July 26th, Monday …
At Shang Yang Games …
Lin Wan pinched her nose as she tried out Bloody Battle Song for two weeks.
At first, she despised it and did not understand it. Now, she felt that there was a reason for this game's existence.
Bloody Battle Song was originally a traditional game with paywalls. Ballers spent money to buy the experience while ordinary players played the game with ballers. They would be their underlings or sandbags.
In other words, the rich would support the game, and the poor would support the individual game.
However, paywalls in war games were filled with negative emotions. The biggest problem was that it was unfair and forcefully created hatred.
These two points were also the reason why paywalls in war games always had a bad reputation.
Unfairness meant that the combat power in the game was obtained by topping up. The richer one was, the stronger one was.
Game developers divided the same game into different grades. The amount of money one topped up would determine what kind of gaming experience one would get.
Once one topped up, one could go on a killing spree and completely trample on other players' gaming experience.
Such unfairness could easily trigger negative emotions in players. After all, there was a saying that went, 'Don't worry about scarcity, worry about inequality'.
Forcefully creating hatred was something that many game developers deliberately designed in order to stimulate players to top up. This was to stimulate the competitive mentality in players' hearts.
For example, war.
The person who took over the capital would be the king. There would be a full-server broadcast, and players would be given a lot of benefits. This was a great opportunity to show off in front of all the players on the server.
A few ballers wanted to be the king. Then, they could only compete to see who topped up more and who spent more money.
You topped up ten thousand yuan, I topped up thirty thousand yuan, you topped up fifty thousand yuan, I topped up a hundred thousand yuan …
Under such a competitive mentality, it formed a kind of inward-looking mechanism. The two tycoons were being toyed with in the palm of the hands of the game merchants.
Once the version was updated and new equipment was released, no matter how much you topped up before, you would have to start spending again. Otherwise, you would be overtaken very quickly.
When players who had topped up a lot looked back a year or two later, they would only feel that the game had brought them endless emptiness.
However, from another perspective, why could such games be so popular?
It was precisely because they created a complete, rich, and varied world in the game.
Traditional MMORPGs were actually doing the same thing. For example, in Fantasy World, there were also guilds. There were guild leaders, guild managers, dungeon leaders, battlefield commanders, and so on. Players were also playing different roles in the game.
On the other hand, role-playing games like Bloody Battle Song with paywalls were even more complicated. That was because interpersonal relationships were more complicated, and there were more social classes.
The only difference was that a player's presence in Fantasy World depended on how long he was online and his understanding of the game's mechanics. On the other hand, a player's presence in a pay-to-win game depended on how much money he had spent.
Now, after the new version of Bloody Battle Song was updated, they would try their best to cut down on paywalls.
This way, the negative emotions of the players would be greatly reduced to the level of a traditional MMORPG like Fantasy World.
At the same time, the complicated social hierarchy and interpersonal relationships in Bloody Battle Song were preserved. Every player could play a different role. The entire game was like a miniature society that could operate in an orderly manner.
It was just like the 'Chosen One' system in the Nation War. Everyone had the chance to play the role of a key character, and this experience was something that other games could never provide.
After being chosen by the 'Chosen One' system, one's combat power would directly crush other players. One could experience the feeling of being unparalleled in cutting grass.
Lawn mowing games could simulate this feeling as well. However, in those games, one would be fighting NPCs. They were all dead people. In Bloody Battle Song, however, one would be fighting living people. Behind every ID was a player.
One would be invincible on the battlefield and help one's side conquer a key stronghold. That was like showing off in front of hundreds of players. The feeling of accomplishment was something that other games could not compare to.
Thus, the changes to Bloody Battle Song were done to preserve the unique experience of a pay-to-win game. At the same time, they tried their best to remove the 'malignant' content that could cause players to feel negative emotions.
This was something that Lin Wan understood after playing Bloody Battle Song every day and chatting with other players in the group chat.
"I see. It seems like I was too naive in the past. I didn't know that there were so many tricks to this game.
"Now I can understand why so many tycoons like to top up their money here instead of playing games like Fantasy World."
"Boss Pei's goal is very clear now.
"Why does he want to buy Shang Yang Games, which is incurring huge losses?
"It's because he wants to use Bloody Battle Song to do something very risky. He wants to do something that no one has ever done before!
"Boss Pei wants gamers to stop being slaves to money. He wants to change gamers' tastes. He wants gamers to be able to enjoy the exclusive thrill of ballers even without spending money …
"This motive … is really noble!"
"In other words, he's going against the heavens!"
Lin Wan could not help but have a new understanding of Boss Pei.
Games with pay-to-win games could make money because they sold exclusive, custom-made gaming experiences to ballers at high prices.
Whether it was the golden wings in the game or the title of the King of China in the national war, they could all be seen as custom-made products for ballers. Ballers did not mind spending tens of thousands of yuan to buy them.
In the process, the game company reaped huge profits, and ballers obtained exclusive, custom-made experiences. The only ones who suffered were the sandbag players.
Now, Boss Pei chose not to earn this money. He took all the custom-made experiences back from the hands of ballers and distributed them to ordinary players according to certain rules.
Wasn't this a defiance of the heavens?
Lin Wan felt that the burden on her shoulders had become heavier.
Now, Boss Pei was spending so much money to create Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version. He was trying to make up for the game's only shortcoming: the graphics. If this game was produced, coupled with Tengda's powerful publicity skills, it might really be able to slowly turn the tides of the domestic game market with paywalls around!
Of course, such games with paywalls would not go extinct no matter what. As long as there were tycoons paying, they would continue to exist.
However, as long as Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version could cleanse the game's environment and change players' tastes, it would be a great help!
Some of the game developers were sucking up to the tycoon players and using games with paywalls to make profits for themselves. Some of them cherished their reputation and seriously developed standalone games.
Only Boss Pei, who had achieved great success in standalone games, did not hesitate to get involved in this mess. He was willing to give up huge profits just to change the tastes of this group of players and guide them to not be slaves to money …
What a noble sentiment!
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