Planning the Starfield Building Cup; Online Controversy Continues
Over the past few days, the appearance of a new modpack had set off another wave of Minecraft fever.
In particular, some players had recently begun posting videos of their own builds on short-video platforms, attracting plenty of likes and traffic.
With that in mind, Chen Ze and the other four began coordinating with Starfield Game Company to organize a building competition called the Starfield Building Cup.
Chen Ze was in his livestream, but instead of playing online with Da Sima and the others, he addressed his viewers.
"Guys, we're not playing today. I've got something to tell you."
"Starfield and we are planning to hold a building competition together. It's called the Starfield Building Cup."
"The competition is all about building. We'll see who can create the best builds in Minecraft."
"Entering is simple. Sign up on the Xingye Gaming Platform, then post a short video with the associated keywords 'Minecraft' and 'Starfield Building Cup.'"
"There'll be an online vote, and viewers can vote for whichever builds in the videos they like."
"Finally, Dan and the rest of us five will give the top hundred contestants a more detailed evaluation and score."
"..."
As he spoke, he opened the Xingye Gaming Platform and found the registration page.
The page showed the registration and competition process, explaining how to sign up and take part.
Any player who wanted to give it a try could sign up there.
Seeing this, the people in the livestream couldn't help marveling. A game could have a competition? This really was the first time they had seen one.
[Minecraft really is something. They actually thought of holding a little competition.]
[Yeah, I've only seen competitions like this in sports. Now a game is holding one too.]
[Speaking of which, is the 500,000-yuan first prize real? I can earn 500,000 just by building something?]
[You must be dreaming. With so many people signing up, there are bound to be some experts. You think you can just throw something together and take the money?]
[Then civil engineering majors are going to crush it this time. Isn't this their specialty?]
At the same time, comments about the same thing kept appearing in Dan King's, Da Sima's, and the others' livestreams.
The five had long since surpassed a million concurrent viewers, so it was easy to imagine how widely word spread with all of them promoting it at once.
The next day, several trending topics appeared on short-video platforms.
["Minecraft" Starfield Building Cup competition!]
[A game is holding a competition too? Which way will the times turn?]
[Minecraft's graphics are terrible. It doesn't deserve to be called a game.]
[The "Minecraft" building competition champion wins 500,000 yuan!]
[Qisheng announces that its new game, "Mini World," is coming soon.]
As Minecraft broke into the mainstream, several different trending topics also appeared.
Among them, Qisheng's Mini World attracted considerable attention.
Qisheng released an animated preview of the game's content. It was a sandbox creation game similar to Minecraft, though its graphics seemed sharper and better.
That also led to the trending topic claiming that Minecraft's graphics were terrible and it didn't deserve to be called a game.
Inside Starfield Game Company.
Su Ye looked at a trending video on his phone and smiled disdainfully.
Why is Qisheng so much like that company from my previous life? Does it really like stirring up trouble that much?
But he wasn't worried in the slightest. He knew his own game, and it wasn't something just any imitator could copy.
The game had now surpassed ten million players, which meant he had already built a moat.
Why would players casually abandon the original game to play a knockoff?
He opened a video posted by a game reviewer.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Galiang, and I only tell the truth."
"I'm posting this video today for one reason: to show every gamer the true face of 'Minecraft' and what Starfield is really like."
In the video.
Galiang stood in front of the camera and spoke emphatically. "First, let's get to know Starfield Game Company."
"Years ago, this company was criticized and boycotted by everyone because of its terrible graphics."
"The most representative example was their old game 'I Love Mountain Climbing.'"
"Not only were the graphics bad, but they also hurt your eyes when you played. The snow on the mountain was so white. Who'd want to play that?"
"Who would have thought that even now, Starfield would put out another game with such terrible graphics?"
As he spoke, a Minecraft texture image he had inserted appeared in the video.
The tree in it didn't look like a tree; it was made of blocks, and when enlarged, it was a blurry, mosaic-like image.
The video cut to another image, showing the player-controlled Steve, who looked even uglier.
"Look, this is the quality of the graphics in 'Minecraft.' They're so bad they remind me of the cartoons I watched as a kid. They might not even be as good as those."
"Why should we gamers play a game like this?"
"It has let us down. Playing it just makes me feel like I'm wasting my time and dirtying my eyes."
"..."
The video was a little over two minutes long. Galiang reviewed Minecraft's visuals, characters, and all sorts of other content, placing particular emphasis on the game's graphics.
After watching the video, Su Ye laughed at the sight of him spouting nonsense with such a straight face.
He was sure the man had never played the game. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said something so brain-dead.
It was no different from those moronic streamers who said dihydrogen monoxide and decarbonated formaldehyde had been added to water.
If there's something wrong with your brain, get it treated. Seeing this bunch of bloggers, either playing dumb or genuinely stupid, was really annoying. He hated disgusting guys like that most of all.
Just a clown jumping up and down.
At that moment, Luan Le'an walked in carrying a tablet. When he noticed the video Su Ye was watching, he looked a little dazed. He hadn't expected President Su to have seen it already.
"President Su, should I find someone to sue these guys?"
He had also seen the videos posted by that bunch of clowns, and it was fair to say they were talking complete nonsense.
They hadn't even played it, yet they spoke so righteously. Did they really think everyone on the internet was stupid?
Su Ye said nothing. With a slight movement of his finger, he opened the video's comment section.
[Are people really playing "Minecraft" when its graphics are this bad?]
[The game's actually pretty fun. It's the first creation game, I'd say. I've played it too, and it isn't nearly that bad.]
[Galiang already said so, and you're still playing it? No wonder you keep getting ripped off. You won't even listen to Galiang.]
[Why the hell do I have to listen to him??? Is he your dad? I like playing it. So what?]
[Play it or don't. If you don't, get out of the way. You can tell Galiang hasn't even played it himself.]
The comment section was sharply divided. One side took Galiang's advice and trashed Minecraft, while Minecraft players pushed back on the other.
As he read the exchanges in the comments, Su Ye tapped his finger lightly on the desk. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Luan Le'an watched Su Ye thinking and stood quietly beside him.
When Su Ye's finger finally stopped, he said evenly, "Leave them alone for now. Save their videos and screenshots. We'll deal with them after we've dealt with Qisheng."
He knew Qisheng had to be behind this bunch. Otherwise, so many of them wouldn't have appeared overnight.
Ultimately, Qisheng was still the one they chiefly faced, this so-called captain of the old era, as far as he was concerned.
But in the face of games from the new era, this was nothing more than a struggle.