From Shanda's Gaze

Shanghai.

Shanda Headquarters.

Zhang Yingfeng was reporting on his work.

Mr. Zhang was responsible for the selection, introduction, and negotiation of all of Shanda's game projects, as well as the authorization, operation, and protection of related copyrights.

In the future, he would rise from head of legal affairs all the way to Shanda CEO.

From legal affairs to CEO, are you scared or not!

Boss Chen sipped his coffee and motioned for Zhang Yingfeng to sit down. He said in a good mood, "The higher-ups have cleared the way. A special operation will begin on New Year's Day next year, with five ministries jointly cracking down on private servers and hacks. How is your legal department's evidence collection coming along?"

Zhang Yingfeng took out a thick stack of materials: "The main targets are 17173 and 17577."

"17173 was just acquired by Sohu and has transformed into a game portal website. But they have a large number of posts involving private server and hack transactions. This website is difficult to deal with. First, Sohu is backing them; second, they can shirk responsibility by saying those are private actions of netizens, and the website itself just had inadequate supervision."

"For 17173, my suggestion is to send a lawyer's letter first, sending it when the five ministries launch the special operation. Order them to issue a statement of apology on their homepage, delete all posts involving illegal transactions, and guarantee to strengthen post management in the future."

"As for 17577, this forum is the most rampant, it's the largest private server base in the country, openly selling private server frameworks, and also selling hacks for Legend and Legend of Mir. We must kill the chicken to scare the monkeys and take down this forum. We have already collected a large amount of evidence. But when it comes to specific monetary transactions, we must obtain evidence through the relevant departments."

"My suggestion is, not only to take down 17577, but also to send the webmaster Can Ying to jail!"

Boss Chen took the stack of materials and read them carefully.

Zhang Yingfeng summarized: "Private servers and hacks are endless. Take down one, and ten more pop up. We need to concentrate our efforts on game forums, that's the root of private servers and hacks. Only by eradicating the root can we solve the problem once and for all. Without a platform for dissemination, those who make private servers and sell hacks will quickly become rootless. After taking down 17577, send lawyer's letters to forums like Ledu, demanding they apologize, delete posts, and strengthen management."

Zhang Yingfeng's thinking was very clear: only remove the root, not the grass.

Because there was too much grass, and it couldn't be completely cut down, it would grow back with the spring breeze.

But if the root was gone, the grass would naturally wither and die.

They talked about the five ministries leading a joint action, but where were there so many people to help Shanda?

From collecting evidence to sentencing, the entire process was incredibly long.

By the time the sentencing results came out, the special rectification action would have long ended.

Boss Chen instructed: "Okay, proceed according to your plan. But sending the webmaster of 17577 to prison, that's debatable, no need to be so ruthless."

"Chairman, if we don't prosecute and set a negative example, I'm afraid it won't deter other similar websites," Zhang Yingfeng said.

Boss Chen asked, "Do you have a legal basis?"

Zhang Yingfeng said, "There are no specific legal provisions for now, but we can cite copyright-related regulations. Although it's a bit difficult, we can give it a try."

Trying was useless!

Specific legal provisions hadn't even been formulated yet, and wouldn't be until 2006. Currently, only administrative measures like special crackdowns could be used.

The disposal stipulated in the "Internet Information Management Measures" was a fine plus confiscation of illegal gains.

If they were really caught by the special team, at most it would just be an administrative fine.

After the "Regulations on the Protection of the Right to Dissemination of Information on Information Networks" were promulgated in 2006, those who continued to run private servers would have to worry about going to jail.

The first case of sentencing for private servers occurred in 2007, after the legislation. Legend of the World developed to the scale of renting 94 servers and was severely cracked down on by Shanda as a scapegoat. All five private server partners were arrested.

Boss Chen stated the principle of action: "Since the law is difficult to define, there's no need to create complications. This time, we will cooperate with the five ministries' action, the momentum must be strong, but we should handle it with a heavy hand initially and then lighten up."

Zhang Yingfeng understood. It was about scaring those who didn't understand the law, making it look like they were going to send people to prison!

In another timeline, Can Ying, the webmaster of 17577, was indeed scared by Shanda and directly shut down the website and ran away with his bucket. Later, he found out that nothing happened, and Can Ying came out again, but his influence was far less than before.

Boss Chen casually asked, "Did you see those two hot posts recently when you were collecting evidence?"

"You mean the one about wanting to make a private server that doesn't sell equipment?" Zhang Yingfeng asked.

Boss Chen nodded.

Zhang Yingfeng said, "It's just two players bragging while drunk, and a large group of players joining in the fun. If they don't sell point cards, don't sell hacks, and don't sell equipment, how will their private server make money? Even if they can make it, it will shut down when the funds run out."

Boss Chen sighed, "Players have a lot of opinions about us. Terms like 'Legend refugees' and 'internet orphans' have become popular phrases, and I'm afraid even traditional media will report on them. Alas, we have to spend money on public relations again!"

Some traditional newspapers nowadays particularly liked to report on popular online events.

A post, a phenomenon, and the print media could write lengthy articles about it, and even do a series of reports.

The newspaper had a selling point, and readers found it novel.

And since Legend became popular, Shanda had always been at the center of the media storm. Internet addiction teenagers, electronic opium, and the like, made Boss Chen extremely troubled, and he personally appeared multiple times to defend himself.

It was estimated that the public opinion caused him some psychological trauma, leading Boss Chen, who became rich by making games, to look down on the online game industry his entire life.

He felt it wasn't high-end enough, and he always got criticized.

The two hot posts created by Chen Guiliang and Tao Chenggang, after going viral online, were equivalent to handing weapons to the print media, and they would definitely criticize Shanda again!

Boss Chen got a headache just thinking about this.

He picked up his coffee again, and Zhang Yingfeng immediately excused himself.

Only one person remained in the office.

Boss Chen drank his coffee, picked up the mouse, and clicked on the "Private Server Development Log" text live stream post.

He always felt there was something fishy about this matter.

The poster gave the latest update: "Thanks to the netizen 'I Wet My Shoes by the River' (a shill) for the idea. One Sword Comes West and I have decided to adopt his worldview..."

"That is, the Marfa Continent is facing an invasion by a mysterious force. This mysterious force comes from the void of the abyss. The void force causes some monsters on the Marfa Continent to mutate, and the equipment dropped by these monsters will also mutate..."

"To put it simply, it's the previous top-tier monsters and top-tier equipment, but we will make the top-tier monsters exceptionally powerful and also make the attributes of the top-tier equipment random. Players have a chance to find mutated monsters in various maps."

"It's possible to kill a scarecrow and drop a 'Void Ebony Sword' with attributes close to Purgatory. Moreover, different 'Void Ebony Swords' will have different attributes. Every time a player runs a map, it's like treasure hunting with all sorts of surprises..."

"Thanks again to my brothers and sisters, thank you for providing so many suggestions and selfless support. We will definitely make this private server well. Every monster in the game is the crystallization of all our efforts!"

Boss Chen carefully checked every reply and found that the netizens were as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

The game hadn't even been made yet, and they were already cheering and celebrating.

Many netizens also offered various suggestions and even argued with each other because of different ideas.

Boss Chen was now very sure that if this private server was made, it would definitely become extremely popular in a short time.

Of course, it would probably be difficult to make money; it would be purely a loss-making venture for the sake of publicity.

Because once it charged fees, it would face a backlash from public opinion.

They had said it wouldn't charge fees!

The more enthusiastic the netizens were now, the more fiercely they would spray when it started charging. They would feel betrayed, feel that their emotions had been played with, and feel that their youth had been desecrated.

Chen Guiliang had already felt this potential backlash from public opinion.

He repeatedly discussed it over the phone with Tao Chenggang, Yang Yuhui, and Feng Tao and decided to modify the initial game concept and compromise with the emotionally charged netizens.

A perverted private server with one slash dealing 9999 damage was definitely out of the question.

Chen Guiliang registered an account and posted a tentative suggestion of gaining several levels with one slash. He was immediately ridiculed by nostalgic old players and sprayed by countless people to the point where they couldn't live independently.

But they couldn't just follow the players' every whim, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to make money.

They could only compromise.

Slightly slow down the leveling speed and slightly lower the level of the Abyss dungeon. Then increase the number of Void equipment in ordinary maps to improve the gaming experience for ordinary players, while also ensuring that this equipment doesn't affect the dungeon plan.

All the netizens who participated in the replies were Chen Guiliang's free planners. It was not an exaggeration to say that they were the godfathers of the private server.

Imperial Capital.

Fu Guoqiang, this Beijing lord, was idle again today, but he contacted many old Legend brothers and sent the post URL to his friends via QQ.

The old brothers who hadn't been in touch for a long time were full of emotion after reading the post and all replied to express their feelings.

The original "Legend Refugee Post" had now accumulated over 9900 floors and was about to become the third post with over ten thousand floors on the Chinese internet – the first was NetEase's "First News Post," and the second was Tianya's "Cairo Declaration Post."

NetEase and Tianya's ten-thousand-floor posts relied on their large user bases.

Chen Guiliang's "Legend Refugee Post" relied entirely on the enthusiasm of game players.

One old player after another recounted their unforgettable experiences. They even called friends and invited old friends to come and see, and those old friends came and continued to reply. In the end, people who knew each other or didn't know each other started chatting directly in the post.

Fu Guoqiang and his friends contributed over a hundred floors. They had already added each other on QQ, but they didn't use QQ to reminisce at this time. It seemed that chatting in the post had more of a sense of ritual.

Fu Guoqiang typed out the last sentence in the post: "If this private server is made, are the old brothers of Guangmang willing to fight again? Reply if you receive!"

"Received!"

"Received!"

"Received!"

"..."

Chen Guiliang looked at the stream of "Received" and instantly felt immense pressure.

He had indeed lured people over, but if the dungeon fees made them unhappy, the backlash from public opinion could directly spray this private server to death!

Tao Chenggang also called: "Holy crap, I don't dare to look at the post anymore."

Chen Guiliang said: "Let's seriously polish the game and try to make it as complete as possible."

"Then let's postpone the server launch until next Friday night." Tao Chenggang was also under immense pressure now. It was the first time he felt that doing too good a job of promotion was also a problem.