God's Imitator

Ye Lin looked at Lu Qi: "This is your first time participating in a game, how does it feel?"

"You’ve spoken too little in the community, be more active in the future."

"Huh? Me?" Lu Qi was suddenly called out and felt a bit at a loss, but it was clear she had gained something from this game, so she quickly thought of what to say.

"As for feelings... I think... this game is a newbie-friendly type of game, right?

"At least that’s what I feel.

"Actually, when I first entered the game, I was dumbfounded because there were so many rules!

"I hadn’t even figured out the basic rules, and then there were additional rules on the notice boards of the Steam Train and Review Room.

"But during the preparation time, I realized that the rules of this game are actually more friendly than those of previous games.

"Because there’s more time to think, and due to the division of tasks, each player only needs to understand a part of the rules, not to mention there’s also veteran players’ explanations.

"After Shen Bowen assigned us our tasks, I quickly got a rough understanding of the part I’m responsible for.

"Moreover, the strategies in this game aren’t particularly deep, for example, the basic gameplay of the Steam Train isn’t complex, but you can combine it with other elements to come up with some tricks, so for newbies, it’s neither too daunting as to give up on thinking nor too simple as to lose strategic elements.

"So after this game ended, I felt that I could more or less keep up with everyone’s pace.

"There are many other similar designs, such as the game only having three rounds in total. The strategic focus is very clear in these three rounds: the focus of the first round is to explore rules and gather information about the other side; the second round focuses on establishing cooperation; and the third round focuses on considering the prisoner’s dilemma and whether to betray.

"The ’Pain Game’ before had so many rounds, I got a headache just listening to your recollections, but the structure of just three rounds is clearer.

"Also... I realized later that although there are many rules, they are very clearly organized, and many rules have explicit hints.

"For instance, the minor infractions listed separately can basically be seen as hints and guidance.

"Unlike previous games, where rules were deliberately hidden deep.

"In general, if I were to make a comparison...

"The previous games were more like pure puzzles, kind of like board games, filled with jargon and unspoken rules that only veterans would understand, making it particularly unfriendly for newbies.

"But this game is a bit like a manual. Although the rules seem numerous at first glance, they are also quite detailed, suitable for newcomers to get started.

"That’s about it, I don’t know if what I’m saying is right, it might be a bit scattered, but that’s roughly how I feel."

Lu Bingjun nodded approvingly: "Not bad, well said.

"This game was indeed quite newbie-friendly and included some newbie benefits.

"This is, after all, the first Allocation Game of the second stage, and it’s relatively friendly. The Allocation Game of the first stage was almost the same situation.

"You all might privately want to review the detailed process of this game, perhaps it could be helpful for future game content."

What Lu Bingjun said seemed to be a summarizing remark, as if he intended to conclude this review.

But Ye Lin seemed to have thought of something else, taking over the conversation.

"In addition, personally, I actually have another feeling.

"The ’Prison Factory’ is not only a ’newbie-friendly’ game, but also ’reaction-dull-friendly’ and ’rule-detail-friendly.’

"Or rather, perhaps the latter more closely aligns with the original intent of the game’s design, while ’newbie-friendly’ is just an incidental factor."

Huang Shengjie was a bit curious: "Hmm? Sister Yelin, do you mean to say that the Imitator who designed this game originally intended to create a game ’more friendly to those who are slow to react,’ and that’s why there is such a long thinking time?

"It’s just that this game pace also happens to suit newbies, so newbies also benefit from it?"

Ye Lin nodded: "Correct."

Huang Shengjie frowned slightly: "But how can you tell?

"Both ’new players’ and ’players who are a bit slow to react’ need relatively long thinking time, but relatively speaking, I think designing for newcomers makes more sense, right?

"After all, this is the first Allocation Game in the second stage that most players would participate in.

"And players who are slow to react aren’t exactly a group that particularly needs special attention, right?"

Ye Lin’s tone wasn’t very certain, but she still pointed to the big screen: "I came to this idea after seeing this rule."

[Each round of the game, the system will select a type of raw material to become a ’contraband item,’ please determine the contraband of this round before making the corresponding transport plan.]

Ye Lin paused slightly, then continued: "The focus of this rule is on the latter part, which is very easy to overlook.

"I guess a lot of communities have tripped up on this one.

"There are three types of raw materials, and the game has three rounds. Some experienced players might think of the strategy of stockpiling raw materials in advance.

"The rule says that the raw materials already in the prison won’t be reclassified as contraband due to round changes. So, if they haven’t entered the prison, they can be reclassified as contraband.

"The first round of the game is groceries, the second round is food, so in the third round, many people instinctively assumed it would be pharmaceuticals, and stockpiled accordingly.

"But the third round was still groceries.

"This resulted in the previously stockpiled pharmaceutical raw materials becoming quite useless: if not transported, the cost of the materials would be wasted; if transported, the profit was low, and it occupied the time for transporting contraband.

"In other words, this design actually categorizes players into three layers:

"The first layer is the newbie players who didn’t even realize the stockpile strategy;

"The second layer is the veteran players who realized the stockpile strategy but aren’t sensitive enough to the rules;

"The third layer is the players who realized both points.

"From an ordinary Imitator’s perspective, it’s not necessary to differentiate so much, just distinguishing between the first and second layers would suffice. They could have easily used a simpler way to care for both newbies and veterans individually.

"This three-layer design somewhat dilutes the strategy of the game, because players from the first and third layers might end up making the same choices.

"I think a more reasonable explanation is that the Imitator actually wanted to further filter out players who are more sensitive to rules through this rule.

"We all know that even among smart people, intelligence manifests differently.

"Some people have quick wits, meaning they can quickly react in extreme situations, providing a suboptimal solution in a short time, but even with extended time, they can’t come up with the optimal solution.

"While some people lack such quick wits; they might crash when encountering emergencies, performing worse than ordinary people. But when they think slowly and thoroughly afterward, they can come up with the optimal solution.

"I feel this game seems to intentionally leave more room for the latter group to showcase."