Chapter 213 Private Agendas

He An continued, "Of course, everything I'm going to talk about also carries a personal agenda. I hope CEO Ma can understand that."

"Because there's no such thing as an absolutely objective and fair statement. Anything that undergoes artistic processing will be influenced by the subconscious of the 'processor.'"

"But the personal agenda I'm going to carry forward is my personal vision for the development of the domestic game industry. It would be best if CEO Ma agrees with it, but it doesn't matter if you don't."

Seeing He An's expression become noticeably serious, Pei Qian temporarily put aside his aching head and listened carefully.

"What I'm going to talk about today can be divided into two parts."

"The first part will talk about my successful experience in making *The Landlord Game*, and demonstrate how to remain restrained while carrying the correct 'private agenda.'"

"The second part will briefly talk about my views on the current development prospects of the game industry, or rather, a proposal."

Pei Qian nodded.

He could clearly feel that He An today seemed different from the previous two lessons.

In the first two lessons, He An was simply an "observer," a professional who carefully analyzed successful cases and interpreted successful elements.

But today, He An seemed to have a glow of imparting knowledge and resolving doubts, reminiscent of those old gentlemen who worried about the country and the people.

He wondered if this was just an illusion.

He An organized his thoughts and said, "First, let me talk about *The Landlord Game*."

"In fact, the gameplay of this game is not my original creation. It comes from a board game from my enlightenment period. The earliest origin can be traced back to an American political economist named Henry..."

Pei Qian had a very vague impression of this story, but it was not systematic and his understanding was not deep. It gradually became clearer after He An's narration.

This political economist named Henry came from a poor background and had been a sailor, a gold digger, and a printer, coming into contact with countless people at the bottom who were poorer than him.

In the mid-19th century, the United States rose rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, but this also led to an unprecedented intensification of the gap between the rich and the poor. Henry realized that the accumulation of countless wealth did not bring prosperity to the poor, but widened the gap between them and the rich. The income of the top 1% of the rich exceeded the total income of the other 50% of the common people.

As a result, Henry began to think about the cause of this huge inequality and eventually completed a theoretical work, *Progress and Poverty*, revealing that the root of all this was the privatization of land in the United States.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a female journalist named Elizabeth inherited Henry's ideas and decided to create a board game to verify George's theory. After a long period of development, the rules of the board game gradually improved.

And this is the prototype of *The Landlord Game* made by He An.

He An took a sip of coffee and continued, "In the process of making the computer game *The Landlord Game*, I added many interesting gameplay elements to make the game more interesting. For example, adding various prop cards, increasing special events, establishing a complete stock system, character voice system, lottery mechanism, etc., and adding different maps, and carefully polishing the art style..."

"And these designs are all to make the game have enough fun and gain the love of players."

"Obviously, this game carries a personal agenda, which is my agreement with Henry's ideas."

"Many people have interpreted this game, looking for elements that are confirmed in reality, such as: the poor get poorer and the rich get richer; buying land emphasizes the advantage of getting in early, the earlier the richer; location is king; speculation in stocks should pay attention to internal information; attention should be paid to unexpected events in the investment process; the essence of war is the redistribution of resources; people without initial capital are not qualified to enter the market..."

"Most of these interpretations were already in my mind when I was designing the game; a small part was what I had a vague understanding of when I was designing the game; only a very small part was what I was not clearly aware of, but naturally formed with the continuous improvement of the game rules during the game production process."

"Obviously, I carried a lot of private agendas in this game, but this game did not cause resentment among players, but instead they agreed with it very much. This is a successful case."

"In summary, there are three principles to follow when carrying a private agenda:"

"First, convey positive values."

"Second, ensure fun."

"Third, bury it at an appropriate depth."

"Whether it is a game or other cultural products, the quality itself must be achieved. To put it simply, the game must be 'fun', otherwise it is not a qualified game, it will not be welcomed by players, and the private agenda you carry will not affect others."

"Burying it at an appropriate depth will prevent resentment."

"Some players will dabble in it and only have a very preliminary and superficial understanding of what you want to express, and the main fun lies in the gameplay itself."

"Some players have better understanding and will associate these game contents on their own."

"There are also some players who will dig deep into the details of the game and fully understand the private agenda you carry, and even in very few cases, they will over-interpret your thoughts..."

"Burying it at an appropriate depth is to make these three different types of players feel comfortable playing."

"Of course, what I'm talking about are all theoretical things. In practice, you need to make decisions based on the actual situation. Don't think it's useless. The game industry, including most cultural industries, doesn't have a quantifiable standard of success."

"If there really is such a quantifiable standard of success and a quick way to achieve it, then everyone would be able to make successful games."

"What is really valuable is these theories. Understanding these theories is equivalent to finding the right direction, which is the first step to success."

Pei Qian nodded, seeing that this content was the most valuable of He An's theoretical reserves.

Although it didn't seem to have much operability for Pei Qian, the theory itself was valuable.

Just like many tool-based disciplines, they cannot simply and directly change your life, but they can increase wisdom and subtly change your life.

He An took a sip of coffee and continued with some emotion: "Next are my views on the current game industry."

"This only represents my personal opinion. CEO Ma, you can listen to it provisionally. It doesn't matter if you don't agree."

"I think that although the domestic game market is becoming more and more prosperous, it is becoming more and more empty. Pay-to-win games that sell hatred can indeed bring players a sense of pleasure and revenge, but do they convey any positive values? No."

"Of course, I'm not saying that all games must be educational. This is a wrong view. Games are entertainment products, and their first goal is entertainment, which is no problem."

"However, this does not mean that the game itself should be empty and without content. A game that sells hatred, plays with probability, and skirts the edge may achieve commercial success, but it will never become a classic game passed down through the ages, and it will not win the true respect of players."

"We emphasize that the goal of games is entertainment, which is right, but we should not ridicule those producers who express some content to players through games. They are also indispensable."

"Unfortunately, in the current market environment, there are fewer and fewer of these game producers."

"Everyone likes fighting and killing, likes big scenes, likes beautiful faces and hot bodies. The competition among game merchants is like dishes with more and more seasonings added, constantly increasing the taste threshold of players and diners, making it impossible for chefs who insist on the original taste to survive."

"So, I'm also considering retirement, because I know very well that in this market environment, even if I make another *Landlord Game*, it is impossible to succeed."

"This is why I have always been so supportive of Tengda Games. CEO Pei of Tengda Games is one of the few producers in China who dares to and is good at carrying private agendas in games, and these games are always thought-provoking."

"CEO Ma, if you can become an excellent game producer in the future, I also hope that you are a person who knows how to moderately and restrainedly carry the correct private agenda in the game."

"Of course, don't forget to carefully wrap this private agenda with a beautiful and easy-to-accept shell. It is absolutely impossible to lay the naked truth directly in front of the players."

Pei Qian listened silently, feeling complicated.

He could hear a sense of the hero's twilight from He An's remarks. He could feel how high-spirited and successful He An was when he made the successful games *The Landlord Game*, and now facing such a market environment, choosing to retire seems unrestrained, but it also contains some helplessness.

But the good news is that Pei Qian felt that he would definitely be able to lose money this time!

Did *Struggle* carry a private agenda?

Anyway, whether it did or not, Qiao Laoshi (Old Qiao) would definitely be able to interpret a private agenda.

And this game, just as He An said, lays the naked truth directly in front of the players, which is a big taboo!

According to He An's theory, the private agenda should be buried at an appropriate depth, and the more you dig, the more you should find. Burying a lot of content at the shallow level will dissuade most of the casual players who just want to dabble in it. This is an inducement for the failure of a game!

He An looked at the time: "Okay, that's all for today's lesson."

"I hope today's lesson will be helpful to you."

"Also, remember, don't lay the naked truth directly in front of the players, it will only backfire."

He An was afraid that "Ma Yang" would knowingly commit the crime, so he emphasized it again at the end.

Pei Qian nodded: "Okay, Teacher He, thank you for your kind words!"