Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

396 Chapter 381: Not a Genius

"Should we cancel the publicity system?"

Through Lincoln's explanation, Samuel and Clark also understood: their games had an atmosphere that was too harmonious, causing them to misjudge the relationships between players in the game.

"It's not necessary to completely cancel it."

Lincoln thought for a moment and continued, "Announcements can still be made, but only after we've issued the awards. If a player is exposed for seriously bad behavior, we can cancel the award or even further punish them."

"What do you mean by 'bad behavior'?" Samuel asked.

"Deceiving others for money or sex and making direct contact with them in reality." Lincoln didn't give more examples, but these two key points were enough to make everyone understand.

After thinking about it, Lincoln added, "Also, any intent and behavior to harass other players in the game will also count."

This time, both Randall and Fred thought deeply on this.

Especially Fred, since players are allowed to walk around in their underwear in Night City.

If there were any shameless individuals who dressed up in a bizarre combination of a coat and underwear, they could roam the streets looking for players of the opposite sex, and when they find one, suddenly open their coat-

"Let me show you something nice – blue and white striped underwear!"

Imagining that scene, Fred couldn't help but cover his face, drawing looks from everyone in the meeting room.

"What's up?" Lincoln couldn't help but let his curiosity take over. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing, really." Fred rubbed his face hard, trying to erase those strange thoughts from his mind.

"Boss, you can continue."

However, Lincoln was still curious, "No, I don't have anything else to say. Why don't you tell us?"

"Oh, no need, really. I just think your suggestions make a lot of sense." Fred quickly changed the subject.

"So, we're adopting the plan we discussed for selecting honorary players?"

"Yes, the plan is fine. We just need to adjust the ratios. 'Assassins' Alliance' and 'Speed Chase' should give less consideration to combat-related players and pay more attention to non-combat players, especially those who explore different ways of playing. For example, climbing, parkour, and bicycle racing. We shouldn't neglect these players."

"The focus of honorary players is not so much about high or low gaming skills, but rather on the loyalty, love, and time and effort they put into the game."

"Understood." Randall and Fred both took notes.

Lincoln was about to say more, but suddenly Mavis's voice came through his ear, "Master, a player's topic has reached the warning line for popularity that we set!"

Lincoln's previously relaxed mood immediately became tense.

"That's it for now. Select the players for November and see how they react. We can make adjustments if necessary. In any case, adjusting long-term projects during implementation is unavoidable." After dismissing the others to draft the list – Friday was November 1st, and they only had two days left to select players – Lincoln quickly returned to the Spaceship to find Mavis. "Mavis, what's going on?"

It's no wonder Lincoln was anxious.

He and Mavis set a high warning line separate from the Spiritual Rhinoceros Hot Topic List.

The Spiritual Rhinoceros Hot Topic List focused more on the concentrated heat of fixed topics within a certain period of time, largely depending on the keywords of the topic. To surpass other topics and squeeze onto the list, there had to be a sudden explosion of popularity in a short time.

It primarily focused on "timing."

— If there is a problem of this kind, Samuel's team will notice immediately and communicate with relevant game teams to respond.

However, the warning line Lincoln and Mavis set, although it also relied on keywords, wasn't limited to single ones.

Mavis would count all related keywords under the same topic and merge them for statistical purposes.

This kind of calculation was not limited to the Spiritual Rhinoceros platform, and included platforms like pilipilli, Vortex Forum, live streaming platforms, and even search engine hot words – much broader than the Spiritual Rhinoceros Hot Topic List.

Consequently, the warning line they set was very high.

However, Lincoln and Mavis didn't care about "timeliness;" all the topics Mavis collected could be accumulated.

Under these circumstances, if the popularity of a topic still meets the standard, it means the topic has a high degree of "universality."

The warning line only reported concerns, not good news. Positive topics like players cheering, anticipating, praising, and playing did not trigger the warning line. Instead, Mavis would pick out some interesting ones when Lincoln was bored, to pass the time.

Only topics about players expressing dissatisfaction, petitioning, or making demands would actually touch the warning line.

So, once a player's discussion topic reaches the warning line, Lincoln takes it very seriously.

"Let me see what the topic is."

"It's about the online feature." Mavis answered Lincoln while showing him some screenshots of popular or representative topics.

'Why can "Assassins' Alliance" have unconditional online play, "Light Encounter" have unconditional online play, "Paradise" have unconditional online play, and even freaking "Traveler of the Wind" have casual online play, but the latest "Speed Chase" doesn't allow direct online play? Is this reasonable?'

"The difficulty is so high, they won't let you team up with others, you have to clear the levels yourself. Are they trying to torture the players?"

"Honestly, I don't like gunfights at all, I just want to race with others. But they won't let me play online unless I clear the levels first? Seriously?"

"Analysis from an industry insider's perspective: why Cloud Dream doesn't allow players to team up for missions and why I'm against this design."

"Lincoln, you're so heartless! My girlfriend and I bought the game as soon as it was released, planning to check out the male escort club in Izumo together, but she's almost cleared the game and I'm still stuck! Please save the children!"

...

"???" Lincoln leaned back in confusion: "Visiting a male escort club with a girlfriend? What's the logic here? Are people playing games this way now?"

"Oh, this one." Mavis glanced at it and told Lincoln: "The person who posted this is also a girl!"

"???" The question marks in Lincoln's mind increased: two female players? According to their preferences, shouldn't they have agreed to look for Little Sisters together instead?

He shook his head vigorously, feeling that the world was just too strange.

Of course, Lincoln understood that without the outrageous content of this post, it wouldn't have received so much attention and discussion, and it wouldn't have been shown to him by Mavis.

It's not that there are too many strange people, but the strangest people and things are often the ones that appear in front of everyone.

Aside from this controversial topic, the other ones were quite representative too.

The first one, posted early, expressed dissatisfaction and received a lot of support.

The second one complained about the high difficulty and the discouraging feeling after multiple deaths while waiting for the dynamic difficulty adjustment. The player wanted help from others.

The third one didn't like gunfights and wanted to play other content.

Under this topic, not everyone wanted to race; some people wanted to form groups for destruction, others wanted to explore the streets with friends - all sorts of people.

The fourth post was a video with higher value; the author, based on their combat skills in "Speed Chase" and their personal experience after a few battles, deduced the difficulty of the combat levels and explained the extent to which teaming up would damage the combat experience.

Nevertheless, at the end, they still insisted that not all players are hardcore players, and they should not force all players to go through this kind of combat experience.

Referring to the third post, many players don't care about the quality of the combat experience because they simply want to play other content besides gunfights...

That left Lincoln feeling conflicted.

The combat system in "Speed Chase" wasn't just empty talk; he truly participated in its development and put in considerable effort and hard work.

Many levels required continuous testing and adjustments. Lincoln patiently worked on it for several weeks with everyone to get it right.

Not to mention Fred and the ordinary employees of the "Speed Chase" development team, Lincoln couldn't bear to see the carefully designed combat levels being crushed by players teaming up and mowing down the enemies!

Of course, since the players' feedback exceeded the safety line, it meant that the problem had to be changed.

Lincoln pondered, how about...

First, enable the online invitation feature, allowing players to form teams and meet up in Night City; but once online play starts, the main missions are frozen.

Even if they kill enemies in a team, as soon as a teammate leaves, the mission scene would reset to the state before entering the online mode?

As for those players who long for random large-scale online play, Lincoln wasn't very keen on directly enabling it.

Because in that case, many players would simply stop doing main missions, and wouldn't that be a waste of everyone's efforts?

"What if..." Lincoln had an idea, "We implement limited large-scale online play?"

For example, only enable online play in specific areas?

--That functionality already exists, whether in casinos or concert venues, they need this feature.

Another example, limit the availability to weekends, or specific hours in the evening, and unlock the multiplayer system?

This way, it could satisfy the online play needs of players while maintaining motivation to complete the main storyline as much as possible.

"Mavis thinks both options are fine!" Mavis was as supportive as always.

Lincoln smiled in relief, petting Mavis's pink head: "Mavis, I need to leave for a bit and discuss this with Fred and the team."

"Alright, Mavis understands."

Lincoln decisively stood up and went to look for Fred.

Opening up online play wasn't a decision to make on the spur of the moment; it involved not only the main storyline but also other aspects of the game content.

He needed to gather with the development team and discuss every aspect before making the final decision.

At the same time, Lincoln couldn't help but think: he wasn't the so-called genius game designer praised by the media, and his experience wasn't even that rich.

Simply replicating games from his original world in this world seemed smooth, but once it involved adapting self-made games, there would often be cases where things appeared great in imagination but turned out to be "incompatible" once implemented.

Virtual reality games are a new phenomenon in both the original and current world.

Whether it's himself or the Cloud Dream game designers, they need to constantly learn, accumulate experience, and explore the way forward.

And to look forward to someday delivering a game that's as close to perfection as possible for the players.

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