Almighty Video Game Designer - Chapter 80
Chapter 80: Chapter 79: Creating Happiness Mindfully
–The next day.–
Han Lu got to the experience store on time.
She seemed quite ladylike, and from the looks of it, she might only be in her mid-twenties.
“Nice to meet you Mr. Chen Mo.” Han Lu reached out to shake hands with Chen Mo.
“Let’s go somewhere a bit more quiet.” Chen Mo said as he brought her to his office in the second floor.
As the two of them walked up the second floor, Su Jinyu, Jia Peng and the others stared at them as they disappeared upstairs.
“Who’s that chick?” asked Jia Peng.
Su Jinyu replied, “I think its a journalist from a video game media who’s here to interview the manager.”
Jia Peng was shocked, “Interview him? Oh my, has the manager managed to gain that much clout?”
Everyone was shocked, “Oh geez, is the manager going to be hugely popular?”
–Inside the office.–
Chen Mo poured Han Lu a glass of water as the two of them sat on the sofa.
“You’re probably quite busy recently, thanks for taking time out for this interview,” said Han Lu.
Chen Mo shook his head, “I’m not really that busy, I’ve been taking a break recently.”
Han Lu cleared her throat and said, “Umm, yeah. Alright.”
This person doesn’t know how to carry on conversations! Han Lu was already struggling in the first exchanges.
Chen Mo reassured her, “Don’t be nervous, we’re just chatting here.”
Han Lu was speechless, are you who’s interviewing who here!
“Alright, where should we start…” said Han Lu after some thought.
“Maybe from I Am MT. We call know that the game produced very good results, raking in twenty three million in revenue in the first month. And from this, your name is now very well known in the industry. Well, when you were in the initial planning stages of the game, did you expect it to be so profitable?”
Chen Mo nodded, “Yep, I knew.”
Han Lu was visibly confused.
This was completely different from expectations.
Normally when videogame designers are met with this quetion, they would usually say something along the lines of: “I never expected that”. Mainly because the videogame industry was full of unpredictability, and nobody can be sure that their game will be massively popular.
But Chen Mo straight up said that he knew I Am MT would be this profitable?
He must be telling tall tales!
After facing such difficulties in the first question, Han Lu felt a headache coming. She could already tell that Chen Mo’s brain functions differently from the average Joe.
“Well, could you talk about how you knew? Or perhaps, how were you so confident in the game?”
This second question was made up on the spot, and she could finally breathe a sigh of relief afterwards. She gave herself a ten out of ten as a professional journalist to be able to deal with problems like that on the spot.
Chen Mo said, “Actually, my motto for designing games is “Creating happiness mindfully”. Being able to make a good game stems from three different aspects.
“First, my passion for videogames.
“Second, my sincerity towards players.
“Third, my commitment to my dream.
“If I had to add something else, it might be a little bit of luck.
“Which is why I thought that the game would become popular.
Han Lu widened her eyes in shock. She couldn’t believe that these words were coming out of his mouth.
Is this a joke? Passion? Sincerity? Commitment?
Are these words said by the creator of I Am MT?
This were all empty talk. If all you need was passion, sincerity and commitment to make a good game, wouldn’t this world be filled to the brim with good games?
Moreover, Han Lu had done her homework. She’s played I Am MT, and this game had nothing to do with passion, sincerity and commitment!
Passion by extorting money from fans, and sincerity by scamming them?!
Han Lu felt that there was a big obstacle in front of her upon seeing this seemingly serious Chen Mo blathering on about his morals.
This was directly from Chen Mo’s mouth. Does she write about this?
If she didn’t write about this, how would she finish the article?
If she did, who would believe her? It felt that if she did release this, the viewers might question the intelligence of the editor as well as the journalist!
Han Lu rubbed her temple to try and regain her composure, “Alright, let’s have a change of pace. What do you think about I Am MT’s rating of 7 on the official appstore?”
Chen Mo said, “About that, I think it’s quite normal. As the game is free to play, it not surpising that my competitors might be behind all the bad reviews. It doesn’t take much to download the game and give it a one star review.
“I feel so heartbroken when I think about it. I’ve worked so hard to make a nice, free game, yet I still have to deal with this sabotage from my competitors. This was a game that would have a score of nine or above, but its now hovering around seven. I mean, this makes me extremely heartbroken!
“I think the official appstore should put a stop to this, and give justice to I Am MT!”
Han Lu was once again struggle to get wrods out of her mouth.
Was that saborage by competitors? It was clearly bad reviews from players!
Does Chen Mo not know? He can’t not know! He’s blatantly telling lies!
Han Lu rested her hand on her forehead. She planned to have an in depth story with a hot topic, but because of the curveballs Chen Mo had been throwing, her plans were completely foiled!
“Well, there are rumours that there’s a card called ‘Elder Sister’ in I Am MT which costs two thousand RMB. Many players have expressed how much this affects the fairness of the game. What do you think about that?” said Han Lu after some thought.
Chen Mo replied, “Oh, about rare cards. I think its just like collecting stamps, do you know about collecting stamps? There are thousands and thousands of stamps right? I Am MT also has some parallels with collecting. In order to collect all the cards, some players are willing to spend money to do that. I think this is because they approve of the game.
“That means you don’t think at all that I Am MT is an unfair game then?” asked Han Lu.
Chen Mo shooked his head, “I don’t think the question was well asked. You see, there isn’t a truly fair game in this world right? Some games, you’re better at it in you spend more time, or if you have good skills you’re better, or sometimes if you’re lucky you’re better, or sometimes if you meet the right people you’re better… Games are a small little universe in itself, and its difficult for it to be truly fair from one human to another. Therefore, yes, I think that I Am MT is not a fair game.”
“Uhh”
Han Lu was shocked, entraced by Chen Mo’s roundabout logic, completely forgetting her follow-up question.
After spending two minutes on the topic and not getting anywhere, Han Lu referred to her notebook to decide on the next topic.
“I’ve done a bit of homework before I got here. What shocked me was how much players were spending in game. Professionals have estimated that up to ten percent of the playerbase are paying players, and these players would pay on average two hundred RMB.
“Normal games would charge once to be able to play the game, and that would be in the ball park of ten to fifty RMB. However, I Am MT players are spending up to two hundred RMB. Why is that? How is the game able to attract players to spend so much?
