Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 199: Peripherals!

Chapter 199: Chapter 199: Peripherals!

Back at Gu Fan’s villa, Lilith sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, feeling extremely satisfied with her brilliant arrangement.

Now that the design for Road Rage Simulator had been basically settled, Lilith once again felt full of confidence that this game would surely redeem their previous failures and harvest a huge amount of negative emotions!

As for the arrangement for Gu Fan, Lilith also considered it a stroke of genius.

Although she had refuted Azazel’s words to his face, showing absolute trust in Gu Fan, how could those possibly be her true feelings?

Being a distrustful demon, she would have doubted him even if Azazel hadn’t mentioned it.

Now, Lilith had come up with the optimal solution given the current situation.

If there’s always a problem with the gaming industry that Gu Fan is managing, whether it’s his fault or not, it’s time to make a change.

Since Gu Fan did well in plundering negative emotions for Hell Frontline, let him continue with that; aside from this, let him dabble in some new industries to keep him out of the way.

It’s good if the new industries generate negative emotions, but no big deal if they don’t.

The important thing is to temporarily remove Gu Fan from the gaming industry to verify whether he’s the issue or not.

"How about it, Gu Fan, have you figured out what you want to do exactly?"

Of course, Lilith didn’t forget to feign concern for Gu Fan, as if she really sent him to explore new business opportunities for the company’s development.

Gu Fan nodded, "Although I haven’t decided completely, I do have two general directions."

Lilith listened intently, "Let’s hear it?"

Gu Fan thought for a moment, "The first direction is directly related to our next game. Creating a set of peripherals for Road Rage Simulator, directly related to the game, so including it in the game’s development budget is quite reasonable, right?

"The second direction is to open a brick-and-mortar experience store to further promote our company’s games and products."

Lilith pondered, "Oh... game peripherals, huh?

"Good, since it’s a racing game, we’ll make controllers and steering wheels!

"Hehe, if these two types of devices are well made, they should indeed be able to collect some negative emotions!"

Lilith actually began to look forward to it.

Gu Fan was a bit surprised, "Ah? Peripherals can collect negative emotions too?"

Lilith coughed lightly, "Of course! If games can collect negative emotions, why can’t peripherals? However, this is Hell’s latest research and development result and it’s still in the testing phase. As for whether it’s effective... that still needs to be further studied based on actual situations.

"Overall, though, the principle is the same."

Lilith didn’t go into details about the exact principle, but Gu Fan also knew it must involve "contracts" like the games.

Nitiandang’s games were essentially signing a contract directly with the players, and thereafter, any negative emotions generated during use could be collected by Hell.

Similarly, if Nitiandang released some peripheral products, the act of purchase by the players would naturally be considered a signing of a contract. Then, any negative emotions generated while using these products could be collected by Hell as well.

In a broader sense...

If Nitiandang were to open an amusement park in the future and players generated negative emotions there, could that too be collected?

It didn’t sound impossible.

However, according to Lilith, this technology was obviously still under development, needing continual improvement, and currently, it had just expanded from games to general merchandise.

With this in mind...

Gu Fan felt somewhat helpless, "So, President Li, you’re sending me to explore new businesses also to test Hell’s latest research results, right? Can’t you complete the assignment on your own?"

Lilith coughed briefly, "Cough cough, Gu Fan, what you’re saying is not correct. Didn’t you say long ago that you were willing to give your all for Hell? I am an investor in Nitiandang games, and you are the CEO of Nitiandang games; it’s inescapable for you to develop new businesses!"

Gu Fan corrected her somewhat helplessly, "It’s not inescapable; you really should brush up on your Chinese, President Li. It’s called ’when duty calls, who but yourself should answer it’."

Lilith nodded, "Right! When duty calls, who but yourself should answer it."

Gu Fan continued, "But... President Li, you said I could decide for myself which industry to choose. Can I choose some that bring joy to everyone?"

Lilith smiled, "No!

"Indeed, you can decide for yourself which industry to pick, but you can’t decide whether to collect negative emotions.

"Besides, the peripherals industry, isn’t that your own choice?"

Gu Fan was momentarily at a loss for words, as twisting logic indeed seemed to be a demon’s true nature.

Lilith had already started to envision how to use peripherals to collect negative emotions, "Hmm, now that I think about it, peripherals have a lot of potentials!

"Just take controllers, for example. A lousy controller can cause as much emotional damage to a player as a lousy game!

"Moreover, controllers themselves are ergonomic devices with a high degree of technical sophistication. Even a slight deviation can easily make the player feel uncomfortable...

"So, hardware can also collect a considerable amount of negative emotions!"

Gu Fan couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart; sure enough, Lilith was never going to change, and she was resolute on the path of harvesting negative emotions!

And indeed, as she had mentioned, collecting negative emotions through peripherals was even simpler than collecting them through games!

Why is that?

On the surface, collecting negative emotions through games does have many unique advantages, with the greatest being convenience and speed.

A single game can be played by tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of players, each generating a bit of negative emotion, which adds up to a significant amount.

But peripherals or physical industries can only affect a very limited number of people before they grow big.

Take peripherals for example; an initial trial run would at most produce a few thousand sets, and if it’s a higher-value device, perhaps only a few hundred sets would be made.

This is also why Lilith had decided to start with the gaming industry from the beginning.

But now, things have changed; the gaming industry’s collection of negative emotions has repeatedly faced setbacks!

What about peripherals? Although they target a narrower audience, if each person could produce negative emotions steadily, then it would be a pretty good industry for Lilith as well.

However, for Gu Fan, this was quite problematic.

Because his initial goal was to make money, to earn a good reputation!

Now that Nitiandang’s game had finally gotten on the right track, was he to ruin the reputation with peripherals and lose all the money? Absolutely not!

With these thoughts, Gu Fan said, "President Li, I think your idea... might be somewhat underconsidered."

"Hmm?" Lilith’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as she looked at Gu Fan with a skeptical gaze.

The implication was clear: How is collecting negative emotions underconsidered? What are you implying?

Gu Fan hurriedly explained, "President Li, what I mean is, your idea of using peripheral products to collect negative emotions is indeed a direction worth trying.

"But...your method doesn’t seem 100% foolproof!"

Lilith was puzzled, "Why isn’t it 100% foolproof? If we make a crappy controller, can’t we almost certainly collect negative emotions?"

Gu Fan shook his head slightly, "No, President Li, think about it. If those crappy controllers really produced more negative emotions, then why haven’t domestic controllers disappeared over the years, and why are they actually getting better?"

Lilith was stunned, "Ah, this..."

Gu Fan’s remark was like waking someone from a dream, instantly bringing Lilith, who had been lost in the thought of effortlessly harvesting negative emotions, back to reality.

Do crappy controllers necessarily generate more negative emotions? Not necessarily!

Compared to The Big Three giants abroad, domestic controllers indeed have a large gap. After all, The Big Three’s R&D expenses are astronomical, something domestic controllers can hardly match.

Whether it’s the comfort of grip, the feel of buttons, and joysticks, there’s a big difference.

Even some controllers are of such poor quality that using them is indeed very torturous.

But these controller manufacturers have still survived and even thrived. Why?

Of course, it’s because of their price and various new features!

Controllers from big manufacturers cost around 400 yuan, while elite controllers cost over a thousand. However, domestic controllers are quite cheap in comparison, with the lowest prices around 100 yuan or so.

In addition, domestic controllers have generally introduced a variety of new features targetedly, such as paddle keys or macro commands, etc., whereas foreign big manufacturers rarely do these, with paddle keys only available on elite controllers that often cost thousands, and macro commands are even more uncommon and almost entirely unsupported.

Of course, this also relates to the preferences of domestic and foreign players as well as the positioning of the manufacturers, but regardless, domestic controllers have still found their own space to survive.

Even if a domestic controller isn’t as good as those from The Big Three, but it’s durable, capable of basic functions, has paddle keys and macro commands, and most importantly, it’s cheap!

So, do players produce more positive emotions or negative emotions while using it?

Clearly, there are more positive emotions.

And if Nitiandang’s game were to just collaborate with one domestic controller manufacturer for a co-branded model, it would likely be difficult to collect any more negative emotions.

Lilith was a bit curious, "Do you have a better method?"

Gu Fan nodded, "Yes, President Li.

"I think, if we really want to collect negative emotions, we can’t just make traditional peripherals. Things like controllers, keyboards, steering wheels, etc., if it’s just about branding or reskinning, the effect of generating negative emotions is very limited.

"We should try to create a new type of peripheral; that would allow us to better collect negative emotions!"

Lilith was quite touched, "I see, Gu Fan, my apologies. I’ve misunderstood you!

"What kind of new peripheral should we make then? Aside from keyboards, mice, and steering wheels, I can’t think of any other peripherals that could be linked to Road Rage Simulator."

Gu Fan confidently declared, "President Li, it’s simple. I’m thinking of creating a peripheral device that perfectly combines the shortcomings of both controllers and steering wheels!"