Chapter 222: Chapter 220: Establishing Rules
Translator: 549690339
âNext is the specific competition mechanism.â Lincoln flipped through the event proposal.
âRemove all NPCs to make room for players. Players appear in teams of 10 with basic weapons. The playable area gradually shrinks, forcing players to fight until the last one standing is the winnerâŠâ
Lincoln felt a strong sense of dĂ©j? vu. How did his original vision of a massive free-for-all battle end up resembling âBattle Royaleâ?
Is the end of the universe just a Battle Royale?
âThis wonât do. It needs to change.â Players might be interested in this gameplay, but Lincoln was already tired of it. Plus, it wasnât very entertaining. He needed to add something fresh! novelbuddy(.)com
âLetâs keep all the NPCs. If all NPCs are gone, there would be no point for the Metropolis Police to go on strike.â
âBut if players indiscriminately shoot NPCsâŠâ Randall worriedly said, âIt will have a very negative impact, especially if weâre going to live stream.â
âThatâs related to what Iâm going to say next.â Lincoln simply took over the conversation.
âIntroduce a scoring mechanism. Defeat opponents to gain points, accidentally kill Metropolis NPCs to lose points.â
âIn the end, when choosing the winner, letâs divide the spots like this: 60% based on score, 40% based on survival ranking. If thereâs an overlap, itâll go to the next person.â
Randall thought about it and hesitated, âShould we add a mechanism so that a teamâs total score canât be o? Otherwise, even if we continuously shrink the playersâ survival area, someone could still make it to the end by hiding. That seems unfair to those who actively fight.â
Lincoln pondered, Randallâs point was valid.
Others risk their lives and fight hard to make it to the end. If they donât get selected due to intense fighting, but those who do nothing but hide make it to the finals, how unfair would that feel?
But if he completely eliminated this hiding-based strategy, heâd feel like itâs a waste.
He quickly thought of a solution, âHow about this? We can add a punishment mechanism for passive gamers. Players who havenât joined a battle for a long time will be marked as passive gamers, and their positions will be displayed on the map for everyone to see.â
âThe marker will be removed automatically one minute after joining the battle.
How about that?â
Randall nodded without hesitation, âThat works.â
âThereâs one more issue.â Randall spoke up again, âShould we place heavy weapons in the event map? Will that affect fair competition?â
There were heavy weapons available in the original Metropolis map. In terms of destructive power, landmines and hand grenades were nothing.
Armored vehicles, mortars, helicopters, even Gatling guns were available!
Though many players would likely never have a chance to get them, and even if they did, they probably wouldnât know how to operate them.
[Shooting Specialization] skill did not include heavy weapons. Of course, [Driving Expertise] wouldnât cover helicopters eitherâŠ
But with so many players, who knows?
What if a team of hidden talents rolled through the streets with armored vehicles and Gatling guns, not held back by Metropolis police? They could sweep the competition!
Unless another team could take a helicopter and fight back with 30mm machine gunsâŠ
Randall shook his head vigorously, banishing this absurd idea from his mind. âKeep them,â Lincoln said, even considering adding more heavy weapons for players to have some fun with.
âAnyway, acquiring those weapons is difficult. Itâs a skill to obtain them, and the higher risk means higher returns. Thereâs nothing unfair about it.â Unable to find a reason to object, Randall could only nod, âAlright.â
âThen letâs start preparing today. Add more randomly generated maps outside Metropolis, arrange the locations where players will appear, making sure it can accommodate 10,000 players without squeezing them all together at the start. For the distribution of equipment and supplies, we must control the density and guide players to gather and fight.â
âUnderstood.â Randall nodded.
After finishing, Lincoln looked at Shen Ping, who was in charge of publicity, âWe can start preparing for the event promotion now. This time, post the event announcement two days before the release of Metropolitan News, so players will have time to form teams.â
Shen Ping nodded. Everyone, influenced by the vast majority of netizens, had become accustomed to calling the program âMetropolitan News.â The title âAssassin Weeklyâ had unknowingly been replaced.
âAlright, everyone go and work on your tasks.â
With a deep sigh, Lincoln wanted to steal some time to rest.
But suddenly, he received a message from the administrative department: the person in charge of Southern Branchâs marketing department had arrived and wanted to discuss cooperation.
âDiscuss cooperation? Why are they looking for me?â Lincoln was a bit impatient.
âDidnât you tell Jerome that if they want to cooperate, they have to come and see you personally?â
Lincoln thought about it, oh, indeed, âAlright then.â
It had been almost a week since the negotiations with the Southern Branch. To Lincoln, this had already been listed as a âpast event.â Why are they coming back now to discuss cooperation again?
With mild interest, Lincoln logged off and headed to the resting area.
âMr. Lin, hello,â The well-dressed person in charge stood up politely and shook hands with him.
âHello,â Lincoln sat down with him.
âMeeting Mr. Lin is really not easy. Itâs even more difficult than meeting our boss. You must be very busy.â
Lincoln blinked, feeling that something was off with that statement, but he didnât want to dwell on it. He cut straight to the chase, âYes, I am quite busy, so whatâs the matter?â
The person in charge from Southern Branch, named John, sighed to himself, thinking that a nouveau riche truly didnât understand etiquette. He didnât let it show on his face and said, âOf course, itâs to discuss matters of cooperation with you.â
Lincoln frowned. Hadnât the cooperation already fallen through once? Now they were acting as if nothing had ever happened. Who were they trying to fool?
âWhat kind of cooperation? Letâs hear it.â
âYou should have heard the report from your employees, but Iâm willing to explain it to you in detail again.â John appeared very patient.
Lincoln also patiently listened to his explanation, wanting to see if they had changed their minds after a week.
However, all John did was talk incessantly about how powerful Southern Branchâs brand was, its cultural depth, and international influence balabala⊠He implied that the gaming industry was considered insignificant and could not compete with the mainstream, and that it would be a blessing for Cloud Dream to collaborate with themâŠ
He didnât say it outright, but it was quite easy to deduce that he didnât think highly of the gaming industry, despite his respectful demeanor.
Lincolnâs eyebrows furrowed as he listened, but he couldnât directly confront him since he didnât explicitly say it.
He turned to look at Cheryl to make sure she hadnât started filming but was just muttering as she attempted to direct the dog in a scene. Then he called out, âCheryl, do me a favor and get this⊠gentleman a glass of water.â
Lincoln had hosted an all-hands meeting, and as soon as it ended, John arrived.
There were only a few administrative girls who were busy handling tasks assigned during the meeting, so they had overlooked serving tea.
Cheryl looked at Lincoln, surprised, but quickly understood and said, âOh, alright.â
Apart from alcohol, there were all sorts of snacks and beverages in Cloud Dream Studio, but Lincoln specifically requested âa glass of water.â
Cheryl quickly realized that their guest was unwelcome.
So she really took out a pack of disposable paper cups, unsealed one, filled it with water, and brought it over.
She put it in front of their visitor and then served a cup of Lapsang Souchong tea to Lincoln without stopping for a break.
â Cheryl was actually inexperienced with tea art. As someone who studied film directing, she knew nothing about tea art beyond the fact that one shouldnât drink the first brew. Nevertheless, the main point was to mock their guest, and the effect was spot-on.
At first, John was only curious why Cheryl only served him water and not
Lincoln, but he didnât think much of it and assumed Lincoln didnât need any.
However, not long after, he saw her bring a tea cup to Lincoln, and the contrast was glaring!
Johnâs face stiffened as he realized that Cheryl was still not finished with her performance!
She took out three delicate porcelain bowls from the drawer, filled them with water, and put them on the ground. The cats and dogs gathered obediently around the bowls to drink water.
Cheryl even glanced at John before going back to petting the cats and directing the dog in the âscene.â
Johnâs eyelids twitched. How could he not understand her meaning now?
â Even dogs had porcelain bowls to drink from, while he only deserved a disposable paper cup?!
He used sheer willpower to suppress the urge to throw the paper cup, and finally lost interest in their roundabout conversation, moving on to the main topic.
However, all Lincoln heard was the old plan: turn all clothing stores in the Metropolis virtual world into Southern Branchâs virtual storefront. These stores would become safe zones and function like an amusement park.
âHold on, I think weâve already rejected this plan once.â
âMr. Lin, donât rush. A businessman should be mature and make decisions after careful consideration.â John was still confident, âCollaborating with Southern Branch, Cloud Dream will benefit greatly from the brand effects. You have to know that partnering with high-end brands is a rare opportunity! And our offer this time is â a full 10 million!â
âWhy wouldnât you want to earn 10 million for just making some changes in the data?â
Lincoln frowned, âDonât you have misunderstandings about the gaming industry?â
âWhat do you mean?â John asked, puzzled.
âLast Saturday, I sold 17 million consoles. Do you need me to help you calculate the total revenue?â
âLast Friday, our new game went live. We made 160 million in just three days.â
âOh, and regarding the âAssassinsâ Allianceâ game you want to collaborate on â I donât know if youâve done the math. We sold more than 15 million copies at a price of 500 dollars each. What does that add up to?â
John was rendered speechless by these figures. He wanted to argue that his collaboration wouldnât conflict with their earnings, butâŠ
âThis is not a competition of who has more money.â Johnâs voice became a little bit lower, as this was the power of money.
Does your prestigious Southern Branch have more revenue in a year than I make in a month?
If not, then shut up!
No matter how John promoted the culture, influence, and brand, they couldnât withstand the gap created by this enormous wealth difference.
âWeâre talking about cooperation, a win-win situation. 10 million for advertising is already a generous offer.â
But Lincoln was no longer interested in wasting time and didnât care much if Johnâs behavior today was part of some negotiation strategy or if he was just clueless.
He stood up and said, âWe donât need your small change, so keep it for yourself.â
âDonât mention cooperation again. Please leave..â
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