Go Live There

Genshin Impact Life Lessons 6

If the world of Genshin Impact is so good, why don't you just go and live there?

Good question, but first, a digression for context.

My spouse commented that video games are subversive by allowing people to become powerful alluring characters.

Me, a superhuman anime waifu? Novel, but fleeting. Even with jiggle physics.

Though well-designed, likeable, and balanced in gameplay, Genshin Impact's characters  - because of the game's serial nature - are also quite shallow and get little development as the game progresses. Some of their voice lines are also cringe-y and poorly localised.

Besides, there are plenty of alternatives to video games when it comes to pretending to be someone else, like theatre, paintball, or improv.

Even the beautiful game world is no more inspiring than a nature walk, despite there not being a stirring soundtrack as you plough your way through scrub.

The question remains, what distinguishes Genshin Impact and video games from other forms of escapism?

How about this: it's not its characters, visuals, or sound, but its systems.

Genshin Impact's potency and subversiveness comes from its in-game rules and dynamics, and the comparisons we can draw with societal institutions.

And let's just say that the game often wins.

Why? Well, who wouldn't want to live in a society with frequent rewards for simple exploration, clear rules and probabilities, and being helpful paying off more than being dominant.

The danger of the game is not that you could be a character in it, but the creeping realisation of how, when compared to game-life, mundane life could be more transparent and rewarding, even while remaining blatantly commercial and exploitative.

Now, even the most addicted players know that the game world is not the real world. However, players are still empowered in a few ways:

• They can refuse to engage with the parts of the world that are abusive or predatory, or simply not up to scratch.
• Where they have real-world influence, they can try to make life more like the game.
• They can seek out the views, sounds, and stories which inspired the game and in turn make it so inspiring. 

And where Genshin Impact does not intersect with real life, at least it can provide worries worth worrying about.

Postscript: Otherworldly Story

Genshin Impact is not MiHoyo's first go at world-building.

If you play its predecessor gacha game, 2016's Honkai Impact 3rd (HI3), you will clearly see what they changed to make Genshin Impact more inclusive, attractive, and yes, addictive.

Genshin Impact won't be the last iteration either. Honkai: Star Rail debuted in April 2023, with clear improvements to some of the grind-ier aspects of Genshin Impact.

That is not to say that earlier games will get cancelled (although few still play Gun Girls Z, which preceded HI3). They will run parallel in the HoyoVerse for some time to come.

Nor do they show signs of stagnating. In December 2022, HI3 impressively, yet unremarkably, simplified its upgrade materials system.

Around the same time, Genshin Impact changed to allow players to wish for two featured characters instead of one.

Many classic games are held sacred. Remaking titles like Mario Kart, GoldenEye, or Halo would invite a neckbeard fatwah. Likewise, many of us accept society in its present form as being at some delicate apex, simultaneously durable and fragile, as if foundational change could not be made without complete ruination.

From their days of being published on physical media such as floppy disk or CDROM, it was expected that games be complete upon release. Developers still cop a lot of flak for subsequent fixes and patches, especially if delivering promised features late.

I too used to deride this trend of 'unfinished' titles. However, I have come to appreciate the regular patch cycle as a commitment to enhancement rather than evidence of shadiness.

With updates, fixes, new game modes, and fresh content released regularly, Genshin Impact is almost a different isn't the same game month-to-month. The same goes for HI3 and other MiHoyo games.

This fluidity teaches us not to accept any status quo as immutable or irreplaceable. If complex game worlds can be overhauled or switched, then surely we needn't fear changing the real one.

Thanks for reading.

For what others have written on Genshin Impact Life Lessons, try:

• Life and Career Gems from Genshin Impact (JobStreet Singapore)
• What Life Lessons have you Learned While Playing? (Reddit)