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That piece of nothingness and the city that grew in my heart
In fact, I clicked on the game in the first place because I was tired.
My fingers moved across the screen, trying to find a place to hide.
Reality is so full that it makes people want to vomit.
Then I saw the sea and the island with nothing.
It was desolate and quiet, as if the world had just begun, just like the white noise state after the brain has been emptied.
You just stand there.
There is nothing in hand, only a piece of land.
Why do I always find "home" in games?
I've asked myself this question many times.
Probably because in reality, it's difficult for you to truly say "this is mine."
Those rented houses will face expiration, and the streets you like may be demolished. Even the city where you have lived for more than ten years will be completely changed once you change jobs, as if the roots have been uprooted.
But not in the game.
Those houses made of pixels are your choice.
That winding seaside road was paved by you.
Even if it's just a streetlight, you poked it in with your own hands.
That feeling is called a sense of belonging. Even if it's fake.
There is only a small broken car at the beginning and stars all over the ground.
When I first entered the game, I was very poor.
Really, they are so poor that they even have to plan to pave a few more meters of road.
But strangely enough, that’s when I’m happiest.
You will find pedestrians on the road with stars on their heads; cars passing by will also drop stars.
You have to poke with your fingers and pick them up one by one.
Like picking up coins on the ground when I was a kid, I couldn’t bear to throw away even five cents.
With that kind of meticulous and careful collection, it is really like the year at the beginning of graduation, when the salary slip showed 3,200 yuan, calculating how to extend it to the next month.
Treat houses like children and watch them grow
There is a wonderful setting in the game.
Houses are not built in one go.
At first it was a small bungalow, dusty, like a village in the city.
You need to provide it with electricity, you need to build roads for it, and you need to make trees grow around it, so that it can gradually grow taller and become more beautiful.
First it was a two-story building, then it had a balcony, and finally it became a villa with a garden.
You will remember what each building looked like when it first appeared.
This is so much like raising a child.
In other words, it's like watching yourself slowly get better.
Not to mention that you may still be living in a rental house, but the street in the game was paved by you bit by bit.
That skyscraper over there, with its glass windows that sparkle in the sun, is waiting for you from above the ruins.
Those residents never speak, but they are all there
This is what I think makes this game particularly interesting.
Those people won't chat with you or bother you with messages.
You build a park for them, and they go for a walk.
You lay the railway, and they wait for the train at the platform.
When it rains, they hold umbrellas and run a little faster than usual.
You can see their happiness.
It's like the roommate in a shared house who goes out early in the morning and returns home in the evening. When they meet you, they just give you a slight nod. However, when you catch a cold, there will be an extra box of medicine at the door.
Some companionships don’t require lines.
Money is always tight, like life itself
The economic system in the game is actually quite ruthless.
Do you think you will get rich by building a commercial building?
No, you have to wait.
Wait for residents to go to work, wait for them to go to consumption after get off work, and wait for the profits to pop out bit by bit.
Then the hospital asked for money, the school asked for money, and the new land was ridiculously expensive.
The lessons that reality teaches you will be taught in the game.
Resources are always limited, but desires are always unlimited.
You have to learn to make trade-offs.
Should we build this road first, or save money to build that landmark first?
Should we charge higher taxes or make everyone live more comfortably?
There is no standard answer, only the answer you choose.
What I'm most afraid of seeing is the sentence: "This area is not available yet."
After playing for a long time, you will find that there is always an area on the map, which is gray and has text like "Not yet available" written on it.
You have to save money for a long time and upgrade it many levels before you can light it up.
Sometimes I feel anxious waiting, wondering if I will never be able to open that piece of land in this life.
But one day, you accidentally clicked on it and found that it was suddenly available for purchase.
At that moment, I was happier than getting the year-end bonus.
Those places you thought you would never reach are actually waiting for you.
It's just that the time hasn't come yet.
When it rains, the whole city slows down
My favorite rainy day in the game.
The dynamic weather system really isn't just a gimmick.
The rain hits the sea, and the ripples spread out in circles.
There was water running down the glass of the building, like tears.
Pedestrians on the road started running, cars slowed down, and the rhythm of the entire city suddenly changed.
You will stop and just look at the rain in a daze.
It's like someone has cried out all those suppressed emotions for you.
Go to other people's cities and see how other people live
This game can visit people.
Go to your friend's city and you will find that people are really different.
Some people prefer to have all their buildings compactly packed together, as densely packed as Hong Kong; some people have to build their houses sparsely, with gardens and fountains everywhere in the middle.
Some people hide industrial areas behind mountains, while others insist on setting up a row of pig farms by the sea.
Every city is shaped like a heart.
You don’t need to ask them what kind of people they are, just look at their city and you’ll know.
That train will beep when it passes by
There are railways and trains in the game.
You lay the track, put in the train, and it starts circling your city.
When crossing the bridge, the whistle will be blown.
It's not loud, but you can just hear it.
When I heard it for the first time, my nose felt sore.
Don't know why.
Maybe it's because you built the bridge, paved the road, and pulled the train out of the store.
All this started because of you.
In the real world, you are just an ordinary person.
Squeezing on the subway, getting scolded, working overtime, and paying off the mortgage.
But in the game, you're the one who makes the train whistle.
I also thought about giving up, the city was almost in ruins
real.
I was very busy for a while and didn't log into the game for half a month.
When they opened it again, they found that some buildings were emitting black smoke, and residents' satisfaction dropped significantly.
The city you raised seems to be sick.
You clicked here and there in a panic, explaining to yourself and saying: It's not that I abandoned you, but that I was just too tired.
At that moment, I realized that I was not taking care of the city in the game, but myself.
You log in every day, collect money, upgrade, and solve those little troubles.
In fact, I am telling myself: Look, I can still make some things better.
Why are we still playing this game?
I saw a review two days ago that said this game is "like a massage for the brain."
I think it's pretty accurate.
There is no need to fight and kill, no need to compete with others, no need to top up money to win.
It's just you, alone, on an island, slowly building things.
After the construction was completed, I stared at it, and then smiled. When the smile bloomed, I suddenly forgot all the annoying things during the day.
It doesn’t teach you how to be a good person, and it doesn’t sell anxiety.
It just gives you a piece of land and says: live however you want.
In fact, we all know that the cities in the game are not real
There will be no traffic jams, no property disputes, and no sounds of children running around upstairs.
But the feeling of growing it up little by little is true.
That feeling of companionship when you can't fall asleep late at night, then turn on the game to watch the night view, and then find that the street lights are on, the train is still running, and residents are still strolling in the park. This sense of companionship is real.
Fake city, real comfort.
That island has actually been waiting for you on your mobile phone
No matter what you have experienced outside, whether you were scolded by your boss, had a dispute with your partner, or simply felt that life was not interesting anymore.
Open the game and the sea is still so blue.
Those buildings are still there.
Those stars are still waiting to be poked with your finger.
It's there when you leave, and it's still there when you come back.
Like an old friend who will never move away.
So
I write so much not to brag about how fun this game is.
I think so in my heart. Those of us who are wandering in reality must have a place where the city in our hearts can grow.
Even if it only has a few gigabytes of data, even if it only lives on the screen.
But just click on it, hear the sound of the waves, and see the first ray of light shining on the bell tower you built with your own hands——
You just go home.
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