Anyone not too foolish could glean some information from the data:
If 75% of male players have already taken the initiative to pay, then what about the male players who still insist on splitting the bill?
If 35% of players will proactively bring items into the meeting room, then how many of them do you think are male players?
What are they bringing items for?
What will happen to the male players who don't bring items into the meeting room?
And after this data is announced, do you think it will increase?
It was clearly just a simple percentage, but the amount of information it contained was not small at all, and it carried a very strong implication.
"The so-called items should be the things sold in the vending machine, right?
"In other words, some people proactively bring water or snacks in to share with the player they're meeting, in exchange for a 'like'?
"...It can be done like this??"
Zheng Jie suddenly felt he was too naive, completely unable to keep up with the game's schemes.
He was, of course, one of the 75% who pressed 'I'll pay'. Originally, he felt quite wronged for being forced to pay, but after seeing this data, he felt that since most male players did the same, it was quite normal.
Moreover, he really needed to buy something to bring into the meeting room.
Because after this data was disclosed, the number of male players who realized they should buy things would definitely increase.
By the next meeting, if everyone brought something, Zheng Jie might not gain any advantage by bringing something, but he would definitely be at a disadvantage if he didn't.
He might even get a 'dislike' then.
He could certainly retaliate with a 'dislike', but the problem was he only had one 'dislike' per hour.
Besides, he was here for a blind date, not to argue. Since leaving the game would grant a fixed income of 30,000 minutes of visa time, why bother with these trivial matters.
Zheng Jie hurried to the vending machine to check the item list.
"So expensive! This is a robbery!"
Unlike the vending machines in the community, the ones here only had essential food and drinks. Not only were there fewer categories, but the prices were also almost 5 to 10 times higher.
A regular bottle of mineral water, which sold for 5 minutes of visa time in the community, sold for 50 minutes here.
Additionally, at the very bottom of the product list, there was a special category of items: Visa Time Vouchers.
The vouchers came in three denominations: 1000 minutes, 5000 minutes, and 10,000 minutes, costing 1200 minutes, 6000 minutes, and 12,000 minutes of visa time to purchase, respectively.
And there was a note: [Once a voucher is purchased, the buyer cannot exchange it back into visa time. It can only be given to other players through the meeting room.]
"Isn't this a pure loss? What kind of sucker would buy this!"
The exorbitant prices made Zheng Jie hesitate.
After struggling for a while, he still only bought the cheapest bottle of mineral water.
Returning to his seat, there was just over a minute left of the break.
Zheng Jie looked at the two sets of data on the big screen again, and as he looked, his brow furrowed.
"Huh? That's not right!
"There seems to be a problem with this data!"
At first, Zheng Jie didn't pay much attention, because he subconsciously assumed that since data queries were part of the game rules, the data must be real, even if it seemed a bit counter-intuitive.
But after scrutinizing the wording a few more times, Zheng Jie suddenly realized something was wrong: the data was indeed real, but it had conditions.
[As of the current time, among all male players, the percentage of male players who have pressed the 'I'll pay' button is: '75%'.]
But two meetings had already taken place, and as long as a male player had pressed the 'I'll pay' button once, they would be counted in the numerator.
This didn't mean they pressed 'I'll pay' every time, nor did it mean both parties had reached an agreement.
And the next piece of data had an even bigger problem.
[As of the current time, the percentage of players who have proactively brought items into the meeting room is: '35%'.]
This 35% didn't seem low at first glance, giving the false impression that "more than half of the male players are proactively buying water and snacks for female players."
But upon careful consideration, one would realize that this definitely included female players, as well as players who simply bought a bottle of water for themselves.
Only after deducting these would you get the number of cases where male players specifically bought water or food to share with female players in the meeting room.
But during a query, one could manipulate the preconditions of the percentage calculation with ulterior motives to mislead other players.
For example, this 35% created the illusion that "many male players have already started proactively buying water and snacks for female players."
Zheng Jie was speechless.
"Seriously, how can these people be so malicious!"
Originally, he was wondering if Qian Li and Lu Xinyi had colluded to send this kind of data to put pressure on all the male players.
But he soon felt this was unlikely.
Because outside of the meeting rooms, players had no way to communicate privately.
Moreover, Qian Li and Lu Xinyi belonged to Community 1 and Community 3 respectively, so there was no possibility of prior collusion.
Most likely, after seeing the rules for data queries and broadcasts, they immediately realized this usage and put it into practice at the first opportunity.
Among the 40 players, there were definitely quite a few smart people.
Zheng Jie was not at all surprised that a clever player like Lu Xinyi could figure this out from the game rules.
"But... it seems like male players can't use this function?
"This isn't fair!"
Zheng Jie couldn't think of any data that, if broadcast, would be beneficial to male players.
While he was thinking, the third meeting began.
...
Zheng Jie entered the meeting room, but he was stunned the moment he saw the other person.
Because they were both men.
[Community 1 - Fang Wencong].
This was a plain-looking man, small and thin, with a short beard, looking a bit unkempt.
The two looked at the mineral water in each other's hands, and the scene became a bit awkward for a moment.
However, Zheng Jie noticed that the other person's mineral water seemed to be already opened and was only half full. It didn't seem like it was meant as a gift, but rather for them to drink.
He was silent for a moment, then said, "Excuse me, what is your gender?"
Zheng Jie tried to make his question sound more polite through his tone.
Fang Wencong gave him a somewhat baffled look, "Is that hard to tell? Male."
Zheng Jie was even more confused, "That's strange, I'm also male. Is there a bug in this game? How can two men be on a blind date?
"Could it be that the designer of this game is LGBT? That's quite progressive."
The two took their seats.
Fang Wencong put his mineral water aside, somewhat speechless, "What's all the fuss about? The rules of this game never said it could only match heterosexuals.
"Besides, this event is strictly called a 'Meeting', not a 'Blind Date'."
Zheng Jie was clearly not convinced, "But the name of this game is 'Blind Date Game'! Is a same-sex blind date even appropriate?"
Fang Wencong spread his hands, "How would I know? Go ask the game's designer."
Compared to the previous two meetings, Zheng Jie was significantly more relaxed.
Fang Wencong was too. He had been a bit tense before, but now he slumped comfortably in his seat and stretched.
"What about the room fee? Let's split it, right?"
"Of course."
The two quickly reached an agreement, each pressing the AA button to pay the usage fee for the meeting room.