Seeing the latest data for Slime Elimination, Li Zhidong flew into a rage and overturned the table. Fragile items shattered all over the floor in an instant.
“Why would such a childish game be so popular, and what right does it have to achieve its current results!”
Li Zhidong couldn’t understand it; his eyes seemed to be shooting fire.
“Calm down. Although that game has exceeded 200,000 downloads and ranked top five, don’t forget that your game has already surpassed 300,000 downloads and is ranked first.” The paid posters (水軍 – “water army,” referring to people hired to post biased comments online) tried to comfort Li Zhidong.
But instead of feeling comforted, Li Zhidong’s heart trembled uncontrollably at these words.
“…Based on the game’s release time, the other party’s game was released later than 90% of the competing games, yet it has quickly caught up from behind.”
Generally speaking, games wanting to participate in the December Platform’s monthly competition need to sign up on the first day of the month.
But Slime Elimination was different – it was a game that suddenly appeared mid-month.
The time gap only highlighted the quality of the game.
Now that the other party had entered the top five, judging by the speed at which their game data had been improving, it wouldn’t be long before they overtook him.
How could Li Zhidong not worry about his ranking?
Even though he was currently in first place, he felt little sense of security.
“Also, what about you paid posters – why didn’t the plan work? Instead, you helped boost the other game’s data!” Li Zhidong suddenly questioned the person in charge of the paid posters.
Just thinking about this made Li Zhidong want to spit blood.
His original intention was to reduce Slime Elimination’s game data and competition ranking, but after the paid posters got involved, the other party’s data increased instead of decreasing.
To put it bluntly, without his interference, Slime Elimination might not have performed so well.
The thought that his actions had actually helped his competitor made Li Zhidong see stars.
“You’re overestimating us paid posters. We can’t achieve our goals just by acting – if we were that capable, we wouldn’t be doing this job.”
“But the other party did respond quickly. Most new game developers wouldn’t handle things so skillfully.” The person in charge narrowed their eyes and muttered softly.
Li Zhidong was impatient. “In the end, it’s just that you’re not capable enough – you were exposed so quickly.”
“After all, you get what you pay for.” The person in charge didn’t indulge Li Zhidong, since he wasn’t Li Zhidong’s subordinate.
Li Zhidong’s face stiffened. “If I increase the payment now, is it still too late?”
“Of course it is.” The paid poster smiled.
“Good. Besides that, there’s also the positive reviews for my game…”
As one side gains, the other loses. Li Zhidong refused to believe he couldn’t hold onto his first place.
Some negative reviews appeared again in the Slime Elimination comment section.
This time, the reason for the negative reviews was insufficient game energy.
“Although we also complain about not having enough game energy, isn’t it excessive to give a negative review for this?” Other players frowned when they saw this.
“As a game, if it can’t meet players’ needs, it deserves negative reviews.” The players leaving negative reviews said confidently.
“But based on your playtime, you shouldn’t be facing issues with game energy.” One player couldn’t help but point out.
It turned out that the players leaving negative reviews all had playtimes of two to three hours. The earlier levels of the game were easier, and it was only the later levels that required more energy.
“Just because we don’t have energy issues now doesn’t mean we won’t in the future. Besides, we’re doing this to fight for all of you – you shouldn’t be opposing us, you should be supporting us instead.” The players with negative reviews said.
Some players were indeed tempted, wanting to fight for more energy because they felt the current amount wasn’t enough to satisfy them.
Just then, a player posted a series of images and said, “Can we get an explanation for this?”
The images showed the previous game data of those players who had left negative reviews – they were the same group that many players had previously identified as paid posters.
Now, their playtime had increased, and unlike before when their pretense was obvious, they now seemed like normal players.
If Bai Yang and others hadn’t had the foresight to save evidence, the players would have likely been misled by this group.
“Besides your before-and-after comments here on Slime Elimination, there’s also a comparison of your comments on other games – you either praise games to the heavens or trample them into the ground.” Bai Yang presented more evidence.
The misled players were shocked. “It’s so obvious – other than paid posters who do this for money, what kind of player would be so extreme?”
Ordinary players usually rate games somewhere between one to five stars, but this group was different – they only gave one or five stars, completely unlike regular players.
“Accusing us of being paid posters out of nowhere? Are we not allowed to have clear preferences for games?”
“That’s right – it’s a matter of personal taste. You can’t force us to give high scores to games we don’t like.”
“What’s wrong, can’t this game handle a single negative review? If that’s the case, you’re being too domineering.”
Seeing these comments, the players who were about to retort fell silent. They didn’t want to tarnish the reputation of Slime Elimination or its developer.
They loved Slime Elimination and had found joy and satisfaction in it. Out of this affection, they also felt fondly towards the game’s developer.
Now that the other side was bringing up the game’s public image, the players who cared about the game couldn’t help but hold back.
[Thank you all very much for your love and support. For any game, it’s normal to have people who like it and people who dislike it. So there’s no need to argue over this issue. Finally, wish you all a happy gaming experience.]
Just as the players with negative reviews were preparing to press their advantage, Jiang Rong, the game developer, released an announcement.
It was Bai Yang who had informed Jiang Rong about the situation.
Now that Jiang Rong had appeared, the game players felt they had someone to rely on.
“Come on, let’s go play the game – that’s the best way to support the developer.” Liang Man called out to the other players.
Most players went to play the game, leaving only those looking to cause trouble in the comment section. With no one to argue with, they couldn’t stir up any commotion.
This left the negative reviewers stunned, looking at each other in bewilderment.
“…Should we also go play the game?”
“Might as well increase our playtime.”
Although their initial intentions weren’t pure, they were now actually players of Slime Elimination.
“Developer, what about those negative reviewers?” Bai Yang contacted Jiang Rong worriedly.
“Those people are now contributing to my game’s data too.” Jiang Rong said to Bai Yang.
Upon hearing this, Bai Yang couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Short playtimes would have made them easy to spot and target by real players.
But with longer playtimes, what difference was there between them and genuine players?
“By the way, I haven’t thanked you all for your special help yet.” Jiang Rong said gratefully to Bai Yang and the others.
After all, this wasn’t Bai Yang, Liang Man, and the other players’ responsibility, yet they had gone out of their way to help Jiang Rong a great deal.
“No, it’s nothing at all. I’m a game streamer – before I started streaming your game, my stream data was always mediocre. But ever since I began streaming it, my follower count has skyrocketed and my streaming income has increased significantly, so I’m very grateful to you.”
“Besides, even putting emotions aside, my current livelihood is tied to your game, so of course I hope it keeps getting better and better.” Bai Yang spoke bluntly.
After all, helping Jiang Rong’s game was also helping her own career.
“The first batch of players for my game came from your stream, didn’t they? We’re in a win-win cooperation – you don’t need to be so polite with me.” Jiang Rong chuckled lightly.
“Oh, so you… you knew.” Bai Yang couldn’t help but blush bright red.
She felt both embarrassed and excited at being known by someone she admired.
“Of course. Let me say thank you again.” Jiang Rong said gratefully.
“By the way, we’ve roughly identified who’s behind the paid posters (水軍 – “water army,” people hired to post biased comments online).” Remembering something, Bai Yang quickly told Jiang Rong.
This conclusion was drawn from analyzing the paid posters’ comments – while they were leaving negative reviews for Jiang Rong’s game, they were giving glowing reviews to another game, which belonged to Li Zhidong, currently ranked first in this month’s competition.
When Bai Yang shared her speculation with Jiang Rong, a deep look crossed Jiang Rong’s eyes.
As her game’s ranking climbed higher, the number of competitors decreased. With time, it would only become clearer who had targeted her.
Similarly, the longer time passed, the more flaws would show in those who were truly unworthy of their positions.
Li Zhidong had become the number one in December’s monthly competition. Barring any surprises, he would be crowned champion for the month.
Yet despite this top position, his standing was unstable.
Just like the reputation of his game – after he became number one, instead of improving, it plummeted sharply.
Previously, when negative comments appeared in Li Zhidong’s comment section, he simply had them suppressed instead of addressing the issues.
Now, with Li Zhidong gaining more fame, the reasons for players’ negative reviews had become widely known.
“Hurry up and suppress those negative reviews!” Li Zhidong roared at the paid poster in charge.
It was the paid posters’ work that had allowed him to suppress negative comments and put a false positive spin on his game before.
They had managed to control the situation then, but now they could no longer keep things stable.
“Your game has too many genuine players, and you’ve overestimated the power of our paid posters.” The person in charge laughed wryly.
For any game, paid posters can never make up the majority – the bulk are always genuine players.
Before, most genuine players hadn’t spoken up, allowing the paid posters to “suppress” the negative reviews. But now, more and more real players were voicing their opinions, and there was no way the paid posters could hold them back.
“No way – I’ve put so much into this game, I can’t lose! I’ll pay more – just keep me in first place.” Li Zhidong’s eyes were bloodshot as he gritted his teeth.
Because of Slime Elimination, Li Zhidong had invested far more money than he initially planned.
The more he put in, the less he could afford to abandon the game or accept defeat.
“The problem this time isn’t with us paid posters – it’s with you as the game developer.” The person in charge said to Li Zhidong.
The reason Li Zhidong’s game’s reputation had declined was because its quality was poor, and he hadn’t treated it seriously.
Now, Li Zhidong had internal issues but was looking for external solutions – how could that possibly address the root of the problem?
“This is as far as we can go with you.” The person in charge looked at Li Zhidong with what seemed like pity, sighed, and then left quickly.
Li Zhidong had no time to try and stop them. Like someone possessed, he refreshed his game’s backend data every few seconds. Each time he refreshed, the numbers dropped slightly.
Though the decrease was small each time, it added up. Watching it happen, Li Zhidong felt immense agony.
In contrast to Li Zhidong, Jiang Rong’s game data kept climbing steadily and had entered the top three of the monthly competition.
Li Zhidong was still in first place, but his arms and fingers trembled slightly as he desperately prayed for the competition to end soon.
As long as he could maintain his current ranking until the competition concluded, he wouldn’t consider it a loss.
Just then, Li Zhidong suddenly received a notification from the December Platform’s official team.
[Dear Developer Li Zhidong, our platform has detected abnormal data in your game. We hope you will cooperate with our investigation.]
Li Zhidong’s vision went dark for a moment. He knew better than anyone else whether his game could withstand the platform’s inspection.
“Host, Li Zhidong’s game data has dropped significantly – he’s already fallen to second place.” Jiang Yu reported the good news to Jiang Rong.
“As expected, there were issues with his game data.” Jiang Rong raised an eyebrow.
And as for why Li Zhidong had drawn the platform’s investigation, Jiang Rong had played her part.
She had submitted the information on the paid posters, and the platform had indeed traced it back to Li Zhidong.
It had to be said that Li Zhidong’s game had plenty of inflated data – its ranking continued to drop further.
In contrast, while other top-ranked games saw their data decline to varying degrees after the platform stepped in to investigate, Jiang Rong’s game was different – its data kept rising steadily.
By the time Li Zhidong’s game had fallen out of the top five, Jiang Rong’s game had exceeded 300,000 downloads and become the new number one.