2.2.3 Hit Microdramas Need These Satisfaction Points - Human-Level Satisfaction Points: Superiority, Belonging, and Order

The Three Types of Human-Level Satisfaction Points

We said the first level is understandable even to animals. The second level should be understandable to humans. What is Superiority? It’s me being better than you, easy to understand, right? I’m stronger/better than you, obviously that feels good. Isn’t life like that too? What are we striving for if not competing, trying to be better than others? Showing superiority.

But if we lack superiority, or if it’s hard for me as an individual to show it, then the next satisfaction point is Belonging. Superiority can be understood as “I am better than you.” Belonging is “I am like you, we are on the same team.” For example, patriotic sentiment, national pride, actually belong to this Belonging satisfaction point.

Specific Manifestations of Belonging

We see online, or in films, in short videos, things like military parades, or the Olympics. The Olympics just finished, right? When someone wins a gold medal, we feel happy. This isn’t your superiority, nor your government’s achievement, and has nothing to do with mating. But it represents that we have a sense of belonging with that person.

We are the same nation, the same country, or the same gender. See—“This is ours.” Don’t girls feel proud when the women’s soccer team wins? This is Belonging.

Then there’s Order. What is Order? It’s the restoration of logic, or things being as they should be, following rules. Harder to understand?

The Principle of Satisfaction in Order Restoration

Let me give you a short video example. Do you particularly love watching videos like hoof trimming for cows, carpet cleaning? Have you thought about what’s satisfying about these? They are very stress-relieving. We often call these “satisfying” or “oddly satisfying” videos, right? Where does the satisfaction come from? The restoration of order. It wasn’t supposed to be like this; it shouldn’t be dirty, we clean it. The cow’s hoof shouldn’t be rotten, shouldn’t be infected, we fix it. The restoration of order is also a form of satisfaction, and this satisfaction is very widely applicable.

Application of Order Restoration in Games

Besides these videos, let me tell you, the vast majority of games actually utilize this satisfaction. Games, of course, have elements of sexual desire and violence; playing games involves these. They also have establishing superiority, guilds/clans for belonging. But their basic operating principle, mostly, uses Order Restoration.

The simplest game, like Mahjong. Why is Mahjong addictive? You’re dealt a random, chaotic set of tiles, and you need to organize them into order to win. That’s the trick. Mahjong itself doesn’t have sexual desire or violence—unless you add money, which introduces a violence/competition element. So, if you don’t play Mahjong for money, it’s hard to play for long, right? Add a bit of that competitive/violence element, combine it with Order Restoration, and Mahjong becomes a national pastime, 流传千年. It’s all about Order Restoration. It’s widely used in gaming and video content.

Summary of the Satisfaction Point System

So, these are the satisfaction points. We need to first understand what satisfaction points are and what resonance is, in order to decide what our microdrama should be about. These are the first two basic levels of human satisfaction points. Of course, there’s a third level, like Aesthetic appreciation, Efficiency, or Cognitive gain. But the third level, as it’s no longer primal/animal or core human-level, starts becoming intellectual-level. It is involved in film/TV works, but in microdramas, we don’t emphasize it much, because the potency of satisfaction points decreases from the mating level downwards.