I’m sure each of you has your own answers because everyone has different thoughts, feelings, and interests. For me, the answer is: I enjoy playing Legend of the Condor Heroes because I am a dreamer, and VLTK represents my dream of a world completely different from the reality I live in.
I was born in a rural area of the Central Highlands, where the hot dry winds and blazing sunlight have become the hallmark of this region. Looking back at my thirty-something years during the coffee blossom season, I still see Legend of the Condor Heroes as a dream of another world that I once “lived” in.
When I started high school at a district school, I had to live away from home. As a young boy living away from family and beginning an independent life, I had to cook for myself, go to the market to buy food, wash my clothes, and clean my room… At that time, I began to vaguely realize that life is not always as rosy as I imagined.
Around the middle of the second semester of my 10th grade, I discovered the game Legend of the Condor Heroes through a trip with friends. Since childhood, I have loved martial arts films that aired on TV such as: The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, and The Legend of the Condor Heroes… So when I first saw the game Legend of the Condor Heroes, I was very excited and asked a friend to set up an account for me to play.
You see, the feeling of playing a role-playing game for the first time is really strange; it’s hard to describe in words, like being taken to a new world and becoming a completely different person. The martial arts world that I have always dreamed of opened up before my eyes, and I became a hero on an adventure through the martial arts world, acting justly and heroically.
The character I chose was a male Fire system character because I heard my friend say that only by playing a male Fire system character can I join the Beggar’s Sect and learn the skills of Dragon-Resistant and Flying Dragon in the Sky.
I was hunting hedgehogs in Ba Lang County while dreaming of the day I would be like Xiao Feng, using Dragon-Resistant and Flying Dragon in the Sky to overpower all heroes and dominate the martial arts world. My friends helped me a lot, from giving me a little gold for expenses, buying the Dã Tẩu items for me, accepting me as a disciple, helping me with Golden missions, to those nights we stayed up late practicing skills at the Phượng Tường Phủ boat area.
Together with my friends, I ventured into the colorful martial arts world, participating in fierce Song-Kim battles, intense Golden Boss fights, difficult journeys through Phong Lăng Độ, or simply going out to the Biện Kinh gate to fight… For my friends, Legend of the Condor Heroes was just an engaging direct role-playing game, but for me, Legend of the Condor Heroes was the martial arts world I had always dreamed of, where I could freely express myself, and do whatever I wanted, completely different from my ordinary, monotonous, and dull real life. My high school years were truly the most beautiful memories of the martial arts world I had always longed for.
Three years of high school passed quickly, and my high school friends had to part ways, each choosing a different path often referred to as “the crossroads of life.” I ventured all the way to the city to attend university alone. Student life was not as enjoyable and comfortable as people often say; it was truly arduous and exhausting. I had to study while working to earn a little money to support my life, knowing that my parents back in the countryside worked hard, so I didn’t dare ask them to send me much money.
My student life can be described as monotonous to the point of boredom; I didn’t have the time or money to go out for coffee, karaoke, or bars with new friends. During my free time, I would log into Legend of the Condor Heroes to continue dreaming about the martial arts world, but my friends who had once fought alongside me in the martial arts world were no longer around; the feeling of being alone and lost in the flow of life was truly unpleasant. At the end of the first semester of my freshman year, although I didn’t want to, I had to accept parting ways with Legend of the Condor Heroes with regret; I understood that every joy eventually comes to an end, and no matter how close friends are, they eventually part ways. Real life is always harsh and cruel like that.
I returned to the life of a student from a rural area. As time passed, the difficulties and burdens of life made me realize that life is not truly rosy but rather gray. The realities of life sometimes made me feel very tired and frustrated; sometimes I just wanted to escape from this world to another world to start a new and exciting adventure.
After graduating from university, I started looking for a job. Job hunting was very difficult; while waiting, I had to do many different jobs to maintain my footing in the city. I had to earn money to cover all my living expenses, and the money I earned was little while my expenses were high, making my life always a struggle. There were times when my life felt so hopeless that I saw everything turn completely black.
In my most desperate moments, I remembered the time in high school with friends battling it out in the world of Legend of the Condor Heroes. A world full of dreams and fantasies where I had “lived” with my hopes and passions.