Chapter 32.1: Mutual Probing
After reading about the background information of the NeuroTech Center, Yang Qiu fell into deep contemplation.
He never imagined that the ones eyeing his game weren't some governmental organization, or even the police, but rather the top scientists in the field of neurology, neuroscience, and AI intelligence technology in China...
If it had been another governmental body, Yang Qiu could simply shut down the official website and stop publicly distributing "beta accounts."
Even though he hadn't obtained any licensing, he also had no intention to make a profit. This was just a LAN multiplayer game for his own amusement and not some private server for an existing game where there was a risk of being sued by the original game company.
No one could interfere with him, and if things didn't work out, he could simply pack up and move the "server" to Southeast Asia. After all, his server didn't require much bandwidth to begin with...
By incorporating the helmet as a prize of the game, he could continue to drive players to keep grinding. Without sufficient incentives, players wouldn't be willing to toil away and build in-game structures, even if their characters didn't get tired or hungry.
But now that it was a group of scientists that had set their sights on him, this revelation made Yang Qiu hesitant.
While he had transmigrated to the other world when he had just been a 16-year-old kid and had spent 80% of his life there, he still respected knowledge and the fundamental logic of sciences, even if his knowledge and sense of the other world's common sense were greater than Earth's.
After some thought, Yang Qiu opened the forum's backend management processes.
The player forum had no moderators, only one administrator with the ID "Developer Team." Since the forum's registration was opened, the administrator's backend had been flooded with all kinds of emails requesting accounts in various creative ways. Initially, Yang Qiu had glanced at a few but hadn't paid much attention to them.
This time, when Yang Qiu opened the backend, the emails weren't just about account requests. There were also various business emails, some of which seemed legitimate, while others dubious, requesting cooperation or partnerships.
Some boasted about how they could secure multiple rounds of investment and financing for the game "OtherWorld," while others explicitly or implicitly hinted at strong capital support that could take the game to new heights and even go public. There were even audacious proposals for acquiring and merging "OtherWorld."
Yang Qiu disregarded all such business emails, regardless of whether they were from legitimate companies or scammers.
If the "core technology" of traversing over to the other world couldn't be presented for an "exchange," then all talk of cooperation would be nothing but drivel.
"There's no way of cooperating, but there's no need to completely sever ties. At the end of the day, I'm also a fellow Chinese after all."
After some thought, Yang Qiu drew a line for himself. A safety line for when dealing with these scientists.
He still rather respected scientists; after all, he grew up seeing names like Sanqiang, Hua Luogeng, Zhan Tianyou, and Yuan Longping, whom everyone worshiped online. [TL note: names of great Chinese scientists of the modern age.]
Thus, Yang Qiu selected and added Director Lu's ID to "approved," then sent the rest of the emails in his inbox to "rejected."
After he was done with that, Yang Qiu then created a post and pinned it to the player forum: "Notice Regarding Release of Closed Beta Accounts."
"Dear players,
Due to technical limitations of server capacity and financial constraints, the development team is currently unable to release a large number of test accounts for this game.
However, in response to the players' enthusiasm, after careful consideration, we have decided to increase the number of closed beta accounts to a maximum of 10.
The distribution method for these closed beta accounts will be announced soon. Please stay tuned.
Please refrain from repeatedly posting threads related to account requests on the forum. Once found, the posts will be deleted, and the user will be banned from posting for three days.
.
—OtherWorld Development Team."
After pinning the post, Yang Qiu changed into a fresh set of clothes and went out for a meal.
When he first rented this suburban house, besides the fact that it was a single-occupancy dwelling with a small courtyard, another reason for choosing the place was because there was a delicious braised noodle shop nearby. Yang Qiu felt that life lacked excitement if he didn't have a bowl of braised sweet potato noodles with various toppings every day.