Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 355 - 364: Preemptive Blame Shifting?

Chapter 355: Chapter 364: Preemptive Blame Shifting?

Hearing this, Lilith’s eyes lit up involuntarily.

Hmm? Every time you exit the game, it defaults back to the romance portion and triggers horror content at a random time?

This sounds pretty good!

If it were according to Lilith’s original plan, it could be seen as a one-shot deal. Players start off playing a romance game and suddenly it turns into a horror game, which would certainly give them a shock initially, but they would inevitably quickly exit the game or shut down their computers.

Afterward, most of them would choose to delete the game and never touch it again.

A few might think they opened it wrong and, harboring a stroke of luck, open it again to take another look. But when they enter the horror game screen again, their luck would instantly vanish, and they would still delete the game and never touch it again.

For either type of person, the game would almost certainly not provoke any negative emotions thereafter, since they are already on guard.

But what if, as Gu Fan said, every time you exit the game, it defaults back to the romance part?

For those who delete the game immediately, the situation remains unchanged;

For those who hold a bit of hope and open the game again to take a peek, they would be surprised to find the game seems normal, and the previous horror scenes more likely appeared due to a bug, perhaps prompting them to play for a while longer out of curiosity;

There might even be some players who were quite scared by the horror part, but couldn’t let go of their beloved characters in the game, so they would choose to sneakily play for a while longer.

And these people might time themselves, thinking they could quickly use alt+F4 as soon as a horror scene appears, but with the timing of the horror scenes now randomized, they would still be severely scared without any mental preparation...

Of course, Lilith also knew this was actually the most ideal state.

From the current design, the first type of player would likely be in the absolute majority, while the latter two types, who could really harbor negative emotions, would be a minority.

But Lilith wouldn’t give up on this approach just because of that. As a designer, these are clearly all things that can be optimized.

Lilith hadn’t even nodded in approval when she saw Gu Fan quickly bow his head, showing a regretful expression.

"Ah, thinking it over, it seems not very feasible.

"Forget it, let’s pretend I never mentioned it."

Lilith frowned, "Hmm? How is it not very feasible? I think it’s a great idea?"

Gu Fan spread his hands, explaining, "It won’t work, President Li, I too just had a sudden inspiration for this method, but upon further consideration, I’ve realized that this method is probably not very reliable.

"After the first shock, most players would just exit the game and not enter again, so this method can only affect a very small group of people, and the effect won’t be very obvious."

Lilith was not convinced, "That’s not right!

"Gu Fan, there is an old saying, ’Do not forgo doing good just because it is small;’ such a great idea, how can we just abandon it?

"Even if there are flaws, they can be compensated with ingenious design!"

Gu Fan looked troubled, "Compensate with ingenious design? That might be hard to achieve, right?"

Lilith shook her head decisively, "No, no, no, it’s not hard at all!

"Listen to me, we can totally do this: at the beginning, we make the horror part seem like some kind of bug.

"Then automatically cause the game to crash.

"This way, while the player is shocked again, they’d also be filled with doubt: Weird, why did the game bug out and crash?

"Most people would cautiously open the game again to check."

"At that time, the game seemed to have returned to normal, and they could happily date their two-dimensional wives again.

"Thus, the players began to play cautiously again. However, at a random time, another bug occurred in the game, and an error was reported, which appeared to be a texture or model error!

"This time, the players explored tentatively for a few minutes, and the game crashed again.

"By using this method, we continuously enhanced the players’ endurance, allowing them to intermittently adapt..."

Lilith almost let slip, almost saying "negative emotions," but quickly corrected herself.

"By this method, we gradually induced the players in two ways:

"First, they discovered that if a bug occurred, restarting the game immediately would restore normal operation.

"But they didn’t know that the more times they restarted, the scarier the scenes they would encounter when they entered the horror part of the game.

"Second, they found that if they stayed longer in the horror part, or when the game bugged out, it would trigger a chain of bugs, and upon logging in again, they would receive nice rewards. This also seemed to be a new bug."

"Enticed by their two-dimensional wives and game rewards, their wishful thinking was greatly enhanced.

"They would linger in the horror parts for the sake of rewards, their fingers on alt+F4, thinking they had everything under control.

"And at that moment, it was our chance to let them do as they pleased..."

While Lilith spoke, she struggled to suppress a villainous cackle.

The others present were all stunned.

Goodness, President Li, show some humanity!

Is it appropriate to apply the proverb about not neglecting small acts of kindness here?

Your approach should rather be considered as not overlooking small opportunities for evil!

This is deliberately causing distress to the players!

Gu Fan also seemed to agree with everyone else, shaking his head frequently, "No, President Li, there’s a problem with this approach, which is how to make the horror game parts seem like bugs?

"The players aren’t fools; they can tell the difference."

Lilith waved her hand dismissively: "Oh, but we have the successful experience of ’Ascension’! I believe these issues can be overcome!"

The others exchanged looks, originally hoping that President Gu could dissuade President Li, but it seemed to have the opposite effect?

Why does President Li seem even more energized the more we talk?

Wait, no!

Someone gradually realized, President Gu wasn’t persuading at all but subtly encouraging.

The more we said this approach wasn’t feasible, the more President Li wanted to overcome the difficulties.

It was an idea casually mentioned by Gu Fan, but he quickly dismissed it himself. This instead provoked President Li to obsess over it, repeatedly patching up the suggestion and becoming adamant about pushing it forward.

After this maneuver, President Gu seemed casually to distance himself from the relationshiup.

This way, even if problems arise in the future, Gu Fan could assert confidently, "I just had a spontaneous idea then, but I said it was unfeasible! Didn’t you insist it was feasible and pushed it forward? All these details were your idea!"

Could this be the pinnacle of shifting responsibility, preemptively at that??