Frost Snow Project was not encountering internet trolls for the first time.
There had been one instance right when it first launched.
Yet this was quite normal.
In this world, the ACG community was a rather bizarre circle; anyone muddling along in it would inevitably get brigaded sooner or later.
Either brigaded by players, or brigaded by internet trolls, or brigaded by both at the same time.
If you released a new game and neither trolls nor players flamed it, that mostly meant your game was completely dead in the water and nobody cared at all.
When Frost Snow Project had just launched, relying on a relatively rare positioning, the treatment it enjoyed was a premium package—being flamed by players and trolls together.
However, this welcome ceremony only lasted for three or four days.
Afterwards, presumably perceiving the doomed aura of Frost Snow Project, rival companies quickly stopped recharging their trolls.
Then the hype for Frost Snow Project rapidly welcomed a cliff-like plummet.
What is the situation this time?
Could some rival company have extraordinary vision and believe that Frost Snow Project would pose a threat to them after its transformation?
Mm...
Xu Meng pondered for a few seconds, trying to find the mastermind behind the scenes.
Yet there were over a dozen well-known ACG companies, making guessing utterly impossible.
In the end, he could only make a note in his little notebook first, then unhappily toss his phone aside to go to sleep.
As soon as he arrived at the company the next day, Xu Meng aggressively ran over to the Operations Department to pick a fight with the person in charge.
Do you know who is hiring trolls and steering the narrative against us?
Ah? Song Zhicheng, the Operations Director, blinked in bewilderment, clearly without any psychological preparation for this question.
Seeing this expression of his, Xu Meng helplessly pressed his forehead.
That thought from yesterday surfaced in his mind once more—how could one make a good game while hanging out with a bunch of pests like this? Yet he shook his head, casting that excessive thought out of his mind.
He fished out his phone, opened the comment section of the Frost Snow Project account, and pointed it at Song Zhicheng.
Song Zhicheng flipped through a few pages and said somewhat uncertainly, Were these posted by trolls?
Xu Meng took a deep breath and raised a hand to cover his chest.
Behind him, little assistant Chen Mengling had already reached her hand into her inner jacket pocket.
Are you asking me? Are you the Operations Director or am I!?
Song Zhicheng fell silent without a word.
No, haven't you been hanging out in this industry for over seven years? Seeing this appearance of his, Xu Meng felt somewhat exasperated at his failure to meet expectations. Haven't you made some industry friends, or some troll ringleaders or something?
Song Zhicheng had nothing to say.
It took him ages to squeeze out a sentence: I... don't like trolls, I haven't really had much contact with them.
? A question mark slowly popped up on Xu Meng's head.
You work in ACG operations and even reached the position of director; not liking trolls is normal, but having barely any contact with them—isn't that a bit...
My previous two resignations were both because I resisted using trolls to attack competitors and got fired, Song Zhicheng confessed somewhat arduously.
Xu Meng wanted to say something, yet felt it was somewhat unsayable.
As it turned out, Dream Builder's Operations Director was actually a noble-minded idealist? Impressive.
It was just a pity, buddy, you picked the wrong racetrack.
You shouldn't have come to an ACG company; you should go to those companies that make single-player games.
Places like that are crawling with damn idealists, each one more stubborn than the last.
Xu Meng let out a powerless sigh. Forget it.
Being unwilling to attack competitors is fine, but you can't just sit and wait for death when others attack you. Here, try asking around with your former colleagues.
If you can't find out, forget it.
If you manage to find out which company it is, you don't even need to find trolls; just tell me, and I'll curse them out myself.
Ah? Oh, okay. Song Zhicheng was stunned, and upon reacting, he nodded hastily.
Also, remember to hurry up with the VTuber girls I asked you to contact, and don't be stingy with the budget.
Understood, I'm already booking them.
Alright, tell me promptly once you find out. Xu Meng gave one last instruction before leaving the Operations Department.
When passing through the open office area, he distinctly sensed a restless aura circulating among the crowd.
Unlike the turmoil yesterday—which was caused by learning the company might go bankrupt, the boss consecutively laying off the heads of the writing and art departments, and drastically reorganizing the work content—
This aura held no anxiety; instead, it surged with covert joy and anticipation.
Especially a few individuals, who were grinning exceptionally lewdly.
Xu Meng was clueless.
What's their situation? he asked Chen Mengling.
The little assistant pointed at Chen Wanzhong not far away. Although their reactions are different, the reason is the same.
Xu Meng looked in the direction she pointed and found Chen Wanzhong sitting on pins and needles, his face flushed, clenching his fists from time to time to pump himself up.
What is he nervous about? Is he going on a blind date?
Boss, didn't you say to send invitations to modeling agencies and invite models for them to reference? The models are arriving this afternoon. The little assistant finally revealed the answer.
Chen Wanzhong is too nervous, but for the sake of his work, he can't not look; he's doing psychological prep.
The other employees simply haven't seen many models in real life, so they're probably looking forward to watching a live show or something.
A live show? Xu Meng subconsciously shook his head.
Yet after shaking his head, he fell into contemplation once again.
To achieve the reference effect, they had offered the talent agencies double the price so the agency would agree to allow staff members other than the photographer to observe during the shoot.
The company was indeed strapped for cash, but the appearance fee for third-tier models for a single afternoon was actually very low.
—So low that Xu Meng somewhat doubted how they even managed to survive. Low appearance fees aside, however, the due respect still had to be given.
Xu Meng had his subordinates reconfigure the large room dedicated to motion capture, and even cleared out a resting area and a changing room.
The observing staff would not swarm in like watching monkeys either; instead, viewing areas were demarcated, and photography was strictly prohibited.
—The motion-capture stage was Dream Builder's largest indoor space, large enough to exceed Dream Builder's proper scale, so accommodating this many people was an absolute breeze.
Undoubtedly, this was also a legacy left behind by the former boss, Zhang Yang.
Anyway, Xu Meng requested to make the process as professional as possible to eliminate any potential embarrassment for the models.
Thinking about it this way, turning this "reference session" into a show-watching team-building event didn't seem entirely unfeasible.
The models could receive an extra red envelope to subsidize their lives.
The employees could also dispel the anxiety of company turmoil and layoffs, boosting morale to throw themselves into the upcoming, fiery crunch-time schedule of liver-exploding overtime.
Do you want to watch too? he asked his assistant.
The little assistant was somewhat embarrassed, but seeing that Xu Meng didn't look like he was joking, she immediately nodded excitedly, Want to! Super want to!
Then that's settled. Go find Zhang Ge and Sister Chen, and have them organize it.
These two individuals—one responsible for external liaising, the other managing internal coordination—were both rare "senior" employees over forty years old at Dream Builder, experienced and quite reliable.
Sister Chen in particular handled both administration and human resources, and enjoyed exceptional popularity within the company.
Watching the little assistant trot all the way off to find them, Xu Meng nodded with satisfaction.
Having a company is indeed more comfortable than fighting solo.
Playing the hands-off manager feels truly fantastic! He unscrewed his insulated mug, sipped his goji berry tea, and leisurely strolled over to the art staff's workstations to watch them draw the new promotional illustrations.
He was most familiar with Ding Nian and Xu Fang, so he walked over to look at their drawings.
Yet the moment he saw Ding Nian's screen, the goji berry tea he was half-drinking spewed straight out of his throat.
Cough, cough, cough!!
He was choked into a coughing frenzy.
Ding Nian, who had been engrossed in drawing, turned around in bewilderment.
On the computer screen beside her lay a completely naked red-haired mature woman, reclining sideways on a dark red sofa and sipping red wine.
That was Tong Que, the female character with the heaviest screen time in the early stage of Frost Cold Project.
Why are you—cough, cough!—drawing a character without clothes? Xu Meng asked laboriously while coughing.
I did indeed tell you to draw the characters a bit sexier, but I didn't say to leave them without clothes! This stuff won't pass censorship!!
Before you continue