God's Imitator

Huang Shengjie was a bit puzzled: "So you actually support this ’Community Speech Rule’ proposal?"

"Why?"

"Isn’t this a kind of infringement on our rights? I thought you would definitely be sensitive to such infringement and surely vote against it."

Qin Cheng looked at him with a bit of helplessness: "Shengjie, I’ve never said our rights are absolutely inviolable.

"It depends on what we can gain by giving up certain rights.

"If we’re deprived of them without any cost, then certainly not. But if by giving up some rights we can gain something valuable, like safety, then of course it’s acceptable.

"After all, the deprivation of rights isn’t necessarily eternal; we might be able to regain them in the future."

Huang Shengjie was startled: "Ah? Is that really so? But what did this speech proposal bring us? I feel it only has drawbacks?"

Qin Cheng asked: "What do you think are the drawbacks?"

Huang Shengjie lowered his head in thought: "Let me think about it.

"At the most basic level: this means the loss of ’the right to remain silent’, doesn’t it?

"Previously, if I didn’t want to speak, I wouldn’t have to. But now, I’m forced to speak.

"Even if speaking itself doesn’t cause me any loss, being forced to do something unwillingly is inherently bad.

"And now, I increasingly feel that the drawbacks of this proposal aren’t limited to just that.

"Just take today’s review of the ’King’s Judgment’. I found it really odd.

"We’ve conducted many reviews before, and the game quality of the ’King’s Judgment’ was higher than all previous games, yet the review time and the actual analysis content from everyone were less than before, right?

"It originally should have been about breaking down the S-Class Judgment game to improve ourselves, but the review seemed to have turned into praising the Imitator? That’s so bizarre.

"I think the only reason is... certain key people deliberately reduced their speeches or avoided the important points, altering their content.

"For instance, Brother Yao Yuan and Sister Ye Lin, they should have noticed more than this, right?

"I believe their behavior is directly related to the new proposal."

Qin Cheng nodded slightly: "Hmm, well said, I agree too."

Huang Shengjie became a bit elated: "Right, you agree too, right?

"From the surface, it seems both of them have their reasons for not speaking out.

"Brother Yao Yuan seems to be deliberately testing whether this proposal can be automatically implemented within the community, so he intentionally kept his speaking time under 1 minute.

"And Sister Ye Lin might be protesting due to dissatisfaction with this proposal.

"She spoke quite a bit, but none of it was deep.

"If this speculation holds, wouldn’t other players be inclined similarly?

"Meaning in this review, we’ve essentially split into two factions: those without ability didn’t come up with any breakthrough clues, so they had nothing to say; while those with ability deliberately withheld information.

"Why would they withhold information?

"I think there might be three reasons:

"First, they don’t want their analysis to assist the Imitator within the community or players they have conflicts with;

"Second, they only want to share this information within their small circle or use it to exchange other intelligence;

"Third, they’re worried that by speaking too much or showing some Imitator-like thinking during the review, they would increase suspicions of being the Imitator themselves.

"So... this proposal seems to have the exact opposite effect.

"I think it’s very bad."

Qin Cheng nodded: "Hmm, what you said indeed makes some sense.

"Moreover, the proposal’s introduction process was fraught with problems.

"Have you ever thought that this ’Community Speech Rule’ was very likely to not pass originally?

"Because Ye Lin wasn’t idle; she likely already privately secured enough votes against it."

Huang Shengjie froze for a moment: "Ah? This... I hadn’t thought of that."

Qin Cheng explained: "When the proposal’s votes came in, Lu Bingjun seemed a bit surprised.

"But I suspect he was just pretending.

"He already guessed that Ye Lin might privately persuade others to vote against, so he pre-arranged during the proposal setting process.

"There were two proposals this time: one mildly infringing on rights, seemingly offering more benefits than drawbacks, the ’Community Speech Rule’; and another severely infringing on rights, possibly seen by some as having more drawbacks than benefits, the ’Community Trial Rules’.

"The former just mandates compulsory speech, while the latter could potentially cause deaths in the community.

"Initially, we all focused on the ’Community Trial Rules’, thinking this rule was unacceptable, and if voting occurred, it likely wouldn’t pass.

"But with the trial rule temporarily shelved, when we look at the ’Speech Rule’, it suddenly seems entirely fine.

"It should be considered a classic ’foot-in-the-door effect’, where if you propose tearing down a window, everyone will disagree. But if you first propose tearing down the house, and when everyone disagrees, change the proposal to tear down the window, everyone accepts much more easily.

"Ye Lin likely reached out to all the players she thought she could sway in private, perhaps believing she had secured enough opposing votes to prevent the passage of this proposal.

"And once the proposal couldn’t be passed, Lu Bingjun would have to face the reality and might not be able to rightly propose it again for a long time.

"But Lu Bingjun anticipated this possibility and through this method, swayed the ’swing voters’ who were originally likely to vote ’against’.

"The interaction between these two proposals goes beyond that.

"Now, it’s the ’Trial Rules’ driving the ’Speech Rule’ through.

"But soon in the future, the ’Speech Rule’ might reverse and drive the ’Trial Rules’ through."

Huang Shengjie was stunned: "Why?"

Qin Cheng patiently explained: "Because of the broken window effect.

"Initially, everyone was sensitive to relinquishing any rights, but the passage of the ’Speech Rule’ equates to achieving the broken window effect.

"People will realize that perhaps relinquishing a trivial right isn’t as scary, won’t pose a big problem.

"Instead, it can exchange for a sense of security.

"There’s a hidden Imitator within the community; he’s very dangerous. We might not be able to immediately expose him, but if we do nothing, this fear will continue to intensify.

"As long as something is done, it will make us feel a bit better.

"The ’Speech Rule’ is such a behavior; the security it brings, even if just an illusion, is still effective.

"Since relinquishing some rights can gain a sense of security, might not relinquishing more rights gain even more security?

"After getting accustomed to the ’Speech Rule’, perhaps some players’ thoughts will begin to loosen and slide, no longer seeing surrendering some rights as a frightening thing, subsequently they might more readily agree to vote for the ’Trial Rules’."

Huang Shengjie was taken aback: "I hadn’t thought of all this..."

He quickly absorbed these insights but soon had new doubts: "But if it’s really as you say, shouldn’t you have made the same choice as me?

"Shouldn’t have initially voted against it, right?

"Does it mean you really want to see the ’Trial Rules’ passed? Killing within the community?"

Qin Cheng retorted: "Why can’t there be killings within the community?"