Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 432 - 421: Lying and Dynamic Difficulty_2

Chapter 432: Chapter 421: Lying and Dynamic Difficulty_2

Lilith soon understood what Qin Fengliang meant.

In traditional dynamic difficulty modes, experts purposefully waste bullets and get hit to lower the game’s dynamic difficulty. Lowering the difficulty is for the sake of clearing levels more smoothly.

But in this new dynamic difficulty mode, getting hit on purpose has no benefit whatsoever; it only increases the difficulty, posing more of a challenge and raising the probability of failing. This runs counter to the goal of smoothly clearing levels.

Moreover, getting hit on purpose is inherently boring and dull.

To cause a significant change in dynamic difficulty, players need to spend a lot of time getting hit. Despite their instincts telling them to dodge, they must force themselves to stand still and also ensure not to die. For expert players, this is torture.

It’s troublesome and yields no benefits, so one can imagine that only a few players would choose to do this. Although many players complain, most will still quietly clear the game on the lowest difficulty.

Therefore, although in theory, players could exploit this dynamic difficulty adjustment system, in reality, few actually do.

Lilith nodded, "I see. Go on, then, tell me how to prevent players from quitting the game."

Qin Fengliang smiled slightly and confidently continued, "President Li, everything we’ve discussed so far involves reactive difficulty changes, like getting hit, wasting resources, and so on.

"To prevent players from dropping out, to give the less skilled players a glimmer of hope, we need to introduce proactive difficulty changes."

"To this end, I’ve meticulously designed a... ’Lying System.’

"Lying allows players to actively adjust the dynamic difficulty."

Lilith was a bit confused, "Lying? How do you lie? Who do you lie to?"

Qin Fengliang explained, "Of course, it is lying within the game.

"First, the ’anti-dropout’ mechanism is only applicable to less skilled players. Those expert players might experience negative feelings but rarely quit just because the game is too easy, as they at least want to quickly clear the game content once or twice."

"So, we need to create an illusion for less skilled players, the illusion that ’you can lower the game difficulty through specific actions.’

"Once they depend on this illusion, we can... fiercely make our move, and at a certain point, reveal the true world to them!"

"Thus, the operating mechanism of this lying system is very simple:

"At some critical moments in the game, when players converse with key NPCs, these NPCs will pose a question, and players need to give a binary response."

"One is true, and one is a lie."

"Let’s take a simple example: assume the player’s current goal is to defeat a boss with two attributes, wherein the boss can freely switch between a ’Corrupt’ form and a ’Holy’ form."

"The plot will first convey this information to the player. Then, before fighting the boss, the boss, pretending to be a friendly NPC will ask the player: What is your identity?"

"At that moment, the player can claim to be clergy, or, say they are a mercenary."

"Actually, the player is a mercenary, not clergy. So, the former is a lie, and the latter is the truth."

"But if the player honestly answers that they are a mercenary, then the boss will appear in its Corrupt form. Lacking Holy Series attacks and defenses, the player will continuously corrode, making normal combat extremely difficult."

"However, if the player lies, claiming to be clergy, the boss will not dare to appear in its Corrupt form but will present itself in the Holy form instead."

"Logically, the primary offensive tool of clergy is Holy Spells, which are practically ineffective against a boss in a holy state, and the boss could easily crush clergy with its immense power."

"But the player’s real identity is as a mercenary, possessing agile maneuvers and strong physical attacks. The boss’s Holy Series spells, conversely, fail to harm the player."

"In this way, the player has actually reduced the game’s difficulty by lying."

"We can be even bolder:

"For instance, if the player wants to enter a town, there are a main gate and a side gate. The main gate is heavily guarded, and the side gate requires identity verification."

"If the player lies, they can easily sneak in through the side gate, avoiding a lot of difficult battles."

"Moreover, players can lie about some unimportant things, or even choose to lie to every NPC."

"Even lying about insignificant things will genuinely reduce the game’s dynamic difficulty. For players lacking dexterity, this is absolutely a huge blessing and can give them hope to persist."

Lilith’s eyes lit up; she had completely understood, "But this so-called lowering of difficulty by lying is only temporary. At some point in the future, it will all be reversed with increased severity!"

Qin Fengliang smiled slightly, "Exactly, President Li is indeed clever!

"Lying feels good momentarily, but afterwards, there’s the possibility of NPCs exposing it."

"Once exposed, the game’s difficulty will revert to its original level, which is practically bad news for players who have gotten used to the low difficulty."

"The beauty of this system is that even if players get exposed once, they won’t immediately quit the game."

"They will introspect: ’Ah, did I get careless somewhere, which is why I was exposed?’

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