Chapter 26 Monday, July 26th

Shang Yang Games.

Lin Wan had been pinching her nose and enduring *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle* for two weeks.

From initial scorn and incomprehension, she was now increasingly feeling that this kind of game also had its reason for existing.

The original *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle* was a traditional pay-to-win game. Whales spent money to buy experience, and ordinary players accompanied them, acting as their underlings or punching bags.

It was a case of "those with money, give money; those without money, give support."

This kind of pay-to-win national war game was full of negative emotions. The biggest problems were unfairness and the forced creation of hatred.

These two points were also the reasons why similar pay-to-win national war games always had a terrible reputation.

Unfairness meant that combat power in the game was obtained through recharging. The more money you had, the stronger you were.

The game company divided the same game into different grades. How much you recharged determined what kind of game experience you got.

If you recharged, you could kill everyone and completely trample on the game experience of other players.

And this unfairness itself easily triggered negative emotions in players, after all, there was a saying that "people are not worried about poverty, but about inequality."

Forcibly creating hatred meant that many game companies deliberately designed gameplay to stimulate players' competitive mentality in order to encourage them to recharge.

Such as national war.

The person who captured the royal city would be the king, there would be a server-wide announcement, and a large number of benefits would be given to the players of that country. This was an excellent opportunity to show off in front of all the players in the server.

Several whales wanted to be king, so they could only compete to see who recharged more and who spent more money.

You recharge ten thousand, I recharge thirty thousand, you recharge fifty thousand, I recharge one hundred thousand...

Under this competitive mentality, a kind of involution mechanism was formed. Two whales competed with each other to buy a bunch of fake data, and they were both played by the game company.

Once the version was updated and new equipment came out, no matter how much you recharged before, you had to spend money again, otherwise you would soon be surpassed.

When players who had recharged a lot looked back after a year or two, they would only feel that this game brought them endless emptiness.

But, from another perspective, why is this kind of game so popular?

Precisely because it constructs a complete, rich, and diverse world in the game.

Traditional MMORPG online games are actually doing the same thing. For example, in *Fantasy World*, there are also guilds, and officials include guild leaders, guild managers, dungeon leaders, battlefield commanders, etc. Players are also playing different levels.

And the role-playing in pay-to-win national war games like *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle* is more immersive, because the interpersonal relationships are more complex and there are more levels.

The only difference is that in *Fantasy World*, a player's sense of existence depends on his online time and understanding of the game mechanics; while in pay-to-win national war games, a player's sense of existence depends on how much money he recharges.

Now, what the new version of *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle* is doing after the update is to cut out the pay-to-win elements as much as possible.

In this way, the negative emotions generated by players will be greatly reduced, directly dropping to the level of traditional MMORPGs like *Fantasy World*.

At the same time, the complex levels and interpersonal relationships in *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle* are preserved, and each player can play a different role, making the entire game like a miniature society that can operate in an orderly manner.

For example, the Chosen One system in the national war, everyone has the opportunity to play a key role, and this experience is something that other games can never give.

After being selected by the Chosen One system, this player's combat power directly crushes other players, and they can experience the feeling of mowing grass.

Although mowing grass games can also simulate this feeling, in that kind of game, you are fighting NPCs, which are all programs, but in *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle*, you are fighting living people, and behind every ID is a player.

You are invincible on the battlefield, helping your side to conquer key strongholds, that is really showing off in front of hundreds of players, and the sense of accomplishment is unmatched by other game types.

Therefore, the current changes in *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle* are to retain the unique experience of pay-to-win games, while deleting as much as possible the "tumorous" content that may cause negative emotions in players.

And this is the reason Lin Wan understood after playing *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle* every day for this period of time, and joining the player group to chat and communicate with many players.

"So that's it, it seems that I was naive before, and I never knew that there were so many tricks in it."

"Now I can understand why so many whales like to recharge a lot of money in this game, instead of playing games like *Fantasy World*."

"In this way, President Pei's goal is very clear."

"Why did he acquire Shang Yang Games, which was suffering heavy losses?"

"It's to do a very risky thing with *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle*, to do an experiment that no one has ever done before!"

"President Pei hopes to free players from being slaves to money, to change players' tastes, so that all players, even if they don't recharge, can enjoy the exclusive pleasure of whale players..."

"This motive... it can't be said to be anything less than noble!"

"Or rather, this is simply going against the heavens!"

Lin Wan couldn't help but refresh her understanding of President Pei again.

The reason why pay-to-win games can make money is that they sell an exclusive, customized game experience to whales at a high price.

Whether it's the golden wings in the game or the title of king in the national war, it can be seen as a commodity specially customized for whale players, and whales don't mind spending thousands or tens of thousands of funds to buy it.

In this process, the game company obtains huge profits, the whales obtain an exclusive customized experience, and the only ones who suffer are those punching bag players who accompany them.

And now, President Pei has chosen not to earn this money, to take back all the exclusive customized experiences from the whales, and distribute them to ordinary players according to certain rules.

Isn't this going against the heavens?

Lin Wan felt that the burden on her shoulders was even heavier.

Now, President Pei has spent so much money to create *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle: Enhanced Edition*, just to make up for the only shortcoming of this game, which is the graphics. If this game is made, coupled with Tengda's powerful marketing capabilities, it may really be able to slowly reverse the deformed appearance of the domestic pay-to-win game market!

Of course, this idea is a bit too idealistic. This kind of pay-to-win game will not disappear. As long as there are whales paying, they will continue to exist.

But as long as *The Song of Hot-Blooded Battle: Enhanced Edition* can play a little role in purifying the game environment and changing players' tastes, it can be said to be immeasurable merit!

Some game developers are kneeling and licking whale players, using pay-to-win games to profit for themselves; while others cherish their reputation and carefully develop single-player games.

Only President Pei, who has already achieved great success in the single-player game field, is willing to wade through this muddy water, willing to give up huge profits, just to change the tastes of these players and guide them to no longer be slaves to money...

What a noble sentiment this is!