After the group asked Feng Luo a bunch of questions for a while, the topic of their discussion was pulled towards the storyline of the Biohazard Crisis.
“The official site and the forum went berserk yesterday night. A lot of people requested compensation from the game company. A lot of people suffered ridiculous losses this time around.” Said a Veterans Tribe Manipulator that Feng Luo did not know.
The Biohazard Crisis storyline did not just affect Silvermoon City. Another nine small to medium-sized fringe cities of the Federation were also affected, affecting millions of players.
Most players in War were not free-to-play. Everything from living, eating, enjoying life in and around the cities of the game required credits. In addition, there was also the expenditure needed for battles, buying gears, and equipment. Most people invested quite an amount of Star Coins into the game.
Among them were many players who, like Feng Luo, had set up commercial businesses inside cities. As the traffic within the entire city was congested, meaning that players couldn’t use transportation vehicles, paired with the limited inventory space, it was impossible for them to take everything with them when they had to escape. In such an instance, the losses that came from the sudden start of the storyline was even greater.
“The game company won’t pay any compensation, right?”
“I remember a clause from the electronic terms and conditions we have to sign before entering the game. ‘Everything in the game is computed and managed by the supercomputer system. As such, the game company is not responsible for all losses caused by non-bug storylines.’” Said Steel Fortress with some doubts.
“That’s right. That’s also the game company’s official response.”
Ion Flame and Dan Hen both frowned.
“Back when we chose to develop in Silvermoon City, one of our considerations was that it was a city on the edge, which means we can earn Merits by taking part in war missions. When the rebel army attacked the towns in the past, they never used large-scale lethal weapons to prevent being at a disadvantage. They didn’t want to lose the public’s trust by hurting civilians. So, the main battles were outside the towns or cities, so we were never really worried about this.”
“But who would have thought that the system’s newest Biohazard Crisis would start from within Silvermoon City? There had been no symptoms, and more importantly, it was aided by the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group.” Said a Veterans Tribe player that Feng Luo did not know angrily.
“F*ck, the game company is clearly messing with its players. Without giving any notice, they’ve made us lose all the hard work we’ve put into building our foundation for the past few months in an instant.”
“We can’t really say that we’re unlucky and were chosen, right? If we paid more attention, we might have even avoided it.” Feng Luo thought, of course, he did not say it out loud.
He had known for some time that Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group accepted missions connected to the Umbrella Company. Even Veterans Tribe knew that since they worked together on Silver Leaf Island to mess up their mission once.
The storylines in War were all computed and developed by the supercomputer. Players’ actions could change the course of the story as well as missions. The Biohazard Crisis that happened in Silvermoon City might have been detected by Veterans Tribe if their intelligence work was better, or if they paid more attention to the actions of Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group.
One might even claim that if Veterans Tribe had shared their reports and intelligence to the Federal Government, they might have turned the tide and put Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group in a bind, rather than the situation right now. No matter what, one could only say that the game should not be treated as a simple game.
“Star Gaming is so willful! Aren’t they afraid of players rage-quitting the game?” The player who spoke probably had assets in Silvermoon City, which was the reason why he kept complaining.
Security Door was seeing things more clearly. He said while shaking his head, “They really aren’t afraid. Even if we ignore the fact that every player had signed the agreement prior to joining the game, by just focusing on the number of players playing War, a few million really isn’t a lot.”
“If you don’t play War nowadays, what will you play?”
“That’s true. If you’ve played War, you wouldn’t be able to play other games anymore. One of the games where I used to play all day and night has less than one-tenth of its original players left.”
“As for War, the number of players online at the same time has exceeded one billion. This is the equivalent of half the people of the entire administrative planet being online at the same time. That’s pretty much a second world. War’s game capsules are free. With this alone, it’s enough to make the other game companies kneel.” Alarm also shook his head and did not hold too much hope in the system providing compensation to the players.
However, the unknown player was still not giving up. He probably lost a lot during this crisis. “But, ignoring everything else, the game company should have, at the very least, notified the players on their official page.”
Feng Luo knew that the reason why that was impossible, the game company, or even the Star Federal Government for that matter, had no control of the developments in the game.
“There certainly won’t be any compensation, but I think the game officials have just suggested a solution.” Dan Hen raised his head, after looking at the forum.
“During faction battles, after a side loses its camp to the opponent, players’ private belongings and items are temporarily in a protected state for a certain period of time, however this is not true for NPCs. If the side can counterattack within the protection time frame and eliminate a certain number of enemy camp players or meet certain conditions, the system will deem that they have successfully regained control of the city. With that, they can also reduce their losses.”
“‘Take back the city.’ The game officials’ words show they are really indifferent.”
“Silvermoon City is probably completely filled with zombies by now. A few hundred thousands of Elite and Normal Grade monsters, just how long and how many players will that take? There are still Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group players there. Ignoring everything else and just looking at the fact of us being stuck here not being able to take part in the counterattack. Just what is the percentage of success with only those who weren’t online yesterday attacking?” Asked another Veterans Tribe player.
“Old Armor, why aren’t you saying anything?” Security Door patted on the silent Ultimate Heavy Armor.
“I’m thinking. Since the Federation Army still has enough manpower to keep us isolated here, they should have enough to strike Silvermoon City directly, right? Is it possible to, ultimately, not only clean up the zombies in the city but to also take out Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group along the way? Make that Roaring Dragon Light Wind not only fail in stealing the chicken but also to lose his pants along the way.” Asked Ultimate Heavy Armor.
“Huh, interesting words. The Federation Government wouldn’t just sit idly by and leave Silvermoon City alone, right?” Several players had light in their eyes.
“That’s impossible. To us, the zombies inside Silvermoon City are just monsters. But to the NPCs, they are people infected by the T-virus. Before being certain that there really isn’t any way to save them, there’s no way they would just kill them. Even if they had no way to save them, it’s probably unlikely for the leadership to give the order to kill them all.” Said Dan Hen while shaking his head, throwing a wet blanket on their face.
“There’s no question that they won’t attack Silvermoon City directly. Some players in the rebel army camp revealed on the forum that the rebel army has not yet entered the city.”
“That’s why it is clear, the system is giving time for the players from both sides to deal with their own problems.”
Feng Luo nodded, he agreed with Dan Hen’s judgment.
“After all, it is an all-player Epic storyline. There’s no way the players are only treated as wallflowers. That’s why the NPCs won’t be doing anything for a while. Counterattacking Silvermoon City might be a difficult thing for us. But for players who have not experienced yesterday’s scenes, it might be something they are looking forward to. Otherwise, there’s no way so many players from outside want to enter the city.” Said Feng Luo.
Feng Luo remembered the congested traffic entering the city from yesterday night.
If the Federation Army did not close the road, the small city might have already been completely destroyed by the huge surge of incoming players.
War has more than a billion players in the Federation camp. Just one percent would be enough to kick Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group out of the city.
After thinking for a bit, the group also understood what Feng Luo meant. Over a hundred thousand zombies and more than a thousand Commander Grade Tyrants were inside Silvermoon City. Just how many Story Points were there for the taking? How many Enhancement Potions, experience, or equipment does that mean?
Especially Permanent Enhancement Potions, this was now a place, apart from auctions, where players could get it.
“Although the Foragers and Tyrants aren’t easy to deal with, the Normal Grade zombies are basically free points and items to most players.”
“Speaking of loot. Brother Feng, I have something that I need to give you.” Said Dan Hen, suddenly remembered something. He put his hand inside his backpack to grab something.