This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 295: Human Nature Has Changed!

Chapter 295: Chapter 295: Human Nature Has Changed!

Bull Horse Brick Factory.

Today was even busier than usual.

Although many players had made early reservations, the fact was that less than one-fifth of them actually entered the game. Most just made a reservation and then watched the action.

"Ha ha ha! I just saw a fool list 1 dollar for 5 Silver Coins, and it was gone in an instant."

"Damn! Missed it!"

"Awesome! I just saw a big shot list 800 Silver Coins! It sold for forty thousand!"

"Holy shit!"

"@Dog Management, did you guys do this?"

Newbies definitely couldn’t afford that much money.

They hadn’t entered the game before, but they often heard the Dog Management boasting and were quite familiar with the in-game situations.

No one came forward to claim the transaction.

The chat quickly scrolled past.

But as they chatted, the management eventually showed up.

Night Ten: "Brothers."

Quit Smoking: "What’s up?"

Night Ten: "I’m thinking about going pro."

Quit Smoking: "?"

Old White: "..."

Wild Wind: "..."

Fang Chang: "Squinting."

Night Ten: "WTF! What’s with that reaction? After all, I’m the highest ’Perception’ level in the entire server. Is it weird that I want to go pro?"

Fang Chang: "No, I just want to ask, which ’casual player’ plays online twelve hours a day? (Squinting)"

Quit Smoking: "Hahaha, I wanted to say the same, if that’s not considered professional, then what is?"

WC Mosquito: "Great! Full of energy! Come fly a plane with me, it’s so cool! (Baring teeth)"

Night Ten: "Buzz off!"

Who Understands 4 8: "Ah, you guys make me so tempted... earning a hundred silver a day, isn’t that five thousand a day? Damn! I should’ve signed up with you guys back then!"

Scrambled Eggs with Tomato: "This price fluctuation is truly crazy. Do you think people are laundering money with this?"

Fang Chang: "Emmm... I don’t know about using a keyboard to launder, but laundering in real life requires meeting three conditions at the same time: hard to trace, large transaction volume, and tight control by the market maker. None of these conditions are met."

The platform itself doesn’t provide payment tools. Money laundering is not just converting US Dollars to Zimbabwe Dollars; it involves turning illegal income into legal income. In ’Wasteland OL,’ anonymity is for players. If A uses the banking system to transfer money to B for buying game equipment that’s not anonymous at all.

And concerning the transaction volume, with less than a few million silver coins, the turnover rate nearing 200% doesn’t even begin to talk about how much can be laundered, let alone the fact, who in their right mind would use a rigged market to launder money?

Before the Federal Reserve injects money, they check the winds, a game operator can just manipulate data with a flick of a finger, give you a billion Silver Coins, then lock accounts with "suspicious transaction." Might as well go play single-player games with those numbers.

You’d really end up just washing dishes.

Laundering money through game equipment, more fantastical than using US stocks, at least they have large transaction volumes, and foreign investment earnings can legitimately be manipulated.

Game currency is a medium of exchange in the game world, but outside it’s just ’game equipment’; something that operators can adjust the issuance of. Today you might convert one million dollars to one million silver coins or an item of game equipment, tomorrow that million might only be worth one hundred dollars.

Unless the game operators cooperate with you.

But use some brain cells to think, why would they cooperate with you when they are guarding a gold mine with over a million prescribes in a Series B funding round?

Clearly, they manage to deliver helmets to players, and the official websites remain accessible, even without official written permission, there’s something of an understood consent.

But then again, Scrambled Eggs with Tomato, being a chef, might have a narrower perspective, which is normal. Most people barely understand how to spell laundering, let alone comprehend the specific procedures involved with it.

Fang Chang: "This Beta 0.2 is quite interesting actually. The officials didn’t directly set a price for Silver Coins but allowed players to sell freely, even the fees are taken in Silver Coins. It’s clear that ’Wasteland OL’ isn’t planning to make money off this platform. You guys have definitely managed to snatch some benefits, but I wonder if you’ve considered the motives behind why the officials set it up this way."

Ye Wei, holding his mobile phone, blushed.

To be honest, he hadn’t considered these things.

"What is it..."

Fang Chang: "The original purpose of NASDAQ was to regulate the chaotic over-the-counter trading market in America, and to provide financing channels for small businesses. Silver coin offline trading has always been around, just on a small scale and not publicly. As the number of players increases, some will likely develop a trading platform like IGXE outside of forums, what’s happening now is essentially the officials doing it themselves. It’s safer for players, more transparent in pricing, and easier for officials to regulate."

"In addition to regulating the market, it allows Series A players to cash out some of their gaming profits. Although it sounds a little strange, it truly is the game companies giving us a red envelope."

And the amount inside that red envelope wasn’t small.

As long as you weren’t foolish enough to list one hundred silver coins for ten cents, when the trading platform first launched, everyone made a bit of money.

Especially Crow.

One Silver Coin for one Bitcoin, who knows which fool got tricked.

Especially since Crow volunteered to return it, yet no one came forward to claim it.

Call it charity then.

WC Mosquito: "Do you think there’s a fool who would sell their equipment for Silver Coins? (funny face)"

Fang Chang: "Fools are always around, but there’s a common sense here; whether selling your own equipment or playing conservatively in the game, both actions will cause one to fall from their current squad."

"Let’s make a prediction—there will be two trends in the future. Game assets will become more transparent, ’Backseat Drivers’ will pay more attention to land prices, equipment costs, and economic trends in the New Alliance. They might even use the clues we provide to write tutorials, and indirectly invest in game industries through other players holding their game assets."

The Age of Exploration wasn’t experienced by everyone; most just read a few lines in the newspaper, but that didn’t stop a physics professor and mint director in London from potentially owning stock in a colonial company.

The Silver Coin trading platform is set up to trade any type of asset.

Besides real-world assets, it also supports trading game world assets. Meanwhile, the method for investing in the game world isn’t limited to using Silver Coins but could involve other things.

Like technology.

Though the game is rife with cutting-edge technology, just unhooking a battery from an exoskeleton reveals it’s solid hydrogen, the most basic infrastructure like rail and communication is still at a WWII level.

’Wasteland OL,’ still in Series B, remains full of potential, all of which constitutes potential markets.

Fang Chang, "The second trend is that maintaining a level advantage will be harder than in the Alpha version. Casual players will play as they wish, but those who are willing to grind will put more silver coins into upgrading levels and combat strength, especially with the newly introduced Merchant System and Legion System! These two systems will be very costly, but the returns will be massive!"

"Beta testing will be a reshuffle; players from the Alpha round will, based on their contributions in that round, cash out part of their profits. Similarly, seeing the profits from Alpha, players in Beta will work even harder to upgrade before the dividends in the C round."

"In summary, those with extra silver coins can sell some to give newcomers a chance and a better gaming experience while improving their own lives."

"But remember not to sell too much, since besides Contribution Points and Sequence Level, silver coins are one of your ’shares’ in the game. Overspending can lead to being ousted in Beta and replaced by new shareholders, leaving you out of the dividends in the C round."

"Also, be a bit careful when trading. Even though there are plenty of game equipment trading platforms, and no law specifically prohibits flipping game equipment, and no one cares about small-scale private transfers, for large amounts, it’s better to consider the payment method."

"And don’t forget about taxes."

Fang Chang said a lot, earnest and heartfelt. Ye Wei always felt that half of it was directed at him, especially the last part.

But he thought this old brother was a bit too concerned.

He wasn’t foolish. How could he possibly convert all his silver coins into money?

Even farmers know to save seeds for spring planting, let alone him, who had played games for many years. His understanding of equipment trading rules and real-life cases was miles above some who analyzed recklessly without knowing anything.

Just as Ye Wei was taking out paper currency, figuring out a suitable amount of silver coins to list for sale, he suddenly noticed that someone had mentioned him in a small group chat.

The small group only had four people, and Fang Chang, having just made several posts in the main group, now pinged everyone here.

Ye Wei was just about to ask what’s up when Fang Chang’s next message in the group chat made him involuntarily hold his breath.

Fang Chang, "Old White and I discussed it, and since the Bull Horse Brick Factory has been operational for now half a year with bonuses, we’ve never distributed dividends. With the trading platform going live, it’s a good time to distribute some."

Dividends!

Ye Wei almost forgot about that.

Old White was the manager of the Bull Horse Brick Factory, but the four of them held equal shares, each owning 5%, summing up to 20%.

Since the shelter owned the remaining 80%, distributing dividends was actually a loss. If they used the earned silver coins to buy equipment and land, they could hire more labor and expand production, which was why they had never distributed silver coins from the early versions of the Alpha test till now.

Thinking of the exclusive tasks completed by the factory and their rewards, Ye Wei was instantly thrilled.

Fang Chang, "... Within two hours, the silver coins should be in the accounts. Although I see long-term value in ’Wasteland OL,’ the value of a second life cannot be measured in mundane money, but in the short term, the price of silver coins is definitely going to fall amid fluctuations."

"There are lots of people in the main group, and it’s noisy. I didn’t speak too directly there, as posting screenshots to the forum doesn’t look good. Let’s speak more openly here."

"Reserve funds for the development of the Burning Corps."

"The rest, sell."

...

The second day after the launch of Beta 0.2.

After a busy day, just as Zhang Hai laid down with his helmet on at night, he found the sky in the game had completely changed.

Usually, everyone would come to his place to eat noodles upon logging in, but today, they all ran to buy Didivei nutrition paste and the green wheat cakes made by the residents of Bet Street.

A long queue had formed at the door of the NPC shop, with neither the beginning nor the end of the line in sight.

One look and anyone could guess the reason. Looking at the steaming pot and the empty chairs and tables, Zhang Hai couldn’t help but lament.

"People are not as sincere as in the old days!"

"These penny pinchers! Is money all you can see?"

Coincidentally, a regular customer who was passing by heard him complain and couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Night Ten, "MMP! Have you no shame!"

Elena, "You charge the most, you know!"

Gnome King Riches, "Six silver coins for a bowl of noodles! Why don’t you just rob people!"

Fugitive Mole, "Exactly! At least Crow Boss has a big chest and speaks nicely! What do you have?"

Zhang Hai, always quick with a sharp tongue, retorted on the spot.

"How do you know I’m not ’big’? Want to try?"

Night Ten, "Get lost!"

Quit Smoking, "Ugh, ugh, ugh!"

The nutrition paste suddenly lost its appeal.

Watching as the customers left in disgust, Zhang Hai began to regret it. Customers were gods, and he shouldn’t have been so quick-lipped in the game.

"This can’t go on like this."

Seeing no one coming to buy, and watching the foam churn in the pot, Zhang Hai, desperate, quietly changed the price on the board to five silver coins.

"This should bring in some customers, right?"

However, contrary to his hopes, it didn’t work.

Zhang Hai, frowning, rubbed out the freshly written five and, gritting his teeth, wrote a four instead.

100% profit, gone!

It was a huge loss!

His heart felt as if it was bleeding.

But perhaps thanks to the price cut, or maybe the game planners felt pity for him, today there were indeed a few more NPC customers.

Some came to try out the noodles after seeing the price drop, some came for a meal with their kids and wives, and his stall finally saw some faces apart from players.

Watching the curious and tender faces of children following their parents, Zhang Hai couldn’t bring himself to skimp on the materials.

Because the price was more affordable than before, his customers increased as the evening progressed, and by the end he was so busy he didn’t even have time to rest his feet.

But NPCs never rushed him; after all, they wouldn’t understand even if they did.

He was busy until half an hour past mealtime before Zhang Hai could finally take a break.

Though exhausted, watching NPCs devour the noodles he prepared and seeing the silver coins he had earned in the drawer eventually brought a smile to Zhang Hai’s tired face.

Maybe...

He should hire an assistant.

He needed to open two branches on the farmhouse side.

The version was changing.

He had to make some changes too.

As Zhang Hai was contemplating the future, a boisterous shouting came from the entrance of his shop.

"Old Zhang! Bring me a bowl of noodles!"

"Get lost, I’m not old!" Zhang Hai didn’t even look up as he glared over, "Look at this face of mine, barely twenty!"

Si Si, standing by his side, pulled his tail.

"Ah Wei, that’s not polite, and how do you know how old someone is? What if he’s a younger brother?"

The tail replied with an air of old wisdom.

"Si, you don’t understand. What young person uses their real name as a username, and which young person gets anxious when called old?"

"I’m your daddy."

Zhang Hai chuckled, placing two bowls of noodles on the table.

Tail, who paid at lightning speed, hurriedly sat down, eager to start eating with chopsticks taken from a wooden barrel. However, he cried out just as he was about to begin.

"Giao! Why is there one less piece today?"

Zhang Hai spoke sternly.

"The price dropped, does it surprise you that the quantity reduced?"

Tail replied in a pitiful tone.

"But, but, why does Si Si’s bowl have more than mine?"

"Slip of the hand."

"Damn it! You evil capitalist!" Tail sighed and shook his head as he muttered, "Well, considering it’s the last bowl of noodles, I won’t quibble over it."

Zhang Hai stopped slicing meat and glanced at this lively little girl.

"The last bowl? Are you not playing anymore?"

"How could that be! We’re only at Beta0.2!" Tail chuckled, "The game is getting more and more interesting, you know?"

Zhang Hai puzzledly asked, "Then the last bowl of noodles is...?"

"I’m thinking of starting a mercenary guild! The guild needs funds, so I decided to set up a travel arrangement with Si Si!" Tail said, eyes sparkling, "Plus sesame paste and meat dishes! We all agreed to set off tomorrow!"

"Don’t talk nonsense."

Si Si gently chastised Tail with her little fist holding chopsticks, clearing her throat calmly amidst Tail’s "Ouch" of pain, and continued to explain.

"In short, it’s the merchant system... This prodigal woman spent on useless digits, I have to help her make it back."

Zhang Hai sighed deeply and meaningfully, "You all really need to keep it moderate... What’s the point of spending recklessly? Isn’t it better to simply enjoy the game?"

Tail sulkily responded.

"Retired old men shouldn’t speak!"

"Which eye of yours sees me as retired?"

Zhang Hai rolled his eyes, tossing two freshly sliced pieces of beef into her bowl.

"Eat up and get lost!"

...

Three days had passed since Beta0.2 was released, and it wasn’t just Bull Horse Squad selling off silver coins.

How to sell?

Obviously, everyone had their own ways to sell.

Although there was no K-line chart for silver coin consignment, the historical asking prices were public and transparent. Just minor adjustments above or below others’ prices worked fine, not essentially different from CS:GO skin trading.

If you disliked trouble, you could simply peg one silver coin at one dollar and throw ten to twenty thousand silver coins up for sale.

If you didn’t mind the hassle, you could also break them into tens of small orders of 100 silver coins, placed at 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000... and so forth, and wait for buyers. How much you sold depended on your luck.

Though slower, this method maximized the returns.

As massive sell orders emerged, silver coins’ prices finally began to fall after reaching an all-time high in transaction volume.

And all this was happening under someone’s watchful eye.

"Heh, clever sneaks."

Looking at the backend’s transaction records and the spike in reservation numbers, Chu Guang, while sipping his nuclear cola and enjoying the show, smiled.

Elder Fang Chang probably played on U.S. stock markets before, expertly buying low and selling high within a day.

He would throw large orders to drive the price down to single digits, then secretly pick them up with small orders. After a few oscillations, even his friends’ silver coins were all sold, and now he was probably counting his money.

Others sent him private messages inquiring about his background, wanting to have a straightforward talk.

A talk?

No way.

What is there to discuss between the "Degenerate Empire" and "Star Indigenous"?

A refuge is at least the last stronghold of the United Human. Chu Guang would be insane to initiate an open and honest proposal for cooperation when the others could completely misinterpret him as an extraterrestrial being or another superior entity.

What does an information field dimensionality reduction attack entail?

Power outage? Internet disruption?

That’s kids’ stuff.

Xiao Qi could sneeze and upgrade the "Second World" to the "Only Heaven" in a parallel world’s Earth with the solution to save the world hidden in the game of an advanced civilization, physically adding these settings to the game’s official website. Would you play such a game?

The five righteous would rush to play.

Not choosing the "Transboundary Act" doesn’t mean the option doesn’t exist, but rather there are more suitable options that better align with his ethical standards.

"Work diligently, and what you deserve will naturally come your way," Chu Guang was a reasonable man, and by working for him, one could obtain compensation.

That compensation could be money in the real world today, status tomorrow, and in the future might even rise to the heights of civilization.

A legacy from a higher civilization.

The beneficiaries were not just individuals.

Thus, if you wanted to enter the game, you had to honestly fill out the form, apply for a "work visa" according to the rules he set, and abide by the local "laws and regulations."

After all, wasn’t the New Alliance one of the successors of the United Human? Wasn’t the Manager worried about losing face?

As for how Chu Guang viewed fluctuations in the silver coin market?

He simply observed them.

Some were willing to spend hundreds of thousands to buy one silver coin, while others were willing to trade hundreds of thousands of silver coins for one US dollar. What did any of that have to do with him when both were just paper to him?

As long as the players were willing, they could also choose to list ten thousand silver coins for one dollar as a charity, allowing everyone to make money within their own understanding. Moreover, silver coins in the real world were not a currency for buying food, but merely game props.

As for whether it was worth it?

Was exchanging a +999 Dragon Slayer for a property worth it? Were properties worth hundreds of thousands in the metaverse worth it?

When it came to principle, which virtual thing wasn’t just paper?

At least in Wasteland OL, silver coins could genuinely buy land that one could freely develop, not just a deceptive paper model.

Thinking it was expensive indicated that one was rational.

And thinking it impossible simply showed a lack of experience.

The New Alliance had developed from a wilderness to its current scale thanks to generations of players who worked diligently. Now that Wasteland OL had successfully reached the Beta stage, Chu Guang would certainly reward those who had helped him.

And this was also the rightful compensation for their hard progress.

However, Fang Chang had only guessed half of it right.

The initial intent of Chu Guang in developing this platform was not to earn worthless paper from a different world, but not solely to distribute dividends to beta testers and regulate off-platform trading either. There were two more profound purposes.

One was to attribute value to the pie-in-the-sky promises made for Wasteland OL, and the other was to redistribute the in-game wealth.

The former would motivate players to tackle missions more zealously and participate more actively in the Legion and Merchant Systems he had planned.

The latter would make the game’s economic cycle more reasonable.

A bowl of ramen costing less than 2 silver coins could be sold for 6 silver coins in a region with extremely low taxes and land rent.

That was an exorbitantly high profit!

Such a price was cultivated by high-earning players.

As levels increased and high-level players accumulated too many silver coins, simply buying equipment wasn’t enough to spend them all. Indigenous people barely making an income of ten silver coins a day found it hard to afford products "priced by players," especially since their income, no matter how much it grew, could never outpace that of the "immortal" players.

The players had formed their own closed economic loop; in fact, they were essentially the New Alliance’s gentry or knights. Without administrative intervention, the risk of inflating the NPC market of their own country would keep accumulating.

How to mitigate this risk?

Establishing official silver coin trading channels and assigning value to silver coins was just the first card Chu Guang played.

The liquidity circulating in the closed loop would partially release out of the game, while another portion would be purchased by players eager to strengthen in the new version, invested in equipment, merchant activities, or elsewhere, entering a healthy cycle.

Those players who jokingly complained, "It’s too expensive, I’ll take another two bowls," would also start to seriously consider the value of the money they spent and whether their pricing of the products was reasonable.

If a country’s citizens have no reverence for their currency, and the gentry hold unimaginable wealth yet fail to utilize it properly, the risks generated are far more than just inflation.

The New Alliance already had over a thousand players, and in the future, more would gain beta-testing eligibility.

The sooner these issues were resolved, the better.

"... The Bull Horse Brick Factory, which has never distributed dividends, finally did, as did the Steel Plant #81. Part of the silver coins sedimented on the balance sheet flowed out of the game, and some went to other players, but most entered the treasury of the New Alliance. Problems of inflation and fiscal deficit were solved together."

"New players could also gain a better game experience, besides grinding for equipment, they could use money to shortcut when the silver coin prices fell, whereas high-ranking players who resolved their livelihood issues could devote more energy to the game."

"Though ’Backseat Drivers’ still didn’t have beta access, they too gained an indirect opportunity to participate in the game."

"This should probably be considered... never mind, let’s not count it." Chu Guang counted on his fingers for a while but eventually gave up.

He lost count of how many times he had already won.

So let’s just call it a collective win.

"But Master... why would people who clearly can’t enter the game buy game currency?" Xiao Qi was puzzled.

This confusion resembled its own when faced with snails that "clearly were weak yet still insisted on coming closer to probe with their tentacles."

Sipping on his cold drink, Chu Guang casually replied as he sat on the sofa.

"Everyone has their reasons. Some pay money for lessons; others, for dreams. Our job is not to control which leg the players move first while running or which hand they use to wipe their butts, but to ensure that most athletes run on the track and remove rule-breakers from the race."

Those who got the game access were adults, and adults should be responsible for their actions. He was a manager, not a nanny.

A player had spent two hundred thousand to scoop up twenty thousand silver coins, the largest single transaction being four thousand for eight hundred silver coins.

If she spent it all on ramen, she would definitely be at a huge loss.

But what if she bought nutrition paste and shipped it to southern plantations or weapons to Red River Town?

Twenty thousand silver coins were far more than just twenty thousand.

"The price of silver coins seems to have dropped."

"That’s normal, it indicates the New Year’s bonus is almost over and they should log in and work diligently," Chu Guang stretched lazily and stood up from the sofa.

Xiao Qi asked curiously, "But if the price of silver coins keeps dropping, will people still buy them?"

Chu Guang replied with ease.

"The price will converge in divergence and diverge in convergence. Increased transaction volume marks the beginning of a reversal, while decreased volume signifies the end of a trend, whether exchanging 1 silver coin for a hundred bucks or 100 silver coins for one dollar, to us, it’s just a number."

"If it really reaches a point where we need to stabilize the market, boosting it would be too easy. I’d just post an entire set of solid hydrogen technology on the official website, offer ten bespoken ’study abroad’ spots, priced at a hundred million silver coins. Guess how much would silver coins be worth then?"

"Think about our initial quest for the ’Magnetic Confinement Plasma Cutting Machine.’ We picked so much trash and steamed so many buns for the Pioneer. Now, looking back, see if that trade was worth it."

"One cannot merely look at the surface of problems."

—

(Thanks to "Extra Curry" for the chief sponsorship!!)