"Collecting is a disease, addictive and hopeless" - Takashi Murakami
Japanese contemporary art master Takashi Murakami is famous at home and abroad for his series of exquisite artworks, but what is the unique personal collection beyond artistic creation? In the solo exhibition of Takashi Murakami's private collection, we can see exquisite sculptures, antiques and hundreds of works of art from Murakami's private collection, including everyday objects such as beer mugs. I believe that many people think that these objects are collectibles, but they don't know that a game equipment prop can also become a collectible. The protagonist is a collector named "Looking at the Mountain", who is known to everyone for NetEase's flagship game "Fantasy Westward Journey".
From dreams, everything can be collected
Compared with the real objects, the objects in the game are also very exciting! Judging from the homepage of the Kanshan account, the items he collects are not limited to the artworks in life, but also the rare things in "Fantasy Westward Journey", including characters, various game equipment, props and so on. To others, these items are not special, but to him they are all treasures, and they all have a certain collection significance.
After years of collecting objects in the game, Kanshan has its own set of "collecting philosophy". His evaluation system for game collections can be divided into four levels: rarity, coincidence, story, and transcendence. From the analysis of Kanshan, that is, every time before collecting, he will ask himself a question: Will today's collection, with the passage of time and the iteration of versions, be eliminated by time or will it be more valuable? In other words, when a collectible item in a game has the four points of rarity, coincidence, story, and transcendence, it can not be eliminated by time and be more valuable.
Take the Mutant Guardian collected by Kanzan as an example, this is a collection with high coincidence and rarity. On the one hand, this summoned beast appeared in the earliest days of "Fantasy Westward Journey", and the conventional way can only obtain non-mutation, and can only be obtained through special channels such as baby litters or auctions, and there are only a few of them.
And this summoned beast has been in the hands of the mountain watcher for many years, plus it is very scarce in itself, and now its value has increased exponentially. Through this incident, we can also find that Kanzan, as a collector, has a very unique vision.
It's not just collecting, it's a dream life
For looking at the mountains, the exotic objects in "Fantasy Westward Journey" are not the most important point. As a hobby collecting mountains, these things in the game are themselves a part of his life, and the most important thing is the life in the game, which has a deep sense of companions.
The story has to start with Kanshan studying high school in the United States. At that time, he was alone in a foreign country and did not have many confidants around him, and the existence of "Fantasy Westward Journey" brought him a lot of life experience and opened up a different new life for him. Kanshan also said bluntly: "Dream Westward Journey is a place to learn the language of the rivers and lakes, which cannot be learned in this language book, but it is essential to succeed." ”
Therefore, during the period of studying abroad, Kanshan contacted more people who could not be contacted at all in reality through "Dream Westward Journey" between the classroom and the dormitory. It also taught Kanzan how to deal with all kinds of different people, such as trading with other players. We now see that these experiences of dealing with people may seem very simple, but how precious they were in the era of studying abroad. "Fantasy Westward Journey" is like a bridge connecting him to his home, accompanying him through the days and nights of homesickness.
As Kanshan said, "Fantasy Westward Journey is a truly Chinese original game, it is a Chinese story, Chinese culture." "There are mountains and rivers in the game, confidants and friends, and their own attachments, and a leisurely game life like this is also what he pursues."