Chapter 1012: Chen Mo Going on a Current Affairs Show?
The controversy over GTA hadn’t yet subsided when players heard another piece of news that left them utterly stunned.
The renowned domestic current affairs debate show, *Today’s Current Affairs Debate*, was going to invite Chen Mo as a special guest. He would join some domestic experts, scholars, and opinion leaders who had criticized GTA to discuss the story behind the game’s development and explore its positive and negative impacts on players!
Many players were completely baffled when they saw this news, even momentarily thinking their eyes were playing tricks on them.
What was this about? Chen Mo was going on C-Station?
And he was going to have a direct confrontation with these experts, scholars, and opinion leaders?
Looking at the list of participants, it seemed like the majority were people opposed to GTA, right?
Was Chen Mo planning to reenact a one-man debate against a crowd of scholars?
But… could that actually work?
Everyone knew that while *Today’s Current Affairs Debate* was a current affairs program, it had a strong debate format. In typical current affairs shows, the host would just ramble on stage, inviting a few experts or scholars as guests to say a few words to support their own views, and that would be it. However, the host of *Today’s Current Affairs Debate* was supposed to maintain a strict neutral stance. Their main task was to guide the pro and con guests in debating the same issue, and at the end, they would only summarize both sides’ arguments without reaching a definitive conclusion.
The show’s topics were generally controversial issues where both sides had valid points—hence the name “Debate.”
But while it sounded highbrow, in reality, the show could easily devolve into a massive shouting match…
Don’t assume those experts, scholars, and opinion leaders were all gentlemen with perfect manners, like in a university debate where they’d stand up one by one to speak, letting the other side finish before responding. That wasn’t the case at all.
In fact, on this show, some experts and scholars would argue like housewives haggling at a market—interrupting, cutting others off, and even raising their voices until they were red in the face, completely losing their composure.
This couldn’t be entirely blamed on a lack of quality. On one hand, these opinion leaders weren’t necessarily trained in debate. They often spoke off the cuff, unconsciously interrupting others. Many people could write a great long post online, but when it came to speaking spontaneously on the spot, their logic might fall apart. On the other hand, when everyone was fighting for the floor, if you didn’t jump in, you’d end up in a very passive position. It was a bit like “a scholar meeting a soldier” or “a gentleman dealing with a thug”—even if you were in the right, someone being deliberately obtuse could still dominate the scene.
Clearly, the guests on this show were all very self-assured, especially in their own fields, and they wouldn’t admit defeat. So, the more they debated, the more heated things got—it was only natural.
The show ran for nearly an hour. At the start, everyone was polite and maintained their dignity, but by the last twenty minutes, the situation was often barely under control.
Of course, the host was supposed to guide the guests’ remarks at that point, but the host wasn’t omnipotent. The people who came on this show were all notable figures. Sometimes, when someone got carried away and kept talking, the host couldn’t just rudely cut them off mid-sentence—it would be a breach of etiquette.
So, the outcome of each episode was completely unpredictable. Just keeping the show running smoothly was already quite a challenge…
As a major program on C-Station, *Today’s Current Affairs Debate* had significant influence in the country. Players were well aware that if Chen Mo actually went on this show, he’d be wading into troubled waters.
Many people couldn’t understand it. Mainly, what benefit could Chen Mo gain from participating? Those so-called “opinion leaders” could use this opportunity to ride the wave of popularity, gain more followers, and make more money, but what could Chen Mo get out of it?
As the saying goes, a dog biting a man isn’t news, but a man biting a dog is. Even if Chen Mo won the debate, it would still be a man biting a dog—beneath his dignity.
Players even hoped it was a fake news story, or that Chen Mo would change his mind at the last minute and not go. But as the broadcast date drew nearer, no such news emerged.
Clearly, Chen Mo was dead set on wading into troubled waters and dead set on biting that dog.
…
On the day *Today’s Current Affairs Debate* aired, many players uncharacteristically gathered in front of their TVs.
For a lot of players, they had long stopped paying attention to TV shows. With various video sites and a ton of live-streaming platforms, they could just search for whatever they wanted to watch online. Why bother watching TV at a fixed time?
As a result, the viewership of many traditional TV shows had already dropped very low, relying on online broadcasts to stay afloat. As a C-Station program, *Today’s Current Affairs Debate* was in a better state than shows on smaller stations, but not by much.
This episode was broadcast simultaneously on TV and online. Yet, just the TV ratings alone were already astonishing.
The real-time viewership rating was 6.47!
That was a jaw-dropping number, setting a new record for *Today’s Current Affairs Debate* and even blowing past some phenomenal TV shows and dramas!
For context, in this parallel world, a certain phenomenal food show had a rating of only 2.7, and a certain phenomenal drama had a peak rating of 5.44 with an average of 2.83. Those were already considered legendary works, trending on Weibo and major forums for months.
A current affairs debate show achieving a rating of 6.47 was practically nationwide attention.
Moreover, this was the real-time rating. After the show ended and the final stats were tallied, that number might even go up…
Clearly, this was thanks to GTA’s explosive popularity and Chen Mo’s personal charisma. If there was a hot topic in the country right now, GTA and the controversy it sparked were undeniably the absolute center. And *Today’s Current Affairs Debate* had perfectly latched onto that center, so it was no surprise it garnered so much attention.
The online live-stream room was also off the charts with popularity. Players couldn’t wait any longer, and the screen was flooded with bullet comments.
“Waiting for Chen Mo to take on the scholars! I hope he tears these so-called opinion leaders apart!”
“Forever supporting GTA! A masterpiece, no explanation needed!”
“A cloud player here just to give GTA a thumbs up!”
The bullet comments were overwhelmingly in support of Chen Mo and GTA. Even if an occasional comment like “GTA harms society” appeared, it was quickly buried in the sea of messages.
Clearly, on the online platform, the support for Chen Mo and GTA was overwhelming.
For the players, this debate wasn’t just a TV show; it was a struggle, a battle. If the views supporting restrictions on games gained the upper hand, the entire domestic gaming industry would be affected, and even everyone’s freedom to play games could be restricted.
For the freedom of players to play games, they had to fight back!