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Chapter 476 0466 [Small Scenes Are Nothing]

Li Yuchun's fans are quite formidable.

With the addition of those "crazy people" from Tieba, they quickly united and fought back and forth with opposing netizens.

They even gradually gained the upper hand.

Then, the other side started twisting the topic, labeling them "patriotic traitors." They said they didn't truly love the country and ignored the people's basic rights.

To put it bluntly, it attempts to separate politics and the state into two distinct concepts.

And he uttered that quote that went viral: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel"—Lenin.

This famous quote is extremely powerful, especially since it was said by Lenin.

It's impossible to tell who posted it first; it's being copied and pasted everywhere now, and Chen Guiliang's Weibo comment section remains the center of the battle.

"Boss, should we ban people for content that's too offensive?"

"No need. Silencing them now would only add fuel to the fire. Let them keep arguing. Collect and organize any statements that are suspected of being illegal, and submit them to the relevant authorities."

While the debate seems to be raging, most celebrities haven't actually participated, and top online influencers have all remained silent.

Because Chen Guiliang didn't do anything else this time; he simply invited veterans of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army to participate in an online celebration on the 60th anniversary of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. The song "My Motherland" was originally an interlude from a film about the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.

Faced with this situation, it's difficult for online influencers to directly hurl insults.

They had to lay the groundwork first, such as questioning the authenticity of the deeds of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army martyrs. The questioning gradually turned into mockery and ridicule before they finally dared to casually joke about the martyrs.

They even turned the act of mocking martyrs into a fashionable online frenzy!

At this stage, it's mainly online celebrities with a few thousand or tens of thousands of followers who are stirring up the discussion. Occasionally, some big influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers will repost, but they only do so tentatively and don't express their own opinions.

Chen Guiliang responded with a Weibo post and then ignored it:
"1. The saying 'Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel' originated from the biography of Johnson, and the book provides an explanation of its original meaning. Johnson himself was a staunch patriot."

2. Taking things out of context – excerpt from “Don’t Take Things Out of Context”.

3. Exposing darkness and reflecting reality does not conflict with patriotism.

4. I support exposing social problems based on facts, as evidenced by the awards given to "Dictionary: Southern Industrial Life" and "China in Liangzhuang".

5. All online communities under ByteDance respect freedom of speech and abide by the law.

Chen Guiliang's Weibo post made a certain phrase quickly become popular.

Human beings are essentially repeaters.

Previously, when the enemy couldn't win an argument, they would simply copy and paste: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel"—Lenin.

What may seem like a shameless and pointless act of copying and pasting can actually be very powerful in verbal battles, often leaving the one who is trying to reason with a difficult position.

Magic can defeat magic.

Now we can use Chen Guiliang's words to retaliate: "Take things out of context"—excerpt from "Don't Take Things Out of Context".

Then the comments section became more abstract.

After arguing for days, neither side wanted to reason anymore and was too lazy to say anything more. They simply copied and pasted these two sentences.

The formation is quite neat.

After posting that Weibo message, Chen Guiliang truly stopped paying attention to the matter.

What's so special about this little show?
2011 was a year of rapid deterioration in online public opinion, with Weibo at the center of the storm. What we're seeing now is merely a rehearsal for what happened at the beginning of the year.

Also in that year, government microblogs began to appear one after another, with several thousand microblogs registered under the name "Uncle Hat" within a year alone.

Various "debunking Weibo posts" will also appear, because rumors are everywhere this year. Jin Yong "died" twice in one year. There were even idiotic rumors like hundreds of people committing suicide on a certain bridge, and they still managed to spread all over the country.

But everything has two sides; black and white thinking is unacceptable.

The rapid deterioration of online public opinion is not something that can be provoked by a small group of people; it is an external manifestation of a concentrated outbreak of contradictions.

To truly manage public opinion, simply banning a few influential online figures won't solve the problem; we must address the root causes and alleviate social conflicts. It carries immense power of public oversight, propelling China towards a better future!
Therefore, faced with the overwhelming barrage of criticism, Chen Guiliang not only did not refrain from speaking out, but also issued instructions:
"Relax the review standards for domestic websites and ByteDance's Weibo, do not easily ban posts, and even less should you arbitrarily close accounts. In the next few years, we must be very careful in everything we do."

"Furthermore, immediately establish a 'ByteDance Rumor Debunking Team' and open a 'Rumor Debunking Weibo' account. Before debunking any rumors, we must verify them repeatedly. Even if a piece of news is obviously false, we cannot easily debunk it if we cannot definitively prove it false."

"Invite official agencies, especially local public security bureaus, to register official Weibo accounts. They should be the main force in debunking rumors and stabilizing public opinion; we can just provide support."

Sina seems to think that Chen Guiliang made a foolish move.

They secretly contacted the opinion leaders who were most vocal in this controversy, verbally promising to promote their content and support them in amplifying public opinion through Weibo posts.

It did indeed bring a significant amount of traffic to Sina Weibo.

However, the traffic of ByteDance's Weibo did not decrease as a result; on the contrary, it continued to increase. The more heated the controversy, the higher the traffic!

Even Chen Guiliang's own Weibo account suddenly gained hundreds of thousands of followers.

Among them are many haters.

……

Chen Guiliang originally did not plan to attend this year's China Online Game Industry Annual Conference in person, but instead wanted the CEO and CTO of Youke to attend.

However, the previous two editions were held in Shandong Province, but this year they have returned to Beijing. Given the proximity and the organizers' sincere invitation, Chen Guiliang finally agreed to make the trip.

The event took place during the days when online flame wars were at their most intense.

"Haha, you got scolded pretty badly!" Chi Yufeng teased as soon as they met.

Chen Guiliang corrected, "Few people directly insult me; they're just being sarcastic."

Chi Yufeng sighed and said, "Why did you have to do that? You just had to stir up a hornet's nest."

"Just consider it me trying to gain traffic," Chen Guiliang said, too lazy to explain.

Chi Yufeng said in a low voice, "Director Kou didn't come this time."

Chen Guiliang nodded: "Understood."

To be precise, he should be called Deputy Director Kou.

The State Administration of Press and Publication has more than a dozen departments, one of which has a deputy director who is in charge of games.

Deputy Director Kou has been transferred to the library as deputy secretary, a lateral move. This can essentially be seen as a stepping down from his previous position.

The new deputy director in charge of games has not yet been appointed, and the deputy director will be in charge of this industry conference.

"None of them came?" Chen Guiliang glanced around the venue.

Chi Yufeng said, "Of the top ten game companies this year, only the two of us, who are chairmen, came. The others all sent their CEOs."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "I don't want to come next year either; it's getting less and less interesting."

Chi Yufeng said, "The major game companies are all trying to expand their business scope, and the chairmen are busy with other things. This industry is getting harder and harder to navigate!"

In the past two years, the number of Chinese netizens has surged, but the growth of game users has continued to slow down.

In particular, the growth rate of the PC game market has been slowing down.

Firstly, browser games are encroaching on the PC game market, and secondly, mobile games are gradually emerging.

The decreasing barriers to entry and costs in game development have led to a surge in small and medium-sized game companies. As the overall market growth slows, they are also eroding the market share of larger companies.

The overall market share of the top ten game companies is continuing to decline.

It seems that things are becoming more and more diverse.

However, while game developers are creating a diverse range of games, the homogenization of game content is becoming increasingly serious. Many veteran players have grown tired of the games and have even given up on them altogether, spending their days browsing Weibo, watching videos, and surfing social networking sites.

The costs of operating and promoting games are getting higher and higher!
As a result, games that can be played in short bursts of free time are becoming more popular than traditional MMOs. Games like Youke's "Three Kingdoms Kill," "Future Era," and "Oracle Era" have all benefited from this, with their revenue continuously increasing.

"Please welcome Mr. Chen Guiliang, Chairman of Game Science Company..."

As the host's voice rang out, Chen Guiliang stepped onto the stage.

This year, it was finally his turn to be the first to speak on stage, a privilege previously reserved for the chairman or CEO of Shanda.

Nobody questioned anything.

Game Science has held the number one market share in the online gaming industry for two consecutive years.

Moreover, in 2010, the development of Youke became increasingly outrageous. Not only did "Future Era" continue to be a hit, but even "Three Kingdoms Kill," which had been operating for several years, inexplicably saw its revenue surge by 60%.

In the past two years, games that can be played in short bursts of free time have become more popular, and the web game market is booming. "Three Kingdoms Kill" perfectly fits these two characteristics, especially the launch of the web game version, which has attracted a large number of white-collar workers to play it secretly while slacking off at work.

Another factor is the rise of "Oracle Era," which currently boasts a peak concurrent player count exceeding 90. Its competitor, "League of Legends," has also surpassed 50 peak concurrent players.

The founders of many small game companies and studios present looked at Chen Guiliang with eyes full of admiration.

In their eyes, Chen Tianqiao and Ding Sanshi are already outdated old men.

Young people like Chen Guiliang are their idols and role models.

Moreover, Chen Guiliang has also achieved great success in Weibo and mobile phone manufacturing, and has already entered the top three of China's rich list.

"I read the newly released '2010 China Game Industry White Paper' yesterday, and I'm very pleased that there are more and more small and medium-sized game companies. Moreover, there are more and more game companies registered in second- and third-tier cities! This shows that the Chinese game industry is becoming healthier, and is no longer a few large game companies jointly monopolizing more than 50% of the market share..."

"A hundred flowers blooming is spring; the rise of countless small and medium-sized game companies will force major game companies to improve the quality of game content and services. Companies that rely on one or two old games to make money will inevitably be eliminated by the market if they do not strive for progress..."

At this point, many attendees laughed.

They believed that Chen Guiliang was a master of Yin and Yang.

In the past two years, Shanda's revenue from large-scale games has declined, and even casual games are struggling. If it weren't for the great success of "Dragon Nest," Shanda might not have even maintained its fourth-place position in 2010, and would have fallen directly to fifth or sixth place.

However, after a six-month period of explosive growth, Dragon Nest's player growth has stagnated, and its reputation has worsened. The problem of cheating remains unresolved, and who knows when another major problem will arise.

"In the past year, the mobile game industry has developed rapidly, with the market size increasing by 80% year-on-year. This is a new opportunity, and I hope everyone can seize it and make a fortune. The HarmonyOS camp also warmly welcomes everyone to develop games..."

This is Chen Guiliang's real purpose in participating in the event: to mislead everyone into developing games based on the HarmonyOS system!
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(I recommend a book called "Chinese Entertainment 1997: The Public Intellectual Crusher," the title tells you what it's about.)
　I recommend the new book, "Chinese Entertainment 1997: The Public Intellectual Crusher".

(End of this chapter)