Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 232 - 231 These unscrupulous media really have no law and heaven!

Chapter 232: Chapter 231 These unscrupulous media really have no law and heaven!

Two hours later.

The Sky Against Heaven Game Experience Store was a scene of utter dejection.

"...I completely underestimated the challenge’s difficulty."

"Damn it! How did a stupid-ass car spawn in! I was dodging as best as I could, and it still forced me off the road! Is there no law? Is there no justice left? I had maintained an accident-free record for over forty minutes!"

"Hou Ji, go easy on the table, don’t hit it so hard, or the manager might make you pay for it..."

Gu Fan observed with interest from the sidelines, clearly, these young players were all experiencing significant negative emotions.

The event was obviously organized by Lilith, but whether it was her own idea or if she had drawn inspiration from some Crouching Dragon and Young Phoenix remained unknown.

However, looking at the current situation, it seemed Lilith’s goal had been achieved.

The main reason being that when a new goal emerged, their original sense of accomplishment was diluted, and a new sense of frustration arose, naturally leading to more negative emotions!

Originally, the players didn’t have a goal of "66 hours accident-free", so as long as they completed one defensive driving session and watched the stupid cars crash while remaining unharmed, they would gain a substantial Positive Emotion Value.

Even if they crashed, they wouldn’t feel too discouraged, but instead, look forward to the next encounter even more.

But after the introduction of the "66 hours accident-free" objective, everything changed!

After completing a session of defensive driving, it became routine and didn’t generate much positive emotion; however, if they failed due to one stupid car’s appearance after persevering for tens of minutes or even an hour, it would unleash a significant amount of negative emotion!

So much so, that Hou Ji, after being taken down by a stupid car, angrily regarded it as the "ultimate stupid-ass car", suspecting that the game officials had spawned a high-difficulty vehicle on purpose because he had maintained a record of no accidents for a long time.

In truth, this was a complete misunderstanding, as there was no such mechanic in the game.

Once a car responsible for an accident spawned and crashed, the difficulty reset to zero, and there was no significant difference in the aggressiveness of each newly generated car.

But the issue lay in the players’ unawareness of this mechanic. When they persisted for a long time but still ended up in an accident, their first reaction was definitely not "I made a mistake", but "The game unethically increased the difficulty without warning, preventing me from adapting".

And this further increased the negative emotions generated by the players!

Seeing this, Gu Fan had to admit there was something clever about Lilith’s plan.

But as time went on, could this scheme really produce a large, stable output of negative emotions as expected?

And to salvage the players’ experience, what could he himself do?

Gu Fan fell into deep thought.

Soon, the challenge at the experience store came to a dispirited halt.

Zhuge Jun, Hou Ji, and the others slumped in their chairs, feeling completely drained.

Impossible, it’s truly impossible!

They originally thought they had thoroughly mastered the essence of defensive driving, but as the challenge continued indefinitely, they realized luck was a big factor.

Zhuge Jun was particularly demoralized. He lasted the longest among the group, after a single initial trial he got into the zone and successfully persisted for two hours in the accident-free challenge!

But as time passed, his concentration started to wane, and his performance declined.

Of course, at that point, Zhuge Jun could have chosen to exit the game and rest, waiting to regain his composure before diving back into the fray. The time accumulated in the accident-free challenge could be continued later.

But people often get carried away, irresistibly wanting to persist just a little longer.

And this persistence turned out to be a huge mistake.

A single collision wiped out two hours of effort!

And this caused Zhuge Jun to burst forth with a huge amount of negative emotions, so much so that he almost didn’t want to launch the game anymore.

Quietly turning on my phone, I wanted to adjust my mood.

However, after browsing the forums for a while, Zhuge Jun suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? What’s going on? Why are so many people bashing ’Road Rage Simulator’ all of a sudden?"

At first, people didn’t pay too much attention.

After all, the game is famous now!

As long as it’s popular, it’s bound to attract criticism, which is perfectly normal.

Furthermore, ’Road Rage Simulator’ isn’t exactly a game for everyone, it’s quite selective of its players. If someone doesn’t vibe with it, the gaming experience can be pretty bad. Under such circumstances, it’s normal for players to leave negative reviews or rant a bit.

But Zhuge Jun spoke with a grave expression, "Even though these people are going overboard with their criticism, at first glance... there really seems to be some twisted logic to it!"

Everyone took out their phones and indeed found that many people online were questioning ’Road Rage Simulator’, even morally condemning it!

Among them were regular netizens as well as self-media from gaming channels or other types of channels.

And their focus was clear: they believed that the motorcycle racing livestreams in ’Road Rage Simulator’ promoted a negative trend!

"What’s the deal with ’Road Rage Simulator’? Isn’t it deliberately promoting uncivilized driving behavior?"

"Exactly. If you drive properly in this game, other vehicles will always hit you, but if you race a motorcycle up to 300, no car hits you, and no police come after you for violations..."

"The key point is that these racing influencers make the most money in the game! How is that fair? I work hard every day commuting to work, delivering food, and I barely earn a few thousand a month. In contrast, a motorcycling influencer earns 210,000 a month from racing!"

"If you ask me, it’s definitely the game developers deliberately sneaking in their own agenda!"

"The worst part is, the game is popular now, with a high level of hype! Especially Heilong’s livestream, it’s not just popular in the game, but also in reality! This could really lead to some people imitating it, right?"

"Just yesterday I came across several videos of motorcycle influencers, all deliberately speeding to ride the wave of ’Road Rage Simulator’. It’s clear that the negative impact has already taken hold!"

"And what about the young people, those kids with the flashy bikes? Seeing that racing livestreams can grab attention and make money, what will they do? They’re surely going to imitate, right? It doesn’t matter if they die, but what about the innocent vehicles that get hit?"

"If anyone dared to livestream actions like racing in real life, their channel would have been banned long ago, but in the game, it’s allowed... Isn’t this a bit of a double standard?"

"Recently, a 21-year-old female motorcycle influencer died in a traffic accident, riding a borrowed motorcycle the wrong way and colliding head-on with an oncoming bike, causing a serious accident..."

Upon seeing the last piece of media news, Zhuge Jun could hardly contain himself.

"How is it ’recently’? Isn’t this last month’s news!"

This piece of news was real, and it had previously sparked some discussion.

The female motorcyclist had tens of thousands of followers on short-video platforms where she often posted videos of her flouting traffic rules, like riding against traffic, lane splitting, taking corners at high speed, popping wheelies, and so on. Although the image of her in black stockings and a short skirt was eye-catching and quickly increased her follower count, it obviously did not help her driving skills.

Previously, some netizens had left comments on her videos on short-video platforms, warning her of the "danger", only to be greeted with her abusive response: "Danger my ass!"

But no one expected the boomerang to come back so quickly; not even a couple of months later, the woman was involved in a severe accident and passed away.

The post-mortem investigation revealed that she had borrowed the bike and was driving without a license.

At the time, the incident caused quite a stir and was somewhat known, but it hadn’t reached a level where the whole internet was aware of it.

Now, some media outlets have conveniently linked this incident with the recent popularity of ’Road Rage Simulator’, creating an illusion that ’Road Rage Simulator’ led players to imitate such behaviors with serious consequences.

But what’s the reality?

This incident happened a month ago, when ’Road Rage Simulator’ hadn’t even been released!

All I can say is, it’s another charming moment in journalism.

But that’s the way the online environment is these days; rumors spread easily, while truth runs itself ragged trying to catch up. False statements or partial truths always spread more easily than the whole truth.

With the enthusiastic promotion of countless unaccountable self-media, this news really spread quickly and created a significant public opinion storm on the internet!

Zhuge Jun was filled with righteous indignation, "These unscrupulous media are really lawless now. Isn’t there anyone who can step in and do something about this?!"