The news that Old Qin had logged off out of guilt quickly became a hot topic on the forums. Even the Transia Tavern was full of players who had watched the whole livestream, worrying about his health.
After all, Old Qin was no spring chicken.
The fans who had followed the True Otherworld livestreams for a long time had formed a rather unusual community. Everyone knew of "Grandpa Qin's" fame, and all sorts of ridiculous urban legends about him circulated among the fans. But no matter how outlandish those rumors were, one thing was certain.
Old Qin was an important part of the player community as it stood.
As usual, the battle to retake the trench zone had been livestreamed on the Tavern that day. The stream was from the perspective of Transia's top internet celebrity, Big Sayn. The guy's footage was an incredible, uninterrupted single take. Even the freeze-frame of his final moment, when the gnolls tricked him into dying to "Earth Explosion Star," had an indescribably cruel artistic quality to it.
The players' rare defeat had also become the most discussed topic of the day. Some pessimists thought that if things kept going this way, the Maginot Line would be hard to hold. More radical players said the veterans had lost their fighting spirit!
First they lost to the gnolls, then to the kobolds, then to the ratmen. If they lost to everyone, there'd be nobody left to lose to. The fans, who had always been blunt, said this was utterly shameless!
So now was the time to recruit some new players full of fighting spirit and give the gnolls a proper demonstration of what brutality looked like.
Yes, exactly!
They meant the eager reserve players who were just waiting for a chance to contribute to the Transians'