Nowadays, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket Edition has become popular, and everyone talks about collecting, fighting, and upgrading, as if it is a happy thing. However, upon closer inspection, this “happiness” is nothing more than a new form of desire and comparison.
These cards, such as Pikachu, Charizard, and Mewtwo, are just virtual symbols, but behind them is an endless temptation to consume. The so-called “card challenge” is more like a game of capital. Players keep paying money, hoping to get the coveted card, but in fact they are firmly trapped.
Although the visual effect of the enhancement pack is gorgeous, it is nothing more than wrapping the chain of desire more delicately. Treabar’s so-called “safe storage” is actually just a link in the capital chain to ensure that players keep investing.
This game is a microcosm of modern social consumer culture, and the relationship between people and things is digitized and commercialized. Players are addicted to it, forgetting their true selves, and become slaves of “game capital”.
Faced with such games, should we stop and examine the nature of this “happiness”? Are games for entertainment, or another invisible shackle?