dtnovels Chapter 292 Data Slaps in the Face
Chapter 292 Data Slaps in the Face
At 11 o'clock, there was a knock on the door of Lingyun's office.
David came in. He was carrying a laptop with seven or eight web pages open on the screen.
"Mr. Ling, please take a look at these." He placed the computer on Ling Yun's desk.
The first webpage: Stanford University's campus forum. The hot post is titled "Remember the post from last week saying Xingyu was a scam?" The main post has only one sentence: "$940,000 a week. Doesn't it hurt your face?" There are already over 500 replies. Some people posted screenshots of media mocking Xingyu from last week, some posted screenshots of their own VIP purchase orders, and someone said, "My roommate scolded me for wasting money, but now he's using acceleration cards too."
The second webpage: the Berkeley Forum. The title is "A Comparison of ICQ and Xingyu: The Data Doesn't Lie." The post compares the user growth curves of Xingyu and ICQ over the past week—Xingyu's growth is steep, while ICQ's is gradual. A highly upvoted comment reads: "Copiers will never catch up with innovators."
The third webpage: Reddit's tech subreddit. The title is "Silicon Valley journalists have collectively forgotten today." The poster included screenshots of headlines from four mainstream media outlets reporting on Xingyu last week, followed by today's headlines from those media websites' homepages. There were no text comments, just image comparisons. Replies included: "They're pretending last week didn't happen." "The media is never responsible for wrong predictions." "But that doesn't stop them from making wrong predictions next time."
The fourth webpage: AOL Instant Messaging section. A user-generated poll asked: "StarTalk or ICQ, which would you choose?" As of 11:00 AM, StarTalk had 79% of the vote, while ICQ had 21%. One commenter said, "StarTalk's levels and avatars are things ICQ doesn't have." Another replied, "But ICQ is American." Yet another responded, "Don't Americans want cool features?"
The fifth webpage: a tech blogger's personal website. Last week, he wrote a long article analyzing five reasons why astrology is "doomed to failure." Today, he updated the beginning of the article:
"I was wrong. $940,000 a week, with a 5.2% paying user rate—this exceeded my model. I underestimated young users' willingness to pay for virtual identities, and I also underestimated the driving force of social incentives on their consumption behavior. Here is the revised analysis..."
David said, "This blogger is very famous and has criticized many products before. This is the first time he has publicly admitted his mistake."
Ling Yun stared at the screen without saying a word.
The sixth webpage: a high school student's personal homepage. The title is "Why I Like Star Language." The author writes:
"I don't have many friends at school. I'm not good at sports, I'm not good at chatting, and my grades are just average. But on StarCraft, I can decorate my own space, buy nice skins, and create groups to organize games. Many people like my space design, add me as a friend, and ask me how to decorate. I feel like I'm being seen."
The reporters said it was silly to spend money on virtual things. But I don't think it's silly. In real life, I can't afford nice clothes, and I don't have cool hobbies, but here, I can be anyone I want to be. Five dollars can make me happy for a month, and I think it's worth it.
The page view count at the bottom shows 47,000 visits.
After David left, Lingyun continued scrolling through the webpage.
Seventh: Yahoo Finance. Analysts are beginning to reassess StarCraft's valuation. Some are giving it $12 billion, others $15 billion. Last week, the most optimistic valuation was $9 million.
Eighth: ICQ Official Forum. A user posted: "When will we have a level system like Star Language?" The administrator replied: "Under development, please look forward to it." Comments below: "By the time you finish developing it, Star Language will already have three versions." "Even plagiarism is slow."
Ninth: Twitter (a new platform that has only been online for half a year). The keyword "Star Language" became a trending topic. Someone posted a screenshot of their Star Language space with the caption: "Level 12, anyone higher than me?" The replies were all about comparing levels, skins, and group members.
Tenth: A review blogger uploaded a video to their blog titled "I spent $50 on all the paid features of Xingyu, was it worth it?" The 20-minute video has already garnered 120,000 views. The blogger's conclusion: "If you enjoy playing with friends and like making your virtual space unique, $50 can bring you a month of happiness. I think it's worth it."
Lingyun closed the browser.
He picked up the cup of cold coffee and took a sip. The bitterness spread in his mouth, but he didn't frown.
At 2 p.m., the second wave of media coverage began.
This isn't a news flash, but an in-depth analysis.
Wired's website updated with a 3,000-word article titled "Star Language's Virtual Economy: More Than Just Skins and Levels." The article analyzes in detail the design logic of Star Language's paid system—how experience points incentivize activity, how levels construct social ladders, how cosmetic items satisfy self-expression, and how diamond memberships cultivate consumption habits. It concludes by stating:
"A week ago, we suspected it was a bubble. A week later, the data proves it's a real need. Perhaps our generation needs to rethink value: as we spend more and more time in the digital world, shouldn't our digital identities, statuses, and experiences also have real value?"
The San Francisco Chronicle's commentary was even more direct: "Who's Still Laughing at Star Language?" First paragraph:
"The commentators who mocked Xingyu's virtual outfits last week are collectively silent today. That's normal—the data is embarrassing. But what's even more embarrassing than the data is that we underestimated our users once again. We thought they were easily fooled fools, but we forgot that they are the ultimate judges of the product."
The San Jose Mercury News published an interview with local college students. One interviewee said, "The reporters don't use Star Language, so they don't understand. Those of us who do know this stuff is addictive. It's not about the function, it's about the atmosphere. Like going to a coffee shop, it's not just about drinking coffee."
At 4 PM, Breitbart News published a satirical short article titled "Silicon Valley Media's Collective Amnesia." The article listed negative headlines from seven media outlets last week, followed by screenshots of today's headlines on their respective websites. There were no comments, only images. The article was shared over 20,000 times within three hours.
At 5 p.m., the door to Lingyun's office was knocked on for the last time.
It's Fiona.
"Just received the news." She placed her tablet on the table. "ICQ had a full-day internal meeting. They decided to release the version update originally scheduled for May ahead of schedule, adding a level system and paid cosmetic items. Microsoft allocated an emergency budget, and engineers are working overtime all night to try and get it online within two weeks."
"Two weeks?" he said. "It took us four months from project initiation to launch."
"They copied it; they don't need to redesign it," Fiona said. "Copying is always faster than creating something original."
"But they're always slower than us." Ling Yun stood up. "We launched our level system two weeks ago, and they're only starting to work on it today. By the time they launch it, we'll have already iterated through two or three versions. By the time they catch up with the current features, we'll have released something new."
He walked to the window, his back to Fiona.
"Users can see who is leading and who is catching up."
Fiona did not speak.
Lingyun recalled the article written by a high school student that she had seen that afternoon.
"Five dollars can make me happy for a month, I think it's worth it."
"You seem... less concerned about them now," Fiona said.
"It's not that I don't care," Ling Yun said, looking at the lights gradually coming on outside the window. "It's that I've found something more important."
"What is it?"
"Giving up five dollars can really bring value."
He hung up the phone and turned to face the office.
"Also," Lingyun said, "contact that high school and find the student who wrote the article. Ask him if he'd like to intern at the company as a product consultant. No technical background is needed; just tell our designers what kind of style and space young people want."