Chapter 519: The Lottery Draw
Since your opponents are all real players, and the distribution of real players is such that the Gold, Silver, and Bronze tiers have the most players.
If the ranked mode isn't turned on, these players might feel pretty good about themselves and still get some enjoyment out of the game.
But once the ranked mode is activated, these low-tier players quickly realize that in this game, they are nothing more than ordinary, unremarkable people, and their only motivation becomes climbing the ranks.
If they can't climb, they'll quickly lose interest in the game because they've lost their goal.
Of course, this isn't the case for *Warcraft* and *League of Legends*. Many players in the Gold and Silver tiers are still happily playing those games because they have very rich game content and immense depth. Players can keep learning and keep improving.
Take *League of Legends* for example. Players can practice the new patch's strong heroes, watch pro streamers to learn better game sense, and their own mechanics have the potential to improve through constant practice. With such rich content, it relatively dilutes the impact of losing in ranked matches.
Players always feel there are many things they haven't figured out yet and plenty of room for improvement. So even if their current rank isn't high, they believe their true skill can climb higher, and they keep working hard with pleasure, chasing that very illusory goal.
However, for games with relatively shallow content, the ranked mode will accelerate the depletion of that content. Once players discover that, after understanding most of the game's mechanics and practicing a large number of heroes, they still can't climb the ranks, they will quickly lose all interest in the game.
And this is exactly the trap Chen Mo had dug for Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment. When *Gunfire Chronicles* also decided to launch a ranked mode, its failure was already sealed.
...
*Gunfire Chronicles* came and went in a flash, prompting many designers to think.
Why can the same model work for *Overwatch* but not for *Gunfire Chronicles*?
It's not that it can't work. Looking at the initial popularity, *Gunfire Chronicles* was developing okay. But why did it suddenly die off?
Was it because the heroes were poorly designed?
Was it because of the ranked mode?
Initially, other game companies were gloating, thinking this was a great opportunity for their own projects. They successively launched three or four *Overwatch*-like games with ranked modes, but without exception, they all flopped.
The later ones flopped even faster. It wasn't just because of the ranked mode, but also because players were experiencing aesthetic fatigue with *Overwatch*-like games. With *Overwatch* as the shining example, these other games all looked like knockoffs.
For these companies, this was an unacceptable and devastating failure, especially since these were VR games.
Although the scenes and content of this type of game weren't as rich as other VR games, they were still VR games.
The investment for these games easily exceeded a hundred million, and such heavy losses even triggered turmoil among the top management of several game companies.
Those companies that didn't make similar games were secretly glad on one hand, and on the other hand, they were analyzing the reasons behind it.
After analyzing everything, everyone came to a conclusion: this path is a dead end.
Chen Mo hadn't opened the ranked mode, which masked the inherent contradictions in this type of game. But in reality, it was itself an imperfect gameplay model.
Clearly, *Overwatch* wasn't incapable of having a ranked mode. The reason Chen Mo had been delaying it was very likely intentional.
While feeling a bit frustrated, these game developers also designated similar areas as forbidden zones. Even the popular FPS games on the VR platform were affected to some extent.
...
In the experience store, Chen Mo was happily watching his income of Happiness Points and Resentment Points.
As the saying goes, tireless in corrupting others, no matter how many times you set traps, it always feels very interesting.
Up to now, the Happiness Points Chen Mo had harvested far exceeded the Resentment Points. It had to be said that once *Super Mario Odyssey*, this ultimate weapon, was released, the rate of acquiring Happiness Points started to rise rapidly.
This was still limited by sales. Once the second batch of handheld consoles was sold out, this rate might become even faster.
Relatively speaking, the growth rate of Resentment Points was very slow, almost negligible. Up to now, the total amount of Resentment Points had just barely exceeded 20 portions.
But 20 portions wasn't bad. Chen Mo planned to draw the lottery first and then deal with it.
He drew five times first, and got five more Hardware Design Skill Books.
Chen Mo was a bit speechless. These five books were really not very useful. Since the handheld console had already been successfully produced, even if he drew more Hardware Design Skill Books in the short term, it was impossible to develop a new handheld console or new device.
However, it's better to have more skills than not. He might as well consume them.
After consuming these five Hardware Design Skill Books, Chen Mo continued the lottery draw.
The vortex spun rapidly again, and a brand new skill book appeared on the virtual screen.
Chen Mo instantly perked up. Taking a closer look, it was [Professional Knowledge - Cold Weapon Knowledge Skill Book]!
"Oh? This is good, I don't think I've seen this before!"
Chen Mo quickly used it.
A vast amount of knowledge poured into his mind, including extensive knowledge of cold weapons, Chinese, foreign, common, rare, and the shape, appearance, weight, and special usage of each type of cold weapon.
"This thing is great, very useful."
Chen Mo felt pleasantly surprised. For him, this was much more useful than the Hardware Design Skill Books. Hardware design could only be used when making hardware, but this cold weapon knowledge could be applied to the combat system in most games featuring cold weapon combat.
"Keep drawing, let's see if there's more?"
Chen Mo drew again. To his slight disappointment, this time it wasn't a Cold Weapon Knowledge Skill Book. But after taking another careful look, Chen Mo felt pleasantly surprised again.
This time, it was a special item!
[Special Item - Mall Key]: Use to open the Mall for shopping. The Mall includes the third-stage enhanced versions of all items already drawn. It also requires Happiness Points and Resentment Points to purchase. There is no limit on the total purchase quantity at once. The Mall closes after the purchase.
Clearly, this was also a good thing.
Previously, in the first and second stages, there were many special items that Chen Mo hadn't drawn again since. This time, being allowed to open the Mall and directly exchange for them was obviously a good thing for him.
However, it seemed this key was quite precious. It would definitely be more cost-effective to use it after accumulating a lot of Happiness Points and Resentment Points. Open the Mall and buy freely. After buying, the Mall closes, and there's no telling when it can be opened again.
So, after thinking it over, Chen Mo decided not to open it for now and save it for later.
At least wait until he had collected a relatively large amount of Resentment Points before using it.