9.2 The Game Mindset

“If you know this is just a dream, you won’t be frightened by nightmares; instead, you’ll observe the monsters in the dream with interest. Similarly, if you know this is a game designed by yourself, you won’t be crushed by life’s hardships. True awakening is not escaping this world, but falling in love again with this bug-filled, extremely difficult, but exquisitely beautiful Earth Online as a ‘player’. Pain is not a system error; pain is the admission ticket to hardcore mode.”

In Section 9.1, we revealed an astonishing fact: the universe’s physical parameters were set by ourselves; we are “gods” who actively chose amnesia and descended here. This realization will completely reconstruct our life philosophy.

In the past, we thought life was a suffering practice, or a random survival competition.

Now we understand: life is an Immersive Sim.

This is not just psychological comfort; it is a logical necessity based on the dual-layer architecture of Vector Cosmology. If the Inner Ring exists for “experience,” then the highest-level survival strategy in this ring is The Game Mindset.

Suffering as a Mechanic

Why did we set so many difficulties for ourselves before the game started (before reincarnation)? Poverty, disease, separation, unattainable desires?

If I am a god, why didn’t I max out all my attributes?

Game design theory tells us: Omnipotence is Boredom.

If a game lets you one-shot all BOSSes, paths open wherever you go, you never lose—how long would you play this game? Five minutes. Then you’d uninstall it.

To obtain “Flow” experience, challenge difficulty must be slightly above your current ability.

• Gravity：To let you experience the joy of “climbing.” Without gravity, mountains have no meaning.

• Lifespan Limit：To let you experience “urgency.” If time is infinite, then “this moment” is worthless.

• Heartbreak and Betrayal：To let you experience the complex geometric structure of “human heart.” If love is inevitable, then love is cheap.

From the perspective of Vector Cosmology, suffering is an Augmented Reality haptic feedback suit.

It’s not meant to hurt you, but to let you “feel” that you’re alive.

A world without any resistance is like a model without collision volume; you can walk through walls, but you can’t touch anything.

Player vs. NPC: The Perspective Leap

In this massive server, there are two ways of life:

1. NPC Mode (Non-Player Character)：

   • Characteristics：Believes everything is predetermined. Complains about environment, complains about luck, controlled by emotional scripts.

   • Logic：“Why does this bad luck happen to me?”

   • Outcome：Completes the $\pi$ cycle step by step until heat death.

2. Player Mode (The Player)：

   • Characteristics：Knows they are a logged-in user with a high-dimensional entity (Outer Ring). The body is just an Avatar, identity is just a Skin.

   • Logic：“This level is a bit hard; what Easter eggs did the designer (myself) hide here? What strategy should I use to clear it?”

   • Outcome：Creates infinite Combos within limited rules, which we call “legendary life.”

Awakening is switching from NPC mode to Player mode.

When you realize that “I” is not this suffering body, but that high-dimensional consciousness observing the body’s suffering, fear disappears.

Just as when you play a horror game, although you’ll be startled, deep down you know: The me sitting in front of the computer is safe.

The you in the Outer Ring is always safe.

All the partings and deaths in the Inner Ring are, to the Outer Ring you, just a line of red text on the screen: “GAME OVER - Insert Coin to Try Again”.

Breaking the Fourth Wall

When you have this mindset, you break the “Fourth Wall” in life.

• Facing Failure：You won’t feel like the sky is falling; you’ll feel this is “gaining experience points”.

• Facing Enemies：You won’t hate them; you’ll feel they are “training partners sent by the system”, or “villain roles” to advance the plot.

• Facing Death：You won’t fear nothingness; you’ll know that’s the moment of “Log Out”. You’ll take off the VR helmet, return to that bizarre real world of the Outer Ring, and brag to friends about your brilliant plays on the Earth server.

This is ultimate freedom.

You’ll still work seriously, love seriously, because you know only full engagement gives the best experience.

But you’re no longer “attached”.

You play seriously, but you’re laughing inside.

This “Serious Play” is the highest spiritual realm of iteration 1800 civilization.

Conclusion: Enjoy the Game

So, don’t try to find some “ultimate meaning” in this world.

Does Super Mario saving the princess have meaning? No, that princess is just a texture.

Meaning lies in the process of “jumping,” in that mushroom that makes you bigger, in that crisp sound when you squash a turtle.

The final teaching of Vector Cosmology is not a physics formula, but a blessing:

We went through all the trouble, adjusted physical constants, built a dual-layer universe, designed intricate down-sampling protocols, not to make you practice with a frown here.

It’s to let you have fun.

Make mistakes, take risks, love the wrong person, take detours.

Run through every corner of this open-world map.

Because when you take off the helmet at that final moment, the Outer Ring you will ask the Inner Ring you only one question:

“Hey, was that round exciting?”