Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 532 - 515: My Behavior is Quite Righteous, Right?

Chapter 532: Chapter 515: My Behavior is Quite Righteous, Right?

For example, connect many similar heating units in series, averaging the temperature throughout the entire industrial or residential area.

Once one heating unit burnt out, the others continued to provide heat, and the temperature was still maintained.

By the time this heating unit was rebuilt and heating resumed, another unit would burn out, repeating the cycle over and over.

Of course, this method seemed simple but actually required certain calculations and planning.

Therefore, the park director did not replace the original heating system all at once but did it little by little.

As for the nursing home, it was even simpler—just keep it operating in the ignition, move-in, and freeze-to-death cycle.

Eventually, the park director hardly used the nursing home at all.

This wasn’t because he suddenly developed a conscience, but rather because as this new silicon-based heating system became more widespread, more silicon-based dwarves were needed to burn. The number of old silicon-based people was no longer in surplus; there were even not enough, so there wasn’t a need to use the nursing home for bulk processing.

In the eyes of the park director, these old silicon-based people were no longer a burden but had become a valuable combustible resource.

Since that was the case, nursing homes could merely exist as decor, just to slightly boost the approval rating without serving any real purpose.

This whole operation amazed Chen Tingquan, Zhuge Jun, and the live stream audience.

Beastly!

If this were in reality, such a person would likely be dragged out and shot a hundred times—it’s straight-up a crime against Humanity.

But in the game, nothing happened.

Because although the system of "Star Plan" was comprehensive, it ultimately couldn’t fully account for every situation, just like the current scenario; it was difficult for the game system to accurately judge the severity of this behavior.

So it naturally didn’t show up correctly in terms of satisfaction.

Of course, satisfaction levels still dropped.

Whether it was a smelter catching fire or people being burnt to death, both would lead to a reduction in satisfaction.

But since the smelters were not valuable and the ones burnt were old silicon-based people, and since the number of people burnt was not too many—nothing comparable to large-scale fires—

the system also didn’t judge whether this was intentional or accidental and treated it generally as an accidental incident. Therefore, the deducted satisfaction was only equivalent to a minor accident.

In the "Star Plan", there were too many places where satisfaction could be docked; even if old silicon-based people made a request and the player didn’t meet it on time, a significant amount of satisfaction would be docked.

Compared to that, the satisfaction docked for burning people was just minor.

Even if lots of smelters were built and many fires happened later, it wouldn’t greatly impact the game.

While a lot of satisfaction was docked, a lot of resources were saved as well!

With these saved resources, the park director could completely build more buildings that increased satisfaction, keeping Comet’s development ahead of the times.

No matter how you calculated it, it was a win.

He even somehow felt that he had more resources than he knew what to do with, a stark contrast to other players who found themselves severely resource-constrained in the mid-game.

The live streaming audience expressed that they had learned something new and were going to try it out in the game.

"Damn, it’s got to be you!"

"So, as long as you’re determined to be brutal, the game becomes this simple?"

"Man, the best way to heat is to directly burn people."

"Shoot, is this the real demographic dividend?"

"Can this even be streamed? Mind your words, mind your words!"

"And to think, playing the game this way really does make it a lot less challenging. Taking notes here, gonna try it out for myself!"

Chen Tingquan hurriedly clarified his relationship in the live stream, "I solemnly declare to everyone that these crimes against Humanity are all done by the Executive, and have nothing to do with me as a leader!

"If you’re thinking about hanging lampposts, oh no, we don’t hang lampposts here, then just throw into the smelter instead.

"If you plan to throw this anti-human Executive into the smelter to burn, don’t drag me into it; I am innocent!"

...

The next morning, Zhuge Jun woke up naturally and immediately woke up Hou Ji, ready to continue playing "Star Plan".

He had watched Chen Tingquan and the park director’s live broadcast last night and had fallen asleep without knowing when.

But he remembered the park director’s cunning play.

Today, he was ready to give it a try.

Although this method was somewhat anti-human, it looked truly fun and was hard to resist!

Not only that, but when Zhuge Jun searched on his phone, he found that there wasn’t just this one over-the-top method.

More and more ruthless players like the park director were coming forward, developing all kinds of inhuman strategies!

Using silicon-based dwarves as firewood for burning was just the most basic play.

In addition to that, there were a myriad of derivative operations.

Each one was inhuman, all severe enough to be considered ultimate atrocities worthy of prosecution for crimes against humanity, making even Nazis weep.

Compared to these crimes, the players who initially only engaged in minor cover-ups and derelictions of duty were already shining stars among humankind.

There were even calls from "Silicon-based people lovers":

"Please, go back to scheming for power, looking into how the Executive and leader calculate against each other. Stop tormenting these poor silicon-based dwarves!"

After all, no matter how much the Executive and leader struggled for power, it would at most involve conflicts between two players, and the lives of the silicon-based dwarves could still barely get by.

But once the Executive and leader started orchestrating this type of operation, the silicon-based dwarves had no way out at all.

In the face of these appeals, the "Class A war criminals" remained indifferent.

They even defended their actions.

"I think my actions are quite just, aren’t they?

"Haven’t disasters like fires and extreme cold, caused by the incompetence of the Executive and leader, already claimed many lives?

"Now, we’ve only sacrificed some old silicon-based people who contribute little to society and always make trouble, but heating issues are resolved, resources are saved, and technology progresses faster. In the long run, haven’t we saved more people? Isn’t this a great merit?

"Are we not to look at the results but only the process?

"Never crossing the line, focusing solely on good deeds, yet due to insufficient resources, causing a large number of deaths from fire or extreme cold—Is that the right way?"

It must be admitted; this argument was quite misleading.

Because playing it this way indeed allowed for much higher error tolerance compared to conventional gameplay.

This somewhat turned into a trolley problem: is sacrificing one to save ten justifiable?

From a modern perspective of morality and rule of law, it clearly isn’t.

But under the harsh conditions of Comet, with an ever-present risk of racial extinction, it seemed there was some rationale.

All in all, players had not anticipated that playing a game could lead to such a moral dilemma; albeit tough, it indeed became a very important and hot topic in the "Star Plan."

...

That evening, Lilith looked at the changes in online public opinion with some shock.

"Gu Fan, what on earth is going on!

"I don’t understand!!"

Lilith noticed a sudden decrease in negative sentiments, which upon tracing the root cause, she found was due to the widespread adoption of certain gameplay strategies.

But why would using such gameplay strategies generate positive emotions!

Lilith deeply felt the malevolence of human hearts.

Gu Fan cleared his throat twice, "President Li, this seems to be an issue with the burning parameters of silicon-based people... and this is not a bug."

Lilith frowned, "I know!"

She had indeed instructed for the adjustment of those burning parameters.

Indeed, as Zhuge Jun speculated, Lilith had increased the parameter to make the fires on Comet more uncontrollable.

If a silicon-based person couldn’t burn for very long, then the heat produced wouldn’t be enough to ignite large nearby buildings, naturally preventing widespread fires.

If only a large number of silicon-based dwarves were burnt but the industrial area successfully preserved, then players could recover and replenish quickly.

But if silicon-based dwarves burned longer and produced higher heat, it could ignite production lines nearby, causing a chain reaction and making the situation uncontrollable.

This was the consideration behind the design.

However, she hadn’t expected that at this time, players would exploit this design to develop a "low-energy heating system based on the burning characteristics of silicon-based people."

Regardless, this wasn’t a bug, so there was no one to blame, nor was there a need to.

"It’s fine, it’s fine, as long as there aren’t any bugs in the game, then there’s not a significant problem.

"At least the traps laid are still secure."

Lilith didn’t further inquire or attempt to find scapegoats.

Although the output of negative emotions had decreased, the main negative emotion output point—where the leader and Executive schemed against each other—still existed and dominated.

Furthermore, there was also the pursuit mechanism, overall still stable.

Lilith opened the streaming platform again, eager to see when the carefully designed pursuit mechanism would genuinely trigger a "bad money drives out good" chain reaction.

This pursuit mechanism was designed from the beginning to promote harm among players. Initially, it might not have been too apparent since most players hadn’t completely turned on each other, and there were relatively more well-mannered players who still pretended to behave.

But as time progressed, more people started to give up, entering a cycle of "bad money drives out good."

Good players became fewer, sloppy players increased, naturally leading to a rise in negative emotions.

Lilith eagerly anticipated this.

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