No. 041 torrent download artifact

In the Huaguo online game market, the total sales in 2000 were 38 million yuan, the total sales in 2001 were 450 million yuan, and the total sales in 2002 were 9 to 1 billion yuan. The annual sales of all online games, including "Legend", are not as good as the sales of "Onmyoji" in 2016.

This is the beginning of online gaming.

As recently as last year, in 2001, NetEase and other game manufacturers were still selling online games as stand-alone games. Manufacturers take it for granted, programmers and planners take it for granted, and it's hard to understand that we go to great lengths to type code and charge players some fees in advance?

As it turns out, it's just hard to understand.

In 2002, when online payments were not yet mature, players had to struggle with where to buy activation codes even if they wanted to play your game. This kind of behavior of the client charging is equivalent to pushing the player desperately out.

Therefore, after "Legend" detonated the market, the client-side charging model was quickly eliminated. When NetEase launched "Westward Journey OnlineII" in August 2002, it will no longer hesitate to price the client. The client-side free beats the client-side fee, which is a victory that shatters the mindset.

Wei Dongsheng talked eloquently: "What is the purpose of the client for free? It is to lower the threshold of players and expand the player base. The abolition of the point card time fee is to further lower the threshold of players, further expand the player base, and then screen out those high-consumption players who are willing to pay 10,000 yuan or even 1 million yuan for the game. In my eyes, Sheng Xingda is nothing, Shanda is not very powerful, and "Legend" is not as unsurpassable as you think. The goal of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms" has never been to wander the survival line and struggle, nor is it to make small profits. Our purpose is very clear, if we want to do it, we will be the first in the country, directly strangle "Legend", and pull down the Shengxing network. ”

Wei Dongsheng put forward the concept of free online games with a loud attitude.

First of all, there is no need to cherish yourself.

Wei Dongsheng knows very well that the secrecy of information is purely a luxury. Let's continue to give examples of Shanda and NetEase. Chen Danian, the younger brother of Chen Tianqiao, the head of Shanda Network, dropped out of school to explore the Internet and met many netizens, and Wu Yunyang, who participated in NetEase's Westward Journey project, was also one of them. Shanda Network switched to online games, and Chen Danian immediately informed Wu Yunyang; Shanda Network acted as an agent for "Legend", and Chen Xing Danian immediately informed Wu Yunyang. Because the launch time of "Journey to the West" and "Legend" is very close, Chen Xing frequently informed Wu Yunyang proudly how many people "Legend" has reached, and asked about the operation data of "Journey to the West".

In 2002, the online gaming community was very small.

For example, Lan Xiaoquan, who is currently working in Spring and Autumn Software, was able to jump from Yingxiang to NetEase before, and there must be familiar friends who lead the way during this period. During Lan Xiaoquan's communication with friends, Wei Dongsheng's momentum and Wei Dongsheng's concept of free online games will definitely be able to quickly radiate to other game manufacturers. This kind of radiation is not transferred by the will of the individual.

Secondly, Wei Dongsheng is not afraid of revealing the general trend of the future, and then being copied by other manufacturers The concept of free online games.

Why?

Because free online games aren't free.

In a longitudinal comparison, who first proposed the free-to-play online game model? It's definitely not "The Journey". It is true that Shi Yuzhu carried forward the free-to-play online game model, but he was not the pioneer of the free-to-play online game model. Before "Journey" and before "Bloody Rivers and Lakes", "Big Merchants" practiced the free-to-play online game model. However, how many people know the name of "Giant Merchant", and what happened to "Giant Merchant"? After the "Journey", the free online game model is popular, whether it is a computer client online game or a mobile online game, which manufacturer can kill the market just by virtue of the word free?

The operation of free-to-play online games is not easier than the operation of hourly and fee-paying online games.

Listening to Wei Dongsheng's bold words, dozens of employees showed various smiles of unknown meaning.

Wei Dongsheng is also the boss no matter how young he is, and no employee is stupid to refute Wei Dongsheng directly in person. However, not refuting and believing are two different things. All the employees present, including programmers such as Lan Xiaoquan, Lu Binqi and Hu Shifei recommended by Jing Minqiang, and Chang Mingxia and other assistants who were personally excavated by Wei Dongsheng, all regarded Wei Dongsheng's bold words as a joke that was not funny. The employees muttered in their hearts: "Don't say that "Legend" is a freak that dominates 70% of the national market, if "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms" can equal the 30,000 people online of "Journey to the West II", it will be a miracle." ”

Wei Dongsheng did not force employees to accept his confidence.

Wei Dongsheng's goal has actually been achieved.

The purpose of Wei Dongsheng's speech is not to convince these employees, but to make them understand Wei Dongsheng's determination and the reasons behind it. Interpreting the free-to-play model is to subvert the mindset and prove that Wei Dongsheng has an idea and tries to open up a new path; The grand declaration of war proves that Wei Dongsheng's self-confidence and momentum are not as decisive as the Yellow River.

Resigning and finding another way is more practical than persuading Wei Dongsheng to disperse his indomitable momentum.

Employees don't believe in "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms", but they can leave the impression of Wei Dongsheng in their hearts: "Little boss, very motivated." ”

However, this is not enough.

It takes a long time to develop a game, and sometimes it's not that the code is hard to type, but that many settings need to be logically tightly aligned.

For example, "Miracle MU", which is currently second only to "Legend" in popularity, can unscrupulously increase the attack power of skills several times. The reason is not that there is a problem with the combat logic of "Miracle MU", but that there is a problem with the supervision of skill frequency, the so-called several times increase the attack power, to put it simply, is actually to increase the release frequency of skills, and a skill attack by the player is equivalent to ten skill attacks on data processing. How do you avoid such a question? The answer is very simple, that is, the game setting "skill cooldown" that players have become commonplace in later years, and with the skill cooldown limit, there is no need to be afraid to increase the frequency of skill modifications.

Orange Algae, a computer-intelligent life, has limited growth and is unable to perfectly solve these logic chain setting problems on its own. Therefore, "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms" needs to be continuously tested internally, to find the plug-in vulnerabilities caused by logical defects and to modify them in time, etc., and it takes a long time to slowly complete them.

The fastest speed estimate is that in March and April next year, "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms" will be launched for public beta.

If Wei Dongsheng had not done anything in March or April, all the rhetoric of today would have been regarded as a joke. The operation department is bearish on "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms", and then bearish on Wei Dongsheng, and then feels that the two companies of Spring and Autumn Network and Spring and Autumn Software have no hope at all, and have no motivation to work hard, and slowly fall into a vicious circle, or die for wages, or go away. With the decline in efficiency, the public beta time of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms" will inevitably be postponed continuously, which eventually attracts Jing Minqiang's doubts.

It's a vicious cycle of failure, bankruptcy, and disintegration.

Especially at Wei Dongsheng's age, it is difficult to convince this group of employees to believe in him and create the future with him in a difficult situation.

How do you gain the trust of others?

Wei Dongsheng can only do things, make a career, make a successful career, and shut up all doubters.

Therefore, in addition to the main business of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms", which is responsible for making money, Wei Dongsheng also prepared a side business that can achieve quick results and gain fame.

In other words, the Internet environment in 2002 simply cut Internet services into four pieces.

The first is the search business, where high-quality players such as Yahoo, Google, 3721, and Baidu are fighting fiercely. To invest in this industry, first of all, it is necessary to support various software and hardware facilities, and the speed of capital consumption is immeasurable; Secondly, it is difficult to achieve quick results, and it is by no means a good choice for short-term projects.

Wei Dongsheng decisively gave up.

The second is the portal, NetEase, Sohu, and Sina have all been formed, which is more difficult to impact than the search field.

Say no more, give up.

The third piece is instant messaging, Tencent is a killer product in this field, give up.

The fourth is the download tool, there is no strong opponent in the country for the time being, and the current leader in this field, FlashGet, is already old.

What's more, downloading technology is now undergoing a cross-generational technological change, and BitTorrent, or BitTorrent, is about to be born, rapidly changing the download culture of netizens, and torrents have become popular ever since. At this moment, FlashGet, as the leader of China's download tools, did not notice the footsteps of P2P (peer-to-peer) and P2SP (peer-to-server and peer) in time, which is simply the most delicious prey.

Wei Dongsheng chose a side hustle at that time, working on the early launch of the Bitstream protocol, and working on filling the user's hard disk in advance of the torrent file.

The development of the download tool is less difficult, and it is not necessary to solve the logic flaw vulnerability as early as possible as in "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms".

During the production of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms", Wei Dongsheng completed the compilation of the download tool client with the assistance of the computer intelligent life cyanobacteria and the computer intelligent life orange algae. Wei Dongsheng was too lazy to think of a name, and directly took the impression of endless torrent files in his previous life, and named this download tool "Torrent Download Artifact".

The day after the speech, Wei Dongsheng opened a new project in Spring and Autumn Software, and transferred a number of employees to be responsible for the promotion and operation of the "torrent download artifact". In order to quickly promote the torrent download artifact, Wei Dongsheng directly bought promotional advertisements from various websites. For example, Baidu's PPC, at this time, Baidu has launched a PPC business model, and whether it does evil or not, the promotion effect is undoubted. Wei Dongsheng buys promotional advertisements from Baidu PPC and other websites, and at the same time, his own private server publishing website also loads rogue ads, doing his best to promote the torrent download artifact by normal commercial means.

Thanks to the promotion advertisements all over the world, the torrent download artifact welcomed more than 8,000 users on the day it was launched.

P2P technology is originally Apple's layer crushing for Nokia, and the torrent download artifact made by Wei Dongsheng is far more technical than the contemporary bitstream protocol that is about to completely detonate the download field. The competition between torrenting artifacts and FlashGet, like Apple's Nokia 7650 iPhone7_Plus Anal Nokia, is not at all the same heavyweight of the same era.