“So, what is it that game developers truly want to express?”

“It’s actually easy to distinguish.”

“The real-world issues reflected in the game, which is what the official Weibo campaign is collecting, that’s the ‘mirror’ effect of the game *Struggle*, using the reproduction of real-world elements to allow everyone to see reality through this game.”

“But if it were to completely reflect reality, a documentary or a factual film would obviously be a better medium, able to present all the content to everyone more objectively.”

“And *Struggle* is a game. The reason for using the game as a medium is because the creator can combine what they want to express with the game mechanics!”

“Therefore, those parts that are combined with the game mechanics are what the creator is truly implying through this ‘mirror’!”

“Next are a series of questions and answers. These questions are all the irrationalities left in the game by the creator, and it is precisely because of these irrationalities that they are riddles.”

“Everyone can think carefully about the meaning hidden behind them.”

“【1】 Why is the game divided into a poor version and a rich version, priced separately, and stipulated that buying them together does not enjoy a discount?”

“On the one hand, because pricing itself is a kind of performance art. For example, emphasizing ‘there is no second chance in life,’ we can choose the game, but we cannot choose our own lives. On the other hand, it is to encourage the poor to buy the rich version and encourage the rich to buy the poor version, so that they are not confined to their own worlds, but can truly empathize with each other's living environment.”

“In the game, the living environments of the poor and the rich are vastly different, to the point that they can no longer understand each other at all.”

“The rich protagonist asks, why can’t the poor find time to spend with their children? Can they be busier than the president of a large company?”

“This is because the rich protagonist has never truly put himself in the situation of the poor, so he cannot understand why the lower-class poor have no ability to control their time.”

“The poor protagonist believes that as long as you work hard, you can have a better life, learn from excellent people, change your poor mindset, and change your life.”

“This is because the poor only see the efforts touted by the rich, but often ignore the massive resources behind the rich that provide them with support. Many rich people tout that their ‘wealth outside of effort is zero,’ tout that they started from scratch, and the poor still believe it. Why? It’s because the poor cannot know how much benefit the rich’s connections, ways of thinking, educational background, etc., bring to them.”

“Including the murderer who believes that the rich are liars, it is also because he originally believed in the rich, but later found that the rich only told part of the truth.”

“So, this pricing strategy itself is to encourage the poor and the rich to experience each other’s lives in the game, step out of their own cognitive blind spots, and look at this issue from a more comprehensive perspective.”

“This approach is breaking the dimensional barrier, using real-world decisions to determine your experience in the game, and this approach can only be achieved through the art form of games.”

“【2】 Why is the English name of the game struggLe?”

“This is precisely the wonderful thing about language. If you simply express the meaning of ‘struggle,’ then fight or strive are obviously better. These two words are more positive and upbeat, and more in line with the original meaning of struggle.”

“But the word struggle not only has the meaning of struggle, but also the meaning of conflict and wrestling. Combined with the all-English story background, it is easy to find that this is actually a pun: the rich are striving, and the poor are wrestling.”

“After understanding this level of meaning, looking back at the Chinese translation of ‘奋斗’ (fèndòu, struggle), it will add a layer of irony. You will know that although it is all struggle, the struggle of the rich and the struggle of the poor are not the same thing at all.”

“The struggle of the rich is in the ethereal clouds. If they want to struggle, they fly up, and if they don’t want to struggle, they lie down and roll around. But no matter how they toss, they are still in the clouds.”

“And the struggle of the poor is in the constantly sinking mud. Working hard only prevents them from sinking further. Once they stop, they will be immediately swallowed by the mud.”

“【3】 Why are the characters in the game so stereotypical?”

“When playing the game, everyone will find that the rich are handsome and glamorous, while the different poor people conform to our stereotypes of such people.”

“Even the game’s art style exaggerates the appearance, demeanor, and expressions of each character, so that they are no longer like living people, but become facial masks.”

“This is obviously not in line with the theme of the game, because realistic themes want to highlight realism, so they should be as realistic as possible, while stereotypical characters and exaggerated artistic expression will weaken this realism.”

“On the one hand, it weakens the player’s discomfort, and on the other hand, it allows players not to be too immersed in the perspective of the character itself, but to look at these issues with a higher dimension and a more detached mindset.”

“Stereotyping is a high degree of condensation of each character image. At the same time, this also symbolizes that the story of *Struggle* is a high degree of condensation of many stories.”

“The game uses facial masks to represent a certain type of person, and the game also uses the lives of a poor person and a rich person to reflect the lives of all poor people and all rich people.”

“And this, like the publicity method, is obviously a symbolic implicit expression.”

“【4】 Why does the game only have one ending, and it cannot be changed?”

“No matter how the rich choose, they will be killed, and no matter how the poor choose, they will fall into a cycle of poverty.”

“At first, I thought this was a fatalistic idea, implying that no matter how hard people try, they cannot change their destiny.”

“But I quickly realized that this was obviously wrong.”

“The reason is simple, because the creator of this game, President Pei, cannot be someone who believes in fatalism!”

“Although I have never met President Pei, anyone who knows a little about the inside story knows very well that President Pei is different from the rich protagonist in the game. He is truly self-made!”

“From *Lonely Desert Road* to one successful game after another, and then to one industry after another, we have witnessed the rise of Tengda in the past two years. And no matter how hard we try, we cannot find any signs of capital intervention. All the signs indicate that President Pei was born into an ordinary working-class family and started from scratch completely step by step.”

“President Pei himself is someone who has completely changed his life by himself. How could he promote a fatalistic idea?”

“It’s like a diligent student who gets 100 points in every subject, but tells you every day that studying is useless. Would you believe it?”

“If you use your brain a little, you will know that this view is completely untenable!”

“So, why does the game only have one ending, and it cannot be changed?”

“As I said before, the game uses the lives of a poor person and a rich person to reflect the lives of all poor people and all rich people.”

“Everyone’s life is different. The differences between the poor and the poor, and the rich and the rich, are also huge. So once the opening for multiple endings is released, it will dilute the ideas that the game wants to express.”

“The game forcibly stipulates the only ending for the poor and the rich, with 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 the ending is not limited, the beginning and the end of the game cannot echo each other.”

“The kind rich end in tragedy, and the kind poor also end in tragedy. The story will be more powerful. If a happy ending is used, the tension of the entire story will be diluted, and the ideas the creator wants to express will go astray.”

“Second, this is a more advanced ‘fatalism.’ It is not emphasizing that people cannot change their destiny, but emphasizing that in this social environment, the choice of an individual cannot change the entire class.”

“The rich may die unexpectedly, or they may enjoy their old age, and even most rich people will enjoy their old age. However, the hatred between classes has been established, and the hatred of the poor towards the rich is irreversible. Then ‘killing the rich’ will become an inevitable event, only the difference between ‘who kills the rich’ and ‘which rich person is killed.’”

“The poor may make a comeback and become rich, or they may go bankrupt and become beggars, but the relationship between the poor and the rich remains unchanged. Like in the game, if the poor are always being exploited by the rich in various ways, then the poverty of the poor will always be an inevitable event. Even if there are individual exceptions, the entire group will become more and more intractable.”

“Therefore, the game deliberately locks the ending, allowing us to play through various side quests, make different choices, and find hidden plots in the two versions over and over again… but in the end, nothing has changed.”

“Why can’t we change the ending? Because the game mechanics are restricting us.”

“And by extension, the poor in the game cannot change their lives through struggle, because the game mechanics of the entire society are restricting them.”

“Here, the dimensional barrier of the game is broken again: in certain specific game rules, no matter how hard you try, you will not become a real winner.”

“【5】 In the game, there is only one clothing brand that appears repeatedly. What does it represent?”

“Many people should have seen the luxury brand, which is the golden logo of ‘LL’. This is the only brand that appears in the game. It is the luxury brand managed by the rich protagonist’s father and inherited by the rich protagonist, and it has also appeared on many characters.”

“From the perspective of the game, the player’s memory is very limited. If you make two brands, it is likely to be confusing, so the best way is to only use one brand to represent luxury goods, and those without labels are ordinary products. This is the basic concept of game design: Occam’s Razor, expressing something in the simplest way.”

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

“Have you noticed one of the biggest differences between the rich version and the poor version? In the rich version, no matter how you choose, it will only change from one success to another. In the poor version, as long as you make a slight mistake, you will immediately slide down and usher in the ending of a cycle of poverty in advance.”

“What is the difference between them? The game has actually given a hint, in the numbers.”

“For the poor, life is a long string of numbers, because they must be careful and meticulous in order to keep the chain of life running continuously. Once a number goes wrong, it will trigger a chain reaction, causing the entire chain to collapse instantly, clearing all previous efforts.”

“Looking at the rich, no matter how they choose, no matter how much money they spend, more funds will be immediately replenished.”

“Therefore, the game mechanism has been controlling the numbers of the game money, constantly ‘correcting’ the struggling poor, trying hard to clear the money numbers, and finally ushering in the only ending.”

“Why does the poor’s expenses keep increasing as their income increases? Some people think that it is because many poor people lack financial awareness and are brainwashed by consumerism. But we must note that many of the expenses in the game, we have no choice at all.”

“For example, why does the poor person have to spend a month’s salary to buy a luxury suit, a belt, and a briefcase? Does he really need these things? Can’t cheap things be used?”

“Yes, he really needs them.”

“Because in that environment of the game, if he wears cheap clothes, he will be rejected and isolated by his colleagues and the people around him, and he will never be able to integrate into that circle.”

“This is why many people have to maintain ‘decency,’ because decency is not just a matter of face, but also a real practical benefit.”

“That’s right, this is the consumerism we are familiar with.”

“And the luxury brand is the condensation of consumerism, a concrete symbol.”

“In the game, both the poor and the rich wear this brand. The only ones who don’t wear it at all are the homeless and the vagrants.”

“Once the poor protagonist finds a better job, he must change into a luxury outfit, live in a better house, and drive a better car. Because if you don’t do this, the people around you will constantly remind you in a malicious or kind way.”

“Malicious people will avoid you, will reject you, and will not allow you to enter certain circles; kind people will remind you and tell you why you need these things.”

“Therefore, neither the poor protagonist nor the players have any choice. This is another design that breaks the dimensional barrier.”

“You are very angry because you have clearly made the right choice, but you still can’t save money. Yes, the poor protagonist in the game has the same mood as you.”

“And more ironically, the rich protagonist never wears luxury. Is it because he is more self-disciplined? No.”

“Because he is the son of the luxury president, he has a private horse farm. What does it matter whether he wears luxury or not? No one doubts whether he can afford to wear it. It is normal for him to wear it, it is to support his own brand; if he doesn’t wear it, he has the virtue of simplicity.”

“The rules and regulations for the poor do not exist for the rich at all, because no matter how the rich choose, under the blessing of a specific halo, it will become a virtue.”

“Even thinking about it more deeply, the rich do not wear luxury, but they are using the high profits of this brand to infinitely harvest all the poor. The rich desperately tout consumerism and the quality of luxury goods, making you feel that if you use luxury, you can have the same life as the rich, and even make the entire group form a consensus and spontaneously reject the poor who cannot afford luxury. This itself is weaving a cage for the poor, determining a game rule that the poor cannot break. No matter how they choose, the rich will win.”

“It’s like playing dice. The poor are gambling on luck, while no matter how the rich roll, every side is six points.”

“【6】 Are there really only two classes in the game?”

“Obviously not.”

“I believe many people are racking their brains to find the connection between the rich protagonist and the poor protagonist, and even feel that the rich protagonist was killed by the poor protagonist, or the poor’s son.”

“But the game is desperately denying this point. You can’t find any connection between the poor and the rich.”

“Why? Because this is not a complete closed loop.”

“In the game, there is actually a third class, which is the ‘homeless’. You will find that it is the link that connects the entire closed loop, and it actually runs through the game from beginning to end, and is everywhere.”

“At the beginning and end of the rich version, it is the homeless who kidnap the protagonist’s mother and kill the protagonist.”

“At the beginning and end of the poor version, the protagonist’s father tries his best to prevent the protagonist from becoming homeless, so the protagonist is grateful to his father; and the protagonist struggles for the rest of his life, deceiving his son to continue to struggle, all in order to prevent himself and his children from becoming homeless.”

“Like my previous analogy, in this game, there are not only the rich in the clouds and the poor struggling in the mud, but also the homeless who are completely swallowed at the bottom of the mud.”

“The poor told us from the beginning that these people at the bottom of the mud are dropouts from the sewage pool, prisoners in prisons, beggars and mentally ill people on the subway, and homeless people who are socially dead after receiving relief and can only wander the streets for the rest of their lives even if they are healthy.”

“Once the poor give up, they will become homeless, so they have to struggle hard in the mud. Struggling may not be able to climb up, but if you don’t struggle, you will definitely sink.”

“The faster you give up, the faster you sink.”

“So, why did the poor protagonist say those words to his child? Doesn’t he know that he was lied to by his father all his life?”

“Perhaps, he has a fluke mentality and feels that his child will be different. Perhaps, he just has to tell this lie.”

“Because if he tells his child that struggle is useless, then his child will sink down and become one of those homeless people, and the protagonist knows very well how tragic that life will be.”

“Therefore, the poor protagonist has no choice but to tell his child to struggle. If you look at it from the result, this struggle is meaningless, because it cannot take you to the clouds; but if you look at the bottom of the mud, you will know that this struggle is meaningful, it at least prevents you from sinking.”

“As for the rich?”

“The rich protagonist almost lost his life when he was born, but he never believed what his father said. He met poor friends, and he worked hard to write books, wanting to help those poor people change their destiny.”

“But he didn’t realize that it wasn’t the poor who kidnapped his mother, but the homeless; it wasn’t the poor who killed him, but the homeless; he can be friends with the poor in college, but he can’t take a second look at the beggars on the subway.”

“Therefore, he thinks that the rich can be friends with the poor, which is right; but he doesn’t realize that what really cannot be understood and become two species are the rich and the homeless, and the poor are just the part of the mud that he can see, and there are more people slowly rotting under the mud, which he cannot see in the clouds.”

“The most ironic thing is that it is the game rules set by the rich that turn the poor into the homeless.”

“So, the homeless man said that the rich protagonist is a liar, because in the eyes of the homeless, this person is touting struggle while taking away everything he has.”

“And the rich protagonist will never understand this.”

“【7】 In the game, there is only one relationship between the poor and the rich. So, how many relationships between the poor and the rich does President Pei want to express?”

“This is the last question, and it is also the final content that the game maker wants to express after integrating all the above details.”

“In fact, President Pei has already expressed his views on this content.”

“Do you remember the movie *A Better Tomorrow*? That was an even more tragic scene than *Struggle*.”

“It is conceivable that if the society in *Struggle* develops for a few more decades, it will become *A Better Tomorrow*.”

“In *A Better Tomorrow*, there is an easter egg at the end, where someone throws a gun into the protagonist’s room. The implication is obvious, that is, when social contradictions reach the level of *A Better Tomorrow*, the poor have only one choice.”

“However, there is no similar choice in *Struggle*, because the environments they describe are different, and the focus to be expressed is different.”

“Violent resistance cannot cure all diseases and is not the best option in any situation. In the environment of *A Better Tomorrow*, this may be an option, but in *Struggle*, there is no soil for this possibility to exist. We can imagine that even if the poor choose to resist, they will only become the next murderer who mutters ‘liar’ and is locked up, condemned and criticized by tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people, and will only make their situation worse.”

“So, is there a third situation?”

“Actually, there is, which is the real world we are in.”

“In the game, the poor have no channels for upward mobility, but in reality, we do.”

“In the game, the poor cannot resist consumerism, but in reality, we actually can.”

“In reality, most people do not actually define a person by their clothing, attire, and luxury goods—except for a few people who are too deeply influenced by consumerism.”

“Therefore, the solutions that do not exist in the game exist in reality.”

“In the game, the poor have no choice but to constantly increase their consumption level, and eventually, because of an accident, a number in a certain link goes wrong, and everything collapses and returns to zero.”

“But in reality, we have choices. We can reject consumerism, we can constantly save money, complete the initial accumulation of wealth, and change our destiny through struggle.”

“If you have hands and feet and work hard to get rich, you can get rid of the mud.”

“In the game, no one tells the rich and the poor what they should do.”

“But in reality, someone is telling us what we should do. The game *Struggle* is telling us what we should do in a way that breaks the dimensional barrier.”

“It is actually telling us that we should work hard in the real world, because our current struggle is meaningful.”

“Many people complain that we live in hell, simply because they have not seen the real hell.”

“And after seeing the world in *Struggle*, we will realize that we are actually living in heaven.”

“Although this heaven is not so perfect, at least we are full of hope.”

“Many players cannot understand the plot in the game very well, because these plots do not conform to our real lives, so there is a feeling of estrangement, and they feel that the choices of the characters inside are very strange.”

“And this actually proves that the things we take for granted are actually a great happiness.”

“Using the game *Struggle* to make us realize the happiness of real life and encourage us to cherish the present and work hard is the deep meaning of the game maker making this game.”

“For all game makers, *Struggle* is a textbook-level work, because it repeatedly breaks the dimensional barrier in various ways, truly expressing the greatest advantage of games as the ninth art: in other art forms, you are just an observer, but in the game, you are a participant.”

“And many things can only be seen clearly from the perspective of a participant.”

“This practice of repeatedly breaking the dimensional barrier represents that the creator’s control of the artistry of the game has reached the point of perfection, with every detail having its own meaning.”

“So, going back to the original question.”

“How does *Struggle* transcend the four basic game theories under the premise of seemingly violating them?”

“Choosing a misplaced publicity method is to break the dimensional barrier and make the publicity method a part of the game content.”

“Choosing a realistic interactive movie game seems to be unpopular, but in fact it provides convenience for breaking the dimensional barrier and building a bridge between the game and reality.”

“The private goods夹带 (jiādài, smuggled in) in the game may make people feel uncomfortable at first glance, but the more you dig, the more inspiration you can get, suffering in the game, but being able to gain a sense of happiness in reality.”

“Its existence is not to discover needs, but to create needs. In fact, most people do not realize that we need to understand these principles in order to live our lives well, so after understanding all this, we will suddenly realize that we need this game.”

“Therefore, I believe that *Struggle* is the highest peak of artistry in domestic single-player games so far, and even a valuable spiritual wealth for players.”

…

After typing the last period, He An still felt a little unsatisfied.

He seemed to have a lot more to say.

In fact, there are many details in the game *Struggle*, and each detail can be expanded into hundreds or thousands of words.

But He An decided to stop here, because Tengda’s official Weibo attitude was already very clear.

The reason why the game is all-encompassing and has countless details is because it itself has the function of a "mirror." Analyzing these details is actually analyzing reality, and reality cannot be analyzed completely.

These things should be completed by all the players on Weibo together.

And He An believes that his mission is to stand from the perspective of the game designer, analyze the top game design concepts, drive the progress of the entire domestic game industry, and also analyze the deep meanings that the game maker wants to express in the game.

To here is just right.

So, He An checked the content of the entire long Weibo and pressed the send button.

The content is a bit long and a bit boring.

People who haven’t played the game may think this is meaningless preaching, but people who have played the game should have some resonance.

He An feels that this is precisely the charm of the art of games.

The sugar coating outside the pill seems to be useless and cannot really cure the disease, but it can make the patient less painful when taking the medicine.

Only candy cannot cure diseases.

Only pills will not be accepted by many people.

But coating the pill with sugar and truly helping some people is precisely the ultimate goal that He An, as a game maker, has been pursuing throughout his life.

Just like the *Landlord Game* he once made, it was also to achieve this goal.

Although he experienced the extinction-level disaster of domestic single-player games during the period, and had to switch to online games for the survival of the company, he always regarded this matter as his mission and pursuit in his heart.

Even if his ideas are outdated, even if he can no longer create works like *Landlord Game*, He An has never given up this pursuit, and will try his best to pass on this pursuit when teaching.

And now *Struggle* has comprehensively surpassed *Landlord Game* in all aspects.

This shows that domestic single-player games truly have a leading figure, and He An feels very gratified.

Although he has never met President Pei, this kind of exchange on the game is enough to be considered a confidant.

“After telling these contents to President Ma, my teaching content will be completely fulfilled.”

“The previous four basic theories were overthrown and completely reshaped, and perfectly fit together at a higher level.”

“*Struggle* is a comprehensive transcendence and in-depth interpretation of *Landlord Game*, and can explain what a truly responsible and ambitious game maker should do.”

“After hearing these contents, President Ma will definitely be inspired, right?”