Many of Mr. Pei’s statements seemed contradictory on the surface, but upon deeper examination, they could achieve a state of unity of opposites at a higher level!
The keyword “attention” made Qiao Liang involuntarily think of the recent Sloth Apartments and Automatic Contrarian Machine.
And the uniqueness of the scholarship students as a group made Qiao Liang think of “Struggle.”
It seemed that mysteriously, there truly was a thread connecting everything!
But all of this still needed to be properly sorted out.
First, he would start with a seemingly contradictory concept!
Qiao Liang excitedly grabbed his computer and recorded all his thoughts.
In the speech, Mr. Pei hoped that these scholarship students wouldn’t spend money on distracting, addictive entertainment activities.
But at the same time, Mr. Pei was a game developer who had made many entertaining games and invented seemingly meaningless gadgets like the Automatic Contrarian Machine.
Wasn’t this contradictory?
For people who didn’t play or understand games, this was obviously contradictory, because they would view games as a waste of time and meaningless entertainment.
But for Qiao Liang, as a veteran game enthusiast, he certainly wouldn’t think games were meaningless.
Games had at least two beneficial aspects:
From a gameplay perspective, games allowed accumulated pressure to be released, providing mental rest. Like most entertainment activities, they could soothe the soul;
From an artistic perspective, some games themselves had deeper meaning, expressing certain content that was enlightening for players.
And these two aspects happened to be what Tenda Games had always pursued.
GOG constantly pursued the ultimate gameplay experience, providing relaxation and entertainment, while games like “Game Producer,” “Turn Back to Shore,” “Struggle,” and others constantly pursued artistic excellence, providing inspiration and food for thought.
Under what circumstances were games harmful?
When players were dominated by negative emotions, pouring excessive time into games of low taste, not treating games as entertainment but as a substitute for escaping reality, that’s when they became harmful.
These games that stirred up negative emotions were precisely what Tenda never touched.
Of course, good games sometimes could also be addictive, but this couldn’t be blamed on “games being too fun,” but rather on one’s lack of self-control.
The crux of these people with no self-control was that they hadn’t recognized attention as their most precious wealth and had squandered this valuable resource.
Even without games, they would find something else to waste their attention on.
Even if there were no entertainment activities in the world, they wouldn’t do meaningful things, but would instead space out.
In this case, if they could spend time playing games like “Struggle,” it would be beneficial for them.
Other entertainment, such as movies, TV dramas, novels, etc., all served the same purpose. Letting people relax and unwind, so they could better engage in work afterward—this was their inherent meaning.
If they could provide a bit of inspiration as well, that would be even better.
Thinking about this, Qiao Liang suddenly had a moment of clarity.
He understood why Mr. Pei had said not to use “Masterpiece” to interpret “Struggle”!
Because the ideas expressed in “Struggle” weren’t limited to the gaming realm, it naturally couldn’t be interpreted purely through the gaming mindset of “Masterpiece”!
Just as Master He An had said, “Struggle” was a game that broke the fourth wall, and this game itself was closely related to Tenda’s industries!
Master He An had interpreted “Struggle” using game design concepts, but this was incomplete.
Because he hadn’t connected it to these real-world elements.
For example, Master He An mentioned in his long Weibo post that Mr. Pei encouraged everyone to resist consumerism, but what exactly did Mr. Pei consider “consumerism” and “IQ tax”? Was it the concept we understand through our habitual thinking?
There was a difference.
Qiao Liang finally understood why, after abandoning the use of “Masterpiece” to interpret “Struggle,” he could find what was missing in the Thrilling Lodge video.
Because all of this content was ultimately talking about the same thing.
Empowered by the Sloth Apartment environment, Qiao Liang instantly felt his inspiration surging and immediately began writing the document for his new video.
Silent Expresser, First Episode (Continued): Everything You Need to Know Beyond “Struggle”!
…
…
September 16th, Friday.
He An woke up early as usual, walked a couple of laps in his villa’s garden, then browsed recent news while drinking tea.
GOG’s Global Invitational had progressed to the second day of the second round of group stages, but He An wasn’t paying attention to this tournament.
After all, he was getting older, and his interest in the gaming industry now focused on single-player games.
Suddenly, he noticed that quite a few people had sent him private messages on Weibo last night.
These messages were all similar, sending him a link to the AiLiDao website, asking him to check out a certain video.
This situation was rather uncommon.
With some curiosity, He An clicked the link and was redirected to the AiLiDao website.
“Everything You Need to Know Beyond ‘Struggle’?”
“Hmm?”
He An was slightly surprised because “Struggle” was in quotation marks, clearly referring specifically to the game “Struggle.”
But shouldn’t the interpretation of the game “Struggle” have been conclusively settled after he posted that long Weibo?
Could it be that this content creator…
Had plagiarized?
Had he turned his long Weibo into a video?
He An almost thought his work had been stolen, but upon closer inspection, he realized that wasn’t the case. From the description, this video wasn’t discussing the game “Struggle” itself.
That meant it didn’t conflict with He An’s long Weibo post.
Looking at the author, it was Qiao Laoshi.
He An had an impression of this content creator; after all, Qiao Laoshi was the one who had created the “Masterpiece” series.
He An was well aware that although Qiao Laoshi lacked professional knowledge, he was considered quite insightful among regular gamers and often interpreted Tenda’s games.
But this time, Qiao Laoshi hadn’t released a “Masterpiece” interpretation of “Struggle,” obviously because all the content had been thoroughly explained by He An.
So now, what was Qiao Laoshi’s purpose in releasing this video?
Could he have found a new angle to explain “Struggle”?
He An instinctively doubted this, but curiosity drove him to click and watch the video.
…
“Hello to all my viewer daddies, I’m still your ‘Game Father’ Qiao Laoshi.”
“Seeing this title, many of you might be confused.”
“Why is the interpretation of ‘Struggle’ coming out so late? Why isn’t ‘Struggle’ placed in the ‘Masterpiece’ series but instead in the ‘Silent Expresser’ series? Why is it a ‘continuation’ of the first episode?”
“Don’t worry, next, I will reveal everything to you one by one!”
“Before I begin, I need to clarify one point: this video doesn’t involve interpreting the game ‘Struggle’ itself, because in my view, Master He An’s long Weibo post has already thoroughly analyzed all the content of the game.”
“For those who haven’t read this long Weibo post, please click the hyperlink in the video description to read it. This is very important because all the content in this video needs to be viewed in conjunction with what was explained in that long Weibo post!”
“For those who have read it, you might want to pause and quickly review it again.”
“Three, two, one.”
“Alright, now let me deeply reveal the content beyond the game ‘Struggle’!”
“Master He An has already mentioned that ‘Struggle’ is a game that repeatedly breaks the fourth wall. ‘Beautiful Tomorrow,’ ‘Struggle,’ and real life form three different worlds.”
“However, since Master He An doesn’t live in Jingzhou and hasn’t paid much attention to Tenda’s industries, he hasn’t provided an in-depth explanation of the real-world aspects.”
“Therefore, currently, the interpretation of the game ‘Struggle’ is missing half of its content!”
“The purpose of this video is to supplement the missing half, making ‘Struggle’ break the fourth wall more thoroughly!”
…
Seeing this, He An was also startled.
It claimed that his interpretation of “Struggle” was still incomplete?
Impossible, his interpretation should have been comprehensive, shouldn’t it?
Beyond the game, there was still so much that needed to be explained. And was it even related to Tenda’s industries?
About these matters, He An truly didn’t know much.
Because so far, Tenda’s physical industries were mainly concentrated in Jingzhou, at most extending to Handong Province, and hadn’t reached He An’s vicinity.
Since He An didn’t live in Jingzhou, his understanding of industries like Slackin’ Takeout, Sloth Apartments, Tuoguan Fitness, etc., was naturally very limited.
So, He An continued watching attentively.
…
“Before I start explaining, I first want to present a concept that might seem somewhat shocking:”
“Slackin’ Internet Café, Slackin’ Takeout, Sloth Apartments, Thrilling Lodge, Automatic Contrarian Machine, Tuoguan Fitness, and even earlier ventures like ROF PC Assembly, OTTO Phone, Headwind Logistics, etc., are all extensions of the concepts expressed in the game ‘Struggle’!”
“I know this sounds difficult to accept, but let me explain step by step.”
“The last question Master He An raised in his long Weibo post was: The relationship between the poor and the rich that Mr. Pei wants to express has three variations, namely: ‘Beautiful Tomorrow,’ ‘Struggle,’ and the real world.”
“The unsolvable problems in ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ and ‘Struggle’ have solutions in reality. This game makes us realize that the things we take for granted are a great happiness.”
“This is one manifestation of how the game ‘Struggle’ breaks the fourth wall.”
“But some people don’t quite agree with this, feeling that placing the real world alongside ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ and ‘Struggle’ is a bit forced.”