"Just like the daily necessities we need in real life, players will also need everyday supplies in the game. These necessities can range from miraculous elixirs and medicines all the way down to ordinary food for filling one's stomach. Every one of them is something we can turn into a form of consumption."
"We designed this game to resemble a real world, so sensations like touch, smell, and taste will all be just like reality."
"But unlike reality, all sorts of things in the game will be vastly different from the real world. For example, the game has demons, gods, dragons, ghosts, spirits, immortals, divine beasts, magical beasts, and all kinds of flowers, plants, and trees."
"These things may gradually begin appearing in reality as well, but how long will it take before all of them appear? I don't think I need to explain that."
"Even if all these things appear in reality, and even if someone really does slay a dragon and put its meat up for sale, that doesn't mean everyone will be able to eat it."
"After all, the stronger a creature is, the greater the energy contained within its body. If someone's strength and physical constitution haven't reached the corresponding level, forcing themselves to eat it would only damage their bodily functions. There would be absolutely no chance of it nourishing them."
"So for ordinary humans, or rather anyone below the Earth Rank, there is basically no possibility of eating food made from the flesh and blood of high-level lifeforms."
"As the saying goes, what you can't obtain is always the most desirable. If they can't obtain it in reality, then we'll let them obtain it in the game. In our game, creatures like gods, demons, dragons, and ghosts will appear from the early stages all the way to the late game. They'll simply be absurdly powerful. Players at the same level who lack sufficient skill will be completely crushed by them. Even if more than a hundred players attack together, the result will still be a total party wipe."
"That will establish their rarity. The harder they are to kill, the greater the sense of accomplishment after killing one. We can also design most of these powerful creatures so that they'll only appear after certain quests are triggered. Wild ones that players can encounter freely will make up only an extremely tiny portion."
"As for quest monsters, after they're killed, their corpses will either disappear or be impossible to harvest as materials or ingredients. Unless the quest itself specifically involves doing so, of course, but there won't be many quests like that, so we can basically ignore them."
"If they can't obtain ingredients from quest monsters, while wild ones are so rare that merely encountering one is a stroke of luck, then the amount of ingredients players can actually get their hands on will become even smaller."
"That way, they'll become desperate to obtain the meat of these powerful creatures or the ingredients that can be made from them. And at a time like that, what could inspire more trust than a Mystery Merchant?"
"We can place high-grade ingredients at Mystery Merchants that can only be purchased using special currency. Once those ingredients are cooked into dishes by someone with extremely high culinary skill, eating them can increase attributes or skill proficiency by a tiny amount. Exactly how much they increase will depend on the ingredient's rank, the accompanying ingredients, and the cook's skill."
"Of course, these things can't work every single time. Only the first few uses will have an obvious effect. After that, it'll depend on random chance. In any case, what we want is to keep dangling temptation in front of them, making them willingly spend money on these things even when they know we're trying to squeeze money out of them."
"Other players who can't afford them will complain that it's unfair? Sorry, but isn't it perfectly normal for high-grade cuisine, divine medicinal herbs, special foods, and similar things to increase attributes? Doesn't practically every legend, whether ancient or modern, Eastern or Western, contain something like that? Besides, the increases won't be large enough to affect balance at all. If you have a problem with it, you can buy them yourself, work hard to earn special currency, go hunting, or search for them. There are plenty of ways to obtain them. If you refuse to take any of those paths, who can you blame?"
"Yes, that's exactly the attitude we need to maintain. Our game emphasizes realism. It's a real world. Rules that apply in the real world should apply in that world as well. Besides, we've already ensured fairness at the starting line. What happens during the journey is up to the players themselves. That's far easier than the hellish difficulty of starting out as a pauper while someone else is born a prince, isn't it?"
"So there's absolutely no need to care about that tiny group of people who refuse to work for anything and only want whatever benefits others have. The only reason they'll complain is because they didn't receive those benefits themselves. And why didn't they receive them? That's their own problem."
"We don't need to follow the robber's logic of, 'If you don't spend money, how are you supposed to get stronger?' What we want is for players to willingly take out their wallets. 'Spending money doesn't mean you'll become strong, but at the very least, it proves you have the heart of a strong person.' Right?"
Seeing them nod thoughtfully, Chu Lian was rather satisfied with her explanation. Of course, what she wanted to say did not end there. There was still much more.
"Aside from ingredients, we also have medicines and similar things, which can be handled the same way. We'll just need to make some adjustments. Low-end medicines should be less effective than food, while high-end spiritual medicines should be more effective than food, but they'll also cost far, far more. And we'll limit permanent effects so that at most three types of high-end medicine can take effect. Any additional ones will only provide temporary boosts. Think of it as giving players an explosive burst skill, except the resource cost for using that skill will be a little high."
"All medicines, whether low-end or high-end, should cost more than food. Especially the high-end ones. Those medicines that permanently work only once, with only one pill from each of three types taking effect... surely they'd have to cost at least a hundred thousand each, right? Hahaha. All right, maybe that's a little expensive. We can slowly adjust the pricing later until we reach an appropriate level."
"That way, even after consuming every one of those medicines, the total increase would amount to no more than roughly one level's worth of attributes, yet it would still be enough to make those wealthy young masters who love competing with one another pay for them."
"As for players who can't afford that kind of expense, we can't ignore them either. They may not be able to consume the highest-end products, but they're the main customer base for mid-range and low-end products. If we only focus on the high end, we'll inevitably lose their support over time, and that would do more harm than good."
"So we can design related quests in the game with extremely high difficulty. We won't guarantee that everyone can complete them, but every player will at least have a chance to obtain these pills for free. Since they know they can obtain them through gameplay, they'll understand that the game is relatively fair and continue supporting us."
"Never underestimate virtual items on the internet. Sometimes they're utterly worthless, but other times they're worth a fortune. It all depends on how we design and operate them."
"This is one major source of continuous spending. After that, there are mounts, pets, the marriage system, and so on. But I plan to leave those for all of you to design. With the inspiration I've already given you, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it. We still have half a month. Add these systems, finish the remaining twenty percent of development, and this game will be ready to sell."
"Mm. Once my body feels a little better in a couple of days, I'll find time to film an advertisement for the game. As for the fact that I'm underage and therefore supposedly not allowed to endorse games? Oh, we can just ignore that. As long as I don't go too far, no one will say anything."
"Ah, speaking of age, there's something we need to pay attention to."
"Our game will be suitable for all ages, but players still need to have entered middle school before they can play. The minimum age will be twelve. If there are exceptional geniuses or something similar, we can make an individual exception and lower it to ten."
"The parents of these students will definitely have objections to them playing games. But once they discover that they can't find the game developer's address and complaining gets them nowhere, they'll inevitably vent that anger on me instead. That would be rather troublesome."
"So for anyone who hasn't finished the national college entrance examination, regardless of whether they've turned eighteen, they can play the game, but they'll have to enter their identification number, school address, and class. Before then, we can design an automatic search system and contact a certain government department to import students' grade records, class schedules, and examination dates. Whenever a student's exam results fall by more than fifteen percent, the system will automatically suspend that student's right to play. Only after the next examination, when the results entered into the system meet or exceed their usual grades, will the restriction be lifted."
"Of course, maybe thinking this way is a little naive. Whether someone chooses to play games ultimately depends on the individual, and using a system to restrain them is rather unconventional. But doing this would still send a signal to everyone that our game isn't trying to interfere with students' studies. We only want to give them somewhere to relax."
"At worst, we can eventually open classrooms inside the game. Student players could be required to study for a certain amount of time before they're allowed to play each session... People can always think of solutions, right? We absolutely can't ignore students' spending power. After all, behind them are parents wealthy enough to buy them our gaming devices."
"Actually, if parents simply refuse to buy students our gaming devices, then none of these problems would exist in the first place. Still, we always need to take precautions, don't we?"
"Finally, I'll briefly explain the marriage system that I'll leave all of you to finish yourselves. Any player who is an adult and meets the country's legal marriage age can get married. The prerequisite is that neither party can already have a family. Anyone who wants to marry must provide identification, and we'll connect to the national information network. Only after confirming that they're unmarried will we allow the marriage."
"As for marriage, aside from that one restriction, don't impose any others. Especially gender. Don't restrict gender. If anyone brings that up or attacks us over it, I'll take full responsibility."
Chu Lian went through everything bit by bit, and by now she had more or less said everything that needed to be said. The remaining parts could be left for the girls to design themselves. She had confidence in them.
After all, when it came to imagination, the Witches of Book were not much worse than she was.
After listening to everything Chu Lian had said, Luoying and the others fell silent for a moment. Then the girl in the cheongsam suddenly raised her hand and said, "Master, I have a suggestion. I'm not sure whether I should say it."
"What suggestion?" Chu Lian grew curious. What kind of idea would the girl offer?