NieR:Automata Ver1.1a

YoRHa androids and the machine lifeforms they were built to fight.

Fight, report, die, be restored from backup, fight again. The war is waged on behalf of a humanity that no longer exists, the records were falsified to preserve morale, and the work continues because stopping was never an available action.

Assigned meaning — A system hands you a purpose, and it is sufficient.

Adapted from the game, and blunter than Westworld about the mechanism: the purpose is not merely assigned, it is maintained by an organisation that knows it is fictitious.