September 26th, Monday.
After having lunch at Slackin’ Internet Café, taking photos with three enthusiastic fans, and signing autographs, Pei Qian planned to visit the DGE Club.
Pei Qian remained vigilant while signing autographs, only signing the character “Pei.”
Because if he signed his full name, fans would wonder whether “Pei Qian” was the actor’s name or Mr. Pei’s name.
If it was the actor’s name, then did the actor and Mr. Pei both happen to have the surname Pei? What a coincidence!
And if it was Mr. Pei’s name, then… five thousand words omitted here.
So Pei Qian only signed the character “Pei,” partly to prevent fans from making too many associations and protect his identity, and partly to express a kind of beautiful wish.
Once the weekend passed, fewer fans were encountering him at Slackin’ Internet Café.
This indicated that Huang Sibo’s tactic of “I am my own body double” was working, significantly reducing the number of fans interested in Mr. Pei’s identity.
It was foreseeable that as time passed, Pei Qian would face fewer and fewer disturbances.
As for the GOG Global Invitational, although it had successfully concluded yesterday, the subsequent heat would continue for some time and would involve many aspects.
For Shangyang Games, the GOG Global Invitational, as an important part of GOG’s international server promotional strategy, had achieved excellent results!
The tournament had deeply collaborated with foreign streaming platforms, repeatedly breaking viewership records, and even surpassing ioi in popularity on foreign websites for the first time.
This marked a staged victory in GOG’s plan to spend lavishly on overseas promotion!
Of course, MOBA games had deep foundations, and in such a short time, it was unlikely for GOG to completely overtake ioi, which had gained an early advantage overseas. But regardless, the fact that GOG had begun to challenge ioi’s first-mover position on a global scale was undeniable.
And domestically, the GOG Global Invitational similarly strengthened GOG’s throne position, even attracting a large number of players from other games to join in!
Ultimately, this success stemmed from several aspects:
– High prize money and lavish promotion concentrated extremely high interest.
– Overseas viewers saw the old established foreign clubs enter the final four, ensuring attention before the semifinals. Although there were no foreign teams after the semifinals, the domestic teams delivered top-tier competitive performances, so they still continued to watch.
– Domestic viewers saw domestic clubs thrash renowned foreign clubs, gaining tremendous pride, enhancing their identification with GOG, and beginning to deeply associate GOG with the concept of “electronic sports.”
– This competition format was crafty yet extremely effective.
Additionally, the various memes that emerged during the competition, such as Huang Wang lifting the nearly 30 KG trophy with one hand, went viral online, producing a “circle-breaking” effect.
Apart from the Shangyang Games, many other industries also benefited from this competition.
Tuoguan Fitness didn’t need to be mentioned—several Tuoguan Fitness locations were already full, with many people queuing on the app waiting for spots.
Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 also gained more attention.
Originally, Xiao Peng had wanted to make Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 part of Tenda’s big esports ecosystem. Now, under the influence of the GOG Global Invitational trend, this process has been greatly accelerated!
Huang Wang lifting the trophy and H4 Club claiming the huge prize money inspired countless high-ranked players, and many people who wanted to become professional players now had two paths:
One way to try out at various clubs (including DGE), and these major clubs happened to all be in Jingzhou.
The other was to find excellent players on the ladder to form teams, compete and train together at Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0, starting with internet café tournaments, and then work hard to enter the professional circle.
The number of reserve players that esports clubs could absorb was very limited. After all, clubs needed to produce results, and if tryouts showed unsatisfactory effects, they would advise people to leave rather than support so many idle people.
But Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 was different. If people could consistently win in the café tournaments, the prize money from these competitions alone could barely support the entire team, maintaining basic living expenses. This gave dream-chasing youth another path.
Back when Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 first succeeded, Pei Qian had already agreed to let Xiao Peng continue opening new branches. Xiao Peng had indeed opened Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 branches in several densely populated, youth-concentrated areas of Jingzhou, just in time to welcome the first wave of enthusiasm in the last two days.
Regarding all this, Pei Qian could only ignore it.
The internet cafés were already beyond his control. Opening more branches and giving out more prize money—as long as they didn’t send money his way, they could do whatever they wanted.
As for whether it would have a greater impact on GOG in the future, that definitely wasn’t something to worry about in this cycle.
As for why he wanted to make a special trip to the DGE Club…
Mainly because Pei Qian suddenly felt that the DGE Club might be worth saving.
The previous DGE Club had greatly disappointed Pei Qian, but now, all the players had been sold!
Huang Wang could lift the trophy all he wanted; he was now part of H4 Club. Even if it brought a lot of attention, that attention belonged to the H4 Club.
Of course, in the short term, people would still associate these players with the DGE Club.
But what about three months, half a year later?
Previously, the DGE Club had high popularity because of its strength.
And its strength was because GOG was in its early, embryonic stage. DGE was ahead of other clubs, conducting high-intensity, professional training for more than two months first, so they quickly pulled away from other clubs.
But after the “scattered stars shine brighter” operation, other clubs’ competitive levels quickly caught up.
Now, the ten gaming-addicted teenagers who recently joined the DGE Club would be crushed and left questioning their life choices if they played against clubs like H4 or EK.
In other words, DGE Club could no longer maintain its previous dominance.
In electronic sports, strength speaks. Without results, DGE Club would quickly be forgotten by people, at most remaining as a meme in the esports circle, and would no longer make big money for Mr. Pei.
So Pei Qian prepared to check out the DGE Club’s situation. If it looked optimistic, he could trust them once more.
For this purpose, Pei Qian had specially reserved a table at Mr. Li’s Ming Mansion Family Banquet in advance, planning to treat the players to a big meal.
…
At DGE Club.
The new DGE Team One and Team Two were playing a training match.
All ten people were fully concentrated, the sounds of keyboards and mice clicking resonated throughout, and both team captains were constantly giving commands.
Zhang Yuan and Coach Yaling watched from the side, conversing in low voices.
“It seems yesterday’s grand finals gave them quite a stimulus. They’ve all got a fire lit under them today,” said Coach Yaling.
Zhang Yuan nodded. “Yes. Watching their seniors dominating in the finals and lifting the trophy with one hand, these guys are surely inspired.”
“However, haste makes waste. To improve their skills, simply increasing quantity won’t help; the key is to use scientific training methods. I’m a bit worried that their current state might be counterproductive.”
“But there’s no better solution.”
Coach Yaling glanced at the whiteboard nearby, which showed the results of DGE’s two teams’ training matches against other clubs over the past two days—almost all losses.
Although these new players were selected from countless eager high-ranked ladder players, they were still not a regular army and lacked coordination, making them helpless against other clubs.
It was precisely because of this that both teams were training extra hard.
But in electronic sports, while effort is important, it doesn’t guarantee rewards.
In many cases, talent, a good mindset, and scientific training methods are all more useful than inefficient effort.
And the more anxious the players became, the easier it was for them to fall into this kind of inefficient effort.
Zhang Yuan was very concerned about this but couldn’t think of a better solution.
Perhaps it was time to find a coach?
But finding a coach meant fully trusting the coach’s arrangements, and the current coaches were either poached by other clubs or were not skilled enough. Zhang Yuan couldn’t find a suitable candidate for the time being.
Just as he was feeling troubled, Pei Qian walked in.
Zhang Yuan and Coach Yaling quickly stood up: “Mr. Pei!”
Pei Qian greeted them both and found an empty seat.
He inadvertently glanced at the training match results on the whiteboard and unconsciously revealed a delighted expression.
Such dismal results?
These training matches were arranged with weaker domestic teams that had already been eliminated, yet they still had more losses than wins.
What great news!
Pei Qian couldn’t help but nod slightly. This starting point looked much better than the previous batch of players!
Why could the previous batch of players become “scattered stars”? Because they started too early and won at the starting line.
While this batch of players had lost at the starting line!
That was very comfortable.
But immediately after, Pei Qian saw the fully concentrated, serious-faced players in the training room and found they all seemed to be in a state of high focus and hard training.
Pei Qian instinctively frowned.
He couldn’t be too optimistic too early; there were still major hidden dangers!
This batch of DGE players had tried out after the xDGE Club had already become famous. They were all highly talented and very young high-ranked ladder players.
If they continued training desperately like this, their strength would quickly soar. Wouldn’t that immediately lead back into the previous vicious cycle?
DGE Club smashing other clubs in training matches → the continuation of DGE’s legend → sponsors frantically investing money → other clubs offering high prices to buy players → DGE Club’s reputation grows, attracting more high-ranked ladder players to try out.
In that case, things would spiral out of control!
Moreover, compared to other clubs, high-ranked ladder players preferred to try out at DGE, not only because of DGE’s brand effect but also because of career prospects.
Because other clubs would try to keep costs down when signing contracts, they prefer to sign low-salary three-year contracts. Many talented players found it hard to prove their worth before matches.
And after signing long contracts and proving their worth, clubs wouldn’t sell them, which was very disadvantageous for players.
But at DGE Club, everyone knew that once you proved your worth, you would be sold at lightning speed. It was the perfect stepping stone.
In other words, DGE didn’t need to compete on price with other clubs or even offer high salaries to these players—they would still flock in!
Because newcomers to the DGE Club weren’t there for the meager current salary but for the big contracts offered by other clubs after they proved themselves!
Pei Qian grew increasingly worried.
If things developed according to this script, monopolizing those talented players from the source, wouldn’t DGE Club be beyond saving?
No, no, these players had such a good start; he had to do something to maintain it! Absolutely couldn’t enter this vicious cycle!
All these players had watched yesterday’s GOG Global Invitational finals and were like they’d been injected with chicken blood. He needed to find a way to change their mindset.
Pouring cold water wouldn’t work; it might have the opposite effect. He had to use favorable conditions to corrupt their fighting spirit.
Pei Qian quietly observed from the side.
…
At 5 PM, the training matches ended.
Next was the post-match summary meeting and dinner time.
Zhang Yuan’s expression grew more worried.
Because he could vaguely see that continuing to practice like this wouldn’t work!
Previously, when DGE’s two teams practiced against each other, it was like gods fighting gods. Because both teams started early, and Huang Wang and Jiang Huan’s understanding of the game surpassed other club players and coaches, both teams grew stronger with practice.
But now, when DGE’s two teams practiced against each other, it became a battle of noobs!
As other clubs got on track and continuously developed new tactics, the drawbacks of DGE’s two teams not having professional coaches became apparent. With both team captains’ game understanding inferior to other clubs, no matter how much they practiced, it wouldn’t have a good training effect.
The key was that Zhang Yuan himself was just a manager. He could see some problems, but didn’t know how to solve them.
He could only let the two teams discuss gameplay issues on their own. Although they seemed to be seriously summarizing, they couldn’t quickly unify their thoughts or summarize lessons, and instead showed signs of blaming each other.
Zhang Yuan instinctively looked toward Mr. Pei.
Since arriving at the club in the afternoon, Mr. Pei hadn’t said much, instead quietly watching the two teams play training matches.
Zhang Yuan felt that Mr. Pei’s coming at this crucial moment must have a special reason, right?
Most likely, he was worried about the DGE Club’s talent gap problem!
Zhang Yuan felt that the problems he had observed, Mr. Pei must have seen as well.
He just didn’t know how Mr. Pei would solve this problem.
Zhang Yuan quietly waited for Mr. Pei to speak.
Watching the players engaged in heated discussion, Pei Qian’s concerns grew stronger.
Because both team captains were seriously summarizing problems, and the players were also offering their ideas, it looked like they were conducting an effective brainstorming session.
Training hard and post-match analysis seriously—if they continued like this, perhaps DGE’s two new teams would quickly catch up to other clubs!
After all, DGE’s original two teams had succeeded using this training method. Pei Qian felt he absolutely couldn’t fall into the same trap twice.