Chapter 230 New Way of Distributing Bonuses
After sending Zhang Zuting off, everyone in Shang Yang Games got busy editing the footage they got into an appropriate advertisement.
Style and length requirements for advertisements on webpages, video sites, and other places were different. For example, some websites only dedicated horizontal spaces to advertisements, some had pop-up windows, and some only allowed videos to be a couple of seconds long.
Thus, the same footage had to be molded into different styles.
If they had to cut a video from tens of seconds to a few seconds, they would naturally have to select the most important bits of the footage.
It was during this time that everyone realized how forward-thinking Boss Pei was.
The video that they recorded could easily be molded into a perfect website advertisement after making just a few edits!
Zhang Zuting's lines were white short. What's more, there was not much content to it. Roughly cutting the video and re-assembling it did not affect the video's original meaning. This gave the editors a lot of space to play around with the video.
If players got tired of viewing the same advertisement in the future, all they would have to do is cut the video again in order to create a brand-new advertisement.
"Boss Pei, Zhang Zuting's Mandarin isn't good. He sounds quite awkward. Should we find a professional voice actor to dub over his voice? This wouldn't be too expensive anyway," suggested Ye Zhizhou.
Pei Qian shook his head at once. "No, let's leave it like that! You have to trust the movie king's acting skills and delivering of the lines. What's more, the rawness of this advertisement could serve to close the gap between him and the audience. If we look for someone to dub his voice over, the advertisement would lose its soul. Do you understand?"
"Er…" Ye Zhizhou vaguely felt like there was something wrong with what Boss Pei was saying.
However, on further thought, they had already filmed the awkward video. Why should he bother with editing it?
Director Lin had guessed that Boss Pei had purposely looked for an outdated Hong Kong celebrity to film this awkward video to attract as many traditional web-based gamers to play this game.
Since that was the case, the advertisement had nothing to do with class. It seemed to make sense to produce a more awkward-looking advertisement.
At that thought, Ye Zhizhou said nothing more. Instead, he obediently prepared the marketing materials. He was ready to paste this advertisement everywhere once research and development of the game was complete.
Until now, they had been working on Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version for one and a half months.
one
Although they had created the game from scratch, they had more or less copied the gameplay of Bloody Battle Song. They also had a very clear idea of the art resources to useall they had to do was update them.
The bulk of the work had to do with the art resources. Since they had outsourced this work to many other companies, the art resources were being produced very quickly.
Based on their predictions, the game would be complete at the beginning of September. This was slightly earlier than their initial plan.
Since they would complete research and development for the game early, they could afford to spend more time trying it out. They could focus on the game's statistics and make improvements. This would help them win more time over competing games…
All in all, there were many advantages to this.
Now, they were almost done with preparing the publicity. Ye Zhizhou planned to focus all his energy on research and development so the game could be released to players as soon as possible.
At the same time, Pei Qian was busy as well. He had to juggle Tengda Games' research and development and cautiously take care of Fei Huang Workspace.
Repent and Be Saved's research and development was progressing smoothly. Until now, they were almost 60% done with the game. According to the rate of their progress, the game would probably be ready for publishing in the middle of October. This included running tests, making adjustments, and tying up loose ends.
Pei Qian instructed Li Yada to produce a demo as soon as he could because he wanted to try it out first.
On one hand, he wanted to check if the game was as difficult as he had expected. On the other hand, he wanted to search for a chance to sneak 'Boss Pei's special weapon' into the game, in a place where people would be least likely to find it.
The System required Pei Qian to be able to win the game with his own skills.
Honestly, Pei Qian was not considered a complete noob[1]. Of course, that did not mean he was particularly formidable either. He was just an ordinary gamer. When put in a group of equally bad gamers, he could sometimes carry others.
The System was only making a requirement like that to prevent Pei Qian from taking advantage of the loophole.
For example, Pei Qian had made the monsters in the first stage multiple times stronger than the players were at the beginning of the game. In terms of attack power, attack frequency, and movement speed; the monsters would overpower the players. No matter how good a player was, they would die within seconds. Only extremely rare gaming gods would barely be able to pass the first stage.
This would be akin to maliciously turning players away. It would be unreasonable.
The System had imposed this requirement so average and slightly-above-average players with a good enough understanding of the game (Pei Qian had a very good grasp of the game's system) should be able to win the game after several tries.
This way, although the game would still be difficult, most players would still press on in the hopes of winning.
However, given how smart Pei Qian was, he thought of a way around this problem.
He had three main considerations:
First, the System required Pei Qian to win the game, but it did not stipulate how long Pei Qian could take!
Even if it took Pei Qian a hundred tries to win and even if he had to play from the day he received the demo to the day the game was published, it would still be considered a win.
Second, the System did not stipulate how Pei Qian had to win.
He could hide an extremely formidable weapon somewhere in the game, in a place where nobody would suspect. If he could easily eliminate monsters with that weapon, he would still be considered a winner.
Lastly, the System did not stipulate which ending Pei Qian had to get.
He could create multiple endings for the game, one of which only required the player to unlock 30% of the game's plot. Even if he took the shortest route to get to an ending of the game, it would still be considered a win, right?
Thus, Pei Qian was well-prepared. He would wait for Repent and Be Saved's demo to be released. Then, he would find a place to hide his special weapon. After that, he would begin his training.
The demo might be produced in two or three days. Then, Boss Pei would have to get busy.
It all sounded torturous, but as the saying went, 'no pain, no gain'. If he wanted to incur losses, how could he not work hard?
He had invested nearly twenty million yuan into Repent and Be Saved; he could not let it go to waste!
Apart from this, Pei Qian considered modifying some company procedures slightly. At the moment, Tengda Games' gave out project rewards and bonuses. Fifteen percent of each game's profit would be distributed to the employees as bonus.
Fei Huang Workspace was similar. Thirty percent of the profits would be distributed to the members of the workspace as a form of reward.
Pei Qian's initial intention in coming up with this system was to spend as much of the money he earned as possible. This would allow him some relief from thinking about spending the System Funds.
However, after a period of pondering, Pei Qian found a huge problem with such a system!
If they could get such a large project bonus, the employees would be motivated to earn more!
Take Fei Huang Workspace for instance. They did not make much money from their last film. That was why Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce received only their base pay, without a single cent of bonus.
Although Pei Qian gave them a high basic pay to begin with and the video had received good feedback, their income did indeed take a hit.
That was why they decided to work on reviewing digital products and producing short videos this time. This would increase their chances of getting sponsored partnerships. Pei Qian could not help but wonder if this was related to their pay.
Of course, part of it was that they did not want to let Boss Pei down. They wanted to help Fei Huang make profits so Boss Pei did not always have to fill in the gaps for them. However, they must have been partly motivated by earning a bit more bonus for themselves.
That was why Pei Qian increasingly felt like something was amiss.
This way of distributing bonuses seemed to be akin to drinking poison to quench thirst!
Although it helped Pei Qian spend more money in the short term, it also greatly motivated employees to earn more money for the company. This brought more money-the root of all evil—to Pei Qian's System Funds!
Thus, Pei Qian had to change the system!
Of course, it was impossible to get rid of the bonuses; that would be inhumane. What's more, if he kept the bonuses, that would be causing more trouble for himself. He would be more stressed when trying to get rid of the funds.
Instead, Pei Qian needed the perfect solution to deal with all the problems.
He had to distribute the money and dispel the employees' passion for making profits for the company.
After some thought, Pei Qian finally thought of a good idea.
Provided that he could keep the employees' bonuses constant—with the slight hope of them increasing, he would distribute bonuses based on reputation instead of profits!
In other words—while he distributed rewards based on the amount of profit each project earned before, he would now distribute rewards based on the project's reputation.
The better the reputation of a project, the greater the bonus employees would obtain. Even for a project like Coming Out of the Cocoon as a Butterfly which incurred losses, employees could still obtain the full extent of rewards if the project's reputation was good.
Pei Qian could come up with a grading system for projects' reputation: S-grade, A-grade, B-grade, and C-grade. According to the investment made into each project, Pei Qian would grade the project's reputation. Each grade would earn those who worked on the project a different bonus.
The bonus percentage would vary for different types of projects.
For example, games normally earned profits over long periods. Thus, the period over which the bonus was to be distributed would be slightly longer as well. On the other hand, videos would be at their most popular in the first three months after uploading them. That meant the bonuses could be distributed at one
go.
This way, employees could focus on the reputation of their projects instead of profits.
Pei Qian would encourage everyone to engage in projects that did not make a profit but could become very popular. That way, Pei Qian would not earn profits, and the employees would receive huge bonuses. Wasn't that perfect?
Of course, there would still be projects that could generate profit and be reputable.
However, these were the minority.
Under most circumstances, reputation conflicted with profit. It would be difficult for employees to achieve both.
Thus, Pei Qian decided to think more about the practicalities of this plan. He would come up with a set of rules and try to push this plan out before the game was published. Once he set the rules and gained the validation of all his employees, the effect would be deep and far-reaching. One could say that he would be reaping the benefits of this plan for a long time.
The thought of his employees becoming obsessed with the reputation of their projects and forgetting about generating profit made Pei Qian feel as if the entire company had just become extremely noble!
(1) This is a slang for 'newbie' or someone terrible at what they do.
Chapter 231 The Legendary Fake Reviewers
Besides that, there was also Fei Huang Workspace's new project.
After the 'reputation-based reward' stipulation was set-regardless if it was the games department of the short videos department in Fei Huang Workspace, there would definitely be adjustments to these departments' direction.
However, in the near future, Fei Huang Workspace would still have many sponsored partnerships.
Hence, Pei Qian felt that he could consider 'helping' Fei Huang Workspace, to let them know the negative aspects of sponsored partnerships and let them see the crowd response. That way, he could justify the shift in business model from a for-profit to a reputation-based one.
As the saying went—if one did not experience storms, they wouldn't be able to see a rainbow. It wasn't that easy to successfully make flowers bloom in a greenhouse.
Cough, cough. Alright, Pei Qian actually just wanted them to do less sponsored partnerships. After all, only two months were left before the next settlement. To get the system's special prize, Pei Qian couldn't allow for anything to go wrong!
As for how he was going to act on this.
Pei Qian logged onto Aili Island quietly as he sent a private message to a UP Master called 'Shaohu Reviews'.
After the last incident, Pei Qian more or less guessed that the people behind Shaohu Reviews were formidable. Whether it was sponsored partnerships or shooting some product down, Shaohu Reviews had a knack for it.
Pei Qian didn't believe that such a UP Master didn't know any fake reviewers. He had taken particular note of this UP Master previously precisely for an occasion like this.
Pei Qian had sent the message using Hardcore Reviews' Aili Island account. He had also created an alternate chatbot account. He had to make sure that no one knew he was orchestrating this thing behind the scenes.
In a short while, Shaohu Reviews replied to the private message as the two got in contact.
On the other hand, Hu Xiao had not expected that Hardcore Reviews' UP Master would actually look for him.
Although Hu Xiao had been conned real bad by Hardcore Reviews the previous time, he knew that that had probably been a coincidence; Hardcore Reviews releasing the third video was not targeted at him.
Hence, Hu Xiao did not nurse a grudge and wanted to make a new friend. He added Pei Qian's alternate account.
As the saying went, two of a trade could never agree. Hu Xiao and the other professional product reviewers weren't on the best terms. They would separately get sponsored partnerships to promote products and occasionally might even go up against each other.
However, from Hu Xiao's perspective, Hardcore Reviews was after all a new UP Master. Although its fans had been increasing rather swiftly recently, it was still a small fry all in all.
Furthermore, Hardcore Reviews' modus operandi didn't pose a threat to Shaohu Reviews at all; it could in fact be complementary.
From Hardcore Reviews' videos, its UP Master didn't seem to be into sponsored partnerships. In fact, the UP Master didn't seem to be lacking money. Every review it did, it would smash a cell phone worth four to five thousand; would ordinary review platforms do this?
In any case, Hardcore Reviews could not be belittled or ignored.
Besides this, Hu Xiao also couldn't rule out that Hardcore Reviews had contacted him to buy fake reviews.
He had on hand the contact details of a huge group of fake reviewers while he often helped other UP Masters on Aili Island to contact these reviewers. This wasn't a big secret in the industry and perhaps Hardcore Reviews' UP Master had been introduced to Hu Xiao by someone else?
Soon, the friend request was accepted.
Pei Qian thought for a moment and asked, "I want to go up against a competitor; could you help?"
Hu Xiao didn't say much as he sent over a price list.
Pei Qian speedily glanced through it.
Wow, what a dazzling array of categories!
Beginner-class fans: 10 yuan for 1000, 40 yuan for 5000, 70 yuan for 10000, fans that would remain and wouldn't be lost.
Advanced-class fans: 12 yuan for 1000… a limited number has head portraits and basic information.
Top-class actual fans: 10 yuan for 400… permanent and active real fans.
Premium-grade active fans: 10 yuan for 300… each would bring tens of fans, no screening.
Resharing, commenting, liking:
Rapid sharing 2 yuan for 100 reshares.
Premium reshares at 13 yuan for 100… 100 yuan for 1000.
Mass reviewing, premium reviewing, mass liking, premium liking, etc.
All in all, there were different categories and all could be scaled up according to needs.
Besides these, there were package deals. For example, buying fans as a package would ensure that there would be a mix of different types of fans. This way, the increase in fans would appear more realistic.
These were prices for Weibo; there was a separate one for Aili Island as well.
This included clicks, bullet screen comments, reviews, increasing fan numbers, etc. All were labeled clearly.
However, Aili Island's prices were evidently higher than Weibo's. Perhaps Aili Island's account screening process was more stringent or this relatively new site's fake reviews market hadn't matured yet.
Looking at the prices listed, Pei Qian then realized that buying fake reviews seemed to be much cheaper than he had thought.
From the looks of it, he could spend a few hundred or a thousand to curate a package deal that would generate hundreds of reviews. He could also add an option for people to like these specific reviews.
Of course, Pei Qian wasn't intending to purchase fake reviews for anything sinister like defaming other products or humiliating and launching ad hominem attacks to create chaos and mislead consumers.
He didn't plan to do any of these things.
"I want to buy some reviews and likes in a package."
Pei Qian did not act all haughty and flaunt his wealth like before. The system didn't allow it.
Without a justifiable reason, Pei Qian could not use his company's money to pay Hu Xiao; he had to use his own.
Fortunately, Pei Qian wasn't that poor now. Spending a thousand to buy some reviews and likes wasn't beyond his means.
If this thousand spent could result in Fei Huang Workspace working on less sponsored partnerships and reduce revenue inflows by a million or two, that would be very worth it!
Naturally, Pei Qian also knew that the odds of this plan succeeding weren't very high. However, using a thousand to test this out wouldn't hurt.
Hu Xiao took another look; it was indeed business!
"No worries. Our fake reviewers are trained and are of a certain caliber; we will definitely achieve this task! Are you intending to boost reviews of your own account?"
Pei Qian, "No, I would like to boost reviews of another account. Please search for Fei Huang Workspace's account. They will be releasing a product review video soon. At that time, please write a few lines of reviews on that video. The contents would be this: 'I have used this before; this product is very handy, and I strongly recommend it.'"
Hu Xiao sent over a 'subway train, old man, and cell phone' emoji.
He then sent an 'asking a question' emoji.
What did this mean?
It was his first time seeing someone buy fake reviews like this!
If the reviews' content were all the same, wouldn't this insinuate that this account had hired fake reviewers? Only an idiot wouldn't be able to tell.
However, Hu Xiao was clever and immediately understood.
Oh! Reverse buying of fake reviewers to hit at one's competitor!
It seems like this Hardcore Reviews is not a small fry; there is a master at work!
As the internet environment changed, the standard of fake review services was also being raised.
Before, netizens could be easily fooled; now, it wasn't the case. Everyone knew about fake reviews, and so the usage of fake reviewers required a blend between the fake and the real; they had to be believable.
Of course, this was in the case of boosting reviews for one's own products.
Besides that, fake reviewers could also be used via a more sophisticated method: reverse fake reviews!
To boost reviews of a competitor and have the reviews being of poor quality and standard. This way, netizens would think that the competitor itself had used sub-par fake reviewers to boost its own product.
Not bad!
Furthermore, Hu Xiao looked at the intended content and grasped a new piece of information.
Fei Huang Workspace was also going to do product reviews?
He knew of Fei Huang Workspace. After all, when Boss Pei's Daily Life had first been shown on Aili Island, it had been on the home page for a long while.
However, after a time, Fei Huang Workspace had not continued with Boss Pei's Daily Life but had done a documentary. Recently, it had not produced anything new.
Was it preparing to make a comeback?
Furthermore, was it planning to do product review programs?
Hu Xiao was a little worried.
Fei Huang Workspace was evidently a formidable rival that didn't seem to lack funds. If they started to do product reviews as well, they would most likely be stealing Shaohu Reviews' rice bowl.
Although he didn't know where Hardcore Reviews' UP Master had gotten this news, from the looks of it, this information was credible.
That someone else was willing to hire fake reviewers to hit at his own competitor, Hu Xiao was more than willing to accept such an offer!
Hu Xiao even wanted to put his own money in to hire more fake reviewers.
However, after thinking about it further, he felt that there wasn't such a need. After all, Fei Huang Workspace's product review show had not even surfaced; it was not yet a threat to his own business. There was no hurry.
When he was assigning tasks to the fake reviewers, he could use his own personal rapport with them to ask them to write a few more reviews; that would put some extra pressure on his rival already.
"No problem!"
Hu Xiao accepted this request readily.
Chapter 232 A Day in a Great Inventor's Life
Before long, Hu Xiao had made all the necessary arrangements.
Once Fei Huang Workspace uploaded a new video, fake reviewers would immediately go and flood the comments section with reviews and likes.
If it was a new UP Master, such acts would be more obvious; after all, a new UP Master wouldn't have that many fans yet.
Fei Huang Workspace already had a huge following, and fake reviewers' comments might not be that evident.
However, that didn't matter. As long as immediately after the new video was launched, the fake reviewers as a horde posted tens of reviews stating 'I have used this before; this product is very handy and I strongly recommend it!', others would definitely be able to tell what was up.
As Hu Xiao wanted to keep an eye on this matter, he followed Fei Huang Workspace's page. Every once in a while, he would refresh the page to see if there were any updates.
Finally, on the second day, Fei Huang Workspace really released a video!
"Not bad! This Hardcore Reviews' information is rather reliable. They actually know Fei Huang Workspace's movements so clearly; this information-gathering is rather formidable."
Hu Xiao increasingly felt that the UP Master behind Hardcore Reviews was someone not to be belittled.
He took a closer look and realized the name of the video was A Day in a Great Inventor's Life. The caption of the video also had a keyword 'review' in it.
"It is indeed a product review video!"
After making sure that it was a product review video, Hu Xiao immediately posted a message in one of his group chats to direct his fake reviewers to take action! The content of all the reviews was uniform. Everyone was copying and pasting 'I have used this before; this product is very handy and I strongly recommend!'.
Such messages were posted continuously.
As Fei Huang Workspace had many fans already, some other comments by normal fans were also in the mix. For example:
"Is this a miracle?"
"Is this a comeback?"
"When is the next season of Boss Pei's Daily Life going to be released?!"
"So fast!"
These types of comments were made as well.
However, fake reviewers' comments still formed the majority. Furthermore, these fake reviewers would also repeatedly 'like' other fake reviewers' comments. As such, the top comments all became those by fake reviewers!
Hu Xiao saw the effect of his fake reviews army and couldn't help but feel proud.
So what if they had many fans? These fans were still swallowed up by my fake reviews army!
This barrage of comments actually had a significant effect.
Such product review videos actually couldn't earn much money just by relying on Aili Island's incentive plans. They primarily relied on their sugar daddies: the so-called sponsored partnerships.
However, if a video had many fake reviewers commenting on it and they all appeared at once, that would have an impact on sponsored partnerships.
From the ordinary fans' point of view if the product reviews they paid attention to used fake reviewers, that would definitely affect the objectivity of the reviews. Some fans might actually abandon this platform.
For sugar daddies and sponsors, they were mindful of these fake reviewers hired by the product review platforms, which would lead to a falsification of these platforms' human traffic statistics. If they entered into sponsored partnerships with these platforms, would there be a backfire effect and ruin their own products' reputation?
All these doubts would create a negative impact.
Of course, just a few fake reviewers would not strike a decisive blow on Fei Huang Workspace. However, this would become a rather vexing and messy issue for them.
Hu Xiao patiently waited for a while and then decided to go and see everyone's responses on the video.
According to Hu Xiao's estimates, only two possible scenarios could happen.
The first would be that the fake reviewers' comments were so prominent that all viewers would jump on the bandwagon and pollute the comments section.
This was what Hu Xiao wanted to see.
The second would be Fei Huang Workspace immediately discovering the fake reviewers and starting to mass delete their posts.
However, regardless of how much they deleted, people would definitely still notice these fake reviews. Furthermore, the fake reviewers were posting very swiftly, and perhaps then accusations could be made against Fei Huang for deliberately deleting posts and comments.
Two hours later…
"It's about time! Let's see what the results are!"
Hu Xiao took a look at A Day in a Great Inventor's Life's comments section. After looking through, he was utterly befuddled.
What was going on?
Why isn't there scolding and cursing?
Even more people are posting 'I used this before; this product is very handy and I strongly recommend!'?
Hu Xiao was flummoxed.
Were the fake reviewers still posting?
That didn't make sense. Fake reviewers were paid to do so and would only post as per instructed and paid; why would they be so passionate about this?
What was going on?
As Hu Xiao was still confused and couldn't make sense of this, he clicked on the product review to watch and find out the reason behind this.
On the screen was a sluggish-looking youngster…
"My name is Sun Aidi; my English name is Aidi Sun. I am a great inventor. This is my latest invention: a hand-held portable washing machine."
This washing machine appeared in the youngster's hands and on the screen. This was a bottle-shaped object that had a mini brush head, motor, batteries, and a water container.
"It has a high-efficient motor inside that can activate the brush head to move rapidly while spewing out appropriate amounts of water to target the dirty spots.
"At this time, you only have to prepare a little liquid detergent and dab it on the dirty spots. Using the washing machine to wash these spots continuously, you would have clean clothes anywhere, anytime; you don't have to worry about dirtying them anymore!
"I intend to apply for a patent for this new invention immediately. This product would soon enter production and would probably have good reviews with its sales exploding, the company getting listed on the stock exchange and becoming a commercial empire, attaining the pinnacle of life!"
The scene changed and became that of a cafeteria.
Aidi Sun faced a beautiful girl, and the two were having a meal.
"I am having a meal with a beautiful lady today. I can use this opportunity to show her my invention. This way, she would definitely adore and worship me; she would listen to everything I say!"
Aidi Sun deliberately shook his hand vigorously while holding his cup, resulting in a few drops of alcohol spilling onto the beautiful lady's skirt.
"Aiya!" The beautiful lady hurriedly took a napkin and wanted to wipe the stain off.
"Beauty, leave this to me!"
Aidi Sun immediately took out his portable washing machine and activated it. The portable washing machine's brush head started to churn and spew water out.
The screen froze as it captured everyone's expression in the cafeteria.
The beautiful lady was stunned for a moment as she then took up her cellphone and called a number. "Hello? Is this 110?"
The scene changed again to a roadside barbecue store.
Aidi Sun was holding onto a stick of meat as he cried out to his brothers.
His brothers were trying their best to comfort him. "Don't worry, Aidi, that beautiful lady misunderstood you; she will definitely forgive you!"
As they ate, a fat chunk of meat landed on one of his brother's sleeves.
Aidi Sun's eyes opened wide as he said, "Don't move! Leave it to me!"
He once again took out the portable washing machine from his bag and sprayed at the sleeve stained with grease.
One of his brothers shouted, "Aidi! This is your new invention? The portable washing machine? Hurry up and help me! Quick, quick help me clean this!"
Aidi Sun immediately grew energetic as he took the portable washing machine and struck a pose.
A moment later, Aidi Sun thought about something, "You… did any of you bring liquid detergent?"
His brothers, "?"
Aidi Sun, "For such a stain like this, we need liquid detergent; do you guys have it? Or… perhaps, soap?"
His brothers, "?"
A few scenes later…
Aidi Sun sat on his sofa at home.
"My name is Sun Aidi; my English name is Aidi Sun. I am a great inventor. I have created an invention that could change the world. However, no one seems to understand.
"If you are interested in my invention, please contact me. We can speedily enter production, have hoards of great reviews come in with sales exploding, get listed, and create a commercial empire; entering the pinnacle of life!"
Hu Xiao then looked at the bullet screen comments and comments section.
"This is Fei Huang Workspace's new program? This is rather refreshing!"
"Hahaha, this is something new!"
"Who gave this video's caption the 'review' word? This is hilarious!"
"This washing machine is really very useful; where can I buy this?"
"I have followed you guys. As long as you guys do not invent useful things, I will continue to follow you guys!"
"I used this before; this product is very handy and I strongly recommend it!"
"I used this before; this product is very handy and I strongly recommend it! +1"
Regardless of whether it was the bullet screen comments or the comments section, this same message kept on appearing; many people were following suit as well.
Hu Xiao shook his head, utterly stunned.
What was going on?
Where were my fake reviewers?
Where was my fake review army that I hired?
Why have their comments completely integrated with the ordinary fans' comments; their comments had no effect whatsoever?
Thinking about this repeatedly, Hu Xiao was still lost and confused as he sent a message to Hardcore Reviews: "Brother, who… who on earth are you?"
Chapter 233 Wrong Deduction, Right Conclusion
Seeing Hu Xiao's message, Pei Qian also grew quiet and slightly despondent.
What a question that struck at his soul.
He had not expected Fei Huang Workspace to create such a program.
Pei Qian had previously thought that Fei Huang Workspace would at most do a product review video similar to that of test TV, one that focused on reviewing a product while embedding a few simple scenes in the video. This would fulfill the criteria of a blend between a product review and short videos.
Pei Qian had guessed wrong!
Fei Huang Workspace had used short clips as the main content of the video while severely diluting the product review aspect; it was so weak that some people might not even think that the video was reviewing something at all.
This way, regardless of whether the product was good or not, viewers would not be put off by it.
Even the fake reviewers' 'I used this before; this product is very handy, and I strongly recommend it' had been mistakenly interpreted!
From now on, regardless of how Fei Huang Workspace used this kind of program to do sponsored partnerships, as long as the program's quality wasn't that bad; none of its viewers would be repulsed by it. Fei Huang Workspace could then boldly enter into sponsored partnerships!
Of course, there was a drawback.
The range of products that could be entered into sponsored partnerships would be limited. Take the portable washing machine for example. It evidently was an outlier product. If it was a proper cell phone, camera, computer, or other digital products; they would not be able to achieve the intended effect from these videos.
In other words, A Day in a Great Inventor's Life could only focus on such outlying products; anything normal could not be used!
This limitation generated much difficulty for sponsored partnerships.
Regardless, Huang Sibo seemed to have taken Pei Qian's words to heart. He had prioritized the quality of production and the reputation of the company.
Pei Qian felt that he was growing a little dizzy.
Although spending a thousand of his own money wasn't considered a lot; the completely opposite effect generated by this spending was completely unexpected.
Not only did the uniform fake reviews not cause any distaste among fans, but it actually became something that they rallied to and focused much attention on Fei Huang Workspace as well. In fact, no one might even realize that fake reviewers had played a part in the comments section.
This one thousand was spent so stealthily and left so quietly without causing much of an effect. Boss Pei's money had essentially just evaporated.
Pei Qian looked at Hu Xiao's soul-striking question and was momentarily speechless.
You still dare to ask me this question? I want to ask you back!
Your fake reviewers are so useless! I want a refund!
However, thinking about this again, Pei Qian had been the one who had asked the fake reviewers to use that one line of text.
Oh, that's fine then.
On the other hand, Hu Xiao saw that Hardcore Reviews didn't reply after a long while as he grew even more doubtful. Previously, he had thought that Hardcore Reviews just wanted to purchase fake reviews to strike at its competitor.
From the looks of it now, that didn't seem to be the case, right?
Fei Huang Workspace and this Hardcore Reviews seemed to be working too well in unison, right?
Why didn't Hardcore Reviews say specifically that it wanted to buy fake reviews to sully a product, but they had directly requested for such a simple line of text to flood the comments section?
Furthermore, why had Fei Huang Workspace released its video so quickly after Hardcore Reviews had made its request for fake reviews? Fei Huang Workspace had been quiet for more than a full month prior to this!
The release of the video combined with this line of text… hadn't this created the most perfect publicity effect?
Was all this a coincidence?
Although this wasn't impossible, the probability was too low!
To complement each other so coincidentally and accurately fanning the video's popularity
hile creating a bandwagon to jump on… if this was a coincidence and a fluke, Hu Xiao did not believe that.
In that case, the greatest possibility was…
This was all premeditated!
Fei Huang Workspace and this Hardcore Reviews knew each other; they were probably from the same company and had intentionally spent this 1000 yuan to buy fake reviewers to increase the popularity of its video!
Thinking about this now, how long had Fei Huang Workspace not released a video? Its popularity had long decreased.
This new program had only needed a 1000 yuan worth of fake reviewers to generate such a successful wave of attention and popularity.
The planning behind this publicity effort was ingenious!
Connecting this to how an unknown account like Hardcore Reviews had merely smashed cell phones and gained much attention…
The more Hu Xiao thought about this, the more he felt that the UP Master behind Hardcore Reviews was a master. While this person might have maintained a low profile, the end result was evident: this person could light a spark!
In that case, was all this part of a grand plan?
The more Hu Xiao thought about this, the more he felt that something was amiss.
He looked at the message he had sent.
"Brother, who… who on earth are you?"
This message seemed to lack in thought and consideration; it sounded a little offensive and disrespectful!
Pei Qian still hadn't thought about a suitable reply.
Although he really wanted to ask for a refund, he couldn't actually place the blame this time on the other party's fake reviewers.
Pei Qian thought for a while and typed, "This is a misunderstanding. I had not expected…"
While he was typing halfway, Pei Qian realized that Hu Xiao had retracted his message!
Hu Xiao then sent another one: "Brother, your sales tactic is really superb! I am impressed, very impressed."
Pei Qian, "?"
Boss Pei felt faint again. What was going on? What was the other party saying?
Pei Qian just wanted to reply when 'ding', a money transfer notification was received.
A thousand yuan.
Hu Xiao, "Brother, we are all in the same industry. I won't take your money this time; take it as if I want to be friends with you. In the future—if there is anything I can help with, please let me know. We are brothers; everything can be discussed!"
Pei Qian, "?"
Although he was still very confused. Seeing his 1000 yuan was returned to him, Pei Qian felt happy again.
However, the person behind Shaohu Reviews was indeed someone interesting! If he needed to buy fake reviewers again, Pei Qian could continue looking for Shaohu Reviews.
Pei Qian thought for a moment and replied: "This collaboration had been very satisfactory. I await our next one."
Hu Xiao hurriedly replied: "Sure thing!"
Hu Xiao was very happy internally. Hardcore Reviews' UP Master had not said and explained anything. He had just said that the 'collaboration had been very satisfactory'. This verified his own thinking!
Everything had been planned by Hardcore Reviews!
That also meant that Fei Huang Workspace and Hardcore Reviews were in close contact; they might actually be in one boat. This was a very crucial piece of information.
Hu Xiao couldn't help but start to connect the dots.
After all, not many people were in the digital products review industry. Although the industry was still growing, it wasn't growing as fast as expected. Every new unknown entrant to this industry had to be carefully scrutinized. What if they had entered to snatch one's rice bowl?
Fortunately, from the looks of it, whether it was Fei Huang Workspace or Hardcore Reviews; they didn't seem to be targeting the same market as Shaohu Reviews.
Hu Xiao couldn't sleep. He felt as if this industry that he had been comfortably thriving in was about to face some uncertain turbulence.
Pei Qian did not know how much pressure Hu Xiao was under now; he also didn't know that Hu Xiao had actually come to the right conclusion based on Pei Qian's wrong deductions.
Boss Pei was thinking about something else.
To make things a little more difficult for Fei Huang Workspace didn't seem feasible anymore. According to Fei Huang Workspace's current model, it was unassailable. Of course, this made it hard to enter into sponsored partnerships as well.
Hence, Pei Qian decided to not bother about this for now.
Besides continuing with his Hardcore Reviews program, Pei Qian also had to pay attention to Repent and be Saved.
These two days, Repent and be Saved's demo would be released. Pei Qian intended to play the game and get a sense of its difficulty before arranging the entrance of his weapon into it. Only if he suffered from now on could he guarantee that when Repent and be Saved started selling, it could compel many players to quit playing it.
"Sigh, this is so tough for me."
Pei Qian couldn't help but think. It was really hard being a boss!
Chapter 234 Time for Boss Pei to Perform?
August 18th, Wednesday…
Repent and be Saved's demo was ready.
The so-called demo was the 'demonstration', 'display', and 'sampling' of the game and could be called the beta version of it.
For a game like Repent and be Saved, as long as the character modeling, actions, and fighting systems, etc. were or more or less complete; just adding a few scenes to it would result in the creation of a beta version.
Normally, tweaking the beta version and continuing the art resource development would happen in tandem. While the new scenes, monsters, and settings were being created and beautified; characters' movements, battling, and other details could be enhanced as well. This way, the development of the game could be sped up.
Boss Pei's office…
Li Yada was tweaking the game on Pei Qian's computer. Once he confirmed that the system design specifications were accurate and the modifications were complete, he was going to let Boss Pei have a go at the game.
Pei Qian was standing at a side, watching Li Yada modify the game's specifications.
Action-based games' production threshold was extremely high.
Why were some domestically-produced games' battling actions pathetic and unbearable to players while some foreign AAA major blockbusters could make people feel immersed and pleased to play?
This all depended on one thing: details.
For example, if a character was holding a dagger, a straight sword, a huge hammer, or other types of weapons; the movements and actions would definitely be different. Much attention needed to be placed on every single frame of movement.
Of course, seizing onto the specific actions would help; however, this also required some modifications.
Once a single frame was slightly off, crooked, too fast or slow; players would not get a sense of satisfaction from the game.
Besides this, using different weapons to attack an enemy would result in a different response from the enemy. The damage caused to the surroundings also had to be taken into account.
For example, a huge difference would be present between using a dagger or a huge hammer to attack an enemy. The impact of the attack and the opponent's minute response would be very different. If a huge hammer smashed onto a monster and it did not flinch, players would feel that the 'impact was very unrealistic and poor'.
Hence, adjusting the appropriate impact was an artistic flair and a physical exercise.
However, all these problems could be solved using money.
Repent and be Saved had used the best action template and schematics; the best 3D arts on the website for resources had also been used and slightly modified. Hence, the actions within the game were very smooth and were distinctly better and different from ordinary domestically-produced games.
To put it plainly, it all came down to money.
Naturally, as adjusting movements and motions was an artistic matter, Li Yada had not intervened. However, when it came to modifying the system design and specifications, that was Li Yada's time to shine.
For example: when players used different weapons to hack at a monster, how much blood should it lose? How many hacks would kill the monster? Different types of attacks would result in different impacts on monsters; how much blood should each one cost? How much exactly?
These were all issues pertaining to the system design.
Although similar AAA productions that had immersive gameplays would also use all sorts of UI to represent one's health bar, these similarly also needed specific system designs behind them. These pieces of information had all been hidden during gameplay by system design.
Li Yada took one final look at all the system designs and specifications as she was prepared to stand up and let Boss Pei have a go at the game.
Pei Qian stopped her. "Wait a moment; tweak the settings more and elevate the stats of the monsters."
Li Yada was stunned. "Some more? It is already very high."
Pei Qian nodded, "Higher. I want to double its attacking power. No, wait. Triple it."
Li Yada, "?"
Previously, Boss Pei had already said that Repent and be Saved had to be an extremely difficult game. Everyone in the project team had to try their very best to think of ways to make players lose.
Forcing players to quit playing had been the number-one mission of the project team.
Lu Mingliang had really been obedient and had followed Boss Pei's requirements strictly. Bao Xu had also given his constructive feedback.
In the end, Boss Pei was still not satisfied?
Pei Qian also didn't explain much. He was very clear that even if Lu Mingliang had done according to his wishes, their imagination was still lacking. Increasing the attacking strength of the monsters in the game would definitely be the right move to make.
Li Yada adjusted her glasses as she did according to Pei Qian's instructions and tripled the attack strength of the monsters in the game.
This way, the originally low margin for error was decreased even more.
After making the alterations, Li Yada stood up and handed the controller to Pei Qian as she stood aside.
She wanted to see how Boss Pei was going to play this game!
Boss Pei was so confident when he asked me to triple the attack strength of the monsters in the game. Could it be he felt that the difficulty level of the game wasn't challenging enough for him?
Perhaps, Boss Pei was a game god like Bao Xu; he could only find joy in playing games with higher levels of difficulty?
Li Yada pushed her spectacles as she focused all her attention and watched.
Pei Qian took the game controller, sat in his chair, and started playing.
The initial setting was in a small village. This had been a peaceful small village, but many people had lost their souls and spirits and became wandering souls. These people's clothes were tattered, and their faces were very sullen. They held some strange weapons in their hands. Some held choppers, hoes, sickles, hayforks, and other farming equipment. Others were bare-handed while some held onto rocks.
The monsters were scattered all around the village and were acting rather strangely.
Some with axes were hacking at woodpiles; however, there wasn't any wood on them. They kept on raising and lowering their axes repeatedly. Others were squatting at the corner of walls, facing the falls and continuously muttering incoherently.
Even more were walking towards the walls of buildings. They had lost all rationality but would still subconsciously walk towards the Road to the Underworld. However, they could not make out that they were facing a wall.
A few were floating about aimlessly in the village and would cry out and scream like madmen when they saw people who were still in possession of their mental faculties.
The protagonist was similar to them. He was also wearing torn and tattered clothing while he was holding a clumsy weapon in his hands.
In the yard of the house that the player had been born in, some basic weapons such as choppers, axes, sticks, and hayforks, etc. were present. During the gameplay, players would obtain other weapons as well. All of them could be used as and when he liked-as long as his stats were high enough.
Pei Qian chose a relatively handier weapon for a beginner – a chopper as he rushed towards the first monster he saw.
This small monster was holding a hayfork and immediately sensed Pei Qian nearing it. Its long hayfork pierced forth even before Pei Qian's chopper had hacked at it!
With a 'tsk' sound, Pei Qian saw that his health bar had diminished by more than half.
Pei Qian hurriedly pressed a button to dodge as the hayfork-holding monster once again attacked when Pei Qian dodged. One more attack pierced Pei Qian, and his health bar was emptied.
"Hahahaha…"
The monster emitted eerier laughter as it turned and left.
All that was left was a black screen.
Pei Qian, "…"
Li Yada, "…"
It was a little awkward.