Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 620 - 603: Gu Fan’s Two Approaches

Chapter 620: Chapter 603: Gu Fan’s Two Approaches

This is obviously not good news for Gu Fan.

Previously, when Nitiandang developed "Endless Fantasy Legend 2," it caused quite a stir.

Although the gacha mechanism in "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" could be considered a form of pay to win, it was still a single-player game. The grinding was not mainstream, and there weren’t any particularly obvious forced monetization actions.

The game sold characters rather than stats, which made a big difference.

Even if players always remain free-to-play, they can still draw some good characters and experience all the story and world gameplay.

But this time, "Reverse Heaven" is clearly not so gentle; it’s directly selling stats.

Lilith explained, "This game is called ’Reverse Heaven,’ and it is a cultivation-themed game.

"As for the source of the name, it’s quite simple.

"’Cultivation is inherently going against the heavens.’ Therefore, we want to fully implement this concept in the game and carry it forward!

"This also happens to echo our name, Nitiandang.

"In short, use the selling of stats and the cultivation theme as entry points. Everyone, put your heads together and think carefully about how to execute this.

"The most important thing: how can we ensure the experience of free-to-play players while selling stats, and do our best to retain them?"

As she spoke, Lilith looked at Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang was silent for a moment: "President Li is indeed wise and brilliant, immediately grasping the crux of the problem and proposing an unsolvable issue in the gaming industry."

Lilith proudly straightened her back: "Don’t flatter me, answer the question."

Zhou Yang felt it was somewhat embarrassing. Every time there was a brainstorming session for a new game, they would be summoned back to face President Li’s interrogation.

Take this problem, for example; it’s indeed the biggest issue with pay-to-win games.

Pay-to-win games and the pay-to-win model are not uncommon in the domestic gaming circle and have even been mainstream for a long period.

From "massive multiplayer real-time combat" end games to "are you my brother? Come chop me" web games, and various versions of national war mobile games, selling stats has always been the most profitable gaming model, bar none.

But so far, this model is becoming less effective.

On the contrary, games leaning towards single-player are becoming more popular.

The reason is simple: more and more players have realized that in this kind of game, they are not players but part of the gaming experience for the whales.

It’s bad enough to be a subordinate in real life; why should they be one in games too?

All successful pay-to-win games, or rather outstanding ones, have achieved one thing: they found a rough balance between the experience of whale players and free-to-play players.

Those who pay can have a great experience and be admired by many ordinary players, but they’re not invincible; while playing for free may never beat whales, it’s not as if they’re bullied to the point of having no experience at all, and often they can achieve significant recognition through their comprehension of the game.

Take many national war games, for example:

Whale players spend a lot, have strong combat power, and can fight many people alone; but they also need to win over a large number of ordinary players to build their power, otherwise, they will be outnumbered and outgunned.

And free-to-play players can use their excellent understanding to earn military funds or red packets from the whales to build the most cost-effective lineup or help the whales run guilds, giving them a decent sense of existence.

Everyone understands this rationale, but as to whether it can actually be achieved, that’s another question.

It’s like walking a tightrope; everyone knows the secret is to maintain balance and not fall, but in reality, any misstep can lead to total failure.

After considering for a moment, Zhou Yang said, "I think we should try to draw on the experience of similar games as much as possible.

"We can categorize players into four different groups and deal with them separately.

"The first category is top whales who don’t care much about the cost-benefit ratio; we just need to do a good job on the stat ceiling and grading system.

"The second category is microtransaction players, those who recharge a few dozen to a hundred dollars each month. We should try to ensure high-reward activities targeting their consumption habits, so they can maintain this spending level as much as possible.

"The third category is highly active free-to-play players. We need to give them a role as social liaisons or ’think tanks,’ taking on management tasks and giving them plenty of room to play in the game’s mechanisms.

"The fourth category is free-to-play but not very active players. On the one hand, we should try to..."

However, before Zhou Yang could finish speaking, Lilith was already impatiently shaking her head.

"What you’re talking about is outdated. How can Nitiandang’s game do things like this?

"It’s fundamentally wrong!

"We must take the path less traveled; start over."

Zhou Yang was speechless.

Clearly, this was an expected result because if we’d followed this path based on current existing national war games, while positive feelings are not lacking, it wouldn’t meet Lilith’s requirements.

Lilith wanted disruption, a way to gather as much negative sentiment as possible while minimizing player attrition.

And Zhou Yang’s stable and balanced plan obviously wouldn’t work.

At this point, Gu Fan said, "President Li, maybe I can share my thoughts first, just to inspire some ideas."

Lilith nodded: "Hmm, go ahead."

Gu Fan explained, "In the current gaming market environment, this kind of pay-to-win game is increasingly being rejected by players.

"Conversely, single-player games are being more widely accepted.

"Whales want to hunt free-to-play players; the more, the better; while free-to-play players don’t want to be chased by whales—this is indeed a difficult contradiction to resolve.

"Using the same old approach, players can see right through it; it simply won’t work.

"If we want to break out of these two ways of thinking, fundamentally, we have to transfer the contradiction and make sure that whales and free-to-play players don’t engage in a zero-sum game, with their contradictions no longer so sharp.

"I believe there are two different methods.

"The first method: we make the map as large and complex as possible.

"For instance, on the big map, everyone can build their own hideouts and hide. In addition to cultivation, they can hunt demon beasts or gather spiritual medicine.

"Free-to-play players can quietly improve themselves, while whales can easily kill free-to-play players, but they may not necessarily find them. Moreover, when whales are hunting high-level demon beasts, free-to-play players might ambush them during mutual destruction.

"This is one way to handle it: although this world remains one of the survival of the fittest, due to high randomness and rapid changes, it can still support the entire system quite well.

"Within this system, we can add some smaller tricks."

Upon hearing this, Lilith shook her head slightly: "Not good."

Clearly, she thought this method could still retain free-to-play players, but fear it wouldn’t generate much negative sentiment.

Even if some repulsive elements were added, it might not necessarily improve the situation.

Gu Fan continued, "There’s a second method: we make sure there’s a very clear, strict rule.

"Whales absolutely cannot kill free-to-play players.

"However, we will use other means to ensure that both whales and free-to-play players have enough reasons to continue playing."

Zhou Yang was surprised: "Is there such a method? In the Cultivation World?"

Gu Fan nodded: "Not in the traditional Cultivation World, but yes in the real world.

"Henggang Middle School Simulator is such a similar system, isn’t it?"

Everyone had different expressions, and Gu Fan continued to explain.

Lilith furrowed her brow, listening intently, but judging from her subsequent expressions, she evidently began to agree with Gu Fan’s perspective.

How to resolve the conflict between whales and civilian players?

Whales pay to have the gaming experience, and killing civilians is the best experience. In the past, whales paid for the server, while civilians played for free, allowing for rough balance.

But as the gaming industry develops, civilians have realized they don’t want to be subdued in games, as with increasing consumption power, they can afford single-player games, and the number of free single-player like games is also increasing.

Whales can’t find civilians to kill and naturally quit the game over time, causing the whole cycle to collapse.

Gu Fan’s second approach fundamentally severs this contradiction, shifting the greatest enjoyment for whales away from killing civilians to other targets within the game.

The target would naturally be PVE in nature, similar to how in "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" whales would build a full-star galaxy battleship to tackle challenging content and brush up their playtime.

The difference is that in "Endless Fantasy Legend 2," the connection between players was not close, so whales with a galaxy fleet didn’t have much opportunity to show off.

Of course, this also meant that less negative sentiment was generated.

In "Reverse Heaven," the plan is to further strengthen the connection between players, reduce the antagonism between whales and civilian players, and make them as cooperative and symbiotic as possible in their competitive relations.

Ultimately, doing so serves to create space for collecting more negative sentiments with some reverse operations.

Gu Fan continued, "Let’s assume that cultivation in this game isn’t the same as in cultivation novels, but more akin to the internal competition model of Henggang Middle School.

"Everyone has a shared goal, such as at Henggang Middle School, where everyone aims to get into college. Under this goal, everyone is in a subtle competitive relationship:

"Although there is competition and fixed spots, due to the large number of participants, students within the same class or school do not directly constitute a competitive relationship. Therefore, they can establish cooperation and progress together.

"Of course, I know what you want to say.

"In reality, Henggang Middle School students are forced to compete due to real-life pressures, but in a game, players can choose not to play.

"Therefore, for this system to run well, we also need to establish a solid ’internal circulation mechanism,’ so ordinary players can gain enough benefits to continue playing.

"Simply put... we have to pay them in reality."