Chapter 330 Multiplayer Horror Game, Be Quiet!

“Many horror movies made use of ghosts, monsters, and mutations. The visual impact of these was very powerful, but there existed another kind of horror movies that contained only ordinary people. The horrific effects are normally more outstanding.

“To put it plainly, horror is an emotion. There’s no need to obsess over ghosts, monsters, or mutated living beings to make a strong visual impact.

“Take our company as an example. We just had to close the curtains and immerse everyone in the atmosphere of horror. A single scream was enough to make us all feel terrified.

“That’s why the atmosphere is the most important. The human heart can be scarier than ghosts and monsters at times. That’s the most important point.

“If we can recreate the same feeling that we felt in the office in the game, wouldn’t the game be just as scary?”.

Wang Xiaobin strongly agreed with this observation. “That’s right, that’s right. I wanted to say the same thing.

“How about this? We’ll set a scary scene in the game and then throw all the players in, so that the fear can ‘infect others’ and ‘spread’. It’ll be just like what happened in our office.”

Ye Zhizhou continued, “In other words, our game will not induce fear by creating images of ghosts and monsters. Instead, it will induce fear using the malice of other gamers, the continually-expanding atmosphere of horror, and the surroundings. “Once the fear spreads, players might start fighting

“We cannot expect them to fully cooperate with one another. Otherwise, it would feel like a walk in the park for them because there’s strength in numbers. It’ll not be sufficiently challenging, and we would achieve the opposite of what we hope to.

“We have to cause infighting and conflict amongst players, so that they can scare one another. It would be precisely these unexpected threats and dangers that would generate fear, right?

“As for how the gamers would fight… Boss Pei had already revealed it to us: the weapon system!”

Ye Zhizhou looked at the third point that Boss Pei had emphasized. “The strongest weapon would be a pistol. Since everyone in the game is an ordinary person, and there would not be any ghosts or monsters, there would be no need for particularly powerful weapons. Those would only cause an imbalance in the players’ battles with one another.

“Other weapons could include daggers, stones, and anything that could hurt-but not kill-an ordinary person.” As both of them discussed the game, they took down notes.

Lin Wan found an appropriate time to interject. “There’s a hidden design in these instructions. Boss Pei did not reveal it to us explicitly, but the design seemed obvious as you were discussing the game. “The fact that fear is to spread among players means that most players should be ‘innocents’ in the beginning. Yet, the fact that they have to fight later on means that a portion of the players would become ‘assailants’.

“What would cause the change?”

Ye Zhizhou frowned as he thought deeply. “I remember Boss Pei saying that… the game should contain insane people at most?”

Lin Wan nodded. “That’s right, insane people! The assailants should be people who are mentally ill—in other words, lunatics.

“I think we can include the concept of a ‘mental health meter’, which already exists in many other games. That’s also known as a sanity meter. The elements in the surroundings will pile on the mental stress on players. Once they hit a certain value, the players would become insane. Then, they would become assailants, whose primary aim would be to kill the ordinary players.”

As Wang Xiaobin noted these details down, he nodded. “Indeed. Now that we’ve talked it out, everything looks much clearer. “We’re just lacking the finer details.

“For example… many people will be playing this web-based game. Should we add a voice chat function to allow players to communicate while playing the game?

“If we allow players to communicate while playing the game, they might engage in a string of lame behaviors and reduce the game’s horror effect. They could also use the voice chat function to discuss how to play tricks on others, find loopholes in the game, and make it less fun overall.

“Yet, if we don’t allow players to communicate… it might feel less interesting. Players wouldn’t have other ways to communicate, and they might fight everyone instead of trying to work together.”

Ye Zhizhou pondered for a moment. “This is easy to resolve. Since ‘in-game chatting’ is so important, we can think of a way to restrict their chatter.

“Players can communicate, but not at will. Every single sentence they speak would be precious. If they speak too much, they would be punished.

“Maybe… they could become lunatics.

“A good horror game should have an