Chapter 1177: A Complementation of the Gaming Experience
The designers present exchanged glances. Although they had mentally prepared themselves, this plan was still a bit hard to accept...
A designer raised their hand and asked, "Well... if this plan really comes to fruition, wouldn't League of Legends have no distinction between ranks? How would we differentiate Bronze players from Challenger players then?"
Chen Mo smiled. "This plan won't be introduced to player-versus-player competitive games or esports titles for the time being. It will only be implemented in single-player games initially."
Another designer asked, "But if that's the case, the greatest value of this plan will be hard to realize. Although players all yearn to become high-level players or even pro players, this is based on the premise that 90% of players are noobs. Without noobs to serve as a contrast, the experts won't stand out either."
"If it's only introduced to single-player games, isn't that essentially no different from universally lowering the game difficulty?"
Chen Mo shook his head. "The difference is huge, because this system will only grant you talent, not directly grant you strength. In other words, when a player first receives the implanted talent, the difficulty they experience will be the same as before. But through their continuous effort and practice, they can keep getting stronger until they reach the peak. This process itself is a relatively long one, allowing players to truly feel this transformation."
"Universally lowering the game difficulty would only make players feel that the monsters are too weak. But enhancing a player's talent, raising the ceiling that their efforts can achieve, allows them to experience the joy that only experts can feel."
A designer was silent for a moment before saying, "Boss Chen, I still feel like this plan might be a bit of a thankless task? The vast majority of players have already accepted the fact that they are noobs. Letting them experience what it feels like to be an expert—couldn't that backfire in some ways..."
Chen Mo smiled but didn't answer immediately.
He looked at everyone present. "What is the greatest unfairness in life? Is it the family you were born into? Is it your appearance? Is it discriminatory policies? Is it luck?"
"None of those. The greatest unfairness is the mind. Some people can start from scratch and make it onto the rich list, while others exhaust their mental faculties and can't even get into a top-tier university."
"What is the greatest unfairness in games? Is it how much money you spend? Is it the time you invest in the game? Of course, these are also unfair, and they gave rise to grind-and-pay games. But grind-and-pay games have gradually been abandoned by players; these two kinds of unfairness are no longer mainstream."
"Now, the greatest unfairness in games is talent. Everyone can work hard, but some people, after working hard, become top-tier players, while others, after working hard, remain in Bronze V."
"'Becoming an expert'—these four words sound simple, but in reality, they hold a powerful attraction for those novice players."
A designer looked thoughtful. "Boss Chen, you mean that through this system, every player can experience the process of going from suffering to mowing down enemies in Dark Souls? Let everyone experience the process of going from being scared to parkouring in Outlast? If that's really the case, then it does seem like a very appealing plan for ordinary players..."
Chen Mo nodded. "You can think of it that way. But I want to emphasize that what we are granting players is talent, not ready-made ability. Whether players can actually go from noob to expert depends crucially on whether they are willing to work hard. What we need to do is simply ensure that every bit of effort a player puts in yields a return."
"In essence, it's a complementation of the player's gaming experience."
"Every bit of effort yields a return..." The designer who had asked the question repeated this phrase softly. "That sounds like a very enticing statement. But, isn't this thing essentially equivalent to an official cheat?"
Chen Mo shook his head. "Of course not. There is a fundamental difference between the two."
"A cheat destroys the game's rules and lets players gain rewards without effort. It neither makes players work hard nor turns them into true experts. It's just like giving an ordinary person a gun, letting them slaughter martial arts masters. But in reality, the person holding the gun can't experience what it feels like to be a martial arts master. That is a destruction of the gaming experience."
"What we want to do is grant every player the possibility of becoming a martial arts master. The player needs to work hard, and after working hard, they will become a true martial arts master, not a person holding a gun. The player can still obtain the best gaming experience."
The designer who had asked the question nodded. "Understood."
Chen Mo looked at the projection screen, where the content automatically changed. "The reason I'm telling you all about the Transcendent Player Plan is mainly to prepare for the future."
"The Transcendent Player Plan will be implemented in single-player games, as well as in certain specific instances within Oasis. What we need to do is ensure that the Transcendent Player Plan does not affect competition between players, but in certain single-player experience content, let every player feel the joy of getting stronger."
...
After the meeting ended, Chen Mo returned to the monitoring room.
"How's it going?" Chen Mo asked.
Qian Kun pointed at the screen, looking very exasperated. "He's already turned it into a pure puzzle-solving game."
Chen Mo looked at the screen. Jiang Huan was already searching for various puzzle-solving props and advancing the story.
The VR version of Resident Evil 7 was more like a massive haunted house. It no longer had a rigid, fixed sequence, but that didn't mean you could play it any way you wanted.
This massive haunted house was filled with various threatening enemies and resources. Although a player could use their intelligence to jump from one scene directly to another, in the end, elements like clues and exits remained unchanged.
For example, the key to a certain door was hidden in a specific location. If the player couldn't find it, that door couldn't be opened.
However, the puzzle-solving elements of this game were secondary; the main focus was still horror.
But for someone like Jiang Huan, who could maintain his rationality even in extreme situations, this game had already become a pure puzzle-solving game.
The main difficulty of horror games for players lies in the sense of fear. When a player is in a state of extreme terror, their movements become distorted, their observation skills decline, and their judgment becomes flawed. It is under these circumstances that the difficulty of a horror game skyrockets.
But if a player can predict what is about to happen, or remain calm at all times, then the difficulty of the game drops by several levels.
Qian Kun said with some concern, "Boss, if all Transcendent Players are like him, can our horror games even sell?"
Chen Mo smiled. "Who told you that all Transcendent Players would be like him? We set the standards for Transcendent Players. We're just complementing the players' shortcomings. We never said we were going to turn them all into supermen."
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