Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

“An announcement to the entire network?”

“With less than 2,000 of us, does sending an announcement to the full server of 100,000 people seem feasible?”

“If we’re this arrogant… won’t it lead to trouble? It’s like being the bird that sticks its head out and gets shot.”

“Once we say this, we’ll be responsible for the security of an entire world. Can we handle it?”

However, many people didn’t even have to think about it before expressing their strong support:

“That’s our group owner, full of domineering spirit!”

“That’s the kind of overbearing attitude we need! Can all 100,000 of them gather together to really mess with us?”

“Bring it on, we won’t back down! Let’s give them hell and darken the sky and banish all light!”

…

The opinions of the people around were somewhat divided.

But that was also the reason why the group owner wanted to initiate the vote: everyone makes the decision together and shares the consequences.

The group owner, Second Injury, is actually named Shang Gao. He is the second child in his family, and his online nickname “Second Injury” is actually an inversion of “Shang Er.”

He has always been decisive, acting on the spot.

In the Whirlpool Forum Player Alliance group chat, a full announcement popped up again, urging all players present to participate in voting.

[Shall we declare to the entire network: The current Public World No. 57 is a peace zone, prohibiting all hostile and destructive acts?]

[Option 1: Declare!]

[Option 2: Do not declare!]

[Option 3: Other opinions.]

Second Injury turned to yell at the nearby group members: “Vote first!!”

Naturally, the group didn’t forget to shout as well.

At the same time, he strongly felt that “My World” needed a system that could make wide-area announcements.

Otherwise, just relying on shouting like this, the limitations were too great.

Although their own team and team channels could communicate with each other, cross-team and cross-group communication still rely on their voice.

There was no useful communication channel between strangers.

Just like now: They were far away, watching that floating island, and the two sides couldn’t contact each other. To form an alliance, they had to use the oldest method—sending an envoy to deliver a document (intention of alliance and cooperation).

As Second Injury was wandering in his thoughts, the number of votes in the group chat soared.

Although everyone had reservations in their hearts when discussing the matter just now, it seemed that the pros and cons were half and half. But when it came down to the actual vote, these people became fierce—

[Option 1] had an overwhelming advantage all the way, while [Option 2] and [Option 3] were completely negligible, not even able to see [Option 1]’s taillights.

Five minutes later, the voting ended:

[Option 1: Declare!] – 96.5%

[Option 2: Do not declare!] – 3.4%

[Option 3: Other opinions.] – 0.01%

Under such a huge gap, there was no need to consider the issue of the majority oppressing the minority. This definitely represented the urgent demands of the vast number of group members!

When the group members had needs, the group owner had to satisfy them!

Second Injury stood in place and began editing the announcement.

Ten minutes later, a notice [To all My World Public World Players] was released, appearing on all mainstream social networking sites such as Whirlpool Forum, Spiritual Rhinoceros, P Video Station, Cloud Dream Game Community, etc.

‘Today, the Whirlpool Forum Player Alliance officially declares:

The [World No.57] in “My World” is a peace zone, and all malicious destruction is prohibited. Otherwise, it will be regarded as a challenge to all members of Whirlpool Forum Player Alliance!

We hereby solemnly notify all players and groups who are aggressively attacking, destroying, killing, and spreading chaos in the [World No. 57]: Cease your malicious actions immediately!

We also call on all [World No. 57] peaceful players: If you encounter any personal injury or damage to property, you can post on the Whirlpool Forum “My World” section for help, and we will do our best to help you take revenge.

We may not be able to stop others from causing destruction, but we can cut them down afterward!

Please believe in the commitment of the Whirlpool Forum Player Alliance and its 1,600 members!

Lastly, players and groups who are willing to join the alliance or cooperate with the alliance for maintaining the game environment of [World No. 57] are welcome to inquire.

Wishing all players a happy gaming experience!’

…

Second Injury was not a celebrity, and he only had some fame on the Whirlpool Game Forum.

But at this moment, on the first night of the release of “My World,” when large-scale chaos was happening, countless frustrated players retreated to their personal worlds. This announcement, filled with overbearing words, became immediately popular!

At the same time, the group urged everyone to like and reply, contributing to its popularity. The natural traffic from various social platforms began to flow in rapidly.

Likes, comments, and reposts soared!

Various game media and self-media that had been waiting for something big to happen, were already looking for hot news. Now, they naturally followed up as soon as possible.

The popularity spiked again and quickly climbed to the hot topic list, starting its upward journey.

Large amounts of traffic naturally brought about a lot of discussions.

Praise and controversy surged simultaneously.

Enthusiastic players went on and on:

“[World Peace Declaration]!”

“Amazing! I just got attacked, minding my own business, when suddenly three people surrounded me and killed me. Even my house was demolished, it was infuriating!”

“When I was eight years old, I watched helplessly as our house was forcibly demolished. Now that I can finally play a game, I built the house from memory, only for it to be torn down again by a group of people! Fuck! I must take care of these people!”

“Translate, what does ‘World Security’ mean?”

“‘Peacemaker’! Magnificent! Number 57, right? Who can teleport me there? I want to help!”

“My wish is: World Peace!!”

…

The criticizing players’ words were even more fierce:

“Other people spend money to buy the game and play however they want since Cloud Dream doesn’t stop them. What’s it to you?”

“Are you meddling too much?”

“A dog trying to catch a mouse, minding other people’s business!”

“You dare act this arrogantly with only over a thousand people? Not afraid that others will band together and flatten you?”

“I can’t stand these arrogant people. Wait for it, I’m coming to screw you right now!”

“Announcing to the whole world, who the hell do you think you are? Lincoln?”

“Fuck, don’t tell me this is really Lincoln trolling…”

…

Netizens’ wild imaginations sometimes have no boundaries and completely ignore logic.

Lincoln had nothing to do with this; he was just a spectator.

After the game was released, he watched for an hour, saw no problems, and left. At this point, he had already finished dinner and returned home.

When Lincoln saw no problems, he mainly meant there were no flaws in the game mechanics and platform after transitioning from the traditional game platform to virtual reality games.

As for the players’ grudges and grievances, that wasn’t his business.

How does that saying go?

Players have their own happiness.

Lincoln fully believes in their ability to solve problems on their own.

— Of course, it’s still fun to watch the drama unfold.

Lincoln and Mavis had already changed their avatars and were planning to check out the No.1 public world.

Players who first entered the Public World were undoubtedly the most enthusiastic and eager, and their gaming experience largely represented the players’ feelings about “My World.”

But after seeing this announcement, following the “eat the biggest melon” principle, they didn’t hesitate to change course to World No.57.

As this announcement spread wider and quickly climbed into the top 10 of the 24-hour hot topic list, Public World No. 57 had become the whirlpool’s center.

Many players were trying various methods to transfer to this world.

Lincoln was already considering whether or not to add a cooldown time for the world transfer function.

However, these scattered players who came temporarily were still dispersed throughout the entire world.

It’s worth mentioning that because “My World” has a simple map mechanism, it can be made very large, as it is generated by fixed types of blocks and algorithms.

But for the sake of players’ gaming experience, it wouldn’t be made overly huge. Otherwise, players in Public Worlds would run for half an hour without seeing anyone, which would defeat the purpose of playing in a Public World.

That’s why the actual size of the Public World isn’t much larger than the Personal Worlds, with areas similar to Metropolis and Night City.

But if you include the underground area, it’s much larger since the depth of Metropolis and Night City’s land is very limited.

With this area, players traveling on foot wouldn’t be as comfortable as driving in Metropolis and Night City, but it wouldn’t feel unreachable either.

Players who crossed worlds for various reasons were quickly rushing towards the Whirlpool Forum Player Alliance’s base.

At this point, the Grand Alliance players had successfully contacted Camille Victoria’s floating island, clarified misunderstandings, and formed a preliminary alliance.

Though Camille Victoria’s group’s goal was peaceful farming and the Second Injury’s group’s goal was to promote peace through war, many people voted to use the banner of peace to fight others. At least in the general direction, everyone was still on the same side.

After forming an alliance, they quickly faced their first challenge—a large number of hostile players coming from all over the world, trying to destroy Second Injury’s base and, if possible, drive them out of World No.57.

Second Injury stood on the hill, watching players from all directions gather in groups, swarming like ants, surrounding but not attacking as if waiting for more reinforcements to form a crushing stance before making a move.

The Grand Alliance had over 1,600 people, which was already an impressive large group, but compared to tens of thousands, it still seemed insignificant.

As for the destructive players, could they gather tens of thousands?

Of course, they could!

Second Injury had no doubt about this.

In fact, he felt that if he hadn’t gathered the group members, they would have become part of the destructive force themselves.

It’s just a game, and there’s no guilt. It’s for fun!

For many players, whose side they represent doesn’t matter, especially for heavy-duty players.

The reason the group owner became the group owner was that they were originally top-notch troublemakers among this group of people.

— See, it started as a small conflict involving only a dozen or so people, but in a short time, it escalated into a “world war” involving thousands and tens of thousands of players. That’s proof enough!

At this moment, Second Injury was looking at the dense enemy forces in the [Team Channel] without panic:

“We can’t wait for them to finish preparing for battle. Get ready, and we’ll make the first move!”

“Charge to the river from the foot of the mountain, then spread out horizontally to devour everyone gathered on the southeast side!”

“Then follow the river clockwise all the way, killing as you go. Don’t wait for the dead to respawn, but rejoin the battle immediately. Get weapons and armor from the battlefield.”

“After this wave, all of us will be fully armed, with enough left over to build forts.”

“Finally, prepare for the countdown! 10 seconds! 10, 9, 8…”

“Charge!!!”