He An continued: “Of course, including what I’m about to discuss, everything contains my personal agenda. I hope you understand, Manager Ma.”

“Because objective and impartial expression doesn’t exist. Anything that undergoes artistic processing will be influenced by the ‘processor’s’ subconscious.”

“However, the personal agenda I’m about to inject represents my vision for the development of the domestic gaming industry. It’s fine whether you agree with it or not, Manager Ma.”

Seeing He An’s expression grow serious, Pei Qian temporarily set aside his frustrating emotions and listened attentively.

“Today’s content can be divided into two parts.”

“The first part will discuss my successful experience in creating ‘The Landlord Game’ and demonstrate how to maintain restraint while injecting the correct ‘personal agenda’.”

“The second part will briefly address my views on the current development prospects of the gaming industry, or rather, a kind of advocacy.”

Pei Qian nodded.

He could sense that today’s He An seemed different from the previous two lessons.

In the previous two lessons, He An was purely an “observer” figure who, as an industry insider, carefully analyzed successful cases and interpreted successful elements.

But today’s He An seemed to radiate the aura of someone imparting knowledge and solving doubts, reminiscent of those elderly gentlemen who worry about the country and its people.

He wasn’t sure if this was just an illusion.

He An gathered his thoughts and said: “First, let me talk about ‘The Landlord Game’.”

“This game’s mechanics aren’t my original creation. They come from a board game from my formative period. The earliest origin can be traced back to an American political economist named Henry…”

Pei Qian had a very vague impression of this story, but it wasn’t systematic, and his understanding wasn’t profound. Through He An’s narrative, it gradually became clearer.

This political economist named Henry came from a poor background and had been a sailor, gold prospector, and printer, encountering countless people poorer than himself.

In the mid-19th century, America was visibly rising at an incredible speed, but this also led to an unprecedented intensification of the social wealth gap. Henry realized that the accumulation of wealth didn’t bring affluence to the poor but instead widened the gap between them and the rich. The income of the top 1% exceeded the total income of the other 50% of ordinary citizens.

So Henry began to contemplate what caused this huge inequality and eventually completed a theoretical work called “Progress and Poverty,” exposing that the root of it all was America’s land privatization system.

In the early 20th century, a female journalist named Elizabeth inherited Henry’s ideas and decided to create a board game to verify George’s theory. After a long period of development, the rules of the board game gradually took shape.

And this was the prototype of “The Landlord Game” created by He An.

He An took a sip of coffee and continued: “In the process of developing the computer version of ‘The Landlord Game,’ I added many interesting gameplay elements to make the game more entertaining. For example, I added various item cards, special events, established a comprehensive stock system, character voice system, lottery mechanism, and included different maps, carefully refining the art style…”

“All these designs were aimed at making the game entertaining enough to win players’ affection.”

“This game contains my agenda, which is my agreement with Henry’s thinking.”

“Many people have interpreted this game, looking for elements validated in reality, such as: the poor getting poorer, the rich getting richer; buying land emphasizes first-mover advantage, the earlier the richer; location is king; pay attention to insider information when trading stocks; be aware of unexpected events during investment; the essence of war is resource redistribution; those without initial capital have no right to enter the game…”

“Most of these interpretations were already in my mind when designing the game; a small portion were concepts I had vague awareness of during the design; only a tiny portion were things I wasn’t explicitly conscious of, but naturally formed during the game-making process as the rules were continuously refined.”

“I injected a lot of personal agenda into this game, but it didn’t cause players’ aversion. Instead, they strongly identified with it. This is a successful case.”

“To summarize, injecting a personal agenda should follow three principles:”

“First, convey positive values.”

“Second, ensure fun.”

“Third, bury it at an appropriate depth.”

“Whether it’s games or other cultural products, the quality itself must meet standards. In simpler terms, games must be ‘fun,’ otherwise they aren’t qualified games, won’t be welcomed by players, and the personal agenda you inject won’t possibly influence others.”

“Burying it at an appropriate depth prevents aversion.”

“Some players will just scratch the surface, having only a very preliminary and superficial understanding of the content you want to express, while mainly enjoying the game mechanics themselves.”

“Some players are more insightful and will make their own associations about the game content.”

“There are also players who will dig deep into the game’s details, fully understand your injected personal agenda, and in rare cases, even over-interpret your ideas…”

“Burying it at an appropriate depth means making all three types of players comfortable.”

“Of course, what I’m discussing is theoretical. In practice, you need to make decisions based on actual circumstances. Don’t think it’s useless. The gaming industry, including most cultural industries, doesn’t have a quantifiable standard for success.”

“If there were such quantifiable success standards or quick methods, everyone would be able to make successful games.”

“What’s truly valuable are precisely these theories. Understanding these theories is like finding the right direction, which is the first step to success.”

Pei Qian nodded, seeing that this was He An’s most valuable theoretical knowledge.

Although it seemed to lack immediate practicality for Pei Qian, the theory itself was valuable.

Like many utilitarian disciplines, it might not directly change your life, but it can increase wisdom and imperceptibly change your life.

He An took another sip of coffee and continued with some emotion: “Next is my view on the current gaming industry.”

“This only represents my personal opinion. Manager Ma, please take it with a grain of salt, and it’s fine if you don’t agree.”

“I believe that while the domestic gaming market is becoming increasingly prosperous, it’s also becoming increasingly hollow. Pay-to-win games that sell hatred can indeed give players a sense of revenge and satisfaction, but do they convey any positive values? No.”

“Of course, I’m not saying all games must have educational significance. That’s a misconception. Games are entertainment products. Their primary goal is entertainment, which is perfectly fine.”

“But this doesn’t mean games themselves should be hollow and without substance. A game that sells hatred, manipulates probability, and pushes boundaries might achieve commercial success, but it will never become a classic game that spreads throughout the world, nor will it truly earn players’ respect.”

“We emphasize that games aim to entertain, which is correct, but we shouldn’t mock those developers who try to express something to players through games. They are indispensable.”

“Unfortunately, such game developers are becoming increasingly rare in the current market environment.”

“Everyone likes fighting, grand scenes, pretty faces, and hot bodies. The competition among game companies is like dishes with increasingly more seasonings, continuously raising players’ and diners’ taste thresholds, leaving those chefs who stick to original flavors with nowhere to go.”

“So, I’m considering retirement because I know that in this market environment, even making another ‘Landlord Game’ wouldn’t succeed.”

“This is also why I’ve always highly praised Tenda Games. Mr. Pei of Tenda Games is one of the few in the domestic market who dares and is good at injecting personal agenda into games. Moreover, these games always provoke deep thought.”

“Manager Ma, if you become an excellent game developer in the future, I hope you’ll be someone who knows how to appropriately and restrainedly inject the right personal agenda into games.”

“Of course, don’t forget to carefully wrap this agenda in a beautiful, easily acceptable shell. It’s unacceptable to lay the naked truth directly before players.”

Pei Qian listened silently, his emotions complex.

From He An’s speech, he could hear a sense of melancholy from a fallen hero. He could feel how energetic and successful He An was when making successful games like “The Landlord Game,” while now facing such a market environment, choosing retirement seemed carefree, but also contained some helplessness.

But the good news was that Pei Qian felt certain he would succeed in losing money this time!

Did “Struggle” contain a personal agenda?

Regardless of whether it did or not, Qiao Laoshi would interpret some agenda from it.

And this game, as He An said, laid the naked truth directly before the players, which was taboo!

According to He An’s theory, personal agenda should be buried at an appropriate depth, with more to discover the deeper one digs. Burying a ton of content at the surface level would drive away most casual players who just want to scratch the surface, which is a cause for a game’s failure!

He An checked the time: “Alright, that’s it for today’s lesson.”

“I hope today’s class has been helpful to you.”

“And remember, never lay the naked truth directly before players. It will only backfire.”

He An, afraid that “Ma Yang” might knowingly violate this principle, emphasized it one more time.

Pei Qian nodded: “Understood, Teacher He. I’ll take your auspicious words!”