110: What should be the relationship between players and the fantasy world?

Illusion Dream Game Studio.

Although not much time had passed, it had swept away the decline it faced when it was about to close down. It had rented several new floors, hired many employees, and could be considered to have the air of a new giant.

At this moment, the employees closest to the boss's room carefully pricked up their ears, listening to the faint, uninhibited laughter – it was the unrestrained mockery of their boss, Jiang Feng.

"Hahaha, these players are too interesting..."

Jiang Feng sat in an even more luxurious, swivel leather boss chair, propped his legs on the desk, and looked at the screen in front of him, almost laughing tears out of his eyes.

The content on his screen was precisely the various taunts from players directed at Yan Xiao.

Jiang Feng had originally thought it would take a long time for Yan Xiao to emerge, then be discovered by netizens, and for them to marvel at the strength of this "Prodigy protagonist."

But he hadn't expected that Murong Shusu would be soul-transmigrated, and that the players mixed within the Yan Family were extremely meddlesome, even recording and uploading videos, spreading Yan Xiao's story almost immediately.

Thus, what Jiang Feng had envisioned – "players marveling at the protagonist's power and panicking at the protagonist's cheat-like cultivation speed" – did not happen.

On the contrary, players were actually mocking Yan Xiao, calling him trash and a native, truly acting like the minor villains in stories meant to be slapped in the face.

Jiang Feng watched the whole process, and he even found it a bit Heaven-Defying.

Originally, according to the plan, the female party in the annulment plot was relatively normal. Not only was she willing to offer compensation, but she also had the Lan Yun Guard discreetly suggest it, rather than rushing in herself. While there was some animosity, it wasn't too high, and it could be resolved in the future, serving as part of Yan Xiao's character arc.

But now, something interesting happened: after a player, who had received a modern, high-quality education, soul-transmigrated, she not only failed to compensate Yan Xiao but also spoke rashly and even aggressively, completely maxing out the animosity. Whether Yan Xiao would spare her in the future... Jiang Feng no longer knew.

As for those players who attempted to usurp the Yan Family and completely hollow it out, Jiang Feng laughed at every single one of them.

What these people would encounter in the future was truly uncertain. If they were willing to fund Yan Xiao, perhaps they would cling to a powerful figure and Ascend on the spot.

But Jiang Feng felt that, given their current disdain for Yan Xiao, it would be good if they didn't play themselves into a destined-to-die villain... Furthermore... Jiang Feng looked at the discussions about Yan Xiao on the internet, and after his laughter subsided, his expression became somewhat complex, and he finally let out a heavy sigh.

Before the release of the Xuanhuan World game, he had discussed with his secretary, Liu Meiqin, that the main theme of the Xuanhuan World would be dark and oppressive, filled with various forms of suppression, countless feelings of powerlessness, and a man-eat-man society.

But likewise, he had also said before that the Xuanhuan World also had its highlights and its brilliance.

If a world is sufficiently filthy and dark, so heavy that it makes one breathless, then the most appropriate thing to do is to shatter this old society, not to go with the flow.

Every Xuanhuan protagonist is such a breaker of the status quo. Even the Xuanhuan protagonist who seems the darkest, most cunning, and most prone to going with the flow still has his own bottom line, his own persistence, and will intentionally or unintentionally change the world.

When the Xuanhuan World was released, Jiang Feng hoped that players would become such protagonists, relying on their Golden Finger and their infinite Reincarnation characteristic to change the gloomy Xuanhuan World.

But with the continuous influx of advanced players, especially professional players skilled in games, the player community discovered the main theme of the Xuanhuan World. Then, they adapted to the dark Xuanhuan World, humbling themselves under the pressure of Golden Core Experts, gradually showcasing their value, and prompting the higher-ups to bestow more rewards... Even the Great Love Alliance, spontaneously formed by players, was developing in this direction. Old Potato and other founders sent passionate players deep into the heavenly grottoes to compete for resources, while they themselves hid in the back to cultivate, then used their stronger cultivation to suppress other players... This made Jiang Feng, the creator behind the game, somewhat displeased.

He also knew in his heart that, as an online game, even if players truly wanted to change something, it wouldn't be accomplished in a few days or months; time would often be counted in years.

Perhaps after accumulating for several years, when the usable reincarnation points are raised, and the accumulated Cultivation Techniques and skills are also raised, these players might truly transform into a Fourth Calamity, completely changing the Xuanhuan World.

He, Jiang Feng, had no need to worry.

However, there was another possibility: during several years of playing, players might become increasingly integrated into the Xuanhuan World's man-eat-man social System, with even advanced players rising to high positions. In such a situation, players would become vested interests. Would they still want them to overthrow this society?

Players already showed this tendency; they even gloated about becoming tools for Golden Core exploration of heavenly grottoes, and felt excited to be utilized by the strong.

On one hand, this trend caused the greatest charm of the Xuanhuan World to vanish—that positive, upward fighting spirit, as if capable of shattering everything, disappeared.

On the other hand, as a game, if old players adapted to the oppressive social System and became an unshakeable part of it, then new players would have no upward mobility whatsoever, and would only experience more frustration and pain than the players who started when the game launched.

Therefore, Jiang Feng needed to add new variables outside the existing framework.

Initially, he had considered implementing a Heavenly Dao reward and punishment System, such as tribulation lightning, but on one hand, this was too rigid, and on the other hand, it amounted to forcing players to play the game according to the designer's ideas. In short, it was a very poor design concept.

So he chose to introduce Prodigy protagonists into the Xuanhuan World, letting these monstrous, Heaven-Defying protagonists remind players that there was actually another way to play the Xuanhuan World.

"Unfortunately, merely using protagonists to provide reminders and add plotlines cannot fundamentally solve the problem, nor can it effectively control the future development direction of players. Although an open-world online game should be free, if players are not controlled, it will become an even more oppressive and dark world for new players."

Jiang Feng sighed.

The game features he most wanted to implement were Dao Heart and similar functions. Different choices and thoughts of players would affect their state of mind, possibly even their Dao Heart, which in turn would influence their cultivation, and might even lead to the birth of a Heart Demon during a Breakthrough.

However, this function required capturing players' thoughts and detecting their emotions; otherwise, bizarre incidents would occur where "the System determines a player is deeply troubled by an event, even though the player doesn't care at all."

Ding-a-ling!

Just as Jiang Feng was pondering how to prevent the Xuanhuan World from becoming increasingly stagnant, the phone rang.

"Hello... Director Li..."

Putting down the phone, Jiang Feng's lips curved into a smile.

It turned out that Hua Xia Creation's new generation of VR pods had entered the final testing phase, and Chairman Director Li Shaohua had invited him, Jiang Feng, to observe the tests and offer suggestions for improvement.

"Perhaps the new VR pod can implement new functions, making the Xuanhuan World even more complete, even more... Xuanhuan."

After a word with his secretary, Liu Meiqin, Jiang Feng headed to Hua Xia Creation.