While 8 a.m. wasn't ideal for a server launch during the long holiday where most people tended to sleep in, "OtherWorld" had garnered high levels of interest from both helt-owning gars and helt-less internet trolls due to the prevalence of live streams, mocking videos, and sarcastic essays regarding the ga.
That was why, despite the announcent for the server opening at 7 a.m. on the sa day, "OtherWord" was able to achieve over 90% of registered players coming online when the server opened at 8.
And then… before even half an hour passed, more than 50 of these over 280 players were disconnected.
So, what would these unfortunate players do during the half-hour "resurrection cooldown" in real ti?
Naturally, they went to the official website's ssage board to engage in fierce wars of words with online trolls.
While it was frustrating for players to learn that they would have to wait a day to download the in-ga screenshots they had taken, it didn't dampen their spirits much. They had finally played the ga, experiencing being slain by highly intelligent NPCs generated by the ga's artificial intelligence.
Thus, even without screenshots, these players confronted both the "willing to pay gars" as well as the internet trolls that were saring the ga.
With a full 30-minute "resurrection cooldown" on their hands, they had so free ti.
After venting their frustrations during the cooldown, they went back online to continue playing as the new batch of "deceased and forcibly kicked offline" players took their places.
However, despite the ga's players battling in turns, the official site's ssage board, which allowed comnting without a login, was still overwheld.
The reasons for this were simple. Vanilla Pudding's viral video had attracted excessive attention, and the long National Day holiday ant that there were too many idle people that found it enjoyable to group up and launch attacks without any consequences or risks.
Yang Qiu was about to upload so entertaining clips of players dying on the official site when he noticed the ssage board was in a more chaotic state than ever before. After mulling for a mont, he posted a notice saying that the ssage board would be closed in 24 hours.
Then, he spent a small fee to get a college student he found online to create a player forum. The forum had no moderator nor administration, a single section, and required a registration in order to post anything.
Afterward, Yang Qiu couldn't be bothered to manage it. He checked to make sure the seal on the Earth server room was intact before leaving for the magic plane to deal with players wanting to boost their reputation with the Mage Apprentice Instructor despite not even reaching level 1.
Ignoring the reactions caused by Yang Qiu's decision to shut the ssage board on the official site, the real commotion was stirred by a video titled "50 Dumb Ways for Beta Players to Die," released by the ga's developnt team…
This video had the sa background and art style as Vanilla Pudding's previously released ga footage. It showcased the deserted Exile Town, where ID-bearing skeletons ran rampant, and human NPCs indistinguishable from actual people in movies as well as the thods used by these NPCs when killing skeleton players.
The video posted on the official website surpassed 100,000 views within half an hour and continued to gain traction due to its ease of sharing.
Players who had previously obtained login helts but sold them away before binding a ga account to it couldn't help but curse when they saw the video.
At noon on the day of the open beta, the first batch of players logging off normally for lunch visited the official site to find that both the ssage board, which allowed non-verified comnts, and the new official forum, which required a registration, were filled with ssages and posts begging to buy helts…
"Hahahaha, if only you guys saw this coming!"
"Give up already! Once the helt is bound to a character via the official site, it can't be transferred anymore! Moreover, anyone that's willing to sell now is definitely a scamr!"
"Moderator, please do your job. Why is the entire forum flooded with posts begging to buy helts?"
"I would like to thank the studio buddy who scamd three days ago, selling a helt at 300 yuan and claiming it would increase in value. Thanks a lot! I've already bound my character and played the ga. It's really aweso, no regrets!"
"Hahaha, I also bought a helt from a studio. They sold it to for 300 yuan and now are asking if I'm willing to sell it back to them for 500 yuan! Too late, I've already started playing!"
Having been intimidated by the external public opinion and spending the past few days anxious because of the doubt, this group of players now found themselves standing in an unbeatable position. Therefore, it would be strange if they didn't indulge in wild taunting.
Of course, besides deriding "outsiders," the atmosphere among the players themselves wasn't exactly harmonious. Scrolling past the huge influx of buying posts, there were so discussions by players regarding the issue of unfairness within the ga. (The following content is from a post made by user Tell A Tale)
"SMH, this ga is fun, but are the ga devs brain-dead? A randomized Potential system that doesn't allow players to reset their characters or reroll initial stats. What were they thinking? Aren't they afraid of the players' backlash?"
"Get lost if you don't want to play. With the realism of this black technology, I reckon that I can even beco a special forces soldier in a year."
"I just don't get it. Having fixed Potential values would benefit everyone, but why insist that so people have to eat sh*t? Do they not eat enough sh*t on their own and want others to suffer too?"
"Maybe the ga devs have their reasons. After all, the beta just started, and it's too early to draw conclusions. Besides that, I've been gaming for so many years and have never heard of this ga developer before. Let's be a little more tolerant of small studios."
While these players that logged off were having their lunch and participating in a debate over whether Potential values were fixed or not, a player with the ID "Ou Huang" suddenly jumped in and drew animosity by saying, "Am I the only one who finds random Potential values interesting? How would we be able to exhibit our uniqueness in OtherWorld if everyone is the sa? Of course, my Potential values are maxed out, JK."
As a result, comnts such as "Ou Huang must die," "Get lost," and other derogatory remarks appeared beneath his post.
At this point, another player, "Unceasing Entropy,'' posted her thesis: "Compared to discussing whether it's fair to have fixed Potential values, I think we should first consider the principles behind our operations in the ga.
"My friend ntioned to that our actions in the ga should be accomplished by brain waves since we are wearing helts. This idea seed slightly presumptuous, but after careful consideration, I realized that it made sense.
"Proof being that high-intensity activity in the ga seems to make us hungry quicker.
"If we say that we consu 'brain power' during the process of playing the ga, then that said process should be concentrating and carrying out a certain sort of labor. And this feedback to our bodies in reality ans that sugar and calories are consud faster.
"Thus, could it be possible that people with stronger brains, ntal strength, and ability have higher Potential values?
"Of course, I don't have any more reliable evidence to support this conjecture at the mont, so everything is just speculation. However, I still insist that there is a correlation. After all, among the three closed beta players whose Potential we know, Blossoming Strokes, who has the highest Potential value, is quite a bigshot web novel author with a completed six million-word novel of relatively high quality.
"Her Potential Value is as high as 48, and she should be 49 now. Compared to the player above who claims to have maxed out Potential value after logging in, Blossoming Strokes should be the player we know closest to leveling up.
"By the way, I'm just an average straight-A student from a second-tier college. My initial Potential was 45, and after playing in the morning, it's now at 46."
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