A Completely Realistic Game

Seeing the old man's eager-to-answer attitude, Xiao Yu was momentarily at a loss for words. He had harbored too many questions for a long time, and after much hesitation, he finally asked, "So, my first question is, who exactly are you?"

The old man smiled slightly. "My name is Shen Yuan. Perhaps you've heard of this name before."

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "This is absolutely amazing!" He felt a surge of surprise, yet also a vague sense that this was how it should have been. Nevertheless, he asked, "You're the game developer?"

"That's right." The old man nodded.

"So what do you mean by asking me for help? Are you perhaps plotting something big in the game?"

"I do have some big things to do, but if I'm the one who made this game, then it doesn't really count as a conspiracy, does it?"

"What exactly is going on?"

The old man's eyes showed a look of nostalgia. "It all started decades ago. Back then, VR games were all the rage. Holographic virtual technology had just emerged, but it was far from being widespread. In fact, most people thought it was just something from games and novels."

At that time, I was still very young. Having inherited a huge family business, I didn't need to struggle for a living, nor did I have any particular hobbies. I had almost nothing to do and spent my days playing games.

I play a game called "World of Warcraft," and Li Mingfei, one of the game's designers, is also a World of Warcraft. We met in the game.

"World of Warcraft? What a strange name," Xiao Yu thought to himself.

"You may not have heard of this name, but in fact, the prototype of the Sky World was made based on World of Warcraft," Shen Yuan suddenly explained.

Xiao Yu was taken aback upon hearing this; he had indeed heard that the Sky World was based on an old game.

"Actually, what we were playing back then wasn't the original version, but a VR remake. The original was a 2D game."

At the time, World of Warcraft was one of the few games that charged a subscription fee and was relatively fair. However, this didn't last long. In the later stages of the game, World of Warcraft began to sell various in-game items. At first, these were just cosmetic items, but later, all sorts of powerful artifacts started appearing in the store's listings.

It was at this time that I met Li Mingfei. We were both tired of this money-driven game, and together we decided to create a perfect game of our own.

And it was at this very moment that holographic virtual technology began to appear in our field of vision. From the moment I came into contact with this technology, I knew that my game would inevitably have to be made on this platform.

However, holographic virtual technology is extremely expensive. Just one computer requires billions of dollars to purchase. In order to bring the perfect game in my mind to the holographic virtual game platform, Li Mingfei and I sold our family businesses and invested all the funds. However, this was still not enough. Therefore, Li Mingfei specially found some investors to join our industry.

After resolving the funding issue, he and I focused all our energy on game development. Our goal was to create an absolutely perfect game—a fair, realistic game that would completely immerse players.

So what is an absolutely perfect game? As we all know, before the Sky World, players could only play one role in games, namely the so-called adventurer. The biggest problem with this type of game is the lack of a sense of accomplishment. Because no matter how great your achievements are in the game, in essence, you are just doing the same thing that thousands of other adventurers have done. It is just a repetition of history. The ones who really defeat the demon king, rescue the princess and complete the great feat are the characters in the game's storyline.

In the storyline, the adventurers' names don't even exist. So, after several discussions, Li Mingfei and I came up with a bold idea: to create an absolutely realistic game where players can play any role and experience any kind of life.

However, as the game gradually came to an end, Li Mingfei began to have different opinions. The signs had actually appeared a long time ago, but I was too blind at the time to see them.

Li Mingfei wanted to turn Sky World into a money-making machine, selling various character templates at clearly marked prices according to their levels. However, I strongly disagreed. After all, what difference would this game make from those old item-based pay-to-play games? It would just be changing item-based pay-to-play to template-based pay-to-play. Essentially, it would still be a game for the rich, only with more gameplay options.

So I had a falling out with him. What I didn't expect was that Li Mingfei had already prepared for this. He persuaded the other directors in the company to kick me out. Perhaps he had been planning this all along, which is why he brought in so many investors to our company. Those directors clearly sided with him, which is not surprising. After all, those directors didn't care about the quality of the game; they only knew how to make money, and Li Mingfei's plan would undoubtedly allow them to make even more money.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu suddenly realized something was wrong; this was completely different from the scripts he had heard of before.

"Wait a minute, are you saying Li Mingfei kicked you out because you wanted to make the game more realistic and fairer? But what I heard was that you wanted to add some Cthulhu Mythos elements to the game, to make it more terrifying and eerie."

Shen Yuan let out a short, sharp laugh. "Is that what they told you? This lie is really poorly crafted."

The Old Gods were originally part of World of Warcraft. We borrowed heavily from World of Warcraft, so naturally there will be related content. What's so strange about that? It has nothing to do with me; it was all a decision made by Li Mingfei and me. Smearing the losers and protecting their own image is just a common tactic of the victors. You don't actually believe what they say, do you? The game company even said the competition map was absolutely random, but don't you already know that's all fake?"

Xiao Yu nodded. To be honest, he could figure out why the game company would do that. In fact, Shen Yuan's words seemed more credible.

So what do you want me to do for you? And what is your purpose?

"It's very simple. I want this game to return to its original form, a completely realistic game world. Do you know what the three letters RPG in RPG games mean?"

"It means role-playing," Xiao Yu replied.

The old man nodded. "That's right. Players want to play a character completely different from themselves, so RPG developers always strive for the most realistic games. And what could be more realistic than a real world? The game we designed was meant to be completely realistic, with no health points, no mana points, no reputation points, no templates. Every action a player takes in the game has its own consequences. Monsters can build their own kingdoms, and even destroy the Alliance and the Horde, as long as they have enough power. Players can play any race and any role—everything is incredibly realistic."

Xiao Yu was stunned; the old man's words were beyond his imagination.

"Can't we play all sorts of different roles now?"

"No, you are just playing fixed roles. For example, as a BOSS, why would you send your subordinates to their deaths one by one? Because that's the rule. But according to my original design, there would be no such rule. Everyone can become a BOSS, everyone can become a hero, and people will have absolute freedom."

"In fact, it's not too late now, because those extremely realistic game designs are still there, just blocked by the system. If you're willing to help me, we can bring this game to everyone. You must understand that this cause is absolutely righteous. Once we succeed, you and I will become heroes, the creators of a world, and will even be remembered in history." The old man's voice became excited.

"I promise you," Xiao Yu said.

He found it hard to refuse now. Firstly, the other party had helped him and saved his life. Secondly, although he didn't have a direct conflict with the game company, Liu Wei worked for the game company. Even if Liu Wei's kidnapping was an individual act, the game company couldn't escape responsibility. So, in general, he and the game company were actually enemies. Since that was the case, he didn't need to think about them anymore.

And a completely realistic game sounds pretty good.

Of course, he had no intention of making history. No matter how popular the Sky World was, it was just a game. To be remembered in history? How could that be possible?