Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 486: Chapter 469: I want to, but Cloud Dream won’t let me!

The people watching this scene were not just Xu Shenghan and other players who were building the ship together.

Players waiting for the next Ming Wheel Ship on the nearby beach, as well as players onboard the Ming Wheel Ship in the ocean…

Almost all of them had their mouths wide open, looking incredulously at the scene.

This was the first time the players had witnessed a large-scale online update taking place in the game world.

“Wake up, there’s another gift for you!” Mavis’s voice interrupted Xu Shenghan’s daze.

“What?”

“This!” Mavis pointed at him with her fingers.

A familiar sound effect and light emerged simultaneously, and an achievement trophy appeared in front of this “Captain”.

Xu Shenghan held up the brilliant diamond trophy, glanced at the base of the trophy, where only four words were written –

[Honorary Player]

“Honorary Player?” Xu Shenghan paused, “Isn’t this only evaluated at the beginning of each month?”

“Just cutting in line for you~” Mavis replied with a joyful laugh.

Xu Shenghan looked at Mavis, surprised, “You can do this too? What exactly is your role in Cloud Dream?”

Before Mavis could answer, he suddenly realized, “Oh, I remember! ‘Paradise’ specifically thanked you in the trailer!”

Xu Shenghan shifted his perspective, subconsciously surveyed his surrounding environment, paying special attention to the distant dock, ferry, and Dinosaur Island…

When he spoke again, his tone was filled with complete awe: “Did you create this world?”

When Mavis had first appeared in the Death Racing event, people had tried to figure out her identity and had noticed the “Special Thanks: Dream” in the ‘Paradise’ trailer.

But it was hard to have an intuitive feeling looking at these void speculations.

Now, this genius little girl was standing in front of him, able to wield administrator privileges with a wave of her hand or a snap of her fingers.

Looking at the world around him, where he spent a long time lumbering, building, rowing, catching dinosaurs, and the dock that appeared out of thin air right in front of him…

All of this was part of the creation of this pink-haired little girl.

From the depths of his heart, he felt a strong shock.

It was simply too incredible!

Following Cloud Dream’s staff, Xu Shenghan and the unknowing audiences in the live broadcast room suddenly realized why Lincoln had introduced this pink-haired cute girl to everyone so seriously.

“Hehe, there’s a lot.” Mavis grinned even more proudly.

– It was not just a lot, when developing the game with Lincoln, Mavis’s workload was usually nine to one.

But Mavis had to save face for the Master!

“Amazing!” After Xu Shenghan praised loudly, he said softly, “Can we take a commemorative photo together? If not, an autograph will do!”

Small objects held by players, except for a few special items, can be permanently preserved after returning to their personal login space.

The photos can even be converted into different formats for export.

Mavis blinked, “Sure!”

The next moment, Mavis pointed at the cliff on the side, “Look over there!”

“What?” Xu Shenghan turned to look, but there was nothing there.

Before he could react to what was happening, there was a “click” in the air.

Then Mavis casually pulled a photo from the air and handed it to Xu Shenghan.

“Mavis has to go!” After giving the photo, Mavis waved goodbye to Xu Shenghan and a few players behind him, “Have fun everyone!”

A teleportation gate opened behind her, and Mavis quickly dashed inside.

Xu Shenghan reluctantly lowered his waving hand, looking down at the photo in his hand.

In the photo, Mavis was tilting her head slightly on one side, pointing a finger at the camera; on the other side, Xu Shenghan’s mouth was slightly open, looking at the camera in confusion, looking a bit dim-witted.

In the gap between the two, was the Ming Wheel Ship approaching Dinosaur Island on the sea.

The audiences in the live broadcast room, of course, also saw this photo, and comments immediately flooded in:

“‘The cute Mavis and the unknown dumb anchor’!”

“I also want to take a photo with Mavis! So cute!”

“Damn it! I want to have a daughter too!”

“In this world, there really exists a cute loli who possesses both beauty and wisdom! The world is truly beautiful!”

Xu Shenghan ignored the comments, flipping the photo over to find, on the back of the photo, a few lines of somewhat juvenile text:

‘Be sure to enjoy the game created by Mavis!

And, be sure to be happy!

– Mavis’

“Great, this is now my family heirloom!”

“Also, I have an announcement to make: ‘Paradise’, I am going to play this game for life!!”

First, he exported a copy of the photo and posted it. After saving it locally, Xu Shenghan finally felt relieved to put away the photo.

Then, he looked at the camera again: “I can’t wait any longer; guys, I’m going to go make a baby with my girlfriend!”

Naturally, the comments strongly opposed—

“You want to slip away this early?!”

“Prostitution in broad daylight, how wicked!”

“Spill it, which girlfriend are we talking about today?”

—Xu Shenghan, nick-named in-game as [King of the Ocean], short [Sea King]. Often in the live stream, he spouted all sorts of king of the ocean-like words, making it as if he has many girlfriends. The viewers couldn’t really tell whether he was joking or if he was really such a playboy. This became a standing joke in his live stream.

“Don’t go! Do it right here!!”

“The above commenter is right, do it here! I agree!”

“You do your thing, we’ll watch our stream; it’s a win-win, how nice!”

“I have no objections, but Cloud Dream won’t allow it.”

“How about you guys flood Cloud Dream’s official site and let me take off my pants in the game? Oh, and flood the live streaming platforms too, let me take off my pants on the live stream for you all to see,” Sea King Xu Shenghan suggested, with both hands spread.

“I’m perfectly okay with it.” he added.

Being the Sea King, he naturally has exceptionally thick skin and dared to instigate viewers to flood Cloud Dream’s official site without fear.

Behind Sea King, at the dock not far away, shuttle buses arrived one after another. The dock quickly became bustled with activity.

The luxury ferry had already docked and was prepared for the shuttle service.

Jurassic Park, open for business!

However, the first batch of visitors to the park were not going to be these players taking the ferry.

Despite all the players on Dinosaur Island saying: there’s nothing new in the park, we’re not even interested.

But as soon as Jurassic Park’s official opening announcement came out, everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and rushed to the park’s entrance!

Who knows if Cloud Dream would hide an Easter egg or something like a special achievement for being [Customer 001].

So… it’s time… TO CHARGE!

In the end, those who can rush to Jurassic Park in time are the minority.

Now it’s Monday, and it’s still Monday morning, a standard workday.

Many people can’t even watch the preview of Cloud Dream’s new [Paradise] promotional material, let alone play the game – they are having a weekly meeting!

Players who can shamelessly pull out their phone and start watching the trailer during a meeting like Chasing Wind are few and far between.

Those who managed to watch the trailer got a more comprehensive understanding—

In the video released by Cloud Dream, they not only introduced the distinctive sightseeing programs and safety precautions in Jurassic Park, as serious as a tour guide in a travel agency.

In the safety precautions, the park also emphasized: “Please don’t leave the sightseeing trail lightly. The wild Dinosaur Island is full of danger. If visitors leave the sightseeing trail at their discretion and encounter a fatal crisis, all the consequences must be borne by the visitors themselves, and the park assumes no responsibility.”

The players are totally dismissive of this warning.

One of the commenters even said: “There is indeed a fatal danger, but it’s not for me, it’s for the goddamn dinosaur!”

So, the viewers followed the camera lens and strolled around the major zones of Jurassic Park.

Then, the trailer lens turned to introduce the three wilderness zones that were previously updated, especially the result of numerous scholars and Cloud Dream staff’s countless efforts: [Ecological Protection Zone].

This is the only one with a relatively complete food chain.

Insects, fish, herbivores, carnivores, all tightly connected with each other, survive and prey, reproduce and support, go through cycles of growth.

Even the species that have gone extinct in recent years or are on the brink of extinction can all be found in this area.

This is an area that can evolve independently in cycles without the need for any player input or, at least in the short term, developer involvement.

Players are baffled by this zone; they don’t understand why Cloud Dream put so much effort into creating such a huge chunk of “no-play” content.

Someone even guessed if Cloud Dream is planning something, hiding some kind of super Easter egg.

Cloud Dream didn’t explain and ended the promotional video after giving enough shots to this zone.

Lincoln’s aim is actually quite simple: They’ve developed it, how could they not show it off?

The majority of players might not be interested, but the media, society, academia, they all care!

Reputation, brand, image, these are all intangible assets.

Besides, even if the majority of players are not interested, as long as one-tenth or even one-thousandth of the players are interested and come here to observe and experience nature, that’s not a small number at all.

In fact, the value of this zone exceeds Lincoln’s expectations.

What he did not expect at all was that—

That afternoon, Cloud Dream’s marketing department received calls from seventeen elementary schools and twelve middle schools in Xiajing City.

They wanted to discuss the feasibility of organizing outdoor practical courses for students in their schools in the [Ecological Protection Zone] in the virtual world.