The Boss Behind The Game - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Idea For The Ideal Game
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Lu Wu, who had been spectating for the entire duration of the battle, quit the God’s Eye view when he saw that Wang Damang had died.
From this battle, Lu Wu realized that he had underestimated the power that Cha Na, the Ghost General, was capable of.
This was just a Ghost Supreme Commander but even the strongest group of players on his side had no chance of retaliating. Which meant that if it was the strongest Ghost General, Cha Na himself, he could probably annihilate all the players on his own.
Seems like the players will require further development. For now, conquering Eastern Liuli is out of the question.
After some thought, Lu Wu opened the gaming website of Platform173 and clicked in to Battle Online’s discussion area.
Peppa_Boar: “I’m freaking pissed, this Ghost Supreme Commander is way too tanky, even a few hundred players couldn’t take him down. I can’t accept this, our Great Dragon Guild will continue recruiting members while we prepare for revenge in a few days!” 1
Strike_Gold: “The Great Dragon Guild is recruiting members, our guild has discovered the ghost clan traitors and we need more fighters.”
Ye_Xue’er_is_the_cutest: “Guardian Angels are recruiting members, we vow to kill the traitors of Beiqi. Our guild will reward capable players by assisting players with their equipment.”
Finding_Light: “This battle was intense, I could feel my fighting spirit burning. Does anyone have any spare soul coins? Buying at a high price, time to spend cash.”
Invincible_Loneliness: “Buying soul coins at 1:800, don’t hide them, highest price in history, no limit.”
Crayon_Shinchan: “Cool! At least I’ve touched the Ghost Supreme Commander’s damn head, I’m feeling ecstatic.” 4
At the end of the battle, the players who went into respawn cooldown were spamming the discussion area like mad.
Not only were the prices of soul coins soaring, the big three guilds have also started to recruit strong players.
Many players who were clueless about the battle had also taken to the discussion area to enquire about the details of the fight. The number of comments were flooding the screen at a rate of hundreds of comments per second.
It was supposed to be an exploration quest, but the Big Three Guilds had forced it into a head-on battle.
From the fight, many players came to the realization of just how strong the Ghost General Cha Na’s powers were. Having that experience, the players were more united in joining forces, even player killer fights in the wild had reduced.
The reason was simple. The leaders of the three biggest guilds, which currently consisted of the strongest players, had had a discussion. 6
The battle had undoubtedly left them reeling, therefore, they had decided to temporarily put aside competing against one another. Instead, they were resolved to join forces in order to destroy the Ghost Camp situated at the forefront of Liuli District. 1
The peaceful development around the Ghost Mountains had led to overcrowding since huge amounts of players gathered there to hunt and advance their skills.
Luckily, the Ghost Mountains had a unique map where ghost-type creatures would keep respawning as the game refreshes, allowing players to kill monsters non-stop.
Going deeper into the Ghost Mountains, stronger creatures would appear, such as vengeful spirits, evil spirits and white-haired zombies. It was extremely challenging for the players, though it could be said that they were suffering happily.
Simultaneously, the rise of Battle Online had attracted plenty of gold farmers.
Especially with soul coins having a rate of 1:800, it was exceptionally tempting.
However, what boggled the minds of these gold farmers was how the game could not be opened in multiple windows. In fact, it was impossible to lend an account to another player. No matter what kind of tricks they had up their sleeves, they could not crack this game.
Lu Wu had even noticed that some businessmen in the black market of online games were offering premium prices for a type of crack tool in hopes of running multiple accounts in Battle Online. 1
Countless cyber hackers had also tried their hands, but to no avail. The game remained with having zero cheats and zero trade bots. Such outstanding results further boosted the game’s popularity.
Lu Wu had full confidence about this matter, for Battle Online accounts were verified through soul-binding, so it was impossible to cheat unless the player had two souls. 26
At the same time, Lu Wu and Bei Li took in the suggestions by the players in the discussion area and went down into the underworld once more.
With the help of his multi-talented assistant, Bei Li, the headset was paired with the server. Thus, the issue where players found it difficult to record videos in-game was solved. 3
The introduction of this feature also helped in publicizing the game. By enabling players to post their videos on various streaming platforms, the game had gained more publicity.
The numbers of players had increased rapidly, hitting the 150,000 mark. Because of that, there were also more technical players.
There were three technical players in the forum who had caught Lu Wu’s attention, one of them was a player by the name of Na Lanlan who drew a map of the Ghost Mountains, depicting the monsters in different regions of the mountain and their weaknesses. 4
The image had solved the troubles faced by many newbies in the game.
Another player called Dwarf_King had also used the newly introduced feature of video recording to upload clips of the maps which he had scouted and explored onto the forum dedicated for Battle Online in the gaming website, Platform173.
Inside the Dwarf_King’s maps, the map fog which shrouded the nearby zones around the Mansion of the Dead was absent. Instead, there were four zones of wilderness, consisting of the Ghost Mountains where all the players were already familiar with, Langya Scorched Earth Zone which was at the West, and further in front were the Cliffs of Desperation as well as the Death Forest.
Dwarf_King’s post had topped the discussion area of Battle Online for quite awhile. It garnered the attention of many players while stirring up their spirits to become stronger in the game.
The final player went by the name of One_Punch_One_Kick. According to him, he was a fireman who had lost an arm and a leg during a fire rescue mission. He was devastated as the unfortunate event affected him greatly, to the point where he attempted to commit suicide. 2
When he accidentally stumbled across Battle Online, he was moved to tears upon experiencing the game. The realistic sensation made him think that his arm and his leg were back, which greatly astonished him. It was the first time since he lost his limbs that he was able to feel their existence again. 7
At the end of the post, One_Punch_One_Kick gave his sincere thanks to the game developers of Battle Online.
His post moved the hearts of many players, but at the same time made people realize that Battle Online was freakishly realistic. It could even make a crippled person experience what it was like to feel their limbs again.
Not only were players comforting the original poster, One_Punch_One_Kick, there were also players who expressed their gratitude because they too have found solace among people who had experienced similar misfortune. They found a place where they could be complete. 2
Once again, Battle Online had gained even more fans.
A lot of players had also requested in the forum for a top-up feature. They were hoping for the operators of Battle Online to quickly launch the top-up portal to enhance their gaming experience.
Moreover, Wu Guoyi had personally called in to enquire about this very matter.
There was nothing Lu Wu could do about it, his soul coins were barely enough to construct the Mansion of the Dead. If he launched the top-up portal, no doubt all 20,000 soul coins in his possession would be gone in a matter of seconds.
For that reason, Lu Wu could only make up excuses such as keeping the game free-to-play would be better for the ongoing development of the game and there would be lesser differences in terms of strength between the players.
Lu Wu was starting to feel the pressure from Battle Online’s rising popularity.
Right now, the gaming experience might be flawless but the content was not enriching. He would need to quickly design more ways for an interesting gameplay. 1
After going through the suggestions of players, Lu Wu felt that he was a step closer to his ideals for Battle Online.