God's imitator

Chapter 232: Question
Wei Yinzhang paused for a moment, sorted out his thoughts, and then said, "Actually, I'm not a very smart person, nor am I particularly assertive. After entering the 6th Community as a 'copycat,' I've always been troubled by this special identity."

Zheng Jie was somewhat surprised: "Huh? Sister Wei, aren't you being a bit too modest?"

"Based on your performance in the game, aren't you considered 'smart' and 'aggressive'?"

"Then what am I, a paramecium?"

Qin Yao nodded in agreement.

In the "Fool's Game," Wei Yinzhang successfully infiltrated the small group and fooled the "Rabbit" and other wise players. In Zheng Jie's view, this was clearly something that required both "intelligence" and "assertiveness."

Wei Yinzhang shook his head: "No, no, no, you may have some misunderstandings."

"After all, it's a game I designed myself; it's my home turf."

"In the game, you may only have about ten minutes to think about the rules, and you also have to keep an eye on your oxygen consumption."

"But before I entered the game, I had already thought about the rules hundreds or thousands of times and considered all possible scenarios."

"All the traps are carefully prepared by me for specific groups of people, and I know all the ways to escape these traps."

"Just because I perform well in this game doesn't mean I'll perform the same way in other games."

"It's like if the author of a detective novel were to travel into his own book, he would definitely be a brilliant detective with infallible strategies, but you can't expect him to solve cases in reality."

Zheng Jie thought for a moment, then nodded in realization: "Oh, that makes sense."

Cao Haichuan fiddled with his lighter, and said thoughtfully, "Have you thought about the rules hundreds or thousands of times? That's an exaggeration."

"Does the arcade have so much time to invite copycats?"

Prior to this, Community 17 was unaware that the Arcade would send game design invitations to copycats a few days in advance.

But logically speaking, the next game must be released after the previous game ends, right?
In that case, Wei Yinzhang would have at most less than a week, how could he possibly have thought about it hundreds or thousands of times?

Wei Yinzhang shook his head: "No, it's not an exaggeration. I have indeed considered it many, many times."

"As I said before, I don't consider myself a smart person, so I can only make up for it with hard work."

As for the time...

"The game design invitation is indeed only sent out three to five days in advance, but that does not mean that I can only design after receiving the invitation."

"In fact, more than a week after I entered the new world, the idea of ​​the 'April Fool's Game' had already taken shape in my mind."

"After that, I kept revising and improving it."

Everyone was somewhat surprised: "Huh?"

Clearly, this is a very special piece of information.

This seems like a normal thing for Wei Yinzhang, but it's hard for ordinary players to imagine.

Wang Yongxin asked in confusion, "Wait a minute, when the game invitation is sent out by the game gallery, there must be some specific requirements, right?"

"You've designed the game in advance, so how can you ensure it meets the requirements of the arcade?"

"Or is it that the promenade has no specific requirements at all?"

Wei Yinzhang said matter-of-factly, "Of course, the game gallery has specific requirements, and I can't guarantee that my game will be selected."

"Ideally, we would infer the arcade's preferences from the item list, then create a unique design and get selected. But that's just an ideal scenario. I've tried that method, but it's been very ineffective; I've basically never succeeded."

"On the one hand, it's because of the limited time. It's already difficult for game rules that can be temporarily devised in just a few days to pass the review, let alone make them stand out."

"On the other hand, the games made by copycats are related to their own knowledge structure and inspiration, which is not a frequent occurrence. It may take a long time for an inspiration to appear only once or twice."

"I don't know if there are any games that can be consistently selected as imitators, and even if there are, they should be extremely rare."

"So, I came up with a clumsy solution: I didn't care what the invitation from the arcade was, but spent a lot of time making a game that I was most satisfied with, thinking about and revising the details repeatedly, and then just waited."

"If you receive an invitation that doesn't match the game you prepared in advance at all, then just come up with one on the spot and try your luck. But there's a high chance you won't be selected."

"If I get a suitable game invitation, I'll make some minor tweaks to the game I've already completed and submit it."

"That's what 'April Fool's Game' is all about."

Lin Sizhi nodded: "So, this is equivalent to 'predicting the exam questions.' In this case, it just so happens that the prediction came true."

Wei Yinzhang nodded: "Yes, it's 'predicting exam questions'."

"Isn't that obvious? Do you think all copycats only start thinking about specific designs after seeing the invitation to the arcade?"
"How could that be?"
"Of course, it's possible that a very small number of genius copycats could do it, but I definitely can't. 'Predicting exam questions' is a clumsy method that I came up with myself, but for copycats who aren't that smart, clumsy methods are more effective."

Everyone suddenly realized what was going on.

Obviously, if the copycat doesn't share these deeper secrets, other players will have a hard time guessing them.

At this point, Wei Yinzhang himself revealed the truth. Upon careful consideration, everyone realized that for a typical copycat, this was indeed the optimal solution.

The invitation extended to copycats by the arcade is like a set topic for an essay.

Those top students can always see the topic and brainstorm ideas, producing a decent piece of work within the limited time. Occasionally, when inspiration strikes, they get full marks.

But the vast majority of students cannot do it.

Instead of improvising on the spot, it's better to prepare several essays in advance based on different types to predict the topics. If you don't get the right ones, you can improvise on the spot. If you happen to get one right, you can make some minor changes and submit it. That would be a great deal.

Moreover, copycats who are unaware of this strategy will suffer greatly.

Since everyone has prepared a plan in advance, and these plans are likely to be of different styles, it's like every time the arcade issues an invitation, there will always be some copycats who can take turns guessing the answer correctly.

Games that successfully predict exam questions are designed well in advance, undergoing several weeks of additions, deletions, and modifications, making them far more competitive than most games conceived on the fly.

Wei Yinzhang concluded: "So don't think that I can design such complex rules as the 'April Fool's Game' in just a few days by just casually putting together a design."

"And don't think that I can perform as well in other games as I did in 'April Fool's Game'."

"Just like many directors can only make one good movie in their lifetime, it is highly likely that I will never be able to design a similar game again."

Upon hearing the news, most people didn't show disappointment; instead, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Originally, copycats put too much pressure on everyone, especially when analyzing those highly rated games. After analyzing for a long time, people would only feel that copycats were unbeatable.

However, it now seems that most imitators cannot maintain such a high level indefinitely; "predicting exam questions" like Wei Yinzhang is the norm.

Wei Yinzhang's statement can be seen as "demystifying" copycats, which actually increases everyone's sense of security.

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(End of this chapter)