Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 202 "Ascension" Can Still Save?

Chapter 202: Chapter 202 "Ascension" Can Still Save?

Lilith’s Negative Emotion Collection Office had long established numerous industries in the Human World, naturally including a group of "key employees."

Qin Fengliang was one of them.

The number of these key employees was not large, and they basically all went through layers of selection and repeated screening by Lilith, who viewed them as completely trustworthy in the eyes of Hell Demons.

They had also basically signed various contracts with demons, although not necessarily as stringent as Gu Fan’s contract.

Originally, Lilith had no intention of utilizing this force, but now, as she faced setbacks in her new business ventures time and again, she finally began to consider finding a more reliable assistant.

Among these key employees, Qin Fengliang was particularly outstanding, earning Lilith’s favor with his excellent performance in the Haunted House project.

Moreover, Qin Fengliang was young and had a good understanding of games and various cultural industries. Though not an industry insider, he was entirely sufficient as a strategist to advise Lilith.

After listening to Lilith recount the causes and consequences, Qin Fengliang roughly understood the current situation.

"So... President Li, your main concern now is that ’Ascension’ hasn’t collected as much negative emotion as you hoped?"

Lilith nodded, "Yes!

"Ah, I’m still puzzled to this point; this is clearly a game with a hundred bugs! A hundred!

"These bugs could easily generate a massive amount of negative emotion in other games, yet in this one, players seem to turn a blind eye...

"Anyway, that’s mostly water under the bridge now. As ’Ascension’ can no longer be altered, it’s unlikely there will be any turnaround.

"My main purpose is to have you help me analyze, do you think there’s something wrong with Gu Fan? What exactly causes the game’s bugs each time? And is there anything that could be improved for the next game?"

Qin Fengliang stroked his chin, deep in thought.

"Although there are some suspicions, it’s still not enough to convict. I think, President Li, you should continue to observe.

"However, regarding ’Ascension,’ I do have an idea.

"If it’s feasible, we might still be able to salvage the situation and squeeze out some more negative emotion!"

Lilith was somewhat surprised, "Oh? Really? But the game can no longer be modified."

Qin Fengliang nodded, "No need to modify it. President Li, based on the current state of the game, I suddenly had an idea. Do you know that similar action games have a somewhat niche playstyle, called... speedrunning?"

Lilith’s eyes had been shining, thinking Qin Fengliang might have some good ideas, but the moment she heard "speedrunning," she felt deflated.

"Ah? That’s it? I definitely know about it!

"’Sisyphus’ and ’Hell Inferior Demon’ had previously sparked speedrunning frenzies among the player community, but... that didn’t significantly increase the collection of negative emotions!

"Even the speedrunning competitions in ’Sisyphus’ entirely backfired, resulting in a drastic reduction of negative emotions collected!"

Lilith held her forehead, not seeing any viability in this idea.

Qin Fengliang shook his head slightly, "President Li, we can’t be so absolute in our judgment; we need to analyze specific problems in detail.

"Firstly, let’s not talk about ’Hell Inferior Demon,’ the speedrunning event known as the ’Sewage Butterfly Stroke Competition’ not only garnered attention but also generated a significant amount of negative emotion, proving to be quite a successful case. Right?"

Lilith nodded, "Hmm... indeed."

The negative emotion generated by ’Hell Inferior Demon’ was indeed substantial, and three-quarters of that share had been hers.

Qin Fengliang continued, "As for ’Sisyphus,’ because of speedrunning, the game did indeed generate plenty of positive emotion, but think carefully, President Li, why was that?"

Lilith pondered for a moment, "Is it because... the ’Five Consecutive Dragon Flapping Wings’ bug brought joy to the speedrunners?"

Qin Fengliang shook his head, "No, that was only a small part of the reason.

"The most important reason is that those involved in speedrunning ’Sisyphus’ were basically professional speedrunners, without the participation of average players!

"These two groups of people have different levels of tolerance for speedrunning, naturally producing different amounts of negative emotion!"

Upon hearing Qin Fengliang’s explanation, Lilith couldn’t help but show a look of realization, seemingly enlightened.

That makes sense!

This is the same problem with the "Purgatory Demon Cave" Haunted House.

Qin Fengliang divided the target audience for the Haunted House into two types of people, one being horror enthusiasts and the other, ordinary tourists.

For those horror enthusiasts, their demand is the scarier and more frightening the better. This group has a higher tolerance, so they experience less negative emotion when scared compared to ordinary people; after the scare is over, during the ’Enlightened Time,’ they produce far more positive emotions than ordinary people.

Therefore, for these horror enthusiasts, the scarier the Haunted House, the more they like it, but the less advantageous it is for Lilith, because the happiness during the ’Enlightened Time’ can offset much of the negative emotion previously generated.

Following his own strategy, Qin Fengliang gave the optimal solution for collecting emotions and was a great success.

Obviously, she held the same opinion regarding this all-player speedrun competition.

"President Li, I think the reason why the previous speedrun activities didn’t have a great effect boils down to one reason: they didn’t deeply involve ordinary players!"

"For the professional speedrunners, negative emotions generated during the speedrun are relatively few, and after successfully completing the speedrun or performing the ’Five Consecutive Dragon Flapping Wings’ move, they experience more positive emotions. The loss and gain balance out, making it an unprofitable business."

"What about the ordinary players? They are very self-aware and wouldn’t even try speedrunning."

"So the previous speedrun activities were like opening a very frightening Haunted House, which deterred ordinary tourists from the start, leaving only the horror game enthusiasts. That’s definitely not cost-effective!"

"But if we can find a way to attract ordinary players too, and let them suffer over and over again in speedrunning..."

"We would significantly increase the negative emotions generated by ’Ascension’!"

Lilith frowned and thought about it, then suddenly felt that Qin Fengliang’s words opened the doors to a new world for her and made quite a lot of sense!

Especially since this theory could be mutually verified with the successful experience of the Haunted House, it seemed very persuasive.

"Hmm... there’s some merit to that!

"So what specifically should we do?"

Qin Fengliang, true to his reputation as a master planner, quickly came up with a simple plan.

"It’s easy, President Li, you just go directly to a livestream platform or a video website and set up an all-player ’Ascension’ speedrun competition.

"This competition can be divided into many different stages, and everyone is free to sign up.

"All these are similar to general speedrun competitions. The key is the following two rules:

"First, to encourage new players to join, we can set some goals for them. For instance, divide the game into four stages, where completing a speedrun within a certain timeframe at each stage, even without winning a place, will still get them a reward!

"On the other hand, the final ranking rewards don’t need to be attractive or large.

"For example, if every new player who completes a speedrun goal gets 10 dollars, then the person who ends up first will get at most 100 dollars.

"We need to minimize the positive emotions earned by professional speedrunners in this activity, while attracting as many regular players as possible!"

"Second, the game has a two-player mode, doesn’t it? We can use this mode to attract more players to speedrun. It’s like many shopping apps’ ’Bring New Users’ or ’Slash the Price’ campaigns. As long as a player brings in a new player to complete the two-player mode with them, not only will the conditions for earning rewards become more relaxed, but the rewards will also be significantly increased!"

"As for what rewards specifically...

"I think cash rewards are best; either give away games, in-game items, or directly offer cash prizes. After all, you’re not short on money, President Li."

The more Lilith listened, the more reliable it sounded; she even grabbed Qin Fengliang’s hands excitedly at the end: "Great! I knew I wasn’t wrong about you, you’re definitely my trusted lieutenant!"

Qin Fengliang’s method was simple yet effective.

Previous speedrun competitions were open to everyone, so only those hardcore speedrunners would actually participate; ordinary players weren’t interested at all.

Definitely, they couldn’t collect too much negative emotion.

But this competition was different; the allocation of prize money mainly favored ordinary players. They didn’t need to compete with the speedrun pros, just finish with a very low completion target according to the speedrun procedure, in other words, only compete with themselves.

Moreover, considering the existence of the two-player mode, players would be desperate to bring others in, like some shopping sites that keep pestering, it might also generate some noticeable negative emotions.

Thinking of this, Lilith immediately stood up.

"Excellent! From now on, you will be the Chief Marketing Consultant for our Nitiandang games. The upcoming ’Ascension’ speedrun competition, completely different from before, will be your debut project. I believe you will succeed immediately!

"Write the campaign planning for this event, and leave the rest to me!"