Chapter 204: Fake Internet Celebrities, Real Business Orders!

This Spring Festival, Tianba Studio threw out a five million grand prize, attracting countless players to participate in the treasure hunt.

The process was full of ups and downs.

Because he was worried that the clues were too obvious and the puzzles were too simple, which would allow players to find the treasure easily, Chen Ba buried the clues very deep.

As a result, he hid the clues too deeply, so that by the second day of the first lunar month, no one had gathered the clues to solve the puzzle, and Chen Ba became anxious.

You have to be anxious!

Community players began to question whether Brother Ba didn't want to pay, so he hid the clues so deeply.

Chen Ba didn't want anyone to misunderstand him. Five million was just a small sum of money for him, and he would never default on the debt or engage in any shady dealings.

Seeing that the community's doubts were growing louder and the first lucky winner had not yet appeared, he had no choice but to give a reminder.

With his suggestion, things soon took a turn for the better.

The first lucky person was born! Through the clues he found, he successfully deduced that the answer to the puzzle was an abandoned red SUV hidden in a garage in the eastern part of the "Need for Speed" map.

After searching, he found the garage and the abandoned red SUV that hid the treasure. After towing it back to the game workshop and disassembling it, he discovered a string of mysterious codes.

The code was exactly the phone number that Chen Ba had prepared.

The player who successfully dialed the number and left his bank card number and real name became the first lucky winner and won a cash prize of one million yuan issued by Tianba Studio.

After the news came out, other players also worked hard and frantically searched for clues in Tianba's games.

Second place, third place...

In just three days, by the fifth day of the first lunar month, all five lucky winners had appeared.

It is worth mentioning that one of these five players is an acquaintance of Chen Ba and someone he often deals with, Jiang Bin, an editor from Game Star.

This surprised Chen Ba very much.

But then he thought, Jiang Bin loves playing games and often spends the whole day playing games. It is surprising that he can find the treasure, but it is not a problem.

Moreover, his identity can be made public to prove to the players that Tianba Studio really did not engage in any shady dealings in this event. After all, if there really was any shady dealings, it would not be the turn of an outsider like Jiang Bin.

“This is the shady deal!”

"It's definitely a shady deal. I don't accept it. This sadistic guy must be in collusion with Brother Ba!"

"It's so funny! Jiang Bin writes articles every day to brag about Tianba Studio and Brother Ba. You tell me there is no shady deal? I don't believe it. This must be a dirty sex deal!"

"Don't be so mean. Editor Jiang has published an article on Game Star, explaining in detail his treasure hunt process. How could it be a conspiracy?"

"Anyway, I don't believe it..."

Chen Baben thought that announcing the identity of Jiang Bin, the winner, would dispel everyone's doubts about the event and prove its fairness.

However, Jiang Bin is too famous.

As the editor of [Game Star], he always writes various columns to brag about Tianba Studio and Chen Ba, and has long been labeled as "Brother Ba's bootlicker".

His winning of the award not only failed to prove the fairness of the event, but also confirmed the suspicion that Brother Ba was involved in shady dealings.

"I am innocent!"

Chen Ba rolled his eyes angrily: "It's fine if you say I'm involved in something shady, but you actually suspect that Jiang Bin and I have some secret affair. Is this even human language?"

Damn, Jiang Bin is old and ugly, are all these players blind? Why do they pair him with Jiang Bin?

"Sometimes you shouldn't blame the outside world for spreading outrageous rumors, but you should reflect on yourself!"

Yang Dong said seriously: "If you have a partner, if you are married, would there be such rumors?"

Chen Ba: “…”

It made so much sense that he was speechless.

After all, just because he is still single, everyone thinks that he likes men, so why would he fall for an ugly guy like Jiang Bin?

"Don't be so mean, Jiang Bin isn't the only one you're paired with, I'm also one of you!"

"you?"

Glancing at Dong Ge, the old man, Chen Ba was speechless and said, "Why you? Do people think my taste is so strong?"

"Who else but me?"

Yang Dong rolled his eyes and said, "We are the only two single people in the entire studio. If you don't make rumors about us, who else can you make rumors about?"

"I understand. I have to keep my distance from you to avoid rumors. I don't want to be a couple with you..."

Chen Ba quietly took two steps back and looked at Yang Dong as if he was a plague god.

Brother Dong is indeed not right! He had long suspected that Yang Dong had bad intentions towards him, but he just lacked evidence. Now hearing this from Yang Dong, he got goose bumps all over his body.

"Okay, stop hurting each other."

Waving his hand to signal Chen Ba not to talk about such a heartbreaking topic, Yang Dong turned to talk about the new game he was making.

"I am a Big Internet Celebrity" is a simulation and development online game. So far, the general framework of the game has been established.

All that’s left is to fill it with content.

Although Chen Ba repeatedly emphasized that he would not interfere in the production and distribution of the game, this was Yang Dong's first time leading the development of a game, so he still hoped to hear his suggestions.

"My advice?"

"You did a pretty good job, actually. There's nothing wrong with it. If I had to find fault, it would probably be that the numerical system of the game is too conservative."

"Game values?"

Hearing this, Yang Dong was a little surprised and asked: "Can you be more specific? What value do you think is too conservative?"

“Number of fans!”

Chen Ba said concisely.

In the game "I am a Big Internet Celebrity", players play the role of Internet celebrities. Since they are Internet celebrities, they have a corresponding number of fans.

This number of fans is divided into two parts.

Some of them are real fans, that is, those who are “followed” by other players.

The other part is fake fans, which come from robots in the game and account for a large proportion. Among 1 million fans, there may be 900,000 fake robot fans.

Chen Ba believes that this numerical system has a big problem, mainly in the distinction between real fans and fake fans! "What do you understand as fake fans?"

"Robots inject water into fans!"

"Then let me ask you, will these robots who inject fake fans also like and comment on the bloggers?"

"yes……"

Yang Dong seemed to understand.

Activity, this is the key to the problem! As long as they are active enough, in the eyes of others, even if they are robot-injected fans, they are actually no different from real fans.

It's even difficult to make a distinction.

Because robot fake fans will also do things that real fans will do, such as commenting, leaving messages, liking and reposting, etc.

“That’s why I said that the number of fans for this game is too conservative.”

Chen Ba explained: "You seem to have forgotten that there are also zombie fans and inactive fans."

In the existing game system of "I'm a Big Internet Celebrity", a player with 1 million followers can receive an average of 800,000 to 900,000 likes and comments on his works.

Is this normal? No!

Although there are many fake robot fans among them, these fake fans also liked and commented.

So this makes the fan count a bit conservative. In reality, this kind of data would require a celebrity with at least 10 million fans.

Even to put it bluntly.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

In reality, even for bloggers with more than 10 million followers, it is difficult to get such good likes and comments on their works.

"What should we do then?"

Yang Dong frowned, as if he was thinking about the solution to the problem.

Without Chen Ba's reminder, he really wouldn't have noticed that the numerical system in the game was so exaggerated.

“There are two solutions.”

Chen Ba gave his solution. The first one is to change the way of calculating the number of fans. For example, the original 1 million fans may become 10 million or even 20 million fans after changing the calculation method.

The second method is the opposite.

If you don’t want to create an exaggerated number of fans, then lower the value of the existing number of fans and reduce the level of data such as likes, comments, and reposts.

For example, if a user originally has one million fans and his work gets 700,000 to 800,000 likes and comments, then that number can be cut in half or even 70% or 80%, leaving only 70,000 to 80,000 likes and comments.

The specific implementation plan is also simple.

Just let those robot fans stop liking, commenting and forwarding the blogger's posts and just be a "zombie fan".

“Isn’t this bad?”

Yang Dong hesitated and said, "In the early stage, when the number of players is not enough to support the game framework, these robots are needed to interact in the game to simulate a real network environment."

"That's it..."

Chen Ba thought about it and continued to propose: "We set a threshold. Once the number of fans of a player exceeds this threshold, the robot will stop being active."

For example, 100,000 followers! When the number of followers is less than 100,000, the robot will continue to operate as usual, liking and commenting as required, and the activity level is very high. You can't tell that it is a robot at all.

But once the number of fans of a player exceeds 100,000, these robots will enter a dormant state and turn into zombie fans without any active interaction.

"But there's a problem."

“If a player has bot fans that account for 90% of his total fans, his 100,000 fans are of average value.”

Yang Dong said slowly: "For another player, the proportion of robot fans does not exceed half, so his gold content is very high."

Although both of them have 100,000 fans, the former has too many robot zombie fans, and the data of his works is obvious at a glance. This alone is enough to tell that he is not as good as the latter.

This goes against the "anonymity" spirit of the game. After all, if A has the same number of fans, and his data performance is better than B, then it proves that A is better than B.

"I see what you mean."

"Do you think that since we have the same number of fans, we should be more covert and not let the players distinguish the winners so intuitively?"

"right!"

Yang Dong has always emphasized that "I am a Big Internet Celebrity" is a virtual game, and everyone plays the role of an Internet celebrity. If the number of fans exceeds the critical point and the fact that all of their fans are zombie fans is exposed, it will not be good.

So we need to change our thinking.

It is correct to set a threshold so that when the number of fans exceeds this threshold, the robot fans stop being active. There is nothing wrong with that.

But we need to add a new mechanism based on this mechanism, that is, the way to calculate the number of fans! One real fan corresponds to five fake fans!

This ratio will never change, no matter who you are. By setting a uniform ratio, we will avoid the embarrassing situation where one person has over 100,000 likes and the other has only a few thousand.

At least judging from the data of the works, as long as the number of fans is similar, it is difficult for players to tell who is better, let alone who is a real internet celebrity and who is a fake.

The confusion is greatly improved! Why do we create this confusion? Of course, it is to increase the sense of involvement and immersion in the game.

True and false, real and fake! This is the real charm of the Internet, and it is also the basis for many Internet celebrities to survive. If the Internet celebrity's disguise is exposed and it is found that all the fans are fake, then what kind of Internet celebrity is it? "It doesn't have to be one to five. This ratio can be changed flexibly. It can also be one to ten, one to twenty..."

Chen Ba smiled and said, "Anyway, you have to make sure that there won't be a situation where all the fans of a certain player are robots. You also can't have a situation where all the fans of a certain player are real people."

Real and fake fans are mixed in proportion, and then when the player has accumulated 100,000 fans, all the robots are transformed into zombie fans, and all those who like and comment are real fans. Only then does the game enter the second stage.

The first stage is to increase the number of fans! Rapidly increase to 100,000 fans. This is the main plot of the first stage of the game and the goal of many players.

The purpose of the second stage is no longer to increase fans, but to improve the quality of fans, increase fan activity, and convert traffic into money.

It is also from this stage that players can pass the novice period and become qualified internet celebrities, and begin to experience the real life of internet celebrities...

That’s right!

It doesn’t matter in reality, but in the game “I’m a Big Internet Celebrity”, the number of fans below 100,000 is collectively referred to as the novice period.

All players who have not reached 100,000 fans are novice players. Experienced players can easily reach 100,000 fans after playing for two days and getting a basic understanding of the game rules and mechanics, combined with the extremely high ratio of "real fans to fake fans".

"We have a live streaming sales session, and we also have various fixed business orders..."

Yang Dong chuckled and said, "This is one of the main contents of the game, and also the most interesting part."

The game has maximized the restoration of these channels for internet celebrities to monetize their traffic, such as live streaming with goods, collecting orders from merchants, etc.

Yang Dong even proposed.

In order to simulate the most realistic meal-eating experience, he might consider contacting some of the advertisers of "Don't Leave After School" and asking them to distribute some real "business orders".

"ah?"

Hearing Yang Dong's suggestion, Chen Ba's mouth twitched and he said, "Send out the real bills for eating out? Then who will get the money?"

"30% to 70%! We'll take 70%!"

Yang Dong introduced: "But this is just an idea, and this is a game after all. Playing the role of an internet celebrity in the game and taking orders from food merchants... To be honest, advertisers probably don't know what to do."

This matter needs to be considered carefully! Being an internet celebrity in the game is obviously a fake experience, but you can receive real business orders or live broadcast invitations. I guess players would never dream that this would happen.

(End of this chapter)