Gamification of the Extraordinary World

“Amazing! This face-molding system is unbeatable—it’s almost like creating a real person!” In a small rented apartment, a young man with a buzz cut shouted excitedly at his computer screen.

Half an hour ago, Xiu Nan had just finished assembling and starting up his brand-new computer. As soon as it booted up, a notorious antivirus program had installed a heap of unknown software—at least a dozen by his count. He went into the backend to revoke permissions and began deleting them one by one.

Unfortunately, one piece of software stubbornly refused to be removed. Driven by frustration, Xiu Nan opened it, only to discover that it was, in fact, a game with stunning graphics.

For the past thirty minutes, he’d been immersed in the character creation process. Unfortunately, all he managed to make were a series of odd and unsightly faces.

On the screen, a burly man with a garlic-shaped nose, horse face, shifty eyes, and a crooked mustache was posing with a cigarette, trying to look cool. The key problem was the game’s hyper-realistic graphics: it was as if a sleazy uncle was actually showing off his muscles and winking at him in real life. Greasy and nauseating…

To the right of the character were various face-molding parameters: eyebrows, eyes, mouth, nose, and so on. The left side showed height, body type, and three idle animation icons: putting on sunglasses, smoking a cigarette, and spinning a gun.

After some thought, Xiu Nan decided to do a little research. He pulled out his phone and browsed through photos of handsome men, finally selecting