Two days later, in the morning.
"Morning."
"Morning."
Fu Chen, as usual, was among the first to wake up.
Cai Zhiyuan, on the other hand, seemed like he hadn't slept well. After all, as a programmer, his body was in a chronic sub-health state, making him one of the weaker players.
At this moment, he ordered a bun and soy milk and sat down across from Fu Chen, eating slowly.
He seemed to be pondering something. After eating for a while, he said to Fu Chen, "Do you think future games might have situations similar to the last 'Team Battle'?"
"Team Battle?"
Fu Chen thought for a moment, "Your way of putting it has enlightened me. That's a real possibility."
In the previous game, the 12 players from Community 17 were divided into three different groups and played three different games.
And from the results, each player's earnings were highly correlated with their group's collective decisions.
So, if everyone was prepared for this and reached some kind of consensus before entering the game, they could collaborate better within the limited game time or gain an advantage when playing life-or-death games against players from other communities.
Community 3 was a case in point, and they did indeed prove to be a rather difficult opponent.
Cai Zhiyuan nodded, "Exactly, I thought of this because of the situation with Lawyer Lin's group.
"Those four players from Community 3 had clearly reached an internal consensus within their community from the very beginning. That's why Lu Xinyi's on-the-spot decision, even though it seemed to severely harm the interests of the other three players, still received their support.
"This was also a key factor in how she deceived Jiang He.
"As for Wang Yongxin's group, they split up because they lacked mutual trust beforehand and couldn't reach a consensus.
"Although from the results, Wang Yongxin benefited from the split, and Jiang He and the others' losses were compensated by Lawyer Lin, what if the next game is a 'no survival for lone wolves' type?
"We still need to prepare for this situation in advance."
Fu Chen nodded seriously, "That makes sense."
Jiang He was deceived before, certainly because she didn't think of this layer herself, but there was another very important reason: she subconsciously assumed that the players from Community 3 were like those from Community 17, having just arrived in the new world and not yet able to form a particularly strong bond of mutual trust, which is why she participated in that game.
If she had realized from the start that "Community 3 might be a shady operation," the outcome might have been different.
"However, our situation is still very different from Community 3's.
"Community 3 has likely proposed even stricter motions than we have, for example, completely and equally distributing all chips earned by players after each game.
"But the players in our community wouldn't accept such a motion.
"The most we can do is verbally call on everyone to cooperate with people from the same community as much as possible when they are assigned to the same group in the next game.
"But even if we don't make this call, everyone already knows. After all, if you can cooperate with acquaintances from your own community, who would seek out outsiders?
"As for establishing one or several absolute cores like Community 3, where others must obey unconditionally during the game...
"I feel our community doesn't have the right environment for that at the moment."
Fu Chen raised a new issue.
Cai Zhiyuan had finished his breakfast and wiped his mouth with a napkin, "Mm, I understand.
"Without knowing the specific content and rules of the next game, it's indeed difficult to make any particularly detailed arrangements right now.
"But I think there's at least one point we can discuss with everyone first, to give them a heads-up.
"And that's the 'voluntary participation' situation."
Fu Chen was taken aback for a moment, "You mean, encouraging everyone to voluntarily participate in games? That might be a bit difficult."
According to the rules announced by the Arcade, there are two different mechanisms for selecting players for a game: one is mandatory participation, and the other is voluntary participation.
Cai Zhiyuan explained, "We haven't encountered a voluntary participation situation yet, but since this mechanism is clearly stated in the Arcade's rules, there's bound to be a problem: what if the number of volunteers significantly exceeds the number of players the game can accommodate?
"I guess the Arcade might use certain rules to screen them.
"But no matter what screening rules are used, two points probably won't change:
"First, the earlier you sign up, the more likely you are to be selected;
"Second, the more people who sign up, the more likely you are to be selected.
"So, if a group game appears in the future and some players from our community are already selected for mandatory participation, then the other players should immediately sign up to volunteer, to grab the remaining spots."
Fu Chen understood instantly, "You mean, it's a bit like 'illegal teaming' in games?"
So-called illegal teaming refers to certain games like battle royales where teaming up is not allowed, but many players queue up together to enter the same match and then spontaneously form teams within the game to target other players, thereby increasing their own chances of winning.
"It sounds feasible.
"If we have the majority in a multiplayer game, we could easily gain an advantage and push out players from other communities.
"But, would the Arcade allow such an obvious loophole in the rules to exist?"
Cai Zhiyuan shook his head slightly, "I don't think we need to deify the Arcade too much. The Arcade seems to control everything, but the specific game rules are designed by people.
"Since they're designed by people, there are very likely to be loopholes.
"Perhaps even the game designers themselves might try to leave backdoors in the games."
Fu Chen thought seriously for a moment, "That's true.
"Players who integrate their community and realize the importance of teamwork earlier will definitely have an advantage in the games to come.
"But there's another problem:
"What if the game itself is very brutal, with a high elimination rate? If players from the same community all go in, wouldn't they all be wiped out at once?
"If that happens, it might be better to participate separately."
Cai Zhiyuan was a bit helpless, "But thinking like that gets into a multi-layered cake of what-ifs, and we can't reach a definite conclusion.
"If our community chooses to participate separately while other communities choose to participate as a group, then with a fixed elimination rate in each game, we will always be at a disadvantage."
Fu Chen thought seriously again for a moment, "Mmm, you're right. All in all, it's safer to have as many people participate as possible.
"I'll talk to everyone about it later, but this can only be a sort of proposal, it can't be mandatory."
...
Meanwhile, Wang Yongxin had also come downstairs and ordered a hamburger and a cup of coffee from the vending machine.
Just as he sat down on a single sofa by the window and placed the hamburger and coffee on the coffee table, he saw Ding Wenqiang walking towards him.
Wang Yongxin subconsciously became vigilant.
However, in the next second, Ding Wenqiang came up to him and said somewhat awkwardly, "I've come to apologize to you."
Wang Yongxin was stunned for a moment, "Huh?"
Ding Wenqiang said, "I might have had some prejudice against you before, and my attitude wasn't good. Please don't take it to heart."
Wang Yongxin quickly stood up, "No, no, Uncle Ding, you're being too serious. You're the elder, I should be the one apologizing to you.
"I think we just have some differences in philosophy, but our intentions to better the community are the same.
"We're both men, we won't hold a grudge over such small things, right?"
Ding Wenqiang nodded, "Yes, I think so too.
"...Alright, you go ahead and have your breakfast then."
He seemed to want to say more, but he couldn't think of a topic, so he awkwardly raised his hand in a wave and ended the conversation.
Wang Yongxin also sat back down to continue enjoying his breakfast.
It was obvious that the change in Ding Wenqiang's attitude towards him was largely due to the community security fund.
Wang Yongxin supported the community security fund and had indeed contributed 5% of the chips he earned.
Since Ding Wenqiang directly benefited from this security fund, his opinion of Wang Yongxin naturally changed for the better.
"Money can resolve conflicts, and of course, money can also buy friendship.
"Heh, this place is no different from the real world."
Wang Yongxin looked out the floor-to-ceiling window and stretched comfortably.
However, just then, new information suddenly appeared on the big screen.
[Good morning, players!]
[The 'Arcade' will open in 5 minutes.]
[This game is titled 'King's Judgment', and the objective is to 'Judge the Sinner'.]
[The players from this community with mandatory participation are: Wang Yongxin, Ding Wenqiang, Cai Zhiyuan.]
[This game has a small number of open slots for voluntary participation, which will be randomly selected from all registered players.]
[Please get ready, players.]