Season 2: Chapter 61. The Rise and Fall of The Advertisement (2)
His first impression after visiting Zombie School Garden was positive.
‘Wow, there seems to be more users around.’
The amount of new posts had significantly increased compared to before. Most notably, the content of the posts had changed.
‘They’re not just talking about Bubblegum and me anymore. They’re posting strategies.’
Initially, Zombie School Garden had been primarily for Almond and Bubblegum fans. It became more of a space for these two streamers' fans than a community for the game itself. Most conversations revolved around those two, which constituted around eighty percent of the content. Now, it had changed.
‘About half of it is strategies.’
Content purely about the game had increased and made up about half the posts now. Strategy posts received a lot of likes.
‘Seems like the advertising worked well.’
Could this be considered a successful advertisement?
As he thought this...
‘...?’
The top post surprised Sang-Hyeon.
1. I gave Zombie School a 1 star review.
Every game had people who liked or disliked it. Naturally, some gave the game one star and others gave it ten stars. However, it was a different story when such a post ranked at the top with the most likes.
‘Did I do something wrong?’
He clicked to read the post's content.
[Mutant Zombies? When three more appeared, I thought these developers were insane. I knew Red Hat made twisted games, but shouldn't they at least give average players a chance to clear it? What is this? A game made for Almond? How do people like Bubblegum even clear it?
The earlier ones were tolerable.
It's fine not to deal with Baek Joon-Soo and Kim Woo-Jung as it doesn't significantly affect the game's progress, but isn’t the method to see the ending excessive?
You have to kill the mutant zombies to beat it, right? One hit from their ranged attacks means instant death, and they use instant attacks all the time. Not just one, but three more of them were added as if to say, 'Here's more for you~'
I would have quit the game right there if it were me.]
Basically, the game felt too difficult and frustrating.
‘It doesn't seem like he actually tried it.’
It seemed the user had never actually reached the mutant zombies from how he talked.
‘How can he know without even trying?’
Sang-Hyeon expected others to think like him and checked the comments.
— It’s really just aggressive advertising, so obvious
└ Gamers aren't fooled by that anymore lol
└ With this kind of balance, it'll be crap when it officially launches
— Going to give it 1 star too
└ Party recruitment (1/10000)
└ 222
— Well pointed out. The part where you have to kill mutant zombies at the end is excessive
└ Yeah, weirdly there are no other routes except that one.
└ Just think of it as early access, idiots
The top comments weren't what he expected.
‘Uh... then next.’
He looked further down.
— But is it confirmed? You might not have to kill them.
Some comments sided with Sang-Hyeon's view. Killing the mutant zombies could just be one of many routes, but the response to that was quite cold.
└ If you don't kill them there, you die lol
└ Are you braindead? You die if you don't kill them, idiot lol
The rest said similar things.
— Really illogical
— Like spicy food that just emphasizes heat. Tasteless, just insanely spicy, brainless hot food.
└ Example: Deathly Spicy Spicy Pork Cutlet
└ Tasty spicy example: Bubblegum
...
"Right."
Sang-Hyeon realized it was foolish to search for hope in the comments.
"This wouldn't be the top post if public opinion was different, Yu Sang-Hyeon."
The fact that it got so many likes meant the majority resonated with it. Of course, some comments expressed opposing views.
— Sigh. Newbies whining about Red Hat's games being difficult
└ Because of Almond, all these kids flooded in
└ If it weren't for Almond, it would've been a total flop lol
— Why blame the game company for a lack of skills?
└ Clear it and show us, idiot
These types of comments were nowhere near enough to influence public opinion.
‘I can’t believe public opinion is so one-sided.’
Community opinions usually became polarized in such a way when a certain atmosphere swept up everyone.
Sang-Hyeon glanced at the other top posts.
2. Real skill game = LIL // Just crap game = Zombie School
3. The misconception that making a game hard makes it a masterpiece
4. Even during Mana Sword, I got backstabbed by the 8.1 patch, upvote if you got screwed too lol
5. Almond killing the last 3 bosses lol Is this even a game?
The mood clearly went against Zombie School.
"Uh. Even bad publicity is still publicity... right?"
Bad publicity could still generate attention. Could this be considered effective advertising? What would the game company think of the effect from Almond's advertising?
‘...’
Sang-Hyeon couldn't be overly optimistic.
“Sigh, this is tough."
"What's tough?"
Thud.
Ju-Hyeok set down a steaming pot of pollock soup.
"Wow..."
Sang-Hyeon gulped as he peered into the pot.
The clear, spicy broth looked refreshing, seemingly driving away his hangover just by looking at it.
"Here."
Ju-Hyeok passed him a bowl so he could serve himself.
"Nice."
After scooping up some soup and taking a sip, Ju-Hyeok asked, "But what's tough?"
"Ah, that’s..."
Sang-Hyeon explained the situation. The community was in an uproar because they deemed Zombie School too difficult. He didn’t know why this was even a controversy.
The difficulty wasn't low, but it hadn’t been high enough to warrant such complaints from Sang-Hyeon's perspective.
"Hmm." Ju-Hyeok scrolled through the community and said, "Is the game being difficult a reason for criticism?"
"No, not really."
Ju-Hyeok shook his head.
"Whether it's a valid reason for criticism isn't important. Nowadays, people just gather to criticize something if they feel like it. But..."
Ju-Hyeok observed more comments.
"This seems like there's some instigation for such a mood."
"Right?"
"Yeah. There probably aren't many who genuinely mean it."
"But what about the people actually giving it one star?"
Sang-Hyeon pointed to the top post for Ju-Hyeok to see.
Then Ju-Hyeok burst into laughter.
"Man, that's just one person's rating."
Ju-Hyeok went to a game review site and showed him the actual score.
[8.7]
[Mostly Positive]
Considering the site's rigor, an 8.7 out of 10 was a high score.
"Isn't it a bit ambiguous to call that a rating attack?"
Ju-Hyeok's words were spot on. Although the rating wasn't extremely high, what happened could hardly be called a targeted rating attack.
"True, but why then...?"
Why would people claim they would give the game a one star rating?
"First, these reviews can only be written by people who bought the game."
"Ah..."
That meant people who actually bought and played the game weren't rating it harshly.
"Second, everything on community sites tends to be exaggerated. Users have to sound two to three times more sensational than what they actually think to make the top posts."
"Ah..."
Sang-Hyeon kept exclaiming in amazement. Ju-Hyeok had already become an expert in community dynamics.
"But there must be a reason for someone to instigate this."
Ju-Hyeok read through the community posts for a while.
"... Found it."
He showed Sang-Hyeon a particular post. A certain video had started all the commotion.
"This was the spark based on the timing and likes."
[Video of Almond defeating the last three bosses lol]
This post and the video it contained had ignited the non-controversial topic. It showed Almond defeating the last three additional bosses. The battle had undoubtedly been challenging. Almond had to dodge three razor-sharp tongues almost instantaneously while firing arrows at the enemies’ tiny weak points.
Even during all that, Almond had to find a way to reuse an arrow he already shot. The difficulty level seemed to be at least double, if not five times that of the usual Zombie School.
— Is he even human?
— It seems like only attacking their tongues will kill them.
— LOL Insane, really
Initially, most comments praised Almond's gameplay. Then...
— But isn’t it too hard...?
— What the heck? How is a normal person supposed to kill those?
— These devs are sick again.
└ For real
└ Exactly ??
└ Typical Red Hat “I make masterpieces” LOL
”... It’s this comment."
— These devs are sick again.
This comment implied that Red Hat always made difficult games.
"Red Hat is known for making hard games, but those who are new quickly got swept up from just a few comments. That’s the scary part."
Ju-Hyeok was right.
└ TRUE Masterpiece syndrome
└ Just blindly making it hard to claim it's a masterpiece HAHA
└ Ah, in the end...
Many resonated with the hate and expressed frustration in the comments below.
"But think about it. How many people actually played Red Hat games before? Would people playing games like Kingdom complain about this?"
A comment echoed Ju-Hyeok's words.
└ Are these Kingdom players? This isn’t worth complaining about.
└ Just fucking newbies
Those complaining were not fans of Kingdom or other Red Hat games.
"Most of them complaining are just people who tried because you played it or Bubblegum did."
These general gamers suddenly encountered a Red Hat game for the first time.
"They don’t know what kind of company Red Hat is. From a few comments, they see it as a company that just makes frustratingly hard games."
"Wow."
Sang-Hyeon was impressed.
Ju-Hyeok was seriously smart and knowledgeable about the communities. He had a different perspective from the common prominent names floating around.
"So, what now?"
"What now?"
"What should we do about this mess?"
Ju-Hyeok shrugged as if to say, ‘What can you do?’
"If you don't like the temple, just leave the monastery."
"What? We can't just leave. It's an advertisement!"
Ju-Hyeok chuckled at Sang-Hyeon’s urgent expression.
"Relax. The fact that there’s such criticism means you did well with the advertising. Even gamers who don’t fit this kind of game are all drawn in."
"Oh."
This interpretation made perfect sense.
"Right. Let’s say that if they contact us."
"Hmm. But will they accept that?"
Ju-Hyeok’s remarks seemed to tease him further as Sang-Hyeon’s expressions changed from moment to moment.
"What? But you just said it was okay."
Ju-Hyeok burst into laughter when Sang-Hyeon looked ready to grab him by the collar.
"Hahaha!"
"?"
Ju-Hyeok decided to stop teasing him and told him the truth.
"Don’t worry. The battle's already won."
Sang-Hyeon’s face turned into a question mark. His expression kept shifting. He knew Ju-Hyeok was messing with him, but what was that guy getting at?
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone thinks you have to kill the mutant zombies to end the game, right? That’s the assumption."
"Right."
"But that assumption is wrong."
"?"
"Being killed by the mutant zombies is the actual route."
"...!?"
What? Dying was the actual ending?
Sang-Hyeon was shocked.
"You’re supposed to die to reach the ending. An email came in this morning."
Ju-Hyeok turned the screen to show him the email.
"Technically, it was sent to you."
The email had been sent to the official address of streamer Almond.
[Hello, this is the PR team of WePlug.]
[First of all, thank you for playing our game to the end. We were truly amazed by your unique way of clearing it, Mr. Almond.
Zombie School always supports the players' unique routes.
However, there was one part that was more of an error than individuality. It was our mistake.
Embarrassingly, the last mutant zombies were actually a device to prevent gamers from progressing further. It was intended to increase anticipation for the official release by having those zombies kill the protagonist...]
In summary, being killed by the zombies was the actual ending as Ju-Hyeok said.
"Wow."
Sang-Hyeon was amazed.
This surely rendered all their arguments futile. If the game was designed to kill you, how could they complain about its difficulty?
"This should work, right? I'll post it on our official announcement."
"What about the community?"
"If we post it as an announcement, someone else will surely spread it."
Ju-Hyeok didn’t specify who that someone was. He would probably spread it himself at the right time.
Around lunchtime, the top post rankings had been updated.
1. Breaking News: Zombie School's hilarious revival LOL
Public opinion had flipped again.