Take a Gamble, Turn a Bicycle into a Motorcycle

Tao Chenggang read with rapt attention, thinking as he went.

It was a full half hour before he finally set down those A4 sheets.

Chen Guiliang immediately took them back, folded them twice, and tucked them into his pocket.

Tao Chenggang smiled helplessly at the sight, then asked, "You've got some very interesting ideas here. Why not take them to a big company?"

Chen Guiliang said, "I wouldn't even know which way the door opens at those big companies. Even if I managed to find an executive, they'd probably swallow my ideas whole."

Tao Chenggang asked, "And you're not afraid I'll swallow them?"

"My cousin said President Tao is an honorable man. You definitely wouldn't do something so low," Chen Guiliang said with a flattering smile, then added with a hidden barb, "If President Tao doesn't buy them, I'll go try some big companies."

Naturally, Tao Chenggang caught the implication. Chen Guiliang was threatening him.

If he truly decided to develop a game, he would instead have to worry about Chen Guiliang messing around and selling the same product to three different buyers. That would be a real headache.

For Chen Guiliang, as long as he got paid, there was no reason to pull anything shady.

In reality, the best-known example of someone making a name for himself through game ideas was China's future richest man.

A middle school graduate and migrant worker, he participated in the internal beta for "Journey to the West 2" and wrote over thirty pages of feedback and suggestions. He was then appointed planner for "Journey to the West 1," before becoming the core planner for "Fantasy Westward Journey."

It was the wild frontier era.

But the prerequisite was that he had worked customer service for "Journey to the West 1." Being assigned to the internal beta was part of his job, and his feedback could effectively reach NetEase's upper management.

If it had been a high school student rashly going to a big company to sell game concepts, he would probably have been thrown out on the spot by security.

Besides, even if some big company adopted Chen Guiliang's game ideas, he likely would not get much cash in return. At most, like China's future richest man, he might be invited to work in the company's planning department.

What Chen Guiliang wanted was not a job at some big company.

He wanted to start his own company someday.

"You study at County No. 2 High School?" Tao Chenggang changed the subject and began chatting with Chen Guiliang instead of discussing business.

Chen Guiliang said, "Third year of high school. Liberal arts experimental class."

"A top student, huh? My younger sister goes to No. 2 Middle School too, but she's only in a regular class."

"It's all about the same. If you can get into No. 2 Middle School, your grades are definitely good," Chen Guiliang said.

They appeared to be making small talk, but they had actually entered negotiations.

Speaking in the tone of an elder, Tao Chenggang continued probing. "Which district or county is your hometown in?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Fushi County Yaojia Township."

"There's an old town over there. I've visited it before," Tao Chenggang said. "When I drove through, I came across a Yaojia Bridge. Is that where it is?"

Chen Guiliang said, "The township market is right by the bridge. My middle school was up in the nearby hills."

Tao Chenggang smiled. "Next time I visit that old town, I'll ask you to be my guide."

"It would be my honor," Chen Guiliang said.

The two of them sat in the office, chatting aimlessly.

After dozing for a while, Yang Yuhui went out to the studio to watch the gaming-addicted youngsters grind, while also handling a few game transactions.

Seeing that Chen Guiliang kept him company in idle conversation without mentioning the game at all, Tao Chenggang understood that Chen Guiliang was no simple kid.

Whoever brought up business first would lose the upper hand.

This was an unconventional deal, after all. Both sides were wary of each other, like using a bamboo pole to poke a wolf—both were afraid.

Tao Chenggang said, "Your ideas are interesting, but I have no plans to make games."

"If we can't make a deal, we can still part as friends. I'm very glad to have met President Tao today," Chen Guiliang said, advancing by retreating. "When winter break comes, I'll make another trip to the coast. Magic City, Guangzhou, Pengcheng, Hangzhou... those big cities all have game companies. Maybe one of them will be interested."

Tao Chenggang said, "Those big companies are all conservative. They only know how to license foreign games, and some of their executives don't even play games. Your Free Game concept is too bold. They won't risk investing in it."

"Who knows? Maybe a blind cat will stumble across a dead mouse," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Pretending not to care, Tao Chenggang stood up and said, "Sit tight for a moment. I'm going to check on the studio."

Chen Guiliang was left hanging in the office.

The moment Tao Chenggang stepped outside, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He needed time to think clearly.

He ran internet cafés, had operated a Legend Private Server for a while, and was still running a game studio. He understood players' psychology very well. If a game were made according to Chen Guiliang's ideas, it could very well become a massive hit.

The executives at big companies lacked that kind of instinct.

The elites at large companies did not lack money. Instead, they considered their time extremely valuable. They would only think it normal to top up for game time cards, and that monthly cards costing a few dozen yuan were cheap enough. They would even think pay-to-win systems ruined game balance.

But what about players at the bottom?

Wow, this game is free. I don't need to recharge for time cards or monthly cards, and I can just keep killing monsters and keep playing.

Players in later years found grinding monsters tedious.

But at this time, for the vast majority of players, being able to kill monsters without spending money was already a kind of happiness!

Tao Chenggang had run a Legend Private Server. He could imagine how many Free Riders a free game could attract. Once there was a massive influx of Free Riders, the players who actually paid would stay too.

What was more, the pile of pay-to-win tricks Chen Guiliang had laid out made Tao Chenggang's scalp tingle as a businessman.

But there was a problem. Tao Chenggang was not a true big boss, only a relatively wealthy man in a remote city.

If he wanted to develop a game himself, he would have to gamble everything he owned, and even then, his startup capital would still be tight.

Should he gamble?

What if he failed?

Besides that, he was worried Chen Guiliang might pull something.

He was worried that halfway through development, Chen Guiliang would sell the same concepts to a big company. He could not compete with a big company's operational capabilities.

Seeing Tao Chenggang standing in the corner in a daze, Yang Yuhui asked, "Brother Gang, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Tao Chenggang said, "You're twenty-eight and still unmarried. Doesn't your family pressure you?"

"You're not married either," Yang Yuhui replied irritably. "I'm cooped up in this dump every day. Where would I find the time to get a girlfriend?"

Tao Chenggang muttered to himself, "Yeah, I'm not married either."

If he gradually sold all eight internet cafés, he could probably get around three million yuan.

A house and a new car, if mortgaged or sold cheaply, could bring in another two or three hundred thousand.

He still had nearly four hundred thousand in cash, money he had intended to use to open another internet café.

It was nowhere near enough.

Maybe he could still make a game, but he would have no money left for early operations or promotion.

He would need to bring in investors!

Finding a game development team would actually be easy. Tao Chenggang knew all those technical experts from private servers. He could talk them into joining, then have them bring more people in.

The game did not need to be beautiful. Even if it was trash, Chen Guiliang's ideas could still make it wildly popular!

Tao Chenggang had a strong gambling streak.

Put nicely, he dared to fight and take risks.

His parents were ordinary employees at a state-owned enterprise in Longdu City. He had never lacked food or clothing growing up, but they had no money to support him in starting a business.

The guy had graduated from junior college in 1996, and his luck had been truly bad. It happened to be the year junior college graduates were no longer guaranteed job placements.

His parents used connections to get him into a boiler factory, a state-owned enterprise. They spent a full five thousand yuan greasing palms, and the manager promised to make him permanent after one year.

But after only three months at the boiler factory, Tao Chenggang voluntarily quit and headed for the coast to make his own way.

He changed jobs several times. In the summer of 1998, he joined Starcom and sold Xiaolingtong phones in the Yangtze River Delta Region. Half a year later, he quit again without warning and switched careers to become an IC Phone Card distributor in third- and fourth-tier cities.

In just two years, Tao Chenggang made seven or eight hundred thousand yuan distributing IC Phone Cards.

As that market gradually became saturated, Tao Chenggang returned home and opened internet cafés. Then he ran a Legend Private Server and a game studio, while also partnering with Feng Tao to sell computers.

He had originally wanted to build an internet café chain brand, but Chen Guiliang suddenly threw a set of game concepts at him.

Tao Chenggang was tempted.

His blood was even starting to boil!

It felt much like when he had been working as a Xiaolingtong salesman and had accidentally discovered that IC Phone Cards were a blue ocean market in third- and fourth-tier cities.

It was worth gambling his fortune and future on.

Take a gamble, turn a bicycle into a motorcycle.

If the day came when he ran out of money, he could always go back to his former employer, Starcom.

That company had so much money it did not know where to invest it!

When Tao Chenggang returned to the office, he found Chen Guiliang browsing forums.

And his actions were utterly outrageous.

A user named absolut, Liu Jiajun, an ancient Platinum author from Qidian, had made a post on the Mengya Forum furiously denouncing Guo Xiaosi as a sissy, sparking an intense flame war between the anti-Guo faction and the pro-Guo faction.

What was Chen Guiliang doing?

He was fanning the flames from start to finish!

Tao Chenggang had been gone too long, and Chen Guiliang was bored out of his mind, so he had registered several forum accounts on the spot.

Using the first account, he posted, "All of you insulting Xiaosi are just jealous. Xiaosi is a great literary master of our age, more talented than Li Bai and Du Fu. Even if the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties joined forces, they wouldn't compare to a single pubic hair of our Xiaosi's."

That instantly provoked the anti-Guo faction, drawing a flood of furious abuse.

Chen Guiliang quickly switched accounts again. "A plagiarizing dog has the nerve to call himself a literary master? If I self-published 'Three Hundred Tang Poems' and changed the author's name, would that make me the Poet Immortal?"

After hitting Enter, Chen Guiliang switched accounts again.

Tao Chenggang stood beside him and watched for a while, torn between laughter and tears. What kind of lunatics were these?

Chen Guiliang even turned around and asked him, "President Tao, want to play for a bit? It's fun. Like blowing up shit with firecrackers when you were a kid."

What an apt comparison...

"Cough, cough!"

Tao Chenggang cleared his throat. "How much are you planning to sell those game ideas for?"

"Three hundred thousand," Chen Guiliang said, opening his mouth like a lion.

Tao Chenggang said, "Do you know the average salary in Longdu City?"

Chen Guiliang said, "A few hundred yuan."

Tao Chenggang asked again, "Do you know how much the most expensive housing costs per square meter in Longdu City?"

"Not sure," Chen Guiliang answered.

"Only thirteen hundred," Tao Chenggang said. "The highest price for new residential developments in Longdu City this year is only thirteen hundred yuan per square meter. You open your mouth and ask for three hundred thousand. That could buy two upscale apartments over a hundred square meters each. I only invested three or four hundred thousand in one internet café!"

"Then two hundred and fifty thousand," Chen Guiliang said. "I promise that after selling those sheets to you, I won't approach any other big company."

"They're worth ten thousand at most." Tao Chenggang started bargaining from rock bottom.

"Two hundred thousand." Chen Guiliang posted while speaking. "I'll also give you some detailed suggestions. Those sheets aren't clear enough. For example, game shills."

"Game shills?" Tao Chenggang's first thought was that they were like medical or bar shills.

As his fingers clattered over the keyboard, Chen Guiliang switched accounts again and posted another thread meant to start a fight.

Letting go of the keyboard, he said, "Don't disband this studio. Put them into the game as shills. Have some of them pretend to be girls and start online romances with rich players. Have others become the rich players' lackeys, stir up grudges between them, and make them fight. Once they have women, brothers, and enemies, fill their lives with love, hate, grudges, and revenge. Would you still be afraid rich players wouldn't spend money to raise their combat power?"

Tao Chenggang looked at the forum's inflammatory shit-blasting posts, then carefully considered Chen Guiliang's idea of game shills.

Different methods, same result.

It made fucking perfect sense!

How was this high school student's brain wired?

But it still was not enough to make Tao Chenggang obediently hand over money. He looked at Chen Guiliang, who was still posting. "What other good ideas do you have?"

"Lotteries."

After hitting Enter, Chen Guiliang said, "Before private lotteries were restricted, roadside stalls selling scratch tickets were everywhere. Even farmers who came into town to sell vegetables couldn't resist scratching off a couple."

"Set up a lottery system in the game. Whether players have recharged or not, they get one free draw every day. Use that daily free draw to hook them, then charge money for the second draw. Put some top-tier equipment on display in the lottery interface. The more consecutive draws they make, the higher their chances of winning good stuff. Then add ten-draws, twenty-draws, and guaranteed prizes after a certain number of draws..."

Tao Chenggang recalled the crazy roadside lottery scenes of the 1990s and thought, This lottery system alone could get game players hooked.

"What else?" Tao Chenggang continued asking.

But Chen Guiliang stopped talking. "Just like the game lottery. Those two ideas were free bonuses. You'll have to pay for the rest. As long as President Tao pays, I'll tell you everything I know without holding anything back."

Tao Chenggang fell silent in thought.