Qiao Laoshi’s fans were all in an uproar; they couldn’t accept this video!

But there was nothing they could do about their non-acceptance—they couldn’t find Qiao Laoshi.

He couldn’t be tagged in the fan group, he didn’t reply to private messages, and the few administrators who had his phone number tried calling but found it unreachable.

He had decided to hide like a turtle.

The fans went from being dumbfounded to angry, from angry to disappointed, from disappointed to calm, and from calm to just watching the drama…

Qiao Laoshi’s fantastical behavior added much festive atmosphere to April 1st.

But everyone soon discovered this wasn’t the end!

On various video platforms, many video creators began posting promotional videos for “Game Producer”!

And these videos were quite bizarre. They differed, but the differences were limited to the video titles, the editing techniques for the art resources, and the voices of the creators.

But the script for all videos was completely identical, all using a mixed Chinese-English speaking style, and even all had the “slurp slurp” sounds!

The fans collectively broke down.

What the hell was this!

Although they were all video creators with moderate influence, these creators spanned across gaming, remix, lifestyle, digital, technology, and various other sections, covering a very broad range.

And their titles were all different, making it easy to accidentally click on them!

When players clicked in and saw the familiar visuals, their hearts immediately sank, thinking, “This doesn’t look good.”

Sure enough, after saying their signature openings, what followed was a blatant paid promotion!

“Its name is ‘Game Producer,’ G~A~M~E, game, game designer!”

“Awesome!”

After watching two or three videos in a row, many people found themselves brainwashed, their minds full of “wow, awesome, slurp slurp”…

And these video creators, without exception, chose to disappear and play dead.

Of course, as soon as these videos were released, they could anticipate being severely criticized, so who would dare to face the fans’ anger now?

They could only let fans curse in the comment section and act as if nothing had happened once the heat died down.

Indeed, as Pei Qian had predicted, these promotional videos were all harshly criticized!

All these sponsored videos had low view counts, and the comment sections were simply unbearable. Many people saw the disaster in the comments and didn’t even bother to watch the videos!

…

In the office.

Pei Qian scrolled through these sponsored videos, checking the view counts and viewer feedback.

Yes, he had perfectly achieved his goal!

He had paid a high price to find many video creators, resulting in advertising videos that were fiercely condemned by viewers, couldn’t gain views, and had no promotional effect.

Excellent!

Restricting everyone’s commentary content was indeed a good method!

Pei Qian knew these video creators were all very talented. What if they were allowed to express themselves freely and created another disaster like “Lonely Desert Highway”?

So, simply having everyone use the same script would not create any goodwill among players!

Pei Qian was satisfied; half the plan had succeeded!

Next was to see if the game could do its part!

…

In the rental apartment.

Qiao Liang lay on his bed, looking at the dozens of missed calls on his phone, feeling somewhat hopeless.

Ah, truly, dirty money was hard to earn!

He didn’t even dare to open the fan group; he could imagine what was happening in there.

The more he thought about holding back, the more he felt cheated; the more he thought about retreating, the angrier he became.

Ah! Such regret!

Thinking about it now, 10,000 yuan was indeed thick enough to blind his eyes.

He had thought earning 10,000 yuan would make him happy, but after lying like a corpse on his bed for a long time, Qiao Liang felt uncomfortable.

Games weren’t fun anymore, and instant noodles weren’t tasty anymore.

Could this be… the feeling of a guilty conscience after earning dirty money?

After much consideration, Qiao Liang sat up from his bed, turned on his computer, and downloaded “Game Producer.”

“No, I must die with clarity today!”

“My reputation as Qiao Laoshi is ruined, but at least I should find out what the culprit is like, right?”

He paid 28 yuan to purchase “Game Producer.”

Although he had received art materials for “Game Producer” early on, Tenda had never sent him the game’s demo.

This was because Pei Qian didn’t want to give it.

He had already written the video script; he just needed to add the visuals to make a shoddy video, so why bother sending a demo?

If a demo was provided, what if the video creator played it themselves and diluted the sponsored feeling of the video through excellent editing techniques? Wouldn’t that be awkward!

So, even Qiao Laoshi himself wasn’t clear about what kind of game this was.

With a mindset of “dying with clarity,” Qiao Laoshi entered the game and began experiencing it.

…

…

Perhaps because it was his first time entering the game, he didn’t go to the options interface but directly entered the game after a black screen.

Surprisingly, before the game visuals appeared, a voiceover was heard first.

“This is a story about game development.”

“You are a novice game producer with the grand ideal of saving the domestic game industry.”

“Your job is simple: come up with an idea off the top of your head, make a game, astonish passersby, make colleagues envious, get praised by the media, achieve explosive sales, earn money to develop the next game, and repeat.”

“Until you become a star producer who can use company funds to chase celebrities, win so many annual best game awards that your hands are full, appear on the cover of Time magazine, help the company reach a trillion-dollar valuation, and reach the peak of life.”

“Alright, please wipe the drool from the corner of your mouth.”

“These are all too distant matters.”

“Now, you have only one goal, which is to make a successful game that can… survive in this cruel market.”

As this voiceover played, the game’s visuals were also changing.

The game was in first-person perspective, and as the voiceover explained, this perspective began moving forward through a corridor-like space.

When the narrative reached the part about “astonish passersby, make colleagues envious, get praised by the media, achieve explosive sales,” scenes appeared successively on both sides of the corridor: enthusiastic fans, designers casting envious glances at an awards ceremony, countless reporters holding cameras with flashing lights, news of the game’s massive sales, and so on.

These scenes were a bit like silhouettes, or like pages of a pop-up book unfolding, continuously appearing with the narration.

Moving through this corridor-like space gave a sense of immersion.

Sometimes it felt like being surrounded by enthusiastic players, sometimes like being frantically photographed by reporters.

But Qiao Liang always felt he was in an ambiguous state, not fully immersed in the game.

Qiao Liang was somewhat surprised.

The video materials he had received earlier all had no voiceover, and the videos weren’t controlled by the player, making them look very bewildering, with no clear purpose.

But after experiencing it firsthand, the feeling was completely different!

First-person perspective + free exploration gave players a good sense of immersion and exploration, while the various backgrounds appearing like silhouettes around them created an excellent sense of presence.

On the other hand, the voiceover’s sound was peculiar.

It was a very special male voice, somewhat sharp, with a narrow and thin tone, along with a hint of hoarseness like a smoker’s voice.

If you listened carefully, you might find it irritating, feeling an urge to hit someone, but if you didn’t pay too much attention to it, it was easy to ignore this male voice and focus only on the text content of the narration.

The combination of immersion and detachment created a rather unique gaming experience.

On one hand, you could immerse yourself in the game as a game producer experiencing joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, delighted by players’ cheers, floating on air from media praise;

On the other hand, you always maintained a sense of objectivity and calmness, a feeling of observing from a god’s perspective.

This experience was incredibly fascinating. Even though Qiao Liang had played so many single-player games, this was his first time encountering such an experience.

“Strange, this game… seems pretty good?”

Qiao Liang became increasingly certain that Mr. Pei was holding a grudge! This was revenge!

This game could have been properly promoted with a high-quality sponsored video without any issues.

So why make me do that kind of video?

Isn’t this targeting me specifically?!

With three parts curiosity and seven parts displeasure, Qiao Liang continued experiencing the game.