Chapter 72 - Whale Specific Card

The friendly aid feature achieved three different goals.

First, weaker players will be able to clear some levels that they can’t clear themselves with the aid of stronger accounts. This presents itself as a stronger player carrying the weaker one, and in turn the weaker player will feel as though they weren’t playing alone, making the game feel more social, and increasing the player retention of weaker players.

Second, stronger players with stronger cards achieve an advertising effect, showing everyone on their friends list how strong the card is, incentivising other players to spend money in game as well.

Third, the non-playing players will naturally flock to the stronger whales, flooding them with friend requests. This makes the stronger players feel a great sense of satisfaction, further encouraging them to spend more money.

These three points are key to the profitability and retention of I Am MT. And a simple “friendly aid” system allowed for the best possible result using the least amount of resources possible, without the need of any co-op mode, achieving the three aforementioned points.

Hyping up using the animated series, free downloads, as well as inviting friends allowed I Am MT’s user base to spread far and wide into the circles of the younger population.

And the paying players will maintain at about ten percent.

—

Inside the experience store, Chen Mo was so bored that he yawned a few times.

The servers for I Am MT were rented, the customer service was outsourced as well, and the player feedback would be filtered back to the developer once in a while.

There virtually weren’t any problems with bug fixes or server maintenance in the parallel world. Although many players will have questions regarding buying credits or have criticism with the gaming experience, they were usually handled by a customer experience team. All Chen Mo had to do was gather the opinions of the players and make changes to the game accordingly where he sees fit.

Everyone else within the experience store was playing I Am MT, surrounding Wen Lingwei asking questions about strategies on team composition.

Wen Lingwei had spent around three hundred RMB, and the others have also spent some money in game, some just ten, some slightly more at thirty.

“You currently have Shaman and Cannon Lady. You should probably focus more of your resources to level up Cannon Lady, and work toward Shaman’s leader ability, then your Chain Lightnings will be really strong.”

“Yep, you have many single target casters, and could probably do crazy burst damage to take out the enemies. You could add Thief or Rogue to your team, with the five fireball priests in a row, you could probably wipe out the enemy in an instant.”

“Jia Peng… Oh, your cards are terrible, may as well make a new account.”

Wen Lingwei gave each and everyone advice.

Su Jinyu came to Chen Mo’s side and asked, “Why aren’t you playing?”

Chen Mo said, “Oh, because I don’t have any money.”

Su Jinyu was speechless, “This game doesn’t require money!”

Chen Mo said, “You wouldn’t understand, it’s free when it’s the most pricey.”

Wen Lingwei walked over, “Please stop pretending you’re poor, Mr. Stingy owner. You said it yourself that I Am MT was capable of raking in more than twenty million a month, which means you’d be getting ten million in your pocket this month!”

Chen Mo waved his hand, “That’s when the end of the month comes, and that day is not today. Besides, I don’t have much money left to spend on credits, as I’ve spent most of the money on the animations.”

Wen Lingwei said, “Oh, then when you get your paycheck, be sure to get yourself to V12, that way we have someone to rely on.”

Chen Mo said, “I have to use that money to develop better games, why would I waste it on things like these?”

Everyone was speechless.

“Do you believe the words that just came out of your mouth yourself? Obviously you just want to develop more pay to win games like these!” complained Wen Lingwei.

Chang Xiuya asked, “Manager, do you mind telling us if there are any V12s in the game?”

Su Jinyu was shocked, “No way right? V12 takes fifty thousand RMB, is it possible for someone to spend fifty thousand on the game already?”

Wen Lingwei also thought it was not possible, “Probably not, no matter whose money it is, it doesn’t come easy. I think there would be V12 players in a month or two, because of how high the ceiling of this game is.”

Chen Mo said, “Uhh, actually there’s already some.”

Su Jinyu was shocked, “Really?! Who?”

Chen Mo said, “There’s actually twenty seven V12s, which one are you after?”

Everyone was stunned.

Jia Peng muttered, “I really don’t understand the world of the rich.”

Su Jinyu said, “I don’t either.”

Wen Lingwei said, “Quickly! Give me their account ID and I’ll add them! I’ve been stuck on this level for so long, all I need is a max level Elder Sister to pass this!”

Meanwhile, someone walked through the door.

It was when Chen Mo realised, isn’t that Zhao Zihao?

“Why have you made your way here?” Chen Mo was shocked.

Zhao Zihao was also shocked, “Oh my, why are there so many people? So many girls, too.”

Chen Mo stood up and said, “Oh, let me introduce you to the assistant I was posting about before, Su Jinyu. And well, they are all players.”

Chen Mo then pointed to Zhao Zihao, “One of my bros, Zhao Zihao. And uhh, an idiot.”

Zhao Zihao greeted the others with a nod before sitting down.

“By the way, Chen Mo. Could you take a look at this, which card should I pick out of these ones?” Zhao Zihao passed his phone over.

Chen Mo took a look at his phone and said, “Hmm? You’re also playing I Am MT?”

Zhao Zihao said, “Yeah, I can’t not play your game right? I’ve been busy before, so I wasn’t playing when it was launched, so it’s a fairly fresh account.”

The others took a look, wow, V12.

What the, it’s a whale!

Everyone was shocked when they looked further into what cards he had.

Elder Sister, Nosuke Shinsuke, Huntress, Cannon Lady, Winter… He pretty much had all of the rare cards, and even had duplicates for quite a few of them.

Wen Lingwei was speechless, “You’re outrageous! All these cards are wasted on you!”

Zhao Zihao scratched his head, “Sigh, I’ve drawn a bunch of them and I haven’t spent the time looking into them, it would’ve been better to come here for advice.”

Jia Peng said, “Senior, give him some tips.”

Wen Lingwei rolled her eyes, “Why would I embarrass myself in front of the owner?”

Chen Mo looked at Zhao Zihao’s cards and asked, “What type of strategy are you going for?”

Zhao Zihao was shocked, “What type of strategy? Just give me the best one you have!”

Chen Mo said, “There isn’t really a best strategy, all of them have their strengths and weaknesses. Whatever, since you have so many good cards, may as well go for the “Unmatched Pro” strategy.”

Chen Mo explained as he put the strategy together.

“The Unmatched Pro strategy is like a love story, consisting of Elder Sister, Cannon Lady, Shinsuke, and Winter. These four characters provide a high amount of firepower and burst damage. It’s a waste of an Elder Sister to not use this strategy.

“As your who you should bring as your fifth, because your leadership stat isn’t high enough, you’ll have to consider that later. You probably could consider Blood Elf Mage, Shaman or maybe Waning Moon. Depends if you’re more conservative or more liberal.[1]”

Jia Peng had his hand on his forehead, “There are all free gifts. The team of a real whale!”

Zhao Zihao nodded, “Sure, I’ll play with this strategy for now. I’ll level up these cards at the meanwhile too.”

Wen Lingwei scowled, “Why do you say that this strategy is’ the best? How could the four most overpowered cards on the same team not be the best strategy?”

Chen Mo said, “There isn’t a best strategy, the cards have strengths and weaknesses.”

Chan Xiuya asked, “Well, could you recommend a more approachable strategy?”

Wen Lingwei nodded, “Yeah, it’d be better if it could destroy the “Unmatched Pro” strategy.”

Chen Mo was speechless, “Why would I let you peasants bully a whale? Will I be making money then?”

TL note:[1] In playstyle, not politically