This approach was consistent with Ding Xiyao’s typical attitude during her time at the real estate agency.
Being a real estate agent was a legitimate profession after all, with a level of difficulty and pressure that no game could match.
If she had disclosed all the problems of every property to customers, Ding Xiyao would certainly have been fired long ago and wouldn’t have lasted so long at the agency, let alone had the extra capacity to pass clients to Tian Mo.
But if she had constantly deceived clients for the sake of performance, always choosing only positive things to say without feeling any guilt, then Ding Xiyao wouldn’t have ultimately abandoned her job at the agency and chosen to resign.
In most cases during her time as an agent, she chose a compromise, trying to facilitate deals while maximizing her ability to maintain a clear conscience.
And after entering this game, she instinctively carried over her previous work habits.
The white-collar worker didn’t ask further questions or dwell on the topic, but continued to look at other parts of the house.
Clearly, Ding Xiyao’s preparation work with the light bulbs had paid off.
Although the tenant raised some questions about the lighting of the house, the bright lights made the overall lighting seem acceptable. Ding Xiyao had given a relatively positive and affirmative answer, so the tenant subconsciously believed there was no major issue with the lighting and moved on to focus on other aspects.
Next, the white-collar worker raised several minor questions, all of which Ding Xiyao addressed appropriately.
When answering tenant questions, players had many options to choose from, but this didn’t make the choices easy. Many options were misleading, and Ding Xiyao suspected whether tenants would buy into her answers largely depended on their identity.
Simply put, it was about tailoring your approach to different people.
For instance, some young tenants might be easier to persuade, so choosing options that involved a bit of deception could facilitate deals. But more experienced tenants could see through these tactics, and forcing deception would only backfire, leaving a negative impression.
As for responding to the property’s shortcomings, even when using deception, there were several different options, and selecting the most appropriate one required certain professional knowledge.
For example, if a tenant mentioned that the corridor was too long and narrow, wasting space, there would be several different response options.
One could approach it from the perspective of the house’s structural layout, saying that corridors were inevitable for a well-ventilated design; or from a practical standpoint, saying the corridor enhanced the privacy and functionality of the bedrooms; or from an artistic angle, suggesting that placing some murals or photo walls in the corridor could greatly enhance the atmosphere…
Of course, one could also flatly deny the concerns raised by tenants, saying most houses were like this, or simply acknowledge the problem and solve it by lowering the price.
There was no single correct answer here. Players could even choose the most mindless approach: muddle through by selecting deceptive options throughout, getting away with what they could, and lowering the rent when caught. As long as the mistakes weren’t too egregious, they could ensure the property was rented out, albeit for less profit.
Soon, the first tenant finished viewing the house, was generally satisfied, and said he would think it over.
This was also the case in reality—on-the-spot deals were rare, and most tenants would compare several properties before choosing the most satisfactory one to rent.
After all, renting a house wasn’t a small matter. It concerned one’s living environment for the next few months and would affect the allocation of a quarter or even a third of one’s salary, so caution was certainly warranted before making a decision.
In reality, tenants might make their final decision several days later, unless a particular property was exceptionally scarce or in high demand.
The game replicated this situation, but significantly shortened the time frame. Tenants would make decisions within minutes and send signing requests through the agency’s computer system.
Ding Xiyao took this opportunity to attend to the remaining two groups of tenants.
The gameplay was largely similar, but the content varied greatly.
Different characters had different actions and tones, and they focused on different aspects when viewing the house.
For instance, the couple with cooking needs concentrated on kitchen issues and repeatedly fixated on the kitchen’s grease. Ding Xiyao had to exert considerable effort with her silver tongue to smooth things over. Meanwhile, the two young women were very concerned about the drafty windows. Ding Xiyao didn’t have a good solution and could only promise to reduce the rent somewhat.
Having someone come to repair it would cost too much money; comparatively, lowering the rent was a more economical choice.
Of course, after all tenants had viewed the property, they would each make an offer, and Ding Xiyao could choose to close the deal with the highest bidder.
Beyond that, the routes these tenants took when touring the house, the questions they raised, and their responses to Ding Xiyao’s explanations all had a degree of randomness, being probability-based events.
For example, after Ding Xiyao provided an explanation, the likelihood of the tenant questioning it would be based on the tenant’s character setting and other factors, with the system then randomly selecting based on probability to determine the tenant’s final action.
Players might get away with it, or they might be left speechless by the tenant’s retorts.
After seeing off these three groups of tenants, Ding Xiyao returned to her agency office to check the final rental prices offered by each group.
As expected, the white-collar worker with several years of experience offered the highest price, which aligned with Ding Xiyao’s expectations.
She unhesitatingly agreed, completing her first transaction, and then began swiftly moving on to view the next property.
As the game progressed, Ding Xiyao began to understand more game mechanics.
For each successful transaction, she would receive a certain amount of commission as a fee, which could be freely allocated.
She could make improvements to properties, such as replacing furniture, repairing windows, painting walls, adding appliances, etc. After enhancing the living environment, she could naturally increase the rent.
She could also choose to expand property channels online or advertise her agency. The former would increase the quantity and quality of available properties, while the latter would provide more tenants to choose from.
She could also take online courses. Although these courses were relatively expensive, they would allow the game character to acquire professional knowledge, unlocking dialogue options not previously seen when introducing properties to tenants or negotiating with them.
Additionally, at the end of each month, players could convert part of the agency’s profits into their own legitimate income, though taxes had to be paid according to certain ratios, and there were restrictions on the proportions.
This money could be used to decorate one’s own house.
Properties that had been successfully rented didn’t simply disappear but were stored in the system’s archive, allowing players to check their successfully signed properties at any time.
These properties had certain terms. For instance, if a property had a one-year lease, tenants might choose to terminate early or renew.
If players wished, they could retain a particular property type, continuously renovating it and increasing the rent.
If players felt a property was too dilapidated, they could choose to let it go. The game termed this as “transferring to another agency,” but in reality, it permanently removed that property type from the game, after which new property types would be randomly generated.
The number of property types players could handle simultaneously was limited. As the agency’s scale increased, this number would also increase, and the probability of encountering good property types and high-income tenants would continually rise.
…
Ding Xiyao played for over two hours straight, only reluctantly removing her Doubt VR headset to charge when it warned of low battery.
She could have continued playing while connected to power, but playing VR games for too long could cause dizziness, so a break was indeed necessary.
Ding Xiyao glanced at the time and was surprised.
She had only intended to play briefly to show support, but she hadn’t expected to become completely engrossed, unable to stop!
This game was addictive!
Ding Xiyao didn’t understand professional game design knowledge and didn’t have extensive gaming experience, but from her subjective feelings, she could roughly summarize several outstanding qualities that made this game so captivating.
First, the game had good progression and replayability.
Players initially managed just a small office with few property types, encountered mostly poor tenants, and had limited funds, making it difficult to deeply renovate these properties.
All this meant that players’ choices were relatively constrained.
But as players closed more deals and the agency gradually expanded, they began to encounter new property types and new clients. Their means of facilitating transactions also gradually increased. This growth, similar to many “farming games,” gave players a strong sense of achievement.
In terms of replayability, the game had clearly put in a lot of effort. Each property type had its advantages and disadvantages, each customer had their own preferences, and each signing was a different challenge for the player.
The game designers evidently had a wealth of data to support this, along with internal special algorithms and some temporarily inexplicable “black technology,” fully leveraging the consistent strengths of management simulation games.
Second, the game had extremely strong professionalism.
As a former real estate industry professional, Ding Xiyao hadn’t had high expectations for this game’s professional authenticity.
The real estate agency industry might seem simple, something anyone could do, but there were many tricks to doing it well.
For instance, turning on lights to increase brightness when showing a property, or certain scripted responses when facing tenant questions.
Of course, these were all “little tricks,” but realism often lay in these details.
If the game makers themselves didn’t understand these nuances, how could they incorporate them into the game?
But it was evident that someone on the game development team must have known, or at least they had professionals providing expertise as reference.
When Ding Xiyao brought her real-world tactics into the game, she found they still worked. Some optional dialogues in the game were even ones she herself had never heard or used in reality.
That was impressive!