The 137th online game is a service industry

Wei Dongsheng: "The problem between the two of you is actually one. ”

Dong Xi expressed surprise: "One? ”

Wei Dongsheng: "Many players subconsciously feel that the more realistic it is, the more fun the shooting game should be. There is always some planning, and there are always some players who want to create a blockbuster shooter game through simple and realistic imitation. For example, if a bullet penetrates the human body, if it is filmed with an ultra-high-speed camera, all kinds of details change, and it is very shocking to see it for the first time. If a game company spends a lot of money to change the model of a bullet hitting a human body, steel, wood, ceramics, stones, and other materials at various speeds, it can produce a fairly realistic special effect and then bring it to the market. Guess what, what was the result? ”

Dong Xi thoughtfully: "Isn't it a big sale?" ”

Wei Dongsheng: "The answer must be nothing." ”

Dong Xi: "Huh? ”

Wei Dongsheng: "Because, shooting sense and reality are two different things, and the player's shooting game experience and real shooting are also two different things. ”

Newcomers who have just entered the game industry often listen to various publicity gimmicks and fall into the real pit. In his previous life, Wei Dongsheng stepped into the game industry, and he also despised a group of CF players because of his CS experience, and felt that CF was stupid here and there.

When you understand the game circle and listen to the old man explain the behind-the-scenes story, you will know that the truth is never simple.

There is a big difference between the CF operated by Tencent and the original Korean CF. In fact, the original Korean CF was influenced by CS and "Raid Online", and attached great importance to bullet effects, firearm data, and introduction tests, but found that this did not work, and players in China were not sensitive to bullet effects at all, and they were not willing to accept the delay in knee bending during the take-off action. During the trial operation period, the acceptance of CF players was very low, and they all said that the experience was not good, and scolded the scope for aiming here, and then drastically deleted a bunch of cumbersome pseudonyms and authenticity, reduced the difficulty of ballistic control, and reduced the proportion of non-meaningful mannequins, so that CF was slowly made into a popular online game with millions of dollars online.

What players worship and what players want are not the same thing at all.

Although players keep saying how realistic it is, in fact, what they want is not realism at all, but what they think is real and what they imagine to be real.

Just like the scope of a sniper rifle, it is very complicated in real operation, in order to measure different distances, it is also necessary to refer to the height curve to assist in distance measurement, and so on. If these steps are broken down in detail and embodied in the game, players may feel that they are professional, but their operational data will be extremely miserable. The vast majority of players are very lazy, and not many players are willing to put a lot of effort into learning real-life sniping techniques. In a confrontational match, at least 90% of the players don't understand that your bullet trajectory is a parabola or other explanation, and believe that if you aim in a straight line, you must shoot, otherwise it is a garbage game that is not worth playing.

This is a problem that all game manufacturers need to face.

Even for light gun games and outdoor shooting games, manufacturers and operators will deliberately reduce the weight and recoil of the guns, so as not to cause players to throw their arms and wrists in pain after playing two games.

In Wei Dongsheng's concept, online games belong to the service industry, and Spring and Autumn Network is also an online game operator that serves players.

Spring and Autumn Network provides services to players, and players pay money to Spring and Autumn Network, which is the basis of everything. Since Spring Software and Spring Network are based on serving players, they will not set too high a threshold for players, but do their best to reduce the difficulty of operation and strive to expand the service objects.

For example, the scope adjustment of the sniper rifle, by default, the special effect animation is automatically adjusted, the player aims at a certain object, and then clicks the mouse or keyboard to shoot, and then completes a sniper. The details of "The Road to Survival" pursue the relative realism of feedback, and at the same time reduce the player's effort by a large proportion, and you can become an elite sniper with a click of the mouse.

As for the thrill of killing that players are pursuing, Spring and Autumn Software does not take decisions for granted in the office, but collects feedback from players through internal and public beta testing and big data methods. Players think it's a great idea, and Spring & Autumn Software keeps it. Some suggestions from players, Spring and Autumn Software will be tested in a small area first, and the effect is poor or there is no possibility of implementation or the cost is high, so it will be abandoned; The effect is good, the player supports it with one heart, and the Spring and Autumn software will be integrated into the next update. Since the open beta, "Road to Survival" has been updated fifteen or sixteen times.

Spring & Autumn Software perfectly implements Wei Dongsheng's concept of "online games are a service industry", does its best to expand the audience, and quickly iterates and updates to meet the needs of players in a timely manner.

However, Spring Software and Spring Network are not only serving the general public.

The Zhiyu series of companies has established friendly ties with the military sector through the business of high-performance computers and chips. During the development of "The Road to Survival", under the active operation of Spring and Autumn Software, it contributed to the establishment of a military game development and management center in the Yanjing Military Region, and jointly launched a military game with Spring and Autumn Software and Spring and Autumn Network. Due to the small amount of funding allocated by the Yanjing Military Region and the inability to maintain the independent operation of the military game project, Spring Software and Spring Network integrated the military game module into the "Road to Survival", which is the so-called enhanced version of the simulation.

The basic data of "The Road to Survival" comes from the cooperation of the Yanjing Military Region.

For example, the feedback of the bullet hitting the wall, Spring and Autumn Software first cooperated with the Yanjing Military Region to establish a real model, and then considered the player's experience and computer configuration needs to optimize and weaken, which was weakened to 1% in this aspect and 10% in that aspect. The public-facing "Road to Survival" is first weakened from 100% to 10%, and then exaggerated, allowing players to experience elite battles at the lowest cost; The realistic and enhanced version of "The Road to Survival" for the public cuts out the invincibility of the bombointment and retains the key elements of various firearms; The military version of "The Road to Survival" for the military department, the real elements are retained more.

The final operation result is also expected by Wei Dong's business.

The public entertainment version of "Road to Survival" was the most popular, with a maximum of 400,000 concurrent online users at the end of 2004, and an exaggerated record of 1 million concurrent online users in May 2005. The enhanced version of the immersive version bundled with it has never exceeded 30,000 at the highest simultaneous online record, and the practice remains at about 10,000, and its contribution to the operating income of the Spring and Autumn Network is even smaller.

However, the Immersive Plus also has its benefits, as it maintains the good reputation of Survival Road. Players of "Counter-Strike" disdain the public entertainment version of "Road to Survival", and can complain as much as they want, but when they bump into the enhanced version of the simulation, they will have no confidence in an instant, and they can only talk about their feelings over and over again. Now that the show between the shooter player groups is superior, CS has lost its compulsion, and they have claimed to be players of the realistic enhanced version of "The Road to Survival", euphemistically proving that they are powerful and not vulgar.

The public entertainment version of "The Road to Survival" and the enhanced version of the immersive version both have the interference of paid items, unless everyone is the same RMB warrior, otherwise the data enhancement of the paid items will always be subjectively amplified. The competitive mode with high balance has been considered by Spring and Autumn Software and has also been tested in a small area.

However, Wei Dongsheng's expansion of the online game sector is to make money, and the launch of "The Road to Survival" is even more to make money.

The monthly sales of "The Road to Survival" in May 2005 have quietly climbed to 91.068 million yuan. At the same time, in the first month of paid operation, the sales volume of "World of Warcraft" in May was only 78.995 million yuan. "The Road to Survival" is very likely to become the second or third masterpiece of the Spring and Autumn Network with monthly sales of more than 100 million, and it is impossible for Spring and Autumn Software and Spring and Autumn Network to have an indifferent attitude towards such a profit. If the expected balanced competitive model cannot bring positive revenue growth to "Road to Survival", or even affect the existing revenue of "Road to Survival", why did Spring Software and Spring Network take the risk of launching it?

The balanced competitive mode is in the list of plans of Spring and Autumn Software, and Spring and Autumn Software is also actively inviting players to participate in the closed beta.

But it must be launched as carefully as possible.

Wei Dongsheng introduced a lot, but Huo Yongshan and Dong Xi were ignorant.

Huo Yongshan looks at the essence through the phenomenon: "Spring and Autumn Network also attaches importance to e-sports? ”

Wei Dongsheng corrected: "It is an e-sports that attaches great importance to "The Road to Survival", and if "The Road to Survival" wants to maintain a long lifespan, it is a good choice to try to develop competition. If all goes well, Survival Road will be available in a balanced competitive version in late 2005 or early 2006. Spring & Autumn Network will invest in promoting the competitiveness of "Road to Survival", perhaps cooperating with certain e-sports leagues, or personally funding the establishment of e-sports leagues. ”

A thought suddenly flashed in Huo Yongshan's mind, and he became interested: "Spring and Autumn Network is so optimistic about e-sports? ”

Wei Dongsheng: "I can't say it's optimistic, but I will never ignore it." ”

Huo Yongshan asked Wei Dongsheng for advice: "The profits of Internet cafes are getting smaller and smaller, and I have been looking for a way out recently. High-level players in Panyang City, especially in Lutong City, have often contacted Internet cafe chains to ask me to sponsor e-sports competitions since last year. I didn't refuse, and the chain of Internet cafes occasionally provided them with a free playing field; I didn't invest either, after all, it is impossible to build chain Internet cafes all over the country, and there is no need for cross-regional advertising. Look, you say that e-sports is so important, isn't it very profitable? ”

Wei Dongsheng shook his head: "On the contrary, it is difficult for the e-sports industry to see considerable profits in the short term. If you want to make money from e-sports, I'm afraid you will have to stay up for five or six years. ”

Huo Yongshan hesitated: "Five or six years, I'll think about it again." ”

Ending the topic of e-sports, the rest is unnutritious old chatter.

During the chat, Wei Dongsheng suddenly received a call from Zeng Liqing. After hesitating for two or three seconds, Wei Dongsheng said sorry to Huo Yongshan and Dong Xi, and connected Zeng Liqing's phone. On the phone, Zeng Liqing warmly expressed his condolences to Wei Dongsheng: "Franco, is the college entrance examination over?" ”

Wei Dongsheng smiled and said, "It's over." ”