Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 278 - 287 Data Analysis

Chapter 278: Chapter 287 Data Analysis

January 13, Tuesday.

It’s the fifth day since Instructor Ding’s team discovered a major hidden bug in "Shadow World"!

If the player forums were abuzz, and things at Nitiandang appeared calm, then the situation at several other game companies was like an undercurrent lurking beneath calm waters.

It was same at Shengjing Group.

At this moment, in the office of the Vice President of the Shengjing Group Gaming Business Unit, Kang Yong was conversing with a man who looked quite delicate.

This person was Ji Heng, also a high-ranking game producer in the Shengjing Group Gaming Business Unit. He was in charge of a project called "World of Star Spirits," an MMORPG that had launched four years ago and was also of the Western Fantasy genre.

Among that year’s plethora of MMORPGs, though "World of Star Spirits" did not rank at the very top, it had managed to survive and consistently maintain a decent number of online users. By accumulating a large amount of game content through updates and new versions, it could be considered a success in its own right.

As of last month, "World of Star Spirits" still brought in a net income of over ten million for Shengjing Group.

While this number was not exaggerated in the gaming industry, such revenue was already enough to be considered a key project within Shengjing Group. Ji Heng had even secured his position as a front-line producer in the Shengjing Group Gaming Business Unit thanks to this game.

However, unlike Wei Chengjie, Ji Heng’s resume looked more dazzling and impressive.

Before joining Shengjing Group, Wei Chengjie had toiled in many small companies, while Ji Heng graduated from a top 3 university in China. Upon graduation, he joined a key project at Shengjing Group as a core strategist, and then swiftly ascended to become the chief strategist for "World of Star Spirits."

It could be said that in the entire gaming industry, game producers who had experienced such plain sailing, hardly encountering any setbacks like Ji Heng, were few and far between.

At this time, Ji Heng wasn’t particularly clear on why Vice President Kang Yong had called him over, but he had a rough guess.

"Nitiandang’s new game, ’Shadow World,’ you’ve been following it, right?" Kang Yong asked.

Ji Heng nodded: "Of course."

As the producer of "World of Star Spirits," Ji Heng certainly had to keep an eye on all MMORPGs worldwide; it was the basic literacy of a game producer.

Even if he couldn’t play every type of game, he definitely had to have an in-depth understanding of competitors’ games in the same genre, as it was part of the job.

Moreover, since its launch, "Shadow World" had always had a lot of discussion online, regardless of whether it led to player attrition. The recent major event that involved all classes had pushed the game’s online discussion to a peak.

Even if Ji Heng wanted to ignore it, it would have been difficult.

"Old Wei defected to that company. What do you think... could there be Old Wei’s shadow behind this game?" Kang Yong still seemed to be somewhat hung up on Wei Chengjie’s defection.

Ji Heng thought for a moment, then shook his head: "I don’t think so.

"I’m familiar with Old Wei’s style in game development. Although he is more aggressive than I am, overall, he wouldn’t have deviated from the existing framework.

"A radical overhaul like what ’Shadow World’ underwent doesn’t seem like a decision he would make.

"Moreover, for a small company like Nitiandang, ’Shadow World’ represents a major project that could strain their finances. Failure could even risk the company’s bankruptcy. To attempt something this risky on such an important game project, it must have been the decision of the company’s owner or the core producer from the beginning. Old Wei hasn’t been there for long, he wouldn’t have the clout to make such a decision."

Hearing Ji Heng put it this way, Kang Yong felt somewhat relieved.

If "Shadow World" had been Old Wei’s doing, then Kang Yong would truly have been distressed.

After all, with the resources and personnel Shengjing Group had, had Old Wei not left, wouldn’t "Shadow World" have been a product of Shengjing Group?

Knowing now that the game wasn’t orchestrated by Old Wei, but that he was just assisting, Kang Yong felt somewhat more at ease.

"Then, what’s your take on the all-class gameplay of ’Shadow World’?" Kang Yong asked again.

Ji Heng hesitated slightly, then responded, "President Kang, can I say that I actually don’t have high hopes for this mode?

"I think the popularity of this game is just a flash in the pan and is not sustainable."

Kang Yong nodded noncommittally: "Hmm, go on?"

Ji Heng explained, "The reason is simple, in MMORPG games, the focus is on ’balance’."

"There needs to be a balance between professions, a balance between factions, and the experience of players at different levels must also be balanced.

"Balance is something that permeates MMORPG games from start to finish."

"After all, MMORPG games emphasize social interaction, and if there’s an imbalance, it means that a portion of the players are experiencing an excess of enjoyment, which consequently means a reduction in enjoyment for others.

"Those players affected by the imbalance, the disadvantaged, will leave the game, and while the advantaged players who gain excess enjoyment might stay, over time, as new imbalances arise, they, too, will split into new disadvantaged players.

"With this continuous cycle of separation, once the number of players leaving surpasses a certain threshold, then the MMORPG game is on an inevitable path to collapse.

"The successful experience of ’World of Star Spirits’ is the continuous adjustment of the balance of each profession and gameplay to weaken the overly dominant professions as fast as possible, thereby better maintaining the overall game IDE ecology.

"Whereas ’Shadow World’, or to be precise, Nitiandang, the game company, absolutely cannot achieve this.

"They have always been reluctant to make extensive modifications and adjustments to the game, which is a cardinal sin for MMORPG games."

"This also means that ’Shadow World’ will inevitably be an unbalanced game and, more likely than not, will continue to be unbalanced going forward."

Kang Yong didn’t pick up the conversation immediately; clearly, he did not completely agree with Ji Heng’s words.

After some thought, Kang Yong changed the subject, "Then tell me, do you think the all-professions gameplay of ’Shadow World’ is a bug or something Nitiandang did on purpose? A deliberate design?"

Ji Heng shook his head slightly, "I’m not sure. It’s mainly because every game from Nitiandang in the past has been like this, appearing to be a bug, but upon closer examination, it seems like a mechanism, and yet, on second glance, it does indeed appear to be a bug.

"However, whether it’s a bug or a mechanism, I don’t think it affects my judgment.

"’Shadow World’ will not be a very successful MMORPG game, its player churn rate will definitely be very high. And as time goes by, it will inevitably get higher and higher."

Kang Yong was silent for a moment, then took out a document from the side, "But... the conclusion from our data analysis department is completely the opposite."

Ji Heng was somewhat surprised, he reached out and took the document, realizing it was a report provided by the data analysis department of Shengjing Group.

It was clear that this report had been rushed out in the last two days.

The concurrent online players, player retention, and other data for ’Shadow World’ are business secrets, accessible only by the internal staff of Nitiandang.

However, large companies like Shengjing Group have their specialized data analysis departments, which can also roughly estimate the data of competitive products through other channels and means.

For instance, many third-party websites or game plugins have the functionality to query server population in real time, and Shengjing Group would also develop some corresponding software. After installing the plugin and logging into the game, one can directly check the current server population and other related data.

At present, almost all MMORPG games do not disable plugins, unless it’s direct cheating that affects game balance, the officials tend to turn a blind eye, even granting tacit approval.

This is because the content of MMORPG games is too complex; without plugins, many players would struggle to make progress.

Nitiandang’s games are no different.

Therefore, the data analysis department of Shengjing Group only needed to find a few popular servers within ’Shadow World’, and perform player population statistics during certain time periods to gather some relevant data.

Then, combined with online trending search keywords, player discussion heat, and other data for comprehensive analysis, they could also arrive at generally correct conclusions.

Even the professional level of the data analysis department at Shengjing Group meant that they often had a better understanding of the data from smaller companies’ games than the companies themselves.

Upon seeing the detailed data, Ji Heng could not help but widen his eyes in astonishment.

Because what he saw was an unbelievable set of data!

Externally, apart from a wave of concentrated publicity and lead generation when the game was first launched, Nitiandang had not conducted any large-scale promotional activities afterward.

However, on game forums and in terms of player discussions, ’Shadow World’ consistently maintained a high level, and the trend was still growing.

On the night Instructor Ding discovered the hidden mechanism of the game, discussions about ’Shadow World’ spiked dramatically, instantly generating immense popularity!