Chapter 255: Racing all the way to death
Yao Xiaoguang once again entered a state of silly pleasure staring at the running report. The ability of web games to attract money even made Yao Xiaoguang think that he might as well just make web games in the future instead of developing any DOTA2 projects.
Fortunately, surpassing Blizzard has always been his ideal. If he were a weaker-willed person, he might really give up the DOTA2 project and concentrate on making web games.
The gameplay of "Three Kingdoms" is much richer than the previous "Three Kingdoms", and it is not that easy to imitate.
Of course, there are more places where you can spend ingots to improve, from internal affairs, to generals, to equipment, all of them can be strengthened by spending ingots. Coupled with a little bit of gambling probability, it is easy for players to get stuck in it.
Moreover, the main purpose of this web game was to allow office workers to fish while working, which filled a gap at the time.
If we look at it now, there are many ways to fish at work. After all, we are in the era of smartphones. Secretly turning on the phone, playing Landlords, or watching a few Douyin short videos are all cheating at work. Great way to fish.
And many mobile games are originally for entertainment and leisure, and you can play them even if you have to pee in the toilet.
But in 2006, there were no smartphones. If you could play Snake or Tetris on your phone, it was considered to have high configuration. But these simple games do not quench the thirst of players who are accustomed to computer games at all.
"Three Kingdoms" just fills this part of the market, giving office workers a way to have fun.
The market for this segment is still very large, even larger than that of the student population. There are thousands of workers, so who doesn’t want to be a fisherman?
And in those days, those who could sit in an office, have a computer, and be able to connect to the Internet, their wages would definitely not be low, and they would also have money to top up. This kind of game positioning has directly made "Three Kingdoms" a battlefield for RMB players.
So-called zero-money players do not exist in this game. Players do not top up and cannot even pass many basic tasks. They will be bullied by other players when they go online, and the game experience is extremely poor.
On the contrary, as long as you recharge, various tasks are very easy to pass. After completing the tasks, you will be rewarded with various items and treasure chests, and the game experience will instantly rise several levels.
What's more, Weiguang Technology also hired a large group of sitters.
In the previous "Three Kingdoms Generals", Weiguang Technology also hired game shills, but the task of these shills was only to defeat players in the game. Players were not willing to fail, so they would top up. This took advantage of players' competition for power. A competitive mentality is the most basic form of shilling.
In "Three Kingdoms", even the stooges have evolved. The shills who defeated the players back then have become the presidents of guilds, calling you "brothers" one by one to lead them. If you go to charge into battle, let me ask you if you will follow, right?
Don’t follow? Are you still not a brother? So many brothers are coming, but you don’t come, are you embarrassed? Are you feeling sorry for yourself? Will your conscience not be condemned?
Follow? With your few generals and attributes, won't you be holding back your brothers? Are you feeling sorry for yourself? Will your conscience not be condemned?
So hurry up and rush for Yuanbao!
This can be regarded as a shill for a relatively high level, linking the gameplay with collective honor to induce players to top up.
After all, humans are social animals. When faced with collective actions, even if the actions are unreasonable, it is easy to follow blindly.
Besides entertainment, the most important attribute of online games is sociality. This is also the biggest difference between online games and stand-alone games.
Team activities between players, whether it is playing dungeons or group PK, are actually a way to combine entertainment and sociality, which can meet the basic emotional needs of human beings. This is also the attraction of online games. A place for people.
If the two characteristics of entertainment and socialization are lost, playing online games will become a very boring and boring thing.
If you don’t believe me, you can try those games that involve moving bricks to make gold. If the purpose of your game is to exchange money, then every minute you play the game, every task you do, and every copy you download, your income will be calculated. Maximize returns as much as possible.
At this time, if you have defeated a powerful BOSS or passed a difficult dungeon, you will not feel any sense of accomplishment. Instead, you will focus on whether you have obtained a valuable item.
Many game shills take advantage of players' need for game sociality to encourage players to recharge.
The vast majority of game players are ordinary people in their daily lives, and ordinary people's social interactions are also ordinary. At least ordinary people cannot feel a sense of superiority in social interactions.
But in the game, even if you are an ordinary person, as long as you rush to Yuanbao, you can get a social experience with a sense of superiority.
Across the Internet, no one knows whether you are a foot-picking burly guy or a 200-pound fat girl, but as long as your character wears awesome equipment and produces explosive output, other players in the game will think you are awesome. Boss. You can enjoy the envy and compliments of others.
But these are things that ordinary people cannot get in their daily lives.
If you go to see a righteous man, you will only be in the newspapers for a day at most. Even if someone comes to express condolences, they will still be in your favor. Who will remember you the next day?
But if you are ranked first in the game, players on the entire server can see it every day and all the time. Doesn’t this sense of satisfaction directly fill you up?
And all this can be done by just recharging. In contrast, if you go and do something brave, you might even get a beating!
For game companies, in order to make money, they have already studied the psychology of gamers very thoroughly. What you see are various gameplays, but behind them are all psychological games.
There are many shills in online games. This is nothing new in future generations. Even many experienced players can tell who is a shill in the game at a glance.
But in 2006, how had gamers seen this routine before! They also thought that the guild president who led them in the guild war was a good brother, and that the people who posted pictures of equipment in the QQ group were rich and powerful people. Who would have thought that these people are all shills?
As the saying goes, if I help my brother, he will bite me!
……
United States, Amazon Publishing, Evans stared at the latest week's sales data with a satisfied smile on his face.
The second part of "The Thirst Game" was released when the summer vacation came. With the help of the fan base, it rushed to the Amazon sales list that day, and topped the sales list in the second week.
More than a month has passed now, and the second part of "The Thirst Game" is still firmly sitting at the top of Amazon's sales list, and it is rising steadily. The sales of the first part have also increased. Quite a few.
And in this year, there was no competition from the Harry Potter series. In the leading market of young adult books, the second part of "The Thirst Game" was almost the only one, leaving behind other works by a large margin. cut.
The popularity of the "Thirst Games" series has not diminished, and is even on the rise. Of course, Evans is very proud of it.
At this moment, his subordinate walked in, holding a package in his hand.
"Director, I just received a cross-border express delivery from China. It says for you to open it in person. The sender is Zhang Wei, who I think may be the author of "The Thirst Game" !”
“That’s right, it’s him. We contacted him by phone before. He said he wanted to send me a manuscript and hoped to publish it through us.” Thomas nodded.
"Didn't the second part of The Thirst Game just come out? Have you finished writing the third part so quickly?" the subordinate asked.
“It’s probably not Thirst Game, but another work. When we communicated on the phone, he said that this is a science fiction work that has been published in China. He plans to publish an English version through us. It is said that It’s all translated,” Thomas explained.
"It's not the Thirst Game series. The sales volume of the book "The Big Short" he wrote before was far less than the Thirst Game series."
"Yes, it's far worse than the Thirst Game series, but it's still good. Okay, although it’s not a best-seller, the first printing was basically sold out. Now it’s the second printing. Although the number is only a few thousand, it’s still a small profit.”
"I heard that the book "The Big Short" sold very well in New York. It was sold out for a time, and finally it was transferred from other cities. However, except for New York, the sales in other places are relatively average. I don’t seem to be interested in this book.”
“Yeah, I think it’s strange too. Under normal circumstances, New York is a bellwether for the cultural industry. As long as cultural-related things become popular in New York, It will soon become popular throughout the United States.
But this book "The Big Short" is an exception. Only New York is selling well, but there is no movement in other places. Some states can even be described as bleak. This is the first time I have encountered this situation in all my years of publishing.
However, the population of New York is large enough and the market is large enough. New York alone is enough for a writer to have enough food and clothing for a lifetime. "Thomas said, took out the scissors, cut open the package in his hand, and then said:
"Let me see what this young writer has written in his new work. I don't expect this to be the second one. A "Thirst Games", I just hope it doesn't disappoint like "The Big Short"! "Taking out the manuscript inside the package, Thomas glanced at the title first.
"The threebody problem. Three bodies? What could be the problem? ”
……
At the same time, in the building at 270 Park Avenue in New York, several people in suits and ties were gathering in a high-end conference room.
Although the temperature outside is as high as 30 degrees, the air conditioner here is only 18 degrees. The cool breeze blows in. Even if you are dressed in formal clothes, you will not feel hot. You even need a cup of hot coffee. Warm yourself up.
This is the headquarters of JPMorgan Chase Bank. And the people in this conference room are all senior executives from Morgan Stanley and elites on Wall Street.
An old man headed by the leader said: "What you have in your hands is our financial statement of JPMorgan Chase last month. You should have seen it. The data is very eye-catching. Compared with the same period last year, it has increased significantly. Growth!
I think you all know that July is not a peak season for our industry. This kind of growth is unprecedented. Something is abnormal, everyone said. Say your opinion! ”
"I have read last month's financial report myself, and I found that the revenue growth was mainly due to the large number of credit default swap products we sold. This brought us nearly five billion US dollars in revenue." One of them said road.
“Not only last month, last month, we also sold more than 3 billion US dollars of credit default swap products. Adding those sold in the previous few months, we currently have a total of Ten billion of these products have been sold,” someone else said.
“It’s more than 10 billion. Don’t forget, the statistics for this month have not been reported yet. As far as I know, there are still many investors buying credit default swap products this month.”< br>
“Ten billion U.S. dollars, even on Wall Street, is a lot of money. Who are the buyers?” someone asked.
“They are all Wall Street investors, including funds, trusts, and even investment banks. I heard that some small investment banks will buy products from us and then resell them.”
< br>
"It seems that our products are very marketable! What kind of credit default swaps are they?"
"Real estate! To be precise, they are real estate-related debt guarantee certificates, which are all products of investment banks. "It's a mortgage bond," someone answered immediately.
"In other words, these investors are betting that real estate mortgage-backed bonds will default on a large scale? Are these people crazy? The U.S. real estate market is trending so well, and as far as I know, the Federal Reserve will not There will be no increase in interest rates, so at least within a few years, real estate will continue to prosper."
"Yes, betting on real estate debt defaults is giving us money," someone immediately agreed. .
Some sober people asked: "It would be fine if there were just one or two people betting like this, but don't you think it's strange that so many people make the same choice? This is Wall Street. Those who survive here are not fools.”
"You also said, this is Wall Street, and there is no shortage of gamblers on Wall Street! I think this is just another big gamble by a group of gamblers!" someone immediately retorted.
“Even if it’s a gambler’s big bet, it should be a basis for betting, right? The question is what is the basis for these gamblers? What is the incentive that makes them bet ten billion US dollars!”
“Don’t forget, we sold 10 billion. What about other investment banks? Citi, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, how much did they sell? The real number must be more than 10 billion. "Yes, there must be a basis for such a large investment, right? At least there is a reason to convince investors."
This question was raised in the conference room immediately. fell into silence.
"Sir, maybe I know the reason for their investment." A voice sounded, and everyone looked along the voice. The speaker was the assistant in the conference room who was responsible for pouring coffee for everyone.
Being able to pour coffee on this occasion is not an ordinary person. At the very least, he must be a top student who graduated from a top business school and have many years of work experience.
The old man headed by him nodded slightly, and then said: "Then tell me, what is their reason for investing?"
"Sir, one of my classmates happens to be here right now. I work for one of the trusts. According to him, a book has been popular on Wall Street recently. The book says that the real estate market is about to collapse, and real estate-related bonds will also default on a large scale. If you short-sell now, you can make a profit. A lot!"
"What book is it?" Someone asked immediately.
"It's not an economics book, but a novel." The assistant replied.
"Novel?" Everyone had strange expressions on their faces.
“You mean those investors decided to short the real estate market based on the contents of a novel? Are you kidding me?”
“That classmate of yours should be I have a grudge against you? Can you tell such a lie? And you really believe it?”
Sneerful glances came from all directions in an instant.
The assistant quickly explained: "At first, I didn't believe it, but then I bought a copy and found that what was written in the novel seemed to make sense."
"Really? What's the name of the novel?" I'll buy a book later." One of them said with a smile, but his tone was full of ridicule. It was obvious that he didn't intend to buy the book, but just wanted to mock the assistant in front of him.
The assistant didn't seem to hear it, and he answered honestly: "The novel seems to be called "The Big Short," and the author is a best-selling author who previously wrote a book called "The Thirst Game." It sells very well and can be purchased in almost all bookstores across the United States. "Is "The Thirst Game" also a novel?" someone asked again.
“Yes, sir, it is a young adult novel. My daughter loves it.”
"Your daughter? How old is she?"
"Ten years old."
"Ten years old?" The person who spoke couldn't help laughing: "I thought she was an economist. It turned out to be a writer of fairy tales! Andersen told us that American real estate was going to collapse, and then Wall Street actually believed it? Hahaha..."
Others also laughed, isn't it the time for ten-year-olds to read fairy tales? Age?
Then this author is a fairy tale author similar to Andersen!
A fairy tale author judged that the U.S. real estate market was about to collapse and even wrote a book about it. Then, did any investors on Wall Street really believe it? Follow the content in the book and spend tens of billions of dollars shorting the real estate market?
Even if you are a fairy tale author, you would not dare to write a fairy tale like this!
After being ridiculed by the big bosses, the assistant did not dare to speak anymore and carefully stepped aside, lowering his head as if to reflect.
While others continued to discuss financial reports.
“Everyone, since everyone is optimistic about the real estate market, these credit default swap contracts are equivalent to giving us money. I suggest that we launch a few more products of this type. I believe we will be the best this year. The financial report must be very beautiful!”
"I agree, if we have money, there is no reason why we should not make it. If we stop now, it will only make things easier for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. If we miss such a good money-making opportunity, the entire Wall Street will laugh at us for being stupid."< br>
Soon, everyone reached a consensus. Since there are so many people willing to bet on the real estate crash, it is better to make the bet bigger. JPMorgan Chase, the banker, can also make a lot of money!
Ever since, JPMorgan Chase started a wild ride mode on the way to death.
(End of this chapter)