Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Teacher Qiao’s fans were all stunned; they couldn’t believe this video! However, they had no choice but to accept; they could not find Teacher Qiao anymore.

 They couldn’t tag Teacher Qiao in their fans’ chatting platforms while Teacher Qiao did not reply to any private messages. The individuals who managed Teacher Qiao and had his number tried to call it but realized the call could not be connected.

 Evidently, this was akin to beating a fast retreat and becoming a scaredy-cat.

 All the fans were flummoxed to the point of anger, from anger to disappointment, and from disappointment to becoming calm again… where they suddenly became quiet. Teacher Qiao’s bizarre act was indeed worth praising; it had given this April’s Fools Day an additional color.

 However, everyone soon realized that this wasn’t the end!

 On the various established video websites, many content creators all started to do recommendation videos for Game Designer! Furthermore, these videos were rather disgusting. There was a difference in them. However, this difference was only restricted to the caption of the video, the editing technique, and artistic resources used… as well as the content creator’s voice.

All the videos’ wording was the same: it was a mixture of Chinese and English; even slurping and gulping sounds could be heard!

All the fans who watched these videos broke down.

 What the heck was this?!

 Although these were content creators with a certain amount of influence, they had actually traversed gaming, otomad, lifestyle, digital, technological; all various areas. It covered a huge array of aspects. Furthermore, their captions were all different; one might accidentally click on one of these videos!

 Once players clicked and saw the familiar starting picture, their hearts would instantly skip a beat, having a premonition about what was going to happen.

 Indeed, after each content creator’s standard opening line, the sponsored partnership advertisement would start in-your-face!

“Its name is Game Designer. G-A-M-E, game, game designer!”

 “Awesome¹!”

 After seeing two or three consecutive videos of the same thing, many people realized that they had been brainwashed. Their brains were filled with ‘Uh-oh, awesome, slurp, gulp’…

 1All these content creators also—without exception—chose to disappear immediately and act dead. Of course, they would! Once this video was out—knowing that they were going to be scolded bloody, who dared to stand out and withstand the fury of their fans?

 They could only let their fans vent in the comments section and wait for things to subside; they would then act as if nothing had happened.

 Indeed, just as Pei Qian had predicted, all these sponsored partnership videos had been criticized badly!

 All these sponsored partnerships had very low viewership while the comments sections could not be looked at. Once many people clicked into the advertisements and saw how badly things were going in the comments section, they would not bother to watch it anymore!

 …

In the office…

 Pei Qian was scrolling through the sponsored partnerships videos as he checked on the response from viewers and viewership.

 En, everything was according to his plan!

 He had spent so much money finding so many content creators. These advertising videos had been cast aside by the viewers, and viewership couldn’t increase by much. It didn’t even achieve any positive publicity at all.

 This was great!

 Restricting the content of what all these creators could say had been a good idea! Pei Qian knew that all these content creators were very talented. If he allowed them to use their brain juices freely, what would happen if another The Lonely Desert Road success came along?

 Hence, he had decided that everyone would use the same script; he was not going to let them bring any positive feelings to gamers. Pei Qian was very pleased; half of his plan was already a success!

 Next would be to see the response from gamers!

 …

In a rented apartment…

 Qiao Liang lay on his bed as he looked at the tens of missed calls on his cell phone; he felt a little lost, and that life held no meaning. Ah, it was indeed hard to make black-hearted money¹!

 He didn’t even dare to open his fans chatting platform. Even if he used his legs to think, he knew what the situation would be like in them. The more he thought about it, the more he felt he had suffered a loss and the angrier he became.

 Ah! He regretted it so badly!

 Ten thousand yuan was indeed a very generous offer; it had actually blinded him. He had thought that earning this ten thousand yuan from a sponsored video would make himself happy. However, after Qiao Liang lay in bed for a long time, he did not feel that way at all.

 Even when he played games, those felt meaningless; also, cup noodles no longer smelled that good.

 Could this be… the unsettling feeling from taking on this lousy job just for commission?

After considering it for a long while, Qiao Liang got up from his bed as he switched on his computer and downloaded Game Designer.

 “I need to know clearly today what I have done! My reputation as Teacher Qiao has been ruined; I need to at least know clearly who the murderer was, right?”

 He spent twenty-eight yuan and bought Game Designer. Although he had accepted Game Designer’s beautiful artistic style and material, Tengda had never sent out this game’s demo.

 Pei Qian did not want to send the demo to the content creators.

 He had already written the script for the video; as long as the content creators had a few pictures and clips, they could more or less piece together a video. Why did they need a demo?

 If they gave a demo and started to play the game themselves, it would be very awkward if they used their superior editing techniques to dilute the ‘sponsored partnerships’ feeling of the videos!

 Hence, Teacher Qiao actually didn’t know himself what the game was like. With a burning desire to find out, Teacher Qiao entered the game and started to play it.

 …

…

As it was his first time entering the game, he had not entered the main selection page but had immediately entered the game itself. Rather surprisingly, before the game had even appeared on the screen, a voice-over had rung out first.

 “This is a story about a game designer. You are an up-and-coming game designer; you have the ambition of rescuing the domestic game industry.

 “Your tasks are simple: rack your brains to think of an idea, make it into a game that would stun laymen, and be the envy of your peers in the industry—a game that would be praised by the media and which sales would skyrocket. You would then use your earnings to develop the next game; this will be the cycle.

 “Until you become a star game designer—a publicly funded star, winning Best Game of the Year awards year after year, becoming the cover of Times weekly magazine, and making your company have a market valuation of one hundred billion… reaching the pinnacle of human life.

 “Alright, wipe away your drool first, please.

 “These are very distant dreams for you.

 “Now, you only have one objective: to successfully create a game that could survive in this harsh market.”

 Accompanying this voice-over, the game scenes also changed.

 This was a first-person game. While the voice-over narrated, the player would also start to advance along a corridor.

 When it came to the ‘stun laymen, and be the envy of your peers in the industry—a game that would be praised by the media and which sales would skyrocket’ part—along the corridor, passionate fans would appear, envious game design masters would look on during an award ceremony, and news reports of record-breaking sales would be shown.

 All these scenes looked like sketches… or perhaps they were more like pages in a 3D book that were turning as the voice-over revealed something new. While walking along this corridor, one felt as if he was really occupying that space. At times, one would be surrounded by passionate fans while, at other times, one seemed to be accosted by reported clicking away.

 However, Qiao Liang ultimately still felt as if he wasn’t completely immersed in the game. He felt a little surprised.

 The information that he had received regarding this game and what he was supposed to create had not mentioned the voice-over at all. Furthermore, the movements in the game couldn’t be controlled by the player; and it looked rather confusing.

 However, after playing the game itself, it felt completely different.

 The first-person perspective, as well as the independence to explore, had given players a good sense of immersion and an adventurous feel. The sketches that surface also excellently made one feel as if he was really in that space.

 On the other hand, this voice-over was also very unique. This was a very special male voice that was slightly screechy, and his voice was nasal and thin. It also had a tinge of huskiness to it.

 If Qiao Liang listened intently, he might feel a little vexed and an urge to hit that person. However, if he didn’t mind it that much, he might actually easily ignore and neglect this voice and just solely focus on the words the voice-over was saying.

 Combining both a sense of immersion and distance to the game, a very distinct gaming experience had been produced. One could be brought right into the game and experience the joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness of being a game designer—to be elated by players’ cheers and happiness while feeling pleased by the media’s praise.

 On the other hand, one was also kept in an objective, calm, and being monitored-by-a-higher-power state.

This experience was very rare. As much as Qiao Liang had played many standalone games before, this was his first time trying something like this.

 “This is strange; why does this game… seem not bad?”

 Qiao Liang was more and more certain that Boss Pei was doing this out of revenge; he bore a grudge! This game… if it was publicized normally, a high-quality sponsored partnership video could be made with no issues whatsoever.

 Why had Boss Pei asked him to do that sort of video?

 If he doesn’t have beef with me, then what?!

 Feeling a little curious and rather unhappy, Qiao Liang continued to play the game.