Feng Tao stared at the feedback reports. "Total downloads have exceeded 3,100. District One is lagging so badly it's completely frozen. District Two is under heavy strain too. A lot of District One players are transferring directly to District Five. They probably guessed District Five would run the smoothest..."
Yang Yuhui said, "I've been chatting with some internet café managers. One of them said four or five players at his café had agreed to play our private server together. As they played, they drew in the people nearby who were playing the official version. Now there are seventeen or eighteen people at his café playing Legend of the Abyss!"
"How many more people can Districts Three, Four, and Five hold?" Tao Chenggang asked.
Feng Tao said, "In just these few minutes, District Five is almost full too. They must have transferred over because District One was too laggy. Districts Three and Four are still relatively smooth, but together they can only hold four or five hundred more people. Downloads are still climbing!"
Tao Chenggang ordered, "Contact the major private-server forums and cut off the download links immediately!"
17173 had not provided an official download link. It was a legitimate portal site, after all, and could not openly provide download services for a private server.
Besides, at the end of 2003, forum posts and replies could not include hyperlinks or attachments.
The download links for Legend of the Abyss had been posted on private-server forums such as 17577, 7GG, and Ledu. Tao Chenggang had paid those forums for promotion.
Just as Yang Yuhui contacted the forums to remove the links, Chen Guiliang was clattering away at his keyboard, making posts:
"555555, I'm going to cry myself to death. Why are there so many players? The Little Tyrant Server I rented can't handle it!"
"God, you guys are incredible. Brothers and sisters, I'm really sorry, but we can only shut down the download today. Otherwise, this game will be impossible to play!"
Right after that, Chen Guiliang switched to a random-user account and replied under the game's update log: "Who was it that said a 5,000-player server was more than enough? Said he was such a badass too. Badass my ass!"
He copied the text and sent it to the head of the Internet Trolls, adding a few words—"Keep the formation below"—before saying, "Don't say anything else. Just copy and paste this reply!"
Very soon, the thread filled with identical replies, shooting up twenty or thirty floors in an instant: "With such a huge server capacity, it must surely be more than enough. I'm such a badass! Keep the formation below."
Feng Tao shouted, "It's lagging! Districts Two and Five are both lagging out, and Districts Three and Four are nearly full too!"
"Didn't we cut off the download links?" Tao Chenggang asked.
Feng Tao said, "While Yang Yuhui was contacting the forums to remove the links, downloads suddenly jumped by more than four hundred. They must have started downloading earlier and just happened to finish now. And those internet cafés can install the game on dozens of computers from a single download. The real number of players is definitely much higher than the download count!"
Chen Guiliang reassured them, "It's fine. A lot of netizens are just here for the spectacle, and some are deliberately playing the private server to get back at Shanda. They'll leave after a while."
Even as they spoke, all five districts filled up.
Xie Yang had been staring at the forum and anxiously shouted, "A ton of netizens are cursing us out."
Feng Tao said, "They're cursing in the game too."
Chen Guiliang skimmed a few forum replies and found that the people complaining about the game's terrible lag were not especially harsh. Some were even taking pleasure in the disaster.
The ones truly raging were the netizens who could not download the game and had yet to get in.
Put yourself in their shoes. You got off work on Friday and went home, eagerly downloading the game. Your home internet was slow as hell, and after finally reaching 99%, the download link suddenly got cut off...
Wouldn't you start cursing?
Chen Guiliang quickly gave orders. "In those two hot threads, keep switching accounts and copying that reply. Don't argue with the netizens. Drown them out with identical replies! Also, post a game announcement apologizing, explain the reason in detail, and ask them to go chat on the forums."
Xie Yang and the other Internet Trolls immediately got to work.
Before long, Xie Yang discovered in amazement that public opinion had actually shifted.
The netizens' initial complaints and insults gradually turned into teasing and mockery. They began copying and pasting the same line too: "Hahaha, with such a huge server capacity, it must surely be more than enough. I'm such a badass! Keep the formation below."
A few clever troublemakers deliberately disrupted things. "Heh, I'm going to ruin the formation. Come hit me, then! Come hit me through the internet cable!"
Stunned, Xie Yang asked, "Chen the Hero, did you foresee this happening? Is that why you bragged about yourself in advance, then had us quote your bragging to steer player sentiment toward sarcasm and jokes?"
Hearing that, everyone else turned to look at Chen Guiliang too.
Chen Guiliang explained, "Cursing out a game is different from cursing out a person. I made that post in advance as the private server's operator, and I deliberately bragged about myself to leave them something to use against me. That gave the netizens a target for venting their anger, shifted their focus, and gave them a way to back down. Especially those who had downloaded more than fifty percent, only to suddenly find they couldn't continue. They're extremely angry right now."
Tao Chenggang understood at once. "Guide the netizens away from cursing the game and toward cursing the person operating it. And that person had been calling them brothers all along, while deliberately bragging like some clown. It's like a good friend screwed something up, and did it in an especially ridiculous, hilarious way. At that point, people can move from insults to teasing and laughing at him. Once they're done teasing and laughing, everyone is still friends!"
"Exactly," Chen Guiliang said. "Because of the posts from the last few days, these netizens were already inclined to support us. Most of them weren't directly cursing us out. Their anger is only temporary. As long as we don't keep provoking them, a few tricks are enough to shift their attention."
Chen Guiliang added, "It can also give them a sense of pride. It makes them feel that the lag and the broken download links aren't because we did something wrong, but because they're too powerful. They'll think they're amazing for actually crashing a private server."
"Impressive!"
Xie Yang was full of admiration. He felt like he had learned something new again.
Yang Yuhui exclaimed, "Damn, how is your brain even built?"
Feng Tao laughed. "He's my nephew. Smart just like me."
The others in the room also kept calling him a total badass.
Tao Xue had never understood much about private servers, nor was she interested in games.
She had been wandering around the room in boredom. But now, hearing everyone praise Chen Guiliang, Tao Xue somehow felt that he was especially impressive.
Chen Guiliang continued replying: "55555, curse me if you want. I'm so stupid and naive. I thought a 5,000-player server would be enough, but I never expected you brothers and sisters to be this incredible. I've already rented a new server, and we can open a new district tomorrow! How many people came to play tonight, anyway? You guys lagged the Little Tyrant Server to death. Do you have to be this badass?"
Chen Guiliang switched accounts again and replied, "I'm such a badass. The server is more than enough. Keep the formation."
He also sent a QQ message to the Internet Trolls: "Hurry up and keep replying with this line! The previous one was too long. Once the netizens get used to it, switch to this shorter one."
Tao Chenggang considered the changing length of the replies, then looked at the unflappable Chen Guiliang directing everything. He was amazed. This kid is a born leader!
Chen Guiliang kept reading the thread and noticed many people replying, "The Little Tyrant Server is killing me."
He immediately realized that the meme did not exist yet and ordered the Internet Trolls again, "Spam this: 'Little Tyrant Server, I'm dying here.' Keep the formation!"
Then Chen Guiliang looked back at his own posts and had the Internet Trolls turn "so stupid and naive" into a meme as well.
At this time, the "keep the formation" game was not yet popular on the forums.
Under the Internet Trolls' guidance, the netizens found it incredibly amusing.
For a time, the major gaming forums became lively and boisterous, filled with laughter as netizens enthusiastically played with memes.
Chen Guiliang then posed as a netizen whose download link had been cut off and guided similar players into completely changing their mindset and mood. In other words: our netizens are so powerful that we scared the private server into not daring to keep the links open!
Those who could not stand the server lag, along with those unable to download the game, all started playing the floor-building game.
As far as the eye could see, every reply said, "Keep the formation."
It almost seemed more fun to build floors and spam replies like this than to play the game itself.
Tianya Forum.
A thread appeared: "Private Server Creates Huge Fiasco—The Little Tyrant Server Is Killing Me."
"I just got home from work and turned on my computer to download Legend of the Abyss. Damn, don't even get me started on the download speed. After I finally got to 42%, it suddenly said I couldn't continue downloading. I went to the forum to check, and tons of people were cursing. The download link had already been cut off."
"Then I read the threads. I went in planning to curse someone out, but it was so funny I nearly died laughing. The guy who set up this private server claimed his server could hold 5,000 people, said it was more than enough, and bragged about how awesome he was. The server got lagged to death, and now he's been cursed so hard he doesn't dare show his face. The whole thread is nothing but 'keep the formation.'"
"Oh, right. He also said he was so stupid and naive, and that he'd rented a Little Tyrant Server. Little Tyrant really is the perfect description..."
"The netizens on the gaming forums are all hilarious too. The more I read, the more I want to laugh... I'm posting the link. Come join the fun, everyone."
In an era when people could spend an entire night in chat rooms without getting tired, when they could talk to strangers on QQ for a whole day, even a mildly interesting incident could easily draw a huge crowd.
Before long, replies from other forums appeared on the gaming forums.
"Tianya Forum netizen was here. I'm such a badass. Keep the formation."
"Xici Hutong netizen was here. I'm such a badass. Keep the formation."
"Shuimu Tsinghua BBS netizen was here. I'm such a badass. Keep the formation."
"Mop netizen..."
These people really had not been brought in by the Internet Trolls!
Many of them had never even touched an online game. They had come purely to check in and join the spectacle.
This server-lag crisis had, under Chen Guiliang's deliberate guidance, turned into a so-called farcical incident.
And it directly created four viral memes: "I'm such a badass," "keep the formation," "so stupid and naive," and "Little Tyrant Server."
The staff member on duty at 17173 noticed that site traffic had surged and hurriedly called the supervisor, hoping to expand its influence while they had the chance.
They did not care what Shanda might think, nor did they care whether Legend of the Abyss lived or died. That very night, they rushed out an article and posted it on the homepage: "Private Server Fiasco Draws Enthusiastic Attention from Netizens Nationwide."
After the article went up on the homepage, many netizens who did not play private servers came over out of curiosity to read the threads.
The more they read, the more amusing they found it, so they simply stayed on the forums to spam replies and play with the memes. Quite a few even planned to check out what Legend of the Abyss looked like once downloads resumed.
On the major forums and university BBS sites, "I'm such a badass" and "keep the formation" also began appearing in threads unrelated to games.
Netizens who knew nothing about it found it utterly baffling and hurriedly asked what was going on.
It was still Breaking the Circle!
It even spread into the real world.
Popular Software was conducting related research and statistics for its "2003 China Computer Game Industry Report," which would be published next New Year's Day.
Data from game companies and sales outlets would not be available until the end of December.
But they had already begun interviewing industry professionals and players. One project involved interviewing active users on gaming forums, and they had joined forces with 17173 to create a survey questionnaire.
Editor Lao Wei was responsible for interviewing online-game users, and the three weekend evenings were the most convenient time to work.
He had not browsed the site for long before spotting those hot threads. He immediately asked about the whole story, then quickly skimmed through the posts and replies.
As Lao Wei read, his eyes lit up. He felt he could write an article about it and had even worked out the content in his head.
Two Legend players who loved games had decided, in a drunken fit of nostalgia for their gaming days and old friends, to make their own private server. They announced the idea on a forum, resonating with countless netizens. This eventually led to a series of absurdly funny incidents and created a whole bunch of buzzwords, including "game refugees," "internet orphans," "Little Tyrant Server," "I'm such a badass," "keep the formation," and "so stupid and naive."
Of course, he would also discuss the legality of private servers and call on the relevant departments to improve the laws, giving the report more depth.
Readers liked this sort of magazine article.
After all, countless people across the country could not get online every day.
Some magazines could even directly copy forum posts and still keep readers engrossed.
Chen Guiliang stared at the news article on 17173's homepage for a long time before saying, "Brother Gang, let's wait for Shanda's Lawyer's Letter or a phone call."
Tao Chenggang held a Huazi between his lips and smoked in silence. He did not know whether to be happy or worried. "What do you think Shanda will do?"
"Who knows?" Chen Guiliang said.
Feng Tao suddenly shouted from the side, "The districts aren't lagging much anymore. The netizens who came purely for the spectacle have probably left the game. And after disconnecting, some people just went to the forums to build floors instead."
Yang Yuhui said, "Brother Gang, an editor from Popular Software added me on QQ. He says he wants to interview us."
Tao Chenggang: "..."
Chen Guiliang: "..."
They still had no idea that the private-server scene had already exploded.
At that very moment, every other private-server operator was watching Legend of the Abyss.
They had no choice but to pay attention. The topic was too huge, and it wasn't as if they were Blind Monk.
Before you continue