Genshin Impact Life Lessons 2

Genshin Impact satisfies my craving to micro-manage. Even offline, planning my next moves in the game world displaces anxiety about what may happen in the real world.

It exhausts my rumination like a mental chew toy, after which I have little urge to fret further.

Nevertheless, should I be worried that I so easily place a trivial computer game before more mundane matters? A better question to ask may be, 'Why do I?'

I have a theory: 

Always Be Compensated

Genshin Impact is said to reward players for exploring its beautiful game world (which is sensuously rewarding in itself) and indeed there is nary a square inch that is not loot-able. In fact, you're bombarded with rewards for doing pretty much everything. Log in today? Have some gems. Build one character a smidgen? Have another. Check the website? Upgrade materials coming your way! Used up your gems? Have some more.

In some early-game sessions I spent more time claiming rewards than actually playing. And no, it hasn't gotten old.

My inner wowser would caution that such prize streams are not only addictive, but foster expectations of, if not entitlement to, constant rewards. The real world, then, is bound to disappoint.

And so it should.

Delaying gratification has been warped into a virtue, perhaps to encourage people to work for peanuts, or towards expensive lengthy degrees for no more than the tenuous promise of a reward. While grinding for a goal is salutary, grinding for the mere chance of a reward is stupid.

Rather than the deluge of bling spoiling my ability to hit long term goals, it has made me more savvy and less tolerant of real-life dead ends that are not intrinsically beneficial.

We should question why the unrewarding and exploitative parts of modern reality cannot be made as enjoyable as a brazenly exploitative but fun computer game, rather than clutching our pearls about those who prefer to spend time on the latter.

Genshin doesn't hide exploitation behind a moralistic work ethic. It makes being manipulated rewarding.

But immediate rewards are only part of the story.

Fruit of Fulfillment

If everything were delivered instantly, that would be unsustainable. Players going from level zero to level ninety in one transaction would disappear faster than if progression were too slow.

Unsurprisingly then, Genshin Impact also offers long-term targets such as character building and an epic story. After months of play I have yet to max out even one character, and have only completed a fraction of the main quest.

So no, Genshin Impact does not impair future thinking. In fact, from the previous post, it incentivises future thinking to the point that it displaces other current worries.

My inner wowser should just STFU.

Engagement is sustained not only by the constant accrual of rewards, but also the assurance - not mere promise - of future rewards.

"Pfft." You may say. "How can one trust claims of certainty in a game genre explicitly run on chance?"

Furthermore, what then distinguishes Genshin Impact from the real world, which also offers varied - if fewer - short and long term rewards? 

Good questions.