Rebirth of the big era of online games

Chapter 461 The stagnation of the Ark game civilization

To plan for the future, we must first figure out what the fundamental purpose of launching the completely open online game "Ark" was.

It is definitely not for making money, or this is just one of its important purposes. The ultimate fundamental purpose is to gather the power of global players and capital to create virtual reality online games as soon as possible.

So don't look at the current surge in the number of players in "Ark". The war in the game world is very lively, which has brought huge profits to Fangzhou International. In fact, in Fang Jie's view, this is just the primitive accumulation of the entire long-term goal. The stage is still far away from the final goal.

Of course, the stage of primitive accumulation is necessary. Without huge profit income, the research and development of virtual reality technology cannot be supported. At present, Fangzhou International spends tens of billions of dollars on related technology research and development every year, but it is still a drop in the bucket.

Moreover, people without foresight must have near-term worries. In the game world, it is impossible to fight all the time. Once the forces of all parties form checks and balances with each other and enter the peaceful era, the number of casualties of players due to wars will drop sharply, and the resurrection income will inevitably increase. plummeted.

Money is not the most important issue. The key is that once the resources in the game world are exhausted, and the so-called "real virtual world", "Mars Project" and "Dyson Ball Project" have not been realized, then "Ark" will also be exhausted. would become worthless.

After all, no one would think that a virtual world with scarce resources is of any value, unless it is closely connected with the real world, or there are new virtual resources waiting to be developed, otherwise it would be better to reopen the original planet of "Ark" and start from scratch.

But then again, it is still too early to say these things. Even if the resources of a primitive earth are developed by humans at a rate of 60 times, it is impossible to be exhausted in a short period of time, not to mention the animals and plants in Ark World are also developed at a rate of 60 times. The speed of growth and regeneration slows down the speed of resource consumption.

All in all, it is still only the stage of primitive accumulation of funds, and how to collect more money is still the primary goal in the near future, but at the same time, the long-term layout of the future must also be considered.

As for how to operate, there is a saying: Without investigation, there is no right to speak.

Therefore, from New Year's Day in 2011 to the month before the Chinese New Year in 2012, Fang Jie personally entered the Ark World to conduct a thorough investigation.

It's not like he hasn't entered the Ark World before, but it was all for game testing. Now he has switched from technical testing of the game to social research on the economy, politics, military, and humanities of the current game world, so that Establish the future development direction of Arkworld.

This survey was conducted in secret, and there was no game live broadcast.

Fang Jie first set his birth point in the Jiangcheng area of ​​Hubei Province, but it took less than 3 minutes to land, just like Bell back then, who was given a second by a group of wild animals.

No way, Huaguo in the game is still an undeveloped land, especially in Hubei province. The natural environment is even better than the dragon frame in the previous life. In the endless virgin forest, there are countless wild animals, Poisonous insects, even without these threats, the thorns everywhere make it difficult for people to move.

Although it landed in a box, Fang Jie is quite relieved. At least it shows that the financial game of Ark did not cause much waves in China, and international capital did not get involved in this land.

Then Fang Jie "airborne" to several other big cities to take a look. Except for Shanghai and Xiangjiang, other cities are basically still in the state of virgin forest
Although there are seaports established by players in Shanghai and Xiangjiang, they are only shipping transfer stations. The main purpose is to provide supplies for trading ships traveling here. The scale is not large, and the capital forces behind these seaports are not others. It was the gang of bastards from Boiling Overseas Game Studio.

Speaking of Boiling Overseas Game Studio, although it bears the title of "studio", it has long been an international group company with game virtual trading as its core business. Every online game that can sell bricks in the world must have their own. The figure appeared.

And because there are rumors that the founder and behind-the-scenes boss of this Huaguo game "studio" is a powerful leader, it has long been famous among gamers all over the world.

At present, almost all players in the world are calling the group of boiling overseas game studios cancerous and famous, but they dare not take the initiative to provoke them, because these professional players are all high-end players, and generally they are just boring and not taking the initiative Cause trouble, but once trouble is caused, it will be an earth-shattering event.

The most typical example is that in the world of "EVE", Boiling Overseas Game Studio singled out the world's multinational coalition forces without defeat, and almost collapsed the game EVE, and even international players spread rumors, saying that it was because of this A protracted EVE war broke the Icelandic family...

Of course, this is a gimmick boasted by audiences who don’t know the truth and the brainless fans of Boiling Overseas Game Studios. Iceland’s declaration of bankruptcy was not caused by Boiling Overseas Game Studios, but it just happened to be held on the occasion. It has become a qualification to strengthen its lineup, which is really dumbfounding.

At present, several key seaports in Southeast Asia in the game are directly or indirectly controlled by boiling overseas game studios. This is one of the reasons why overseas players have not got involved in the mainland. After all, no one wants to encounter the vast ocean. Before the People's War, they had to fight against a group of organized professional players. No matter how you looked at the result, the gains outweighed the losses.

Fang Jie didn't disturb the overseas game studios in the game. He just inspected the game in China and didn't find any problems, so he went to America for a while.

The American region in the game is not peaceful and stable at the moment.

Although Citigroup is one of the big countries in reality, it ranks there, has a developed economy, and has many players. Players from other countries know that this place is not something they can get their hands on, so they generally don't choose to take root here, and even players from Maple Leaf Country are also powerful. Regardless of each other, they joined the camp of Citigroup players.

But players from one country don't care about these, and they won't give face to players from Citigroup at all.

Needless to say, such a hard-headed player is of course an old-fashioned player.

In fact, the old Maozi players didn't want to cause trouble at first, but there was no way. The natural climate conditions in their own country were too bad, and they were not suitable for human survival at all.

Especially in winter, wearing only the shorts and vests provided by the system for free, the player will be reincarnated in the Russian mainland and will become an ice sculpture within 5 minutes.

In reality, everyone can still wear thick clothes to keep warm, but in the Ark world that was originally the earth, even newborns can’t survive. How can we talk about production and life, unless we go to Europe to buy supplies to prepare for survival, and then take risks? It is possible to survive all kinds of risks and travel long distances back to the home country.

But in fact, there is no need to be so troublesome at all. The natural environment of the country is harsh, so it can be developed in another place, such as North America or Eastern Europe. If the natives are not convinced, then conquer them!

Anyway, this is a game world, and if you are afraid of wool, it is impossible for a living person to be suffocated to death by a bird, not to mention a fighting nation that is almost invulnerable to the whole world, it is even more impossible for old men to sit and wait for death.

As a result, in Ark World, Citigroup, Alaska, and the northern part of Maple Leaf Country were occupied by a large number of Russian players. This naturally made North American players unbearable. The two sides launched a fierce contest, and behind it were the capital oligarchs of both sides.

The troubles of the North American player forces are not limited to this. To the south of them, they are fighting for life and death with players from Mexico and Latin America.

The southern battlefield was provoked by North American players or the capital forces behind them. Because of economic interests, they must control the Panama Canal at the junction of North and South America and open up ocean transportation channels. To control the Panama Canal, they must first get Mexico Players, and then have to compete with South American players.

As for the Mexican players, some joined the North American camp, and some joined the Latin American camp. The two sides launched a protracted war for the Panama Canal, including the previous naval battle.

Of course, due to the strong capital forces behind the North American players, they occupy an absolute advantage on the battlefield. At present, the Panama area is basically controlled by the North American players.

But you must know that there is actually no Panama Canal in Arkworld, so it has to be dug again, so South American players are mainly fighting guerrillas to interfere with North American players digging the Panama Canal, which has brought a lot of casualties and troubles to North American players .

However, the South American players themselves are not having a good time. Players from various countries in South America want to unify South America and create a South American Citigroup in the game world, so there are constant civil strife.

This so-called "South American Citi Country" concept is actually a concept put forward by international capitals to fight the fire, which has fueled the ambitions of many South American players. International capitals are not afraid of chaos in the game, but they are afraid that it is not chaotic enough. The more chaotic, the more they can fish in troubled waters .

After Fang Jie glanced at the northern battlefield, the southern battlefield, and the central region of North America, he didn't stop much, and instead reincarnated to Oceania.

Because in his opinion, the American continent is too large, and there are not enough players there. Although there are wars, it is not chaotic enough. The inland areas have not been developed much, and there is no research value.

After arriving in Oceania, I found that there is no research value here. Compared with players from island countries, Australian players can’t play at all, and there is no national solidarity. Many Australian players either returned to Europe or went to North America to develop. Only a small number of players are still persisting. keep the soil.

The most typical ones are the overseas Chinese players who immigrated to Australia. They have no idea of ​​defending the land at all. Here, if you lose it, you lose it, it's no big deal.

So Fang Jie finally set the game research destination in Europe, and the specific location was Yorkshire, the British island.

One of the reasons is that Yorkshire is the sphere of influence of the core partner Bell's warlords. He is an old acquaintance. The main reason is that there are many European countries and they are chaotic. After these years of development, this area is representative and suitable for use. Do game research.

Fang Jie directly reincarnated and parachuted to the center of Yorkshire, Yorktown, according to the coordinates of the game guide published online.

It was also winter in the game at this time. As soon as Fang Jie, who was wearing shorts and a vest, landed on the ground, the game system issued a health warning, reminding him that his body temperature was dropping, and he needed to keep warm, otherwise there was a high chance of getting sick.

Before he took two steps, the game system reminded him that he was not wearing shoes, and the sole of his foot had been slightly scratched. He needed to find a pair of boots and seek medical treatment in time, otherwise the wound would become bigger and bigger, and there was a certain probability of suffering from tetanus. disease.

Fang Jie didn't care much about this, but smiled knowingly.

The disease in Ark World can be said to be the most cheating setting, bar none.

The death rate caused by it is twice as high as the combat death rate. Often after a battle is fought, non-combat attrition accounts for two-thirds or more of the entire casualty ratio.

Even if there is no war, such as the current situation, if Fang Jie doesn't put on his clothes and shoes in time, and heal his wounds, he will not survive a week in reality at most.

Even if you put on clothes and shoes, you still have to eat, otherwise you will die of starvation or thirst within a day.

If you have enough food and drink, and clothes to wear, you have to find a place to live, otherwise, when there is heavy rain or snow, you may die from the wind and cold.

But even if the place to live is solved, it doesn’t mean it’s safe. The game system algorithm will judge the player’s health status based on the player’s daily behavior and habits in the game world. Disease or even terminal illness, or simply judge cerebral infarction, myocardial infarction and die from overwork.

But if you exercise too little, it’s not enough to squat in the game every day, eat when you are hungry, and sleep after eating, which may still cause kidney stones, digestive system diseases, high blood pressure and diabetes, etc.

Even if the player is an expert in health care, he may not be able to live until next spring in the game, because there are various infectious diseases in the game, wars are fought every day in the game world, and everyone does not pay attention to medical hygiene, so it is easy for plagues to break out , when a plague came down, ten rooms were empty.

In short, the disease algorithm setting in Ark World is infinitely close to reality, but the biggest difference is that the time is 60 times the flow rate, so if you don’t pay attention, you will get sick quickly, and you will be riddled with various diseases, and eventually die of illness quickly.

The high mortality rate has also become the biggest criticism of players on the Ark game, but Ark International is justified in this: We are only faithfully simulating the natural survival laws of earth creatures. The reason why the mortality rate of your players is too high is because you Serious violation of these laws of nature has nothing to do with us.

In fact, it's not that Fangzhou International is shirking responsibility, but that players really don't care enough about their game characters.

Many players actually only wear shorts and vests for game activities throughout the year. The reason is that the cost of manufacturing or purchasing four-season clothing is enough for players to resurrect dozens of times.

This account is easy to calculate: a set of winter clothes with very ugly styles and ordinary materials, jacket + trousers + shoes and hats + gloves, the manufacturing cost is about 6 US dollars, and the retail price has to be doubled at least to reach $12.

When you factor in the cost of a full outfit for the other three seasons, it's at least $30.

30 dollars can be resurrected 300 times, so why should Mao wear these "expensive" clothes?
If you die of illness, you will die of illness, and at worst, you will be resurrected, and then you will be a good man again. As long as you don't get caught in the rain or explode, and you can ensure a basic diet, you can stick to a week of productive working hours.

Then after 1 year, there will be more than 50 resurrections, and the cost is much lower than buying four seasons clothing. What's more, now that wars continue, most people enter the game and go directly to the battlefield. Whether they can come back alive is unknown. Wearing a set of clothes to the battlefield , wouldn't it be to send warmth to others?
It is precisely because of this "cost inversion" that many players don't care about any disease or not. As for the death of illness, it is almost a luxury to insist on dying normally for 1 year, that is, 60 years in the game.

So don't look at the current scientific and technological civilization of Arkworld that seems to be progressing well. At least the level of war science and technology has entered the level of science and technology between World War I and World War II, but it is actually a deformed war civilization. missing.

Fang Jie clearly noticed this problem during his game research.

It is not that there are no players in the game who wear a full set of clothes, but only players with a certain status have such conditions.

Just as he was wandering around the streets of Yorktown to observe, he saw that it was a well-known player who stepped forward to stop him and greeted him.

"Hi, I'm Vianne Burke, the deputy head of the No.20 Eighth Mercenary Regiment in Yorkshire, you can call me Burke."

The other party first took the initiative to introduce himself.

After Fang Jie was stunned for a moment, he took a closer look at the handmade fur suit on the opponent's body.

In reality, the value of this set of clothes is definitely not cheap. In the game, when everyone is still naked, it is obviously unusual to be able to wear this outfit.

Seeing Fang Jie staring at his clothes in a daze, Burke laughed, and said in a very embarrassing way: "Hey, buddy, as long as you have money, you can also get a set of this thing, don't worry about freezing to death in winter..."

As soon as the words came here, I saw him slap his head, and suddenly said: "Oh, sorry, I forgot that you may be a player from the Chinese country and cannot understand English. But it doesn't matter, there are many players from the Chinese country in our mercenary group, as long as you ..."

Before he finished speaking, Fang Jie grinned: "My English is not bad, and I can understand what you said."

Burke was overjoyed immediately: "Oh, God, this is great! Then, I would like to take the liberty to ask, I think you are a Chinese player looking for work, right? Would you like to join our legion? "

Fang Jie thought for a moment, and replied, "I heard that many Huaguo players are doing well here and making a lot of money, so I want to come and have a try."

Burke laughed: "Hahaha, yes yes! In fact, our side also favors mercenary players from Huaguo. Well, they are very disciplined, obedient, serious in their work, daring to fight hard, and their salary requirements are also very high." not tall."

"Then," Fang Jie said, "if I join you, what will you do for me?"

Burke talked eloquently: "It depends on your personal ability and willingness. The stronger the ability, the higher the treatment, followed by the treatment of front-line combat units and logistics support units are also different."

"For example, if you choose a front-line combat unit, because you are proficient in English, then I can hand over a combat company formed by Chinese players to your command. The weekly salary is 400 US dollars, and all expenses for death and resurrection will be reimbursed."

"But if you are just an ordinary soldier, your weekly salary is only $100, but you will still be reimbursed for the cost of death and resurrection. For ordinary logistics workers, your weekly salary is only $80."

After hearing this, Fang Jie nodded slightly.

Even if it is just an ordinary soldier, a weekly salary of 100 US dollars is not too little for Chinese players. After a month, it is equivalent to about 3000 RMB, which is equivalent to the monthly income level of the domestic working class, and even slightly higher. No wonder many Chinese players Chinese players come here to work and get paid while playing games, why not do it?
However, if this standard of treatment is mentioned to European and American players, they will definitely sneer.

People don’t talk to you about a weekly salary of $100, but an hourly salary, usually $5-15 per hour. That’s it, they only work online for a maximum of 8 hours a day, and they arrange it freely at other times. You have to take a double break... In short, all kinds of moths.

Therefore, players from developing countries, especially Chinese players with relatively high cultural quality, are very popular with mercenary groups. If Fang Jie's character image in the game is not typical of Chinese, Burke would not take the initiative to recruit them.

The only problem is the language barrier and poor command, so Chinese players who understand English are even more popular, as long as they join, they can become a small officer.

However, Fang Jie was more concerned about the supply of living supplies this time, so he asked again: "Then you distribute my weapons and equipment for free?"

"This one……"

Burke hesitated for half a second before saying: "We are mercenaries... There are no regular troops in the game world now, and everyone is mercenaries. Since they are mercenaries, we have to pay for our own weapons and equipment."

Speaking of this, Burke changed the subject: "However, the credibility of your Chinese players is reliable, so we have a special preferential treatment policy. We can credit you with weapons and equipment, and the relevant expenses will be deducted from your salary."

Fang Jie said: "Then what if you die on the battlefield, lose your equipment, and still have to pay the debt?"

Burke showed a shrewd smile and said: "We will give you three chances to borrow money. If your combat skills are not good enough and you can't make ends meet, you can retreat to the second line to engage in logistics production. The logistics production is very safe, and you can just repay the debt with your salary."

After thinking about it, Burke said again: "There is another job. You can run knives. We provide daggers for free, and we need a lot of cleaners on the battlefield. Well, they are the personnel who clean the battlefield during the battle. Although the risk is very high Big, but as long as you can bring back weapons, ammunition and equipment alive, you will earn money."

"Uh?"

Fang Jie couldn't help being stunned. He didn't expect that within a few days after "Ark: Battlefield" came out, there would be a job of running a knife in the world of Ark.

Burke seemed to see what Fang Jie was thinking, and couldn't help laughing: "You don't think that the term running knife was invented in "Battlefield", did you? It exists in the world of Ark, because the number of hot weapons is very limited and the price is expensive, most players go to the battlefield with cold weapons, and some people don’t even bring anything, and go to the battlefield to pick up a stone to fight..."

Fang Jie was taken aback again: "Didn't it mean that the current level of war science and technology is between World War I and World War II? Why can't the supply of hot weapons be available?"

"Are you talking about large-scale battles? For example, those large-scale naval battles are all supported by big chaebols."

Burke shrugged his shoulders and said: "In fact, some local wars are currently mostly fought with cold weapons. There are hot weapons, but those rich players ask for their own pockets to play tickets, and generally It is very difficult to bring the equipment back alive..."

Speaking of this, Burke gave an example: "Have you played "Resident Evil"? I heard that "Resident Evil 2" will be released in February. In Resident Evil games and those film and television dramas, humans have guns, but Can you beat those zombies? Even the army can’t do it! It’s the same in Arkworld, even if you have a gun, if you are chased and smashed with stones by a group of players who are not afraid of death, you will still be scared to urinate!”

Fang Jie couldn't help blinking, and roughly understood the joints.

After all, it is actually because the players in Ark World are not afraid of death, and the resurrection cost is too low.

Not to mention tanks and cannons, the market price of only a Mauser rifle in the game world is about 20 US dollars. Compared with the resurrection cost of 0.1 US dollars, the difference between the return and the investment risk is 200 times!
There is a saying that when the profit exceeds 100%, what will happen to the capital? In fact, anyone who encounters this kind of huge profit opportunity will be obsessed with it.

When a group of people see that the enemy on the opposite side has a gun, they must run away with their heads in their arms in reality, but in the game, that is a shortcut to getting rich, so why not rush to grab equipment in a swarm!

It's not a pity to be killed by a single shot, but if you succeed in picking up the leak, this trip will be worth it.

And from the point of view of a gun owner, it is not worthwhile to use bullets to kill people. Currently, the resource cost of a bullet in the game is 0.15 US dollars, which is worth more than the player's life. Even if a bullet kills an enemy, I still lose money .

What's more, it is impossible for a bullet to destroy an enemy.

You must know that the Ark game is a real simulation of reality, not a TV drama. After a person is shot, unless he hits the head, lungs, heart and other vital parts, even if there is a major bleeding, basically within 5-10 minutes. Those who can't die can even be alive and kicking, without realizing that they have been shot, and still have a strong fighting capacity.

Therefore, after a player in the Ark World is shot, the effect is not much different from that of a zombie. In the game world, there are often times when a few shots fail to kill a person, but the opponent counter-kills or dies together, which makes the players even more uncomfortable. I love using hot weapons.

Therefore, thermal weapons are only used as a tactical weapon at present, and are specially used to deal with enemy commanders or thermal weapon users. If they are used to deal with a group of unarmed soldiers running with knives, it will definitely be a blood loss.

The main reason for the high price of thermal weapons and ammunition equipment is that land resources have not yet been developed in the future, and transportation is mainly by sea. The cost of resource mining and transportation remains high, which is a relatively scarce resource.

In fact, let alone in the game, even in reality, even in Huaguo, a country with low labor costs, the cost of a bullet is close to 2 yuan. I don't want to start a war.

Wars are fought for money. If it is not for making more money, there is no need to fight wars.

The same is true in the game, but the difference is that players are not afraid of death, and the cost of resurrection is extremely low, so that everyone can obviously make tanks and cannons to fight modern warfare, but they only want to fight cold weapon wars, or even fight with bare hands.

Of course, this is not to say that the warlords in the Ark World have given up the hot weapon war. The so-called good steel should be used on the blade. All the warlords are trying to build their own all-hot weapons to arm the ace army. Because once a loss is equal to bankruptcy.

And a mercenary army like Burke is a non-staff army. Although it is under the command of a superior, it is responsible for its own profits and losses. Naturally, it is impossible to put all the eggs in one basket, because the risks far outweigh the benefits.

In Fang Jie's opinion, this is not a good sign.

Only when human beings have needs, will they promote business development, increase productivity, and technological progress, and even lead to wars, but most players in the game world now only want to fight cold wars, and don’t even care about basic food and clothing. This is tantamount to a retrogression of game civilization.

According to Fang Jie's vision, "Ark" will become a virtual reality world in the future, and it will be synchronized with the real world, but now it is going further and further down the road of war, and it has a tendency to degenerate into the era of cold weapons. Obviously deviated from the track of the idea, and also violated the original intention.

After realizing this, Fang Jie didn't have the mood to continue wandering around in the game. He found a reason to reject Burke, and then went offline to start thinking about countermeasures.

(End of this chapter)