tkworld #481 - Liu Mengyuan launches backstab
#481 - Liu Mengyuan launches backstab
After that deafening mobilization meeting, Lu Yu seemed to have completely ignited an unprecedented creative passion. To better imbue the game "Krypton Gold Simulation: A Laid-Back Life" with sufficient "irony" and "extremism," he implemented an extremely unique "laid-back enjoyment" initiative within the company.
The day after the meeting, when everyone came to the office as usual, they found a brand-new, high-end game console on their desks, along with a small card printed with a game download link. Upon opening it, they found official website links to several of the most popular Legend mobile games in China.
Soon, Lu Yu walked out of the conference room, a mysterious smile on his face that was hard to decipher. He surveyed the office area and then began to speak:
"Has everyone noticed that the biggest selling point of our new game is actually those 'over-the-top' paid experiences? Such as being forced to spend heavily for a virtual wife, accidentally losing all game saves, and having to spend a fortune to buy rare items, etc."
"To truly recreate this extreme experience, our written designs and imagination alone are far from enough. We need to personally experience the feeling of being forced and desperately paying for in-game content as players, so that we can design it to be more realistic!"
At this point, Lu Yu paused, then suddenly waved his hand, pointing to the console and game link card on the desk: "So, I've prepared a 'laid-back enjoyment' gift package for everyone! I hope that from today onwards, everyone can take some time outside of work to experience what it's like to be 'exploited by game developers who love money'!"
"Specifically, I've arranged for everyone to have 3-5 of the most popular Legend mobile games in China. From today until the end of the project, you must spend at least 4 hours a day personally downloading and experiencing these games full of paid traps. And during the experience, all your expenses for game content or equipment will be fully reimbursed by the company!"
Upon hearing this, the whole place erupted in an uproar. Soon, someone asked, "Mr. Lu, what do you mean? Do we even have to record the process of playing games and use it in the new game?"
"Exactly!" Lu Yu nodded, looking quite certain. "When we experience these games, each of us must firmly record all the bitterness and pain we experience in our hearts. From being cheated out of money by false advertising to being forced to spend heavily for coveted equipment, without exception!"
"We need to record and organize all these experiences and perfectly transplant them into the player experience of 'Krypton Gold Simulation: A Laid-Back Life.' I want players to empathize with our past pain and oppression while experiencing our game! Let them taste the feeling of being endlessly extorted by developers in a bottomless pit of money!"
"That's right, although our new game is exaggerated, the spiritual core behind it still comes from the personal experiences of us poor developers! So from today onwards, everyone must personally go into battle and suffer all kinds of exploitation and oppression from developers in these famous Legend mobile games. Only in this way can we completely transplant the feeling of despair of being endlessly extorted by developers into the new game!"
In Lu Yu's powerful words, an unprecedented crazy atmosphere of "revolution plus krypton" instantly permeated the entire company.
Someone immediately picked up their phone and started downloading various well-known Legend mobile games on the console; "I'll start with this one first. I heard that its paid experience is very perverted!"
Some gathered in front of a console, discussing various "krypton gold trivia" with each other; "Yes, yes, the orange-level limited-edition weapons in this game cost no less than tens of thousands to buy. If you're not careful, you'll be scammed!"
Others began to list "memorandums" on paper, seemingly to record all the embarrassing things and pain points they would experience while playing Legend mobile games; "I must write down in detail at which point I was tricked into spending money by the game, as well as the changes in my psychological activities at that time."
In this way, an unprecedented "self-exploitation and experience" activity ignited a crazy frenzy in this game company. Everyone began to work hard, tirelessly brushing their presence, leveling up, and spending cash to buy various equipment and props in these Legend mobile games. Even in the company's corridors and tea rooms, one could occasionally hear someone's painful roars about being worried about the content of the mobile games!
For a time, the entire company was filled with a desperate atmosphere of "being exploited by developers." Lu Yu sat in the conference room, looking out through the camera, and couldn't help but smile knowingly. That's right, he wanted everyone to personally experience the taste of being oppressed by capital, so that he could make "Krypton Gold Simulation: A Laid-Back Life" full of "irony!"
With the current crazy momentum in the company, he was confident that the future game would become an unprecedented social satire masterpiece!
……
In Lu Yu's large-scale promotion of the "personally experience being exploited by capitalists" movement, the company was in full swing. No one was spared and all were swept into this crazy wave of self-"exploitation." Even Lu Yu's sweetheart, the project's vice president Liu Mengyuan, was no exception.
As one of the main persons in charge of this project, Liu Mengyuan naturally also received Lu Yu's "grace." On the first day of the movement, she had not been sitting down to work for long before Lu Yu jokingly pulled her over.
"Baby, you have to learn to experience the pain of being oppressed by capital!" Lu Yu pulled Liu Mengyuan to his side with one hand, while the other quickly clicked on her game console to download something.
"Lu Yu, what are you doing?" Liu Mengyuan was caught off guard by his sudden pull, and looked at the various game icons popping up on the screen in confusion.
"Downloading a few of the most popular Legend mobile games in China for you. I guarantee that playing them will absolutely abuse every inch of your skin!" Lu Yu looked serious, as if he was carefully selecting something for her. "Yes, let's start with these few! I heard that their paid experience is quite perverted, guaranteeing you a refreshing experience of being exploited by capital!"
"What? I have to play this kind of gambling game too?" Liu Mengyuan's eyes widened, as if she hadn't recovered from the news.
"Gambling game? Nonsense!" Lu Yu curled his lips, shaking his head helplessly. "We're preparing for the top-notch paid experience of our new game! Only by personally experiencing the crazy extortion of developers can we make the krypton gold traps in the game convincing enough!"
Saying that, Lu Yu put his arm around Liu Mengyuan's slender waist and kissed her hard on the cheek: "Moreover, I'm just a little selfish and want to take good care of our company's most hardworking little beauty employee!"
"You..." Liu Mengyuan blushed a little from the sudden kiss and subconsciously pushed his chest away. "You're such a bad guy, still dreaming of taking advantage of me!"
However, she quickly put on a calm look and elegantly picked up the game controller: "But what you said makes sense. If we want to provide players with the best krypton gold experience, we should indeed experience it ourselves. But you have to play with me too, who told you to be the person in charge of this project!"
Saying that, Liu Mengyuan opened one of the Legend mobile games and began to grope around in it on her own. Soon, her slightly helpless voice came: "This game is too complicated, I don't understand how to play it at all! Lu Yu, come and teach me!"
Seeing this, Lu Yu quickly leaned over, put his arm around her fragrant shoulder, and held the remote control in the other hand, explaining the gameplay to her in a plausible manner: "Okay, I'll explain it to my baby in detail. First of all, there are many professions to choose from in this game, but let's start with the warrior to familiarize ourselves."
In this way, amidst laughter and chatter, Lu Yu gradually guided Liu Mengyuan to experience these Legend mobile games. Soon, Liu Mengyuan was attracted to the game and began to tirelessly level up, fight monsters, and collect equipment. Whenever she encountered any difficult problems, Lu Yu would promptly offer advice and patiently help her solve them.
"Oh no, this Boss is really unbearable! I can't beat it with this set of equipment!"
"It's okay, it's okay, come, come, I'll teach you a secret to high-frame krypton gold..."
"Lu Yu, I don't have enough game coins to buy orange weapons, but I heard that you can buy them with cash!"
"What's the rush, I'll recharge you now, I guarantee you'll be the first to experience being endlessly ripped off by developers, hahaha..."
In this way, in an atmosphere of singing and harmony, flirting and scolding, Liu Mengyuan was gradually deeply attracted by various Legend mobile games. And Lu Yu seemed to have finally waited for a companion, and accompanied her, sometimes offering advice, and sometimes teasing her with malicious jokes when she was spending money. The two were inseparable, day and night, and were deeply immersed in various game paid experiences.
Moreover, in this process, Liu Mengyuan's understanding of the "Krypton Gold Simulation: A Laid-Back Life" project was also changing imperceptibly. The initial enthusiasm was gradually submerged by the dripping experience of being exploited by developers; and those design ideas that she had criticized as "too extreme" now became reasonable and justified.
Once, after Lu Yu mischievously deleted all her game saves in the background, how furious Liu Mengyuan was at the time! But soon, she smiled and said to Lu Yu: "It doesn't matter, I now fully understand why we should set up such a 'desperate paid link' in our new game. In order to let players experience the feeling of being ruthlessly killed by developers, we should do enough despair in this way!"
……
After Liu Mengyuan was also completely assimilated and deeply involved in the "personally experience being exploited by capitalists" movement, Lu Yu seemed to have completely let go. In order to further detonate the topic and attention of the game "Krypton Gold Simulation: A Laid-Back Life," he then launched a series of unprecedented "weird marketing."
On a certain weekend morning, all players who followed the official game channels received a shocking push message, with a brand-new promotional poster that was completely different from the past.
The design style of the poster can be described as unprecedentedly bold and exaggerated. Even the proportions and images of the characters in the picture have changed.
The most conspicuous is the central pattern of the poster - a huge and ferocious monster head, laughing wildly at the sky, and spitting out a large string of gem and coin-shaped objects. And in front of this big mouth, there is a naked black-haired girl. Her petite body was pressed under the banknotes and gold coins spit out by the monster's mouth, and the whole person was stepping on the treasure, looking painful and struggling.
It is not difficult to see that this seems to be an allegory that players are forced to spend cash wildly in the game in order to upgrade equipment, and eventually become the object of exploitation. And that terrifying monster face probably represents the image of the developer as a "capital predator."
In addition to these exaggerated elements, the border of the poster is also decorated with dark-style patterns such as skulls and hooks, which complement the central pattern. And at the bottom, there is a shocking slogan: "Exploiting you is our mission!"
After seeing this promotional poster, many players said they were scared. Even the old players who had previously complained about the game's paid experience left messages saying: "I thought the paid experience in the game was too much before, but now it seems that even the official is promoting it like this. Does it mean that the degree of exploitation in the game is even worse?"
"This marketing method is too much, right? Deliberately shifting the focus completely, letting us pay attention to the money harvesting point, and not questioning the game content itself."
"I suspect that the official is just joking with us? Packaging a naked money-collecting game into an 'ironic work'?"
In this way, while this extremely provocative promotional poster stirred up a wave, it also completely detonated the hot discussion surrounding whether the paid experience of "Krypton Gold Simulation: A Laid-Back Life" was too "dark" or whether it was worth buying.
And while it was widely controversial, the official game side has not made any positive response. Even those pre-order channels were quietly removed. The entire promotional campaign seemed to be deliberately guiding players to shift their attention from the game itself to the "values" of this work.
The latest novels are first published on Liu Jiu Shu Ba!
Faced with such exaggerated marketing methods, many players were in an uproar. Many netizens shouted, "I'm here to buy the game, how did it become a debate about values?" Many people even felt that the official was deliberately marketing in this way, as if they wanted to confuse the public and divert players' attention from the quality of the game itself.
"What kind of game are they selling? I think this is just hype, right?"
"Anyway, I'll wait and see first, and see how the game is. Don't be fooled again."
While everyone was questioning, Lu Yu seemed to completely ignore all voices and focused on vigorously hyping up the upcoming "Krypton Gold Simulation: A Laid-Back Life." In fact, this marketing campaign that caused a stir was just the beginning.
……
While the banner of hype and marketing in the company was being raised higher and higher by Lu Yu, many ordinary employees were a little confused about his strange practices.
Many people began to whisper in private: "What is Mr. Lu doing? He is completely leading the marketing astray. Is this really good?"
"I don't understand either. Is he trying to justify our new work or deliberately ruin its reputation?"
"Looking at this posture, it's simply denying our hard work and degrading the game into a purely 'exploitation work'!"
Amidst the sea of confusion, Liu Mengyuan seemed to have suddenly seen the light. She proactively stepped forward to explain the profound meaning behind Lu Yu's actions to everyone.
"Everyone, please calm down and listen to me!" She surveyed the crowd, speaking with earnest sincerity. "What Lu Yu is doing isn't to deny our efforts, nor is it to belittle our game."
"On the contrary, he's doing this entirely out of a 'hidden' marketing strategy. We all know that the biggest selling point of our new game lies in the ironic feeling and sense of exploitation that the paid experience brings. The reason Lu Yu is making such 'exaggerated' promotions is to let players be 'amazed' by this sense of exploitation even before they buy the game, thus generating a strong interest in the game content itself."
"Think about it, everyone. If he had honestly promoted the game's excellent storyline and graphics from the beginning, wouldn't that expose our biggest selling point? By then, players wouldn't experience any 'exploitation' upon downloading the game, and would instead develop aesthetic fatigue towards the game!"
"That's why Lu Yu first uses such extreme horror marketing tactics like 'monsters devouring players' during the promotion period, completely focusing on the 'exploitative payment' aspect of our game, so that players have a preconceived notion about it. Only when they have sufficient desire for the 'exploitative experience' can our new game sell like crazy as soon as it's launched, easily attracting attention!"
"In short, Lu Yu is 'hiding' the marketing points of our game content, only focusing on exposing the 'exploitative payment' part. This will create a huge contrast for players upon launch, giving them the desire to 'willingly impoverish themselves.' This will help us easily achieve considerable sales! Do you all understand now?"
Liu Mengyuan's powerful words seemed to dispel the initial confusion and doubts all at once. Everyone nodded, finally understanding Lu Yu's painstaking efforts.
"So that's how it is! President Lu is truly brilliant! This way, our usual hard work won't be exposed, but will instead give players a 'surprise'!"
"That's right, that's right, I understand everything now! We need to work harder and secretly add more features to the game, so that the pleasure of 'exploitative payment' is doubled after players are hooked!"
Encouraged by Liu Mengyuan, the entire team seemed to regain their fighting spirit, determined to seek common ground while reserving differences in Lu Yu's "exploitative marketing" trend. They focused on making the game highly playable, creating enough word-of-mouth for the upcoming big sales.
"We must secretly trip up President Lu, and put more effort into the game content, so that players have an experience they won't forget when they are 'exploited'!"
"I'll think of more ways to improve the combat system, making players unable to stop themselves from trying to create the ultimate equipment!"
"Good! I'll design the plot to be more exciting, so that players have no choice but to spend crazy money to unravel the mystery of the plot!"