fictionpage Chapter 412 Rehabilitates the Game
Chapter 412 Rehabilitates the Game
Chen Mo's suggestion actually coincided with Lu Ran's.
Lu Ran thought for a moment: "Let the operations department handle the specifics of how to coordinate. But I have no objection to the general direction."
Chen Mo laughed on the other end of the phone: "President Lu, your greatest strength is your straightforwardness. You do what you should do without hesitation, and you don't meddle in things that aren't your responsibility. Working with you is worry-free."
"Mr. Chen, you flatter me."
"It's not an overstatement, it's the truth. Oh, and there's one more thing." Chen Mo's voice became more serious again, "Organizing this competition isn't just about maintaining hype."
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it, most people who play League of Legends now are there because the game itself is fun. But fun things will eventually become boring because people get tired of them. How do you keep people from getting tired of it? Give them a goal. Ranked matches have ranks, which are personal goals. Tournaments have championships, which are team goals. When someone reaches the highest rank in ranked matches, they'll think, 'Should I try playing in tournaments?' Then they go and play in tournaments and find that tournaments are much more interesting than ranked matches. Winning brings prize money, and losing means teammates yelling at you, which is much more exciting than solo queuing."
Chen Mo paused, then said something that left a deep impression on Lu Ran: "The competition is not the goal, it's the means. The goal is to make players feel that 'playing this game is meaningful,' not just a way to pass the time."
After listening, Lu Ran remained silent for a few seconds.
Chen Mo is right.
The game is fun, and the players know how to play it.
But even the best games can get boring after a while.
Competitions are different; they give players a reason, a reason to keep playing.
I need to practice my skills because I want to compete.
I need to study tactics because I want to win.
I need to cooperate with my teammates because this is not a task for me alone.
These reasons may sound trivial, but for an average player, they could be the sole motivation for "I'll play one more game."
"Mr. Chen, I understand," Lu Ran said. "I will fully cooperate with the competition. As for the specifics, let the two sides coordinate. You appoint a person in charge, and I'll have Brother Zhou handle it on my end."
"Okay. It's settled then." Chen Mo's tone was much more relaxed. "President Lu, there's one more thing."
"What is it?"
Wishing you a Happy New Year in advance!
Lu Ran smiled: "Happy New Year."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Ran leaned back on the sofa and stared at the ceiling for a while.
Shen Zhiwei, who was drinking tea nearby, watched him finish his call and asked, "About work?"
"Yes. Mr. Chen from Tencent, let's talk about organizing the competition."
"A competition? A video game competition?"
"Yes. It's a video game competition. It's played in an internet cafe, and whoever wins gets the prize money."
Shen Zhiwei nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
He didn't understand games, but he knew that Lu Ran was doing something worthwhile, not just messing around.
Lu Ran picked up his phone and sent a message to Zhou Mingzhe: "Brother Zhou, we're going to hold a League of Legends tournament after the New Year. It'll be a league in internet cafes, starting with open qualifiers and going all the way to the national finals. Tencent will be in charge, and we'll cooperate. We'll discuss the details after the New Year."
Zhou Mingzhe replied instantly: "A competition? You went to the internet cafe yesterday to watch this?"
"No. I went to the internet cafe yesterday to see how popular Infinite Firepower was, and I thought of it halfway through. Chen Mo just called, and he thought of it too. We both thought of the same thing."
Zhou Mingzhe typed a string of exclamation marks, then said, "Are you two on the same wavelength or just birds of a feather?"
"Birds of a feather flock together. After all, we both make games, so we think about similar things."
Zhou Mingzhe sent an "I give up" emoji and said, "Okay. I'll coordinate with Tencent after the New Year. You can enjoy the New Year first, don't think about work."
"I didn't want to work. I just sent you a message to let you know."
"You're texting because you're thinking about work. Stop pretending."
Lu Ran didn't reply to the message because he was indeed thinking about work.
He was thinking about the competition.
The format of the competition—internet cafe preliminary rounds, city finals, regional finals, and national finals—was proposed by Chen Mo, and he thought it was fine.
However, some details need further consideration, such as how to define the rules for the preliminary selection stage, how high the registration threshold should be, the number of participants in each team, whether substitutes can be used, and whether foreign players can be invited.
These aren't major issues, but you need to think about them in advance, otherwise all sorts of unforeseen problems will arise when the competition actually starts.
He thought about the prize money for the competition again.
He felt that the standard Chen Mo mentioned was too low.
It wasn't that he was being generous; he felt that if the prize money was too low, players' enthusiasm for participation would be dampened.
Prepaid cards and skins aren't very appealing to veteran players, and a few hundred yuan isn't much for office workers.
To truly motivate people to play, the prize money needs to be raised to an attractive level.
The winner of the internet cafe preliminary round will receive 500 yuan plus a limited-edition skin.
The city champion will receive 2,000 yuan plus a set of peripherals.
The regional champion will receive 10,000 yuan plus a trophy.
The national champion will receive 50,000 yuan plus a larger trophy.
Based on this calculation, the total prize pool is approximately one million.
One million yuan isn't a lot for a national competition, but it's enough for a first-time event.
Lu Ran went through the bonus plan in his mind and felt it was about right, so he sent another message to Zhou Mingzhe.
"Brother Zhou, I've been thinking about the prize money. Let's raise the standards a bit. The champion of the internet cafe preliminary rounds will get 500 yuan plus a skin, the city champions will get 2,000 yuan plus peripherals, the regional champions will get 10,000 yuan plus a trophy, and the national champions will get 50,000 yuan plus a trophy. The total prize pool will be around one million."
Zhou Mingzhe replied instantly: "One million? Didn't you say the competition wasn't for making money?"
"It's not for making money, but it can't be too stingy either. If the prize money is too low, no one will come to compete, and if no one comes to compete, the tournament can't be held, and if it can't be held, the hype can't be maintained. This million isn't a cost, it's an investment."
Zhou Mingzhe sent a "Boss is brilliant" emoji and said, "Okay. I'll check with Tencent after the New Year to see how much they can contribute. We can't all come up with the funding ourselves."
"Yes. Let them pay half. This is to attract customers to their internet cafes in East China; it wouldn't make sense for them not to contribute."
Lu Ran put down his phone, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.
The tea has gone cold. Tieguanyin tea has a bitter taste when it's cold, and it doesn't taste as good as when it's hot.
Shen Zhiwei, who was watching TV nearby, suddenly said, "Xiao Lu, that competition you were talking about, was it for ordinary people to play in an internet cafe?"
"Yes. Anyone can sign up, and we can play as long as we have five people."
"How much money can you get if you win?"
"A maximum of 50,000 per person."
Shen Zhiwei paused for a moment, then said something that surprised Lu Ran: "Fifty thousand yuan, that's more than I earned in a year when I was working in a factory."
Lu Ran was taken aback. He had never heard Shen Zhiwei mention working in a factory.
Shen Zhiwei is a director who makes movies, so how could he have worked in a factory?
"Dad, you used to work in a factory?"
Shen Zhiwei waved his hand: "That was when I was young. Back then, I hadn't been admitted to the film academy yet, and I worked in a machinery factory in my hometown for two years. I worked three shifts, it was exhausting, and I only earned a little over a hundred yuan a month. I couldn't save any money at the end of the year; after buying some New Year's goods for my family, it was all gone."
He paused, looking at the skit being replayed on the TV screen, his eyes somewhat dazed: "Back then, who would have thought that playing video games could make money? Playing video games back then would get you arrested as a hooligan. All those young guys playing video games in the arcades would run into the alleys when the police came. Those who were slow would be caught, given a lecture, and then released, only to go back to the arcades a couple of days later."
Lu Ran didn't speak, but listened quietly.
"Later, computers and internet cafes came along, and more and more people played games. But the way society still looks at gamers is still the same—a waste of time, a disservice to one's ambition, a sign of no future. Even now, if you ask a parent over forty about 'your child playing games' versus 'your child studying,' their expressions are completely different." Shen Zhiwei turned to look at Lu Ran. "Did you create this competition to change that?"
Lu Ran was stumped by the question. When he organized the competition, his main concerns were maintaining popularity, retaining users, and competing with EA for market share.
But when Shen Zhiwei asked this question, he suddenly realized that there was another layer of meaning to this matter.
"Dad, you're right," Lu Ran said. "I did have that idea in mind when I organized the competition. But it wasn't my main thought. My main thought was to make the game more fun and longer-lasting. But if it also made those parents feel that 'you can make a name for yourself playing games,' that would be a good thing too."
Shen Zhiwei nodded, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said nothing more.
Lu Ran leaned back on the sofa, the thought in his mind growing stronger and stronger.
Give games their due recognition.
These four words sound grand, but you can start from very small things to do them.
Organizing competitions is one of them.
An ordinary player won the city championship in an internet cafe league and received a prize of 5,000 yuan. He went home and told his family, "I won 5,000 yuan playing games."
Your family might say "you're lucky," but at least they won't say "you're wasting your time again."
If this person wins the national championship and receives a prize of 50,000 yuan, he should go home and tell his family.
Family members might say "not bad," but they might already be thinking, "This kid seems to be quite good at video games."
What if we go even further?
If this person's match is streamed live on TUTU, tens of thousands of people will watch him play the game online, with comments like "Awesome" and "666" flooding the screen, and commentators shouting his name.
What would your family think if they saw this scene?
Don't you ever wonder if people can actually see you playing video games?
Doesn't it make you think, "So playing video games can actually lead to success?"
Thinking of this, Lu Ran picked up his phone and typed a line in his notes: "The significance of the competition is not just to retain users, but also to give children who are not good at learning a new path."
He looked at the line and felt it was a bit too formal, so he deleted it and retyped: "So that people who play games don't have to look down while playing."
This time it looked much better to him, so he saved the memo and put his phone aside.
Shen Yuege came downstairs at this moment, wearing a bright red hoodie and with her hair tied in a ponytail, looking much more energetic.
She saw Lu Ran and Shen Zhiwei sitting on the sofa drinking tea, walked over and sat down next to Lu Ran, snatched the teacup from his hand, took a sip, and frowned: "It's cold."
"Don't drink it if it's cold. I'll pour you a fresh cup." Lu Ran stood up, went to the kitchen to get the kettle, and poured Shen Yuege a cup of hot tea.
Shen Yuege warmed her hands with her cup while watching the Spring Festival Gala trailer on TV. After a while, she said, "This year's Spring Festival Gala doesn't seem to be very good."
"They say the same thing every year. And every year they still do it, don't they?"
"That's because there's nothing else to watch. During the Lunar New Year, what else is there to watch besides the Spring Festival Gala? A rerun of the news broadcast?"
Lu Ran thought what she said made sense and did not refute it.
Just then, Priscilla Chan poked her head out of the kitchen, holding a strainer dripping with oil: "Yuege, you've come down just in time. Come and taste the soup for me to see if it's salty enough."
Shen Yuege stood up and went to the kitchen.
Lu Ran overheard the conversation between the mother and daughter in the kitchen. Chen Huixian said, "Try this." Shen Yuege said, "It's too salty." Chen Huixian said, "That's impossible. I followed the recipe." Shen Yuege said, "Then try a bite." Chen Huixian took a bite, paused for two seconds, and said, "It does seem a little salty."
Lu Ran listened in the living room, a smile playing on his lips.
Shen Zhiwei overheard this and whispered, "Your mother never tastes the food she cooks. She always adds salt based on her gut feeling. If it feels right, then it's right; if it doesn't, she says there's something wrong with the recipe."
She wrote that recipe herself, but then never looked at it.
"Dad, what's your assessment..."
"I'm stating the facts," Shen Zhiwei said, picking up his teacup with a smile.
In the afternoon, Priscilla Chan finally finished preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner.
The stove was piled high with semi-finished products. The braised pork was stewed and simmering in the pot. The sweet and sour pork ribs were fried and would be caramelized later. The stir-fried vegetables were washed, chopped, and arranged on a plate. The crucian carp and tofu soup had been simmering for almost two hours, and the soup had turned milky white.
Priscilla Chan came out of the kitchen, wiped her hands on her apron, glanced at the three people sprawled on the sofa in the living room, and sighed: "You guys have it easy. I've been busy in the kitchen all day, and you didn't even have anyone to help me."
Shen Yuege said, "Mom, I'm going to help you. You said I was in the way and told me to come out."
"That was at the beginning. What happened next? Why didn't you come anymore?"
"Later you said the soup was too salty and asked me to come out, but I was afraid you would make me taste it again."
Priscilla Chan was speechless, shook her head, and sat down on the sofa.
Shen Zhiwei poured her a cup of tea, which she picked up, took a sip, and said, "It's cold."
Indeed, daughters resemble their mothers.
...