“So, games are neutral things. Do you use them to relax so that you can work better afterward? Or do you get so immersed in them that you escape from reality? That’s up to you to decide.
“Tengda Corporation never prohibits employees from playing games, but are they encouraging employees to slack off? Obviously not. They’re encouraging work-play balance among their employees.
“Rest is required to work better.
“If they feel tired after working, they can play games to relax and then work more efficiently once they’re done. That would be a better use of their focus, wouldn’t it?
“At the end of the day, the keyword is still ‘focus’.
“That’s why Boss Pei developed a game like Struggle. His games are not meant to suck people in or act as escapes from reality. Instead, they’re meant to force people to face reality and accept it as much as possible.
“Boss Pei’s view of consumerism is the same. He doesn’t emphasize that some things cannot be bought or one would risk incurring IQ tax. Instead, he emphasizes that one should understand their true needs well.
“Boss Pei thinks that the most valuable thing one can own is focus. Having a reasonable view of wealth would drive one to invest their money into their own focus and do meaningful things to create even more value.
“The idea of resisting consumerism is based on the same principle as well. It doesn’t mean that one incurs IQ tax and falls for the trap of consumerism just because they buy expensive things. The key question is what one’s goal in spending money is.
“Boss Pei, as a boss, needs to have a certain image while negotiating business with other people. That’s why he spends money on tuxedos and branded watches.
“However, if you take a closer look at those three world-famous paintings, you would find that Boss Pei only has those two suits and that one watch. All of them are of the lowest standard that he could possibly need.
“Similarly, Boss Pei can afford a bungalow but doesn’t buy one. Instead, he stays in a Sloth Apartment, which is decorated extremely minimally to encourage better thinking.
“Boss Pei’s actions are the best example of resisting consumerism. Every sum that he spends is an investment into his own focus that would help him to generate greater value.
“In summary, what is IQ tax?
“Everyone has a limited amount of money that they can spend. With that same amount of money, you could buy a branded bag; however, you would not have any left for investments or education.
“Thus, whether spending on an item would be considered paying ‘IQ tax’ or being brainwashed by consumerism depends significantly on what that item can bring to you.
“If you’re intending to negotiate business with others but you don’t even have a decent suit, then you would be unwittingly creating obstructions for yourself. Buying a suit under such circumstances would not be considered paying IQ tax.
“On the other hand… if you’re a delivery man, wearing a suit would make work inconvenient, and the suit could even be dirtied while you’re working. Under such circumstances, you would be paying IQ tax.
“So, we can understand what Boss Pei wants to express through Struggle by analyzing him alone.
“If you want to change your fate, you have to—first—accumulate wealth and resist consumerism, and second, work hard.
“At its core, resisting consumerism is not about spending less money, but about spending every cent on bettering oneself, generating more value, and investing in truly meaningful areas.
“At its core, working hard is not about repeating tasks day after day, being a workaholic and blindly striving to the end of the road. Instead, it’s about making use of one’s focus intelligently, thinking independently, and looking for the right direction.
“You can spend money on games and novels. As long as you don’t become obsessed with them, but use them to regulate your emotions, work more efficiently, and even obtain some inspiration; it would still be meaningful.
“That’s the message behind Boss Pei’s Struggle. That’s the message he is trying to convey to us in real life.
“Once you understand that, you would realize that all of Boss Pei’s businesses are repeatedly expressing those same two points to us.
“Let’s go back to the question at the beginning.
“Why did I say that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Fish-Catching Take-Out, the Sloth Apartments, Thriller Hostel, the Fully-Automated Bickering Machines, Deposit Fitness, and even ROF, Otto Technologies, Upwind Logistics, and so on were all extensions of the concept behind Struggle?
“It’s because all of those businesses incorporate both of those points.
“Those businesses’ products look more expensive than those of their competitors in their respective industries, but they all provide better user experience. You might spend a bit more money, but what would you save?
“You would save attention and focus!
“Take Deposit Fitness, for example. Everyone knows that it’s much more expensive than ordinary gyms, but in ordinary gyms, one would have to supervise themselves to train every day and keep to a reasonable diet. Sometimes, one would go to the gym and find it extremely crowded. There would be lines at machines that would waste time.
“On the other hand, Deposit Fitness organizes its customers’ daily schedule and meals and guarantees that customers would be able to train immediately upon arrival. That way, customers would save a lot of attention, which they can spend on other areas of their lives.
“Fish-Catching Take-Out adopts a similar principle. It’s more expensive—even more expensive than if one cooked at home, but can the freshness of the food served by other take-out companies even compare to Fish-Catching Take-Out? Would the former’s food contain too much salt and oil? Even if you cooked on your own, you would have to go out and buy your own ingredients, prepare them, wash them, learn recipes, and cook the food. All in all, that could take you at least half an hour.
“On the other hand, if you choose to order from Fish-Catching Take-Out, you would be able to save some attention and focus and spend them on more important things.
“The Fully-Automated Bickering Machine and Sloth Apartments place the same emphasis on people’s attention as well, forcing them to think seriously and carefully.
“As for Thriller Hostel…
“After posting my previous video, I’ve been forced to think about what it was missing.
“Now, I finally understand that my previous video lacked the expression of Boss Pei’s mindset. That’s why it didn’t seem persuasive to many people.
“Now, I should add Thriller Hostel into the scope of the Tengda Life and think about its significance again carefully.
“The Tengda Life is the way of life that Boss Pei endorses. To Boss Pei, to be silent is to be minimalistic and learn to play with the Bickering Machine; to be active is to visit haunted houses, and take roller coasters and pendulum rides.
“People have reported before that Boss Pei loves extreme sports. He often invites his friends to take pendulum rides and roller coasters, go skydiving, and visit haunted houses.
“Why does Boss Pei love these activities so much? Is it purely out of personal interest? It doesn’t seem like it.
“When he wants to think, he can think late into the night while staring at a mind map of his various businesses in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
“Yet, when he’s done thinking and wants to rest, he can take part in extreme sports to relieve pressure and dispel exhaustion.
“That’s why this episode should not only analyze Thriller Hostel or Struggle.
“Instead, it should analyze the various ways of thinking that Boss Pei is trying to convey to us through his games, the Tengda Life, and his businesses.
“Some say one thing and do another. They ask others to stick to certain rules but don’t do the same in their personal lives.
“Yet, Boss Pei has been living out his theories all this time.
“That’s the biggest way in which Struggle has broken the fourth wall! That’s also something that Big Boss He An had left unspoken—the riddle that Boss Pei had left us in real life!
“Thus, when Boss Pei told me not to use Products of the Gods to analyze Struggle, I felt confused.
“However, I understand now. Struggle is not just a game, but a key to helping us a better understand the real world.
“That’s the meaning behind the ‘Silent Expresser’ series as well!
“That’s all for today’s video. Please support me as much as you can, and I’ll see you next time!”
After watching Teacher Qiao’s video, He An fell silent.
Some points mentioned had shocked him as well.
Before this, when he had been analyzing Struggle, He An had not studied details like how to work hard and what ‘consumerism’ really meant closely enough.
Maybe he thought that he could not explain it clearly enough; maybe he thought that he could not say those things out loud.
Yet, now, He An had found out—to his shock—that Boss Pei had offered an answer for those questions as well!
The speech meant for needy students in his alma mater, the Sloth Apartments, and the Fully-Automated Bickering Machines were all explanations of Struggle’s application to real life.
Tengda’s physical stores—like Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Fish-Catching Take-Out, Deposit Fitness, and so on—were indeed expensive. However, not only were they of better quality and more assuring to use, but their greatest value also lay in helping customers to focus much better.
Customers could mindlessly choose this brand without having to worry about being cheated. The energy and focus that they save could be better channeled on other things.
He An originally looked down on UP Masters that deciphered games because he thought that the entire industry was filled with laymen. To him, any proper game developer would have been able to defeat all of them hands down.
Yet, now, He An no longer thought that way.
Obviously, his professional knowledge in developing games had become his stumbling block. He had only analyzed Struggle inside-out from a game developer’s perspective but failed to understand that the game could be understood from a higher standpoint!
In other words, Struggle had extended to every area of one’s real life, but even He An had not realized this.
It was only when Teacher Qiao pointed it out that a realization dawned on He An.
He had originally thought that Teacher Qiao was on the first level, he on the second, and Boss Pei on the third.
Now that Teacher Qiao had climbed to the fourth, he realized that Boss Pei was on the fifth!
He An humbly submitted to their power and quietly shared Teacher Qiao’s video on his Weibo page, adding three thumbs-up emojis in the caption.
To make Struggle the best game that it could be, Boss Pei did not just capture all the actions in the game and perfect every little detail.
He also made all of his real-life businesses collaborate with the game and set a large-scale puzzle for gamers!
The game and reality were closely intertwined, thus surpassing He An’s expectations.
At that moment, He An only felt one thing:
Complete awe!
Tengda was indeed the light of the local games industry!
Boss Pei was indeed a legendary thinker!