These two games were already rather dated; they had many problems, and it was a little hard to even think of where to begin. Fortunately, Boss Pei had provided a very good starting point: purchase options!
To remove all purchase options and only keeping one, this was a rather onerous task. Conservatively speaking, the two games had at least tens of purchase options in total. There were some charging and spending activities as well as normal items purchase; there were some system purchase options as well.
It could be said that wherever purchase options could be added, they had all been done so. To get rid of all these purchase options was not as simple as just closing off the entrance to a mall. These purchase options were connected to the entire system design.
To ensure that someone who topped up five hundred yuan could beat someone who only paid a hundred and for the latter to beat someone who had only paid thirty yuan, that required proper planning of the game’s system design to ensure that every different purchase tier could have a corresponding enhancement to their experience.
Furthermore, these battle power systems were linked; the power scaling system was connected to the game environment. It was just like the carnivores and herbivores in the wild.
Hence, this was all in all a system design problem.
This was also why systems designers enjoyed such a high position in the country; it was only second to the chief planner. System designs would often determine the gaming experience of games with paywalls.
To change the purchase options would be akin to changing the system design. It meant that differentiating between players by the amount they paid needed to be done using a different method.
Changing a way of differentiation-if done wrongly, it could lead to the entire system design’s collapse. No one would be able to repair the system then.
Just like the Bloody Battle Song before. After it had been scolded bloody, its revenue had fallen significantly. Old Liu had set the price of that saber too high and a simple system design problem had brought such an extremely negative effect.
Ye Zhizhou thought for a long time and still felt that this seemed beyond his means. Although he had some ideas, he couldn’t be sure if he could really actualize them. As such, he printed out the document and went to look for Wang Xiaobin to discuss it.
Wang Xiaobin was an experienced systems designer. After hearing Ye Zhizhou’s idea, he couldn’t help but frown. Such a change could not be done at a whim.
If it was before-putting aside Old Liu or Wang Xiaobin, any experienced planner would feel that changes could not be done like this. They would have immediately shot down Ye Zhizhou’s proposal.
However, Ye Zhizhou was now the chief planner, and no one could do so. Furthermore, Boss Pei was the one who had suggested this! Since that was the case, they had to think of all ways to complete this. They had to do this no matter what!
Wang Xiaobin said dejectedly, “I seem to feel that this is a rather ridiculous thing to do. However, since Boss Pei had suggested this, he must have his reasons. I’ll do my best to finish this.”
Just by removing all the purchase options, that was akin to redoing the majority of the game’s content. This was different from an FPS like Ocean Stronghold.
Although Ocean Stronghold had the Red Kilin, it was a competitive game where one went up against one other. No matter how rich a baller was, it was not possible for him to fight two other enemies of the same caliber.
However, Bloody Battle Song was a classic game with paywalls. Ballers could fight twenty at once, what more two. This was an absolute unbalance. Bloody Battle Song’s entire game content was built on this kind of unbalanced gameplay.
If all the purchase options were removed, there must still be a way to differentiate between players. If it wasn’t money, then it could only be time or luck.
To change the entire game to one solely based on the length of playing? The game would then become a Liver Emperor’s heaven.
Of course, changing it into a refill card game would also be possible. However, it would not be compatible with Bloody Battle Song’s original design. If it was really turned into a refill card game, it would be no different from remaking a new game. It was evidently not realistic and would not fulfill Boss Pei’s requirements.
To change the game into one based on luck? That would become the Gambling Emperor’s heaven.
If such changes were made, it might actually still be similar to the current game style. It would still be unbalanced while most players’ gaming experience would not be changed for the better.
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin were really racking their brains over this.
This was a problem that no one in the domestic gaming industry had managed to solve.
Of course, no one was willing to solve this as well. After all, cutting out purchase options would mean people no longer coveted money. Even if some crazed chief planner wanted to do this, his boss would definitely slap him awake.
Games with paywalls were doing rather well and earning much money; who was so free and would want to try and look for an alternative?
However, the more Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin contemplated this, the more they felt this was very meaningful.
If they could come up with a doable solution -even if it was a half-baked one, it would also be the only one in the entire country!
Indeed, a comment by Boss Pei could actually encompass such a profound theory!
Ye Zhizhou raised a few suggestions but were all rejected from Wang Xiaobin from an XXX point of view.
However, Ye Zhizhou didn’t feel dejected. Finally, he smacked his head. “Brother Wang, I have another new idea. What if we give everyone the chance to ‘act’ as a baller? What do you think?”
Wang Xiaobin was stunned for a moment, “Act as a baller? How does that work?”
Ye Zhizhou was very excited as he wrote on a piece of paper and explained, “Actually, the problem we have been grappling with is but one to do with game experience.
“Our game experience can be simply split into three types.
“One would be as ballers; they have the most amount of charged up money and have the most powerful battle powers. They can enjoy the satisfaction of one fighting ten in battle.
“Another would be organizers. They have a lot of time and are very active; they are responsible for managing guilds and to attract new members. They have the satisfaction of being in command and directing others.
“The third would be the ordinary players. They don’t have the means to fight ten at once, and they aren’t managers as well. However, these people can slowly be converted into one or the other; or they could also follow ballers and after winning the war, they could bask in the ballers’ glory as well and gain rewards.
“These three gaming experiences are now differentiated by ‘money’ and ‘time’.
“There is no need to change ‘time’; in that case, organizers and ordinary players’ identities do not need to change. The only one to change would be the ballers. We have taken away the purchase options, and they don’t have something to spend their money on.
“In that case, let’s directly choose a few players during war to be boosted and have high battle strengths to experience what it feels like to be a baller. Wouldn’t that solve our problem?”
Wang Xiaobin was still a little confused.
Ye Zhizhou continued, “After we remove all the purchase options—all in all, players’ battle strength would more or less be the same. The players with more time and better luck would be slightly more powerful than other ordinary players, though this won’t be that much higher as well.
“However, during wartime, we will randomly choose some players to act as ballers. These players would directly gain battle strength that only ballers would possess.
“To guarantee that every player has a chance to be chosen, we will give every player an individual ‘Chosen One’ system. Everyone’s probability of being chosen will start from zero and accumulate from there, with the system randomly making its selection.
“Those who didn’t get chosen will have a higher chance the next round; when they were finally chosen, this value would go back to zero and restart again.
“As for the rate of increase in the chance of being chosen would be dependent on one’s degree of activeness and contribution to the game. We can use this as a way to encourage our players to go online and participate in more events.
“This way, we would be able to ensure the original gameplay doesn’t change while a majority of players could take turns to experience how ballers used to feel. We can also fulfill Boss Pei’s request and get rid of almost all the purchase options!
“Killing three birds with one stone!”
Wang Xiaobin went deep into thought.
Ye Zhizhou’s concept theoretically could be realized. However, it was very risky and unorthodox; it was akin to setting the present gaming industry on fire!
Nevertheless, to fulfill Boss Pei’s requirements of getting rid of the purchase options without causing the complete collapse of the entire game’s system design and gameplay… this was actually a viable solution.
Wang Xiaobin nodded. “Alright, let’s try this out. I’ll come out with a system design model, and you can try to figure out more of the specifics when it came to the rules and conditions. Oh, why not we hold a meeting first and simply explain this idea to everyone?”
Ye Zhizhou nodded as he reorganized his thoughts properly as he stood up.
“Everyone, head to the conference room. We’ll discuss the changes to our game.”
For some reason, Ye Zhizhou felt rather confident at this time. It seemed as if he had gotten used to being the chief planner!
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