Shen Qinghan didn't pay much attention to this old-fashioned shooting game.
Although she doesn't play games often, she did play competitive games for a while in college, and she even won the university championship in highly difficult mech battles.
This primitive shooting game, naturally, is nothing special.
With a tremor from the assault boat, it seemed as if it hit something.
In a state of virtual body sensation, Shen Qinghan staggered and almost fell. At this moment, a voice sounded in her ear:
"Everyone! Form two lines, avoid the craters!"
"Prepare to land!"
"May the Lord bless you!"
No time to think about what the Lord is, or why they need blessing.
Bang—
The ramp of the assault boat had already lowered.
Shen Qinghan looked up and saw the NPC in front of her was about to charge toward the beach.
Suddenly, the roar of machine guns erupted.
Shen Qinghan hadn't fully straightened up when she saw the NPC in front of her being torn apart by the powerful machine gun fire, with blood and flesh flying towards her.
Warm blood splattered all over Shen Qinghan.
The almost realistic sensation and temperature made her shiver, leaving Shen Qinghan completely stunned.
She couldn't think at all.
Bang!
A sudden severe blow to her chest, before the intense pain could spread.
Bang bang bang bang!
Blood burst from various parts of Shen Qinghan's body; her thoughts were of no use, and she couldn't move in time as a string of machine gun bullets hit her.
With a thud, she collapsed.
Fell onto the deck.
Shen Qinghan's mind went blank.
Not dead?
This thought flashed through her mind, Shen Qinghan wanted to get up but found she couldn't control her body. The colors of the world in her vision grew weaker until she was plunged into darkness...
Then Shen Qinghan's perspective lit up again, but it had turned into a god's-eye view, watching the charge below.
Watching the soldiers from the assault boat being wiped out by defenders on the beach.
The game-over frame appeared before her eyes.
Only then did Shen Qinghan return to the desktop, gritting her teeth.
She clicked on "World War II: Empire's Rise" again.
Just now was really embarrassing.
Fortunately, no one saw.
Didn't even get off the assault boat and got shot dead.
No wonder they had to form two lines.
Standing together like that makes them sitting ducks.
What was Zhao Ming thinking to come up with such a perverse game?
And also...
Why is there only one chance, and after dying, you have to wait so long—will such a long respawn mechanism keep people engaged?
Unyielding Shen Qinghan appeared on the assault boat again.
The game began.
....
....
Half a day later.
In Zhao Ming's office.
It was already approaching noon, and Shen Qinghan was still sitting on the sofa with the virtual headset, playing all morning.
Zhao Ming guessed that she must have died dozens of times by now.
Playing after dying dozens of times, it seemed like his design was successful, drawing even Shen Qinghan in.
Thinking this.
Shen Qinghan moved on the sofa, raised her hand to take off the virtual headset, and threw it on the ground hard:
"Zhao Ming!!!"
Furious!
Played over forty times and couldn't survive for more than three minutes once!
Even twice, she fell into the water and drowned because she couldn't swim up! Just ridiculous!!!
What's with this crappy difficulty!
Shen Qinghan gritted her teeth, stood up, and glared angrily at Zhao Ming by the desk.
Zhao Ming coughed lightly:
"What's wrong, senior?"
Shen Qinghan gritted her teeth:
"What kind of messed-up game is this!"
"Does this game even have a completion option?! Huh?!!!"
"I died over forty times!!!"
"This game is basically impossible to succeed in landing!"
Zhao Ming coughed twice:
"But you played all morning, didn't you? Doesn't this prove the success of the game?"
Shen Qinghan was stuck with anger:
"I was...."
She was unyielding, which led her to start over again and again:
"That's not the same."
Zhao Ming laughed and said:
"How is it not the same."
"It's just a sign of not being resigned, right? Once other players start playing, they'll surely feel the same."
"Everyone thinks this way, then the game will become popular."
Listening to Zhao Ming's twisted logic, Shen Qinghan's head buzzed with a dull hum, unable to find words to refute. She could only say:
"Even if this method is correct."
"Isn't the game difficulty too strong?"
"And why can't they revive after death, must wait until the game ends?"
"Also, bullets impacting action when they hit you."
"These...."
Zhao Ming said:
"These are all very reasonable, aren't they?"
Shen Qinghan gritted her teeth and said:
"How are they reasonable?"
"With such settings, the game experience is too poor."
"Surely there will be player protests."
No respawn attempts, and injuries affecting action.
It's hard to imagine this is a shooting game.
This kind of real-time feedback should be in those large survival games, shouldn't it?
In this type of firearms-based combat game, having injuries affect action is practically life-threatening.
Zhao Ming shook his head and said:
"No, this is the most real, most reasonable."
"Why this game doesn't have data panels or death counts."
"Because in reality, life is only once."
"There's no setting like the other games where you can revive randomly after death."
"It's to make players value life."
"And many imagine that once war comes, how they would command thousands of troops on the battlefield, perform extreme feats, break the enemy to pieces."
Shen Qinghan's face turned red.
It felt as if he was talking about her....
And indeed, before she died for the first time, she was studying how to land on the beach and from which direction to seize the enemy's fire points. As a result... She died over forty times, without once getting onto the beach.
All those thoughts were in vain.
Thinking back now, those ideas were simply ridiculous.
But Zhao Ming didn't notice Shen Qinghan's expression and continued speaking:
"But reality is often very stark."
"The vast majority can only serve as cannon fodder."
"Just like those on the assault boat."
"It aims to let players experience this cruelty, confront reality, and realize that they're only cannon fodder."
"In this way."
"Who would still anticipate war?"
"This meets the anti-war purpose."
"It fits perfectly with the core requirements of 'Anti-War Competition'."
Shen Qinghan frowned slightly, surprisingly unable to refute, and after thinking for a moment, she said:
"Then should the game's pain and the action be adjusted?"
"Even in full condition, it's not easy to land on the beach. If the limbs are hit and broken, it's basically waiting for death."
Zhao Ming shrugged and said:
"Life is only once, and hands and feet are only a pair, aren't they?"
"This virtual helmet scans players' body data to generate bodies."
"To give players a better experience."
"I even specifically enhanced it based on the scans."
"In game, the character you control has both speed and strength at 1.2 times your real-life body."
"In other words."
"When real war breaks out."
"It's no different being cannon fodder in-game to being in real life."
"I'm truly thinking of players, and earnestly making games~"