prosperous.

Due to the large number of participating players, on the surface, the game industry is full of vitality, with large game companies and startups continuously developing new games, technologies, and hardware to meet the growing and increasingly diverse demands. But fundamentally, these game industries are still in a transitional phase between Web2 and Web3; they have not truly escaped the underlying logic of industrial civilization.

Working in RPGs

If we start to focus on the RPG field and try to find the core part of the game, we may see that the sentiments of a few people still emit a warm glow, but the glow is getting weaker.

I haven't played Genshin Impact for a long time, but I still remember Venti's advice:

Traveler, when you set out on your journey again, be sure to remember the meaning of the journey itself. The birds, poetry, and city-states of Teyvat, the queen, the fools, and the monsters… are all part of your journey. The destination does not mean everything. Before reaching the destination, use your eyes to observe this world more.

On Bilibili, countless abyss speedrun videos and their likes tell us that many players are willing to grind dungeons and farm resources day after day, just to improve a tiny bit of efficiency, and they beautify it as "Gamer."

Such occurrences occasionally confuse players, just like what Scaramouche said:

If you are a worker in real life, then when you play Genshin Impact after work, you will find that you are still working in Genshin, which is just too hard, okay?

In fact, working has long become the norm in games. For instance, as early as 2020, The Doctor Who Loves to Be Cute analyzed the reasons why players are more willing to work in games from the perspectives of achievement, control, fairness, and security. Furthermore, some players attempt to understand the principles of games and find ways to make workers happier while working. For example, the HRLogic Editorial Department proposed that a game-like points management system could be implemented in companies based on feedback principles to create an active and relaxed atmosphere.

However, discussions like these have not changed the fate of players working in games, nor have they altered the trend of gamification in work. We still face an ironclad reality: no matter how interesting an RPG is at the beginning, if played continuously, it will eventually lead to completing routine periodic tasks day after day after finishing the main storyline, gradually entering a state of working. It can be observed that even if the game focuses heavily on narrative, even if it retains many dopamine-stimulating elements, and even if players can deeply immerse themselves in it, after the joy fades, what remains for players is still emptiness and confusion. Some players may feel that they have merely transformed from a suffering worker in reality to a happy worker in the game.

Instrumental Rationality and Communicative Rationality

Historically, such occurrences are inevitable. The reason is that RPGs are also a part of industrial civilization.

Genshin Impact players grind dungeons and farm resources for speedruns, which is essentially an expression of the pursuit of efficiency. Since Watt improved the Newcomen steam engine, nearly three hundred years have passed since the Industrial Revolution, and the pursuit of efficiency has become a spirit of the age. This is an inherent characteristic of our era, so players view improving efficiency itself as a source of glory, even ignoring the law of diminishing marginal returns. In this regard, Habermas has long pointed out that industrial civilization has shaped instrumental rationality, which is the use of higher efficiency to achieve predetermined goals.

According to Habermas, in addition to instrumental rationality, we also need to pay attention to communicative rationality, focusing on the public nature of thought, actively solving problems through dialogue and discussion, reaching consensus, and cooperating with others to achieve social harmony. Even though this view has long become a consensus in academia, it has not yet permeated into people's daily discourse activities.

The reason is that everyone lives in an environment that has biases. It is evident that instrumental rationality is more suitable for working in industrial civilization, and the feedback from the industrial civilization environment continuously reinforces our instrumental rationality, making us increasingly accustomed to living around goals, setting objectives based on operational, quantifiable, and evaluable standards, rather than discussing ideals about life.

Similarly, while industrial civilization brings new lifestyles, traditional street culture and community culture have gradually disintegrated. People's social interactions increasingly rely on electronic devices like phones and computers, or they participate in some goal-oriented gatherings, with almost no opportunities for casual street encounters. As Xu Song said, modern cities provide a society of strangers, offering young people few social opportunities, while socializing is a skill that requires constant practice to master. In this sense, the communicative rationality that Habermas speaks of has already been permeated by instrumental rationality, making the distinction between the two even more important and noteworthy.

Loss of the Spirit of Play

When we talk about the spirit of play, we are primarily discussing the pursuit of fun; the fun of games is rooted in the negotiation of rules, because a certain rule will inevitably become boring over time, and only by negotiating new rule domains can we bring novelty.

If we are already pre-determined by the logic of industrial civilization in the process of dialogue and negotiation of game rules, always designing game rules around operational, quantifiable, and evaluable standards, then the underlying logic of our game rules is consistent with the underlying logic of assembly line products. This predestines that if we do not reflect on the underlying logic and development history of industrial civilization, then as individuals living in industrial civilization, the ultimate fate of players is to work in games. This is not only a logical inevitability but, as mentioned earlier, it is also a reality that has already occurred and continues to occur.

The more critical issue is that the logic of industrial civilization has been externalized and has become part of the technological environment. Even if a game stops updating, it can still operate automatically according to the current rules, and players will continue to play according to the rules provided by the game. Moreover, as these rules are part of the game system, players have no authority to modify them; they can only choose to continue playing or abandon the game, with no room for negotiation.

In this sense, we can see that due to the lack of reflection on the underlying logic of industrial civilization, the spirit of play has indeed silently disappeared during the gradual prosperity of the game industry.

Language is the Home of Existence

Once we inject reflection, we will discover new possibilities for the same thing.

Let’s turn back and re-examine Genshin Impact, and try to ask a question: Why do people prefer to work in Genshin Impact, even spending money to work in Genshin, rather than working in real-life companies?

When we ask this question, we may notice an interesting but subtle phenomenon: many Genshin players initially struggled with the "non-skippable dialogue" setting, but later grew to like it.

The reason for this is that this setting forces us to spend time listening to the characters' dialogues, gradually immersing ourselves in the context of the character dialogues, and every character in Genshin is very well-designed. When mentioning Mondstadt, people recall not only the statues and windmills but also many interesting people, such as the six-fingered bard, Venti, the humorous Albedo, the innocent and lovely Noelle, the homesick Pomegranate, the researcher of Hilichurl language, Musk, and the world-traveling scholar, Said…

The dialogues of these characters have rich interpretative space. For example, when we interact with the six-fingered bard, Venti, we often hear him complaining about a mysterious bard who has taken his job. As players, we often smile knowingly, thinking that he is referring to the Anemo Archon Barbatos, who is also the bard Venti, thus generating the thought, "So you are still in the dark." But if we think again, could it be that Venti already knows that the bard is Barbatos? Could it be that everyone in Mondstadt is collectively cooperating with the Anemo Archon to stage a drama for the Traveler we are playing?

When we listen attentively to the characters' words, we find that they gradually come to life and become our friends. Moreover, although the content of each character's dialogue is different, they share some common styles and follow some basic rules, and every line they say is carefully designed. For example, in Mondstadt, we can feel that every character is full of longing for a poetic life, able to freely express their individuality in the process of dialogue. Thus, in the process of conversing with these characters, we gradually transcend the world of industrial civilization and immerse ourselves in the world set by Genshin. In addition, the voice acting of each character in Genshin is very thoughtful, combined with exquisite content, making us feel that this new world is not only vibrant and interesting but also rich in life.

In fact, after playing Genshin for a long time, we may find that the dialogues we have in Genshin are more numerous and richer than those we have with many friends around us. In fact, the dialogues between the Traveler, Paimon, and various NPCs are also dialogues between us and the game developers, as well as dialogues between us and the books they have read. In a sense, the game developers may have developed Genshin precisely to prepare for such a dialogue.

Stepping onto the Historical Stage

Immersing oneself in a world is a beautiful experience in itself. Indeed, not every player who is obsessed with Musk Reef remembers the story of Leonard and the Hat Peak, not every player can realize that the names Mona and Lisa together form "Mona Lisa," and not every player can discover that the design blueprint of Leonard's wind wings is highly similar to the flying machine blueprints designed by Leonardo. However, every Genshin player will not forget their unique travel experiences, will not forget the lovely Paimon, will not forget the pursuit of freedom in Mondstadt, and will not forget the importance of contracts in Liyue.

Image source: Bilibili user Yu Songyuan

Even the characters in the game, even though the dialogues of Genshin's characters are pre-set, even if the content they speak is very simple, the different styles of dialogue among the characters still allow us to gradually perceive the overall cultural atmosphere of the city-state, giving us a sense of entering a new world. This is because Genshin has conducted detailed research on the city-state culture and character images in history, considering the positioning of each character against this background and seeking inspiration from history, which is rich and diverse. When those who once left traces in history and were later forgotten by industrial civilization meet us in the game with a new appearance, we feel a sense of déjà vu while also feeling refreshed.

Moreover, precisely because history is so vast, when Genshin brings out many scholars who enjoy historical research, even if we know little about history, we still have a vague expectation that the characters speaking to us may be related to some real historical figures. Even if we do not know how this relationship is specifically defined, we know that this relationship exists. Thus, we seem to sense a distant call, as if stepping onto the stage of history.

In fact, if we re-perceive the existence of history and view various traces (texts, artifacts, instruments, ruins, etc.) as mediums to access history, then we join a grander dialogue. Every book, every artifact, every instrument, and every ruin tells us something about the past in some way. The books written by ancient people are like a long letter that has traveled through time and space to reach us.

When we read the texts of ancient people, we are actually engaging in a dialogue game with them. Just like any other game, we can only make it enjoyable if we take this game seriously. For example, we might read the first half of a book and feel confused, only to be surprised to find that as soon as we pose our question, the author responds to us. Or, when we read the latter half of a book, we suddenly remember something the author said earlier, and we feel the author's thoughtful intentions.

Reading is not necessarily a lonely activity. For instance, in 1490, Da Vinci read Vitruvius's "Ten Books on Architecture" with Francesco Martini, which discussed how architectural proportions could reference human proportions and provided many detailed explanations about human proportions, sparking Da Vinci's immense interest in human proportions. Accompanied by the gestation of inspiration, Da Vinci ultimately created the immortal masterpiece "Vitruvian Man" in art history. In the image, the man's arms and legs are spread apart, with his feet and fingertips as endpoints, inscribed in a circle and a square. This painting showcases the ideal synthesis of art and science and is often regarded as a prototype representative of the Renaissance.

Image source: Wikipedia

Compared to Da Vinci and Francesco Martini, we actually enjoy a better reading and dialogue environment. The books we can access far exceed what they had, and the platforms we can express ourselves on are rich and diverse. If we treat each book as a letter from a friend, engaging earnestly in dialogue with the author through the book, and then sharing our insights with those around us, we step onto the historical stage, coexisting with countless outstanding individuals from history. Conversely, if we forget the books, it is equivalent to giving up on resurrecting the ancients.

After all, the ancients poured their lifelong efforts into leaving behind some texts, merely providing a possibility for reactivation. Whether to accept this possibility and whose texts to read depends on us. Each of us is limited, and the texts we can read in our lifetime are also limited. However, if there is a reading atmosphere, then many texts left by the ancients can be reactivated, and their thoughts can continue to shine in our era, illuminating our path forward.

Of course, we do not necessarily have to read the books of the ancients. Many outstanding scholars alive today have already engaged in extensive dialogues with the ancients. By reading a scholar's monograph, we may establish connections with dozens of ancients and engage in deep dialogues with several of them. In this sense, reading academic monographs can actually become a fashionable activity, an interesting game.

Just like any other game, reading academic monographs also has its thresholds. It requires us to suspend some of our preconceived notions, listen carefully to the author's words, and carefully sort out the author's thoughts. After all, only by taking the game seriously can it be enjoyable. However, we do not need to set overly strict rules for ourselves, demanding that we understand everything thoroughly in one go or that we memorize the main ideas of the book. These are prejudices left to us by past eras.

An academic monograph is like a topic starter. For example, if I take a book titled "The History of Absurd Medicine" and complain to a friend that Cato recorded a prescription for treating constipation, which includes "a slight fruit aroma mixed with a trace of dust, feces, and sneezing root (a highly toxic poison)," this actually opens up a space for dialogue. If my friend happens to enjoy exploring new things, we might start from this point and discuss how well alcohol dissolves, because water is a polar solvent, and alcohol is a universal solvent. Together, they can dissolve polar molecules like salt, sugar, and acids, as well as fat-soluble compounds like herbs, spices, and oils. By explaining the principles, we can then freely discuss various possibilities about alcohol, such as medicinal wines in traditional Chinese medicine, tequila, rum, brandy, whiskey, vodka, almond liqueur, cherry liqueur… Throughout this process, we engage in active thinking and mutual inspiration, gradually expanding the topic to the limits of our capabilities, and then we generate new confusions, which motivate us to read more books and search for more information.

Imagine a nomadic community that has lived for over a hundred years, where everyone has the habit of reading and communicating. They habitually take some leisure time each day to read and then casually encounter each other in life, routinely asking, "Have you read any good books lately?" and chatting casually. If they are in high spirits, they might talk longer; if not, they might just exchange a few words. In such a community, the cultural atmosphere would gradually become richer, and everyone would form various study groups around many interesting topics, gradually developing a diverse collective memory. As their horizons broaden, they would come to view dialogue itself as a skill, a game, allowing themselves to become increasingly interesting individuals through the process of dialogue.

Currently, many imaginations about Web3 are still constrained by the possibilities provided by blockchain technology, mainly focusing on areas such as cryptocurrencies, DeFi, decentralized identity verification, supply chain management, distributed applications, and digital city-states. However, there is a significant oversight in not placing blockchain technology within the entire ecological context of modern technological environments and lacking sufficient attention to the relationship between online digital city-states and offline digital nomadic communities.

The history of technology is the history of humanity. If we look back at the Industrial Revolution, we will find that the steam engine brought about a revolution in the entire technological order, and the innovation of the technological order led to revolutions in culture, economy, and politics. In other words, if we place the narrative of Web3 within the context of technological history, listening to the distant echoes of history and focusing on the relationship between digital city-states and digital nomadic communities, we may see more interesting possibilities.

As Wittgenstein said, the essence of language is play.

As Huizinga said, what games pursue is fun itself.

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