Chapter 264: I'll Give You 24 Hours
Similar rhetoric abounded, and for a time, the entire internet was in an uproar, with #Chen Mo Starts Platform Price War# becoming a trending topic.
All sorts of smear articles were flooding in, and they all basically shared the same talking points.
They linked Chen Mo's reduction of the game platform's revenue share to the past price wars of free software and apps. The core argument was just one: Chen Mo was doing this to disrupt the rules of the game, using short-term benefits to tempt designers, thereby crushing other game channels, eventually forming a monopoly, and seizing even greater profits.
At the same time, many other defamatory remarks about Chen Mo were emerging endlessly.
"Chen Mo was the one who opened Pandora's Box of pay-to-win games with 'I Am MT' and 'Onmyoji,' and you still think he's that clean? Him not loving money? Isn't that a joke?"
"Exactly, when it comes to making money, he's even more ruthless than those big companies. He's only been in the industry for a few years and is already worth billions. Who can compare when it comes to amassing wealth?"
"Don't be fooled by him, everyone! Once the environment is ruined, it'll be hard to recover! Boycott the Thunder Game Platform!"
"That's right, boycott the Thunder Game Platform!"
A large portion of this was from paid trolls, but there were also some misled onlookers who were being swept along by the narrative.
Some people knew the truth but pretended to be ignorant for their own benefit; others... were genuinely foolish, being used as pawns without realizing it.
Soon, a massive and heated online war of words erupted. Players of Thunder Interactive Entertainment and Chen Mo's fans fought back fiercely.
"Hah, you guys are trying so hard to whitewash yourselves. How many companies jumped on the 'I Am MT' bandwagon back then? Count them yourself! Besides, Chen Mo has also made plenty of conscience games. You selectively blind dogs are truly blind!"
"You all have perfectly illustrated a saying: 'A petty person measures a gentleman's heart with his own mean measure!'"
"Pretending to be ignorant while knowing full well the truth. This is completely different from the free software and app price wars back then, okay? Aren't you channel operators making exorbitant profits? Aren't you exploiting new designers? Imperial Dynasty and Divine Fantasy sometimes take eighty to ninety percent of the revenue. Now that your cake has been touched, you can't make money lying down anymore, so you're throwing a fit?"
"Support Chen Mo!"
Chen Mo's fans couldn't stand this malicious slander. Obviously, Chen Mo opening up the Thunder Game Platform and using his own channel resources to help promote games for struggling designers was a good thing no matter how you looked at it.
The intentions of those malicious slanderers were also easy to understand. They were simply trying to stigmatize this matter to protect their own interests.
Once the Thunder Game Platform became popular, the interests of other channel operators would be severely impacted, and their days of lying back and exploiting others would be gone forever.
This incident became the hottest topic recently. The two sides were talking past each other, tearing into each other, and arguing endlessly.
...
Inevitably, Chen Mo's Weibo became the main battlefield of this war of words.
Elsewhere, like on major websites and forums, no matter how much the trolls cursed, they didn't know if Chen Mo could see it, and the arguments felt pointless.
But Weibo was different. Chen Mo's Weibo was quite active; he almost always posted before releasing a new game. Although he rarely replied to private messages or comments, many people guessed that he still saw some of them.
Within just a few days, Weibo was filled with discussions about this matter, disturbing almost everyone. Even many onlookers who didn't care about this issue were affected. Every day they opened Weibo, they saw the two sides hurling insults at each other.
On the fifth day of Chen Mo's silence, the trolls escalated their attacks. They increased their @mentions, private messages, and comments, moving from maliciously steering the narrative to personal attacks, even creating fake accounts to spew obscenities wildly.
"Hah, Chen Mo is really silent now? Why doesn't he dare to speak up this time? Wasn't he pretty cocky before? Nothing to say now?"
"Guilty conscience, huh? His tricks have been exposed, and he doesn't know how to refute them?"
"Come on, pretend to be a saint for a bit. Say something like, 'I'm not doing this platform for money, but for the benefit of all designers.' See, I've even written the script for you."
"Hah, a garbage designer making garbage games, only knows how to use underhanded tricks. Disgusting!"
The fans desperately defending Chen Mo were fighting back, but the other side was organized and disciplined trolls who held the offensive initiative. So, besides being indignant, the fans felt helpless.
After all, Chen Mo was in the open. Any move he made could be seized upon as a weapon by the other side. But these trolls were in the shadows, disguised as "players," making it impossible to expose the masterminds behind them.
Many speculated that other channel operators were behind these trolls, but there was no trace of which specific company it was.
For a time, the situation was deadlocked.
...
The gaming circle was buzzing with discussion.
"What does Chen Mo mean by this? Silence is golden?"
"No, that's not right. Logically, even if he wanted to start a price war, he could have said something high-sounding to cover it up. If he used public opinion well, he should be the one on the moral high ground, right?"
"Strange. Is Chen Mo now so detached from worldly affairs that he isn't bothered by these things?"
"Detached? I think I just heard the funniest joke in the world. Go ask Shi Huaze and Qiu Bin if they agree with that. I'm afraid you've all forgotten how much of a hot-headed rookie he was when he first entered the industry just because he hasn't been roasting people for a while!"
"Chen Mo has never been one to back down. He dared to go against Imperial Dynasty Entertainment when he was just a C-grade designer. And you think these trolls can scare him off? Just wait. I think he's waiting for his cooldown to finish, and then he'll gather them all up and take them out in one go."
...
Sure enough, on the evening of the fifth day, Chen Mo broke his silence.
At 8 PM, Chen Mo posted a Weibo.
"There have been quite a lot of trolls these past few days. I've been busy with work and didn't want to bother with it, but since you trolls are so dedicated and enthusiastic, I'll indulge you for a bit. I'll give you 24 hours. Curse me all you want. How much bonus you trolls can get depends on these 24 hours. Let the performance begin!"
As soon as this Weibo was posted, the onlookers who had just finished dinner and were feeling drowsy instantly perked up.
What does this mean?
"Indulge you for a bit"?
Does this mean Chen Mo is going to personally step into the ring and start fighting?
Indeed, how could Chen Mo ever be someone who backs down? With the trolls practically at his doorstep, would he say nothing? That just didn't make sense!
The trolls were also getting excited. After days of cursing and wasting so much saliva, the main target had finally shown up!