Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

He An continued speaking. "Of course, everything that I want to say constitutes smuggled goods as well. I hope you can understand this, Boss Ma.

"That's because there's no such thing as an objective and fair expression. Anything that has been through artistic processing would be affected by the hidden intentions of the person who did the work.

"However, the goods that I am about to smuggle were produced by me alone. They are my personal vision for the future local gaming industry. Boss Ma, it'll be great if it resonates with you, but it's also fine if it does not."

Seeing He An's stern expression, Pei Qian pushed his conflicting emotions to the back of his mind and listened intently.

"I am going to split today's lesson into two parts.

"In the first part, I am going to talk about my successful experience while working on The Landlord Game. I will also theorize how I managed to smuggle the right 'goods' and exercise restraint at the same time.

"In the second part, I will briefly talk about my views on the gaming industry's prospects for development—or shall I say, my proposal."

Pei Qian nodded.

He could very clearly see that He An looked different today than in the previous two lessons. In the previous two lessons, He An had been speaking as an observer. He had been carefully analyzing successful cases and interpreting successful elements as a professional.

However, today's He An seemed to have a glow that only belonged to preachers who cleared confusion by giving moral and practical instruction. He reminded Pei Qian of old gentlemen who worried about their countries and people.

Pei Qian wondered if he was just seeing things.

After organizing his thoughts, He An said, "First, I want to talk about The Landlord Game.

"Actually, the game's gameplay did not come from me alone. The inspiration came from a board game I played during my enlightenment years. The origins of the game can be traced back to an American political economist named Henry…"

Pei Qian had a vague impression of this story, but everything he knew was in a mess, and he did not really understand it. Now, hearing He An's narration, things were gradually becoming clearer.

This political economist named Henry was born in poverty. He worked as a sailor, a miner of gold, and a printer. Throughout his work, he came into contact with countless people who were even poorer and of a lower class than him.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the United States developed at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. However, that also caused an unprecedented widening of the gap between the society's rich and poor.

Henry realized that the accumulation of limitless wealth had not been improving the lives of the poor. Instead, it had only been widening the gap between themselves and the rich.

The income of the top one-percent of society had surpassed the sum of the bottom fifty percent of society's income.

Thus, Henry began thinking about the reason behind this massive inequality. In the end, he completed an entire thesis entitled 'Progress and Poverty', which exposed the root cause of all of it—the United States' land privatization system.

In the early twentieth century, a female journalist named Elizabeth inherited Henry's theories and decided to create a board game to test them. After a lot of development, the board game's rules were finally perfected.

That was the prototype of He An's game, The Landlord Game.

He An sipped his coffee and continued speaking. "While I was working to produce The Landlord Game on the computer, I wanted to make it more interesting. That was why I added a lot of fascinating game play.

"For example, I added a variety of props and cards, increased the number of special events, established a perfect stock system, incorporated character voices, created a lottery mechanism, and so on. I also added different maps and polished the style of the game…

"All of those designs served to make the game more interesting and cause gamers to love it more.

"Obviously, that game contains smuggled goods—my agreement with Henry's theories.

"Many people have tried analyzing my game, looking for elements that were confirmed by reality. For example, the poor get poorer, and the rich get richer; buying land emphasizes one's first-mover advantage; location is king; insider information is important when dabbling in the stock market; paying attention to surrounding events is important when making investments; the essence of war is the redistribution of resources; people who do not have starting capital cannot enter the market…

"I had thought about most of those when I started designing the game. I only had a vague understanding of some during the designing process. However, I had absolutely no clue of an extremely small number of those things when I was developing the game. It was only when I was trying to perfect the rules that they took shape.

"Obviously, I had stuffed a lot of smuggled goods in that game. However, that game did not cause any gamers any disgust. Instead, it resonated with many people. That is one example of a successful plan.

"In general, there are three principles to follow when trying to smuggle goods:

"First, convey positive value.

"Second, guarantee fun.

"Third, have appropriate depth.

"The quality of any product must be achieved, be it a game or other cultural products. Generally speaking, games should be 'fun'. Otherwise, they would not qualify as games. Gamers would not welcome it. The goods you smuggle would not be able to affect others

"You need to have appropriate depth so as not to disgust your players.

"Some of them would dabble and stop. They would only have a preliminary and superficial understanding of whatever you want to express. For them, the main pleasure of the game would lie in the gameplay.

"Some would be savvier. Of their own initiative, they would make associative connections between the game and the world around them.

"Some would dig deep into every detail of the game. They would completely understand the goods that you're smuggling. In very rare cases, they might even over-analyze your thoughts…

"Thus, having appropriate depth would allow those three different types of players to play your game comfortably.

"Of course, I'm just talking about those things in theory. In practice, you would need to make decisions based on the situation you're in. Don't think that this is useless. The game industry, along with most other cultural industries, has no quantifiable standard for success.

"If a quantifiable standard for success existed, and there was a method to achieve quick success, everyone would be making successful games by now.

"The real value lies in these theories. Once you understand these theories, you would have found the correct method. That would be the first step to success."

Pei Qian nodded. Obviously, that was the most useful information that He An had in his storage of theories. To Pei Qian, those things were extremely hard to put into practice. Still, the theories themselves were very valuable.

It was like many instrumental disciplines. They could not directly change one's life, but they could subtly do so by increasing one's wisdom.

He An took another sip of his coffee and spoke rather emotionally. "Next, I will share my opinion on the current gaming industry

"This only represents my own thoughts. Boss Ma, you can take it with a pinch of salt. It's alright if you do not agree with me

"The domestic game market is becoming increasingly prosperous, but I think that it's becoming increasingly hollow as well. Games with paywalls that peddle hatred can bring gamers a myriad of emotions. However, do they offer positive value of any kind? No, they do not!

"Of course, I am not saying that every game has to be educational. That's a misconception. Games are for entertainment. Their first goal should be entertainment, and there's nothing wrong with that.

"Yet, that does not mean that games are hollow and meaningless in themselves. A game that peddles hatred, plays with chance, and throws side-balls could achieve some success in the market. However, they would never become classic games that are known throughout generations, and they would never win any real respect from gamers.

"We want to emphasize that games are for entertainment, and that's right. However, we cannot mock developers who want to express certain content to gamers through their games. They are essential to the market.

"Unfortunately, game developers like that are few and far between in the current market.

"Everyone likes violence, dramatic scenes, beautiful faces, and hot figures. The competition among game merchants can be likened to dishes that contain increasing amounts of seasoning. Gamers' taste thresholds are constantly pushed higher, leaving chefs who insist on sticking to original flavors with nowhere to go.

"That's why I'm considering retirement as well. I know full well that, in such a market, creating another game like The Landlord Game would not guarantee success anymore.

"That's also why I admire Tengda Games so much. Tengda Games' Boss Pei is one of the rare developers in China, who dare to and are good at smuggling goods in their games. What's more, his games are always so thought-provoking.

"Boss Ma, if you become an outstanding game developer in the future, I also hope that you would understand how to smuggle the right goods in your games, appropriately and with restraint.

"Of course, don't forget to carefully wrap your smuggled goods with exquisite and acceptable packaging. You would definitely fail if you reveal the cold, hard truth to gamers directly."

Pei Qian listened intently, feeling conflicted inside.

He could sense the sorrow of a hero's twilight from He An's speech. He could imagine what He An had been like when he was working on The Landlord Game and other successful games: high-spirited and enjoying both fame and fortune.

Now, facing a market environment like that, he looked like he was retiring nonchalantly, but there was a sense of helplessness in that decision as well.

Still, there was good news. Pei Qian felt like he could definitely incur losses this time!

Did Struggle contain any smuggled goods?

Regardless of the answer, Teacher Qiao would surely be able to come up with some smuggled goods.

Yet, this game was just as He An had said. The cold, hard truth would be placed right in front of gamers! That was taboo!

According to He An's theory, to successfully smuggle goods, the game had to have appropriate depth, so that the gamers who dug more also learned more. Burying useful content just under the surface would dissuade most gamers, who were only looking to dabble and stop. That was a surefire way to fail!

He An glanced at the clock. "Alright, let's stop here for today.

"I hope this lesson was helpful to you.

"Also, please remember not to place the cold, hard truth directly in front of gamers. It would only backfire."

Afraid that 'Ma Yang' would knowingly commit the crime, he emphasized the lesson once more.

Pei Qian nodded. "Alright, Teacher He! I'll keep your advice in mind!"