I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!-Chapter 64 - 38 All the spectators were stunned Who

“A litany of sins! Chock-full of evil! A-class war criminal Liu Peiqie, step forward!!”

“Rapid fire on the shooting range, empty the magazine! This guy must not be spared!”

“Take Baby Ke out and execute him too! If this game has this play style, he’s the root of all evil!”

“I don’t understand why everyone is cursing; isn’t this just Designer Ke recreating medieval European city scenes? /Dog Head”

Of course, when they say cursing, it’s just the audience teasing him for actions that are downright inhuman.

After all, before this, players on Blue Star had never seen a game that defied common sense to this extent.

In other games, players treat NPCs with utmost respect; some even have to pamper them like lords, or they won’t give the player any quests.

But in “Skyline,” players had been able to use the Forbidden Skill on NPCs—population elimination skill.

What in the world was this scene?

This scene was something that no player on Blue Star had ever seen!

While ranting that Eggplant was a birth-defier and should be sent to the international military tribunal as an A-class war criminal,

but when they looked at the screen, watching those NPCs being submerged by the flood and the thrill of squeezing every last penny from them, they couldn’t help but feel a bit tempted to try it out themselves.

Dammit, this gameplay seems…

Kinda exhilarating!

Whoever thought of this gameplay is a real moth…

A born birth-defier!

What do you take us players for?

Not possible, at least not permissible!

At least not today.

————

Back in the live stream room, the Boomerang swept past numerous streamers before making its way back to Wang Laoju again.

As one of the first batch of streamers starting to experiment with this game.

Wang Laoju had stabilized his city after a period of time.

The size of the city had grown from a small village to a second-tier city.

Countless buildings and facilities had been unlocked.

Educational institutions like elementary schools, middle schools, and universities had been established.

Leisure facilities such as libraries, parks, and sports centers had likewise been constructed.

On the health front, an innumerable count of hospitals, nursing homes, and gyms could be found.

In terms of transport hubs, overpasses soared high, bus routes were neatly planned, and long-distance travel like train stations and airports were fully equipped.

Although it hadn’t reached the level of perfection displayed in the game’s initial CGI demos, it was already quite ideal.

What was left was slowly letting time pass and polishing the final details of the city; this game’s core was nearly fully showcased.

That was enough for the show; after several hours of intense focus, Wang Laoju was ready to end the stream.

As per tradition, Wang Laoju always summarized the game he played before signing off.

“Alright, that’s about it for today’s stream. Having experienced this game, I find the gameplay to be very interesting, quite different from traditional city management games. Moreover, what I’ve shown you is probably just the tip of the iceberg in terms of gameplay. There are many ways to make money, and even without resorting to sleazy tactics, one can still thrive.”

“This game’s biggest feature is that you can build a city according to your vision. Whether you want a pastoral view or cyberpunk aesthetics, skyscrapers or a small fishing village, or even a scorched earth look, it’s all up to the players to decide, truly letting them experience what it’s like to be the mayor. That’s what I think sets Designer Ke apart from other traditional designers; unrestrictive, flexible, and not forcing players to play a certain way. It’s highly playable; I’d give it four and a half stars.”

“However, due to the duration of the live stream, I can’t show everything, so if you’re interested, feel free to download it and give it a try, the game is free… ”

When he got to the word “free,” Wang Laoju suddenly paused.

Having been intensely focused on the stream for several hours because the game was so engaging, he had put all his attention on the game itself.

Thus overlooking some other things.

Like the paid content.

If it were any other game,

the usual process would be for a “First-Time Purchase” prompt to pop up after a few minutes of playing.

Then, when the player reached the point of upgrading the city and expanding the population,

a “Level-Up Assistance Gift Pack” would pop up immediately.

Beyond that, characters to accelerate city development would surely exist, and would likely be presented through the traditional Blue Star gaming industry’s favorite mechanism—loot boxes.

SSR characters would start by boosting the city’s GDP growth by 100%, along with a variety of insane and game-breaking skills.

But.

Wang Laoju realized after playing “Skyline” for almost the entire duration of his stream,

not a single ad had popped up.

The whole time, aside from the tutorial, there were no other prompts.

It was as if the designer was scared of players spending money.

But this made no sense.

Who doesn’t make games to earn money?

What would designers eat if they didn’t rake in some cash?

This is a direct reversal of logic!

“Hold on, I’ll look for the game’s recharge interface first, to see what’s actually going on,” Wang Laoju, puzzled, paused his streaming, and grabbed the mouse again.

With that reminder, the viewers also snapped back to reality.

“Wow! I nearly forgot about the in-game purchases. Damn, where’s the monetization page for this game? How come I’ve never seen it from start to finish?”

“Me neither… I just visited several streamers’ channels, and it seems they didn’t open the monetization page during their gameplay.”

“To be honest, I don’t quite understand. This game seems to be very comprehensive. Watching Lao Ju playing all the way till now, I feel like you don’t need to spend a penny to enjoy it.”

“Now that you mention it, I’m also a bit curious. I want to see what else there is to spend on in this game’s recharge interface.”

“This game is quite innovative. After watching the stream, I’m itching to oppress some commoners myself. If the pay-to-win aspect isn’t too aggressive, I plan to make a small purchase to support Baby Ke!”

“At least compare it to Netcom’s subsidiary, Jinpeng Entertainment’s ‘Rushing Manager’ that launched last year, where one of their restaurant simulation characters is 888, not too expensive.”

Just as the viewers were speculating about the recharge model for ‘Skyline’.

Wang Laoju finally found a tiny “Recharge” button tucked away in an inconspicuous corner.

“Found it!”

As the words left Wang Laoju’s mouth, his mouse clicked the button.

All the viewers’ attention was now focused.

And in the next moment.

A massive advertising pop-up smacked them in the face, covering the entire recharge interface.

The content was a typical low-brow, poor-quality game advertisement.

A voluptuous 2D woman striking seductive poses with cheaply edited photos, highlighting certain sensitive parts which were magnified and minimized wildly, yet staying just within the boundaries of propriety without exposing more sensational visuals.

A sultry voice then sounded.

“Oldღ ladyღ isn’tღ homeღ tonightღ, comeღ playღ secretly!”

“Wow! Twenty beauties of incomparable charm for you to choose from! Waiting for you to have a taste/temptation.”

“Big brother, you must come~!”

“Pfft!!!” The moment Wang Laoju saw the interface, he almost let out a spray of blood.

Mianmian, who was next door applying a facial mask, seemed to have heard the commotion from Lao Ju’s room. She cracked the door open and looked at him with a puzzled frown, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, I…” Wang Laoju’s voice abruptly stopped.

The stream suddenly went to a black screen.

[The streamer you’re watching is suspected of regulatory violations and is currently being rectified…]

This turn of events left the audience, who had been waiting to see the specific recharge rates, completely dumbfounded.

This sort of vulgar advertisement wasn’t new that day.

In fact, it was rife across various software platforms, randomly popping up from time to time, but calibrated so precisely that it never reached the level of illegal activities, thus continuously tempting people to try it.

Everyone was used to it.

But what really blew the viewers’ CPUs was…

For fuck’s sake.

Isn’t this the recharge interface of your own game?

In other games, recharging gets rid of ads.

So why on earth does your recharge interface blast ads the moment it’s opened???

This extreme contrast felt like being frisked by a stranger when trying to enter your own house, utterly baffling.

The chat in the entire streaming channel paused for a moment.

When they regained their wits, a flood of question marks swept through the chat, once again filling up the stream.

“Huh?????”

“What kind of backward operation is this? Can some badass explain? My IQ’s too low to understand.”

“Never mind your low IQ, even those of us who are dragged along didn’t get it either.”

“Seriously, other developers’ recharge interfaces are like the Qing Dynasty princess with bound feet, smelly and deformed. So is Designer Ke’s recharge interface unbound, or has he just wrapped his own brain instead?”

“I was damn close to wrapping my brain, too… My CPU was about to fry.”

“Could it be that he offended some bigwig in the industry and they put an ad virus in his game?”

“That’s why you should read fewer novels. Even if a rival wanted to suppress you, they wouldn’t be this dumb. Anyone who has played Baby Ke’s previous games knows something seems off about him. I suggest a thorough investigation to see if he’s a spy sent by an enemy country to disrupt the gaming market! /evil grin/evil grin”

Besides the heated discussions about the mind-boggling recharge interface, a few viewers went off on a tangent.

“Everyone’s talking about the recharge interface, but am I the only one concerned about the ad just now?”

“I noticed it too, and I want to ask, can you play even if the wife’s at home?”

“So, you’re not playing with your wife when she’s home, but with someone else, huh? The Pure Love Warriors are furious!”

“Hahahahaha! Stop chatting, damn, you’re making me laugh so hard I’ve got the runs! My mom’s telling me to get out and do it.”

“Nice one, everyone else just used a metaphor, but you’re actually doing it, huh!”

“Look, Lao Ju’s back!”

While the viewers were passionately discussing during the blackout, the stream suddenly lit up again.

“Had a little accident just now, explained it to the admin, and we’re back,” Wang Laoju quickly summed up the situation before pulling up ‘Skyline’s’ recharge interface again. To be safe, he covered the ad page, turned down the volume, and waited for the ad to end, all the while muttering, perplexed.

“Why would a designer embed ads in the recharge interface? It’s beyond me.”

“And it seems the ad can’t be skipped; it has to be endured for 180 seconds.”

“But you can exit any time, and it doesn’t affect the gameplay at all.”

“Very strange…”

“Forget it, never mind. Since everyone’s so interested in the game’s recharge ratios, I’ll show you the interface once the ad ends, then I’m signing off.”