God's imitator

Chapter 432 Countermeasures for Mask Repetition

Clearly, Yang Yuting has always been a relatively optimistic and positive person, and sometimes she doesn't mind being a little flamboyant, so this choice is in line with expectations.

Yang Yuting explained, "Actually, I hesitated a little when I was choosing because the connotations of 'Empress' and 'Queen' are definitely very common."

"The stronger female players in the arcade will probably all make this choice, right?"

"For example, Han Mengying and Lu Xinyi are also very likely to choose this option. If that happens, and we happen to run into each other in the same game, there might be issues that are difficult to distinguish."

"So I was originally considering whether to choose the 'Moon' tarot card."

"But then I thought, the symbolism of the 'moon' isn't actually that good, and why should I be afraid of drawing the same card as everyone else? I absolutely can't be scared before the battle even begins!"
"So, in the end, this was the choice we made."

Cai Zhiyuan nodded: "Yes, just choose according to your first instinct."

"Because there are only a few pieces and cards, and there are so many players in the arcade, including many strong ones, it is pointless to worry about running into someone else. Even if you choose the most unpopular pieces or cards, you may still run into someone else."

"Moreover, other players may not necessarily choose a card like 'Empress,' at least I think Lu Xinyi is unlikely to choose it."

"By the way, speaking of which, I've had an idea for a while now, and I've been considering whether to discuss it with everyone."

Lee In-sook nodded: "What are your thoughts?"

Tsai Chih-yuan explained: "Regarding the issue that our chosen 'symbolic imagery' might be repetitive."

“In the future, there will definitely be games with anonymous participation, like the ‘April Fool’s Game. If players are all dressed up, there will be a symbolic meaning for identification, which is the main reason why we fill in the information for the core of the game.”

"According to the design of the 'April Fool's Game,' many different animals are distributed to different players to ensure that each player's mask is different."

"But what if a situation really arises where 'makeup masks can be reused'?"
"Of course, they are unlikely to be exactly the same; there will be subtle differences, but they will still be difficult to distinguish."

"For example, there are only 6 types of chess pieces: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, and pawn. If a copycat uses chess pieces as a mask and costume, there will definitely be duplicates if there are more than 6 players participating in the game."

"When we encounter three kings and four rooks in the game, how will we distinguish which one is Boss Wang and which one is Attorney Lin?"
"If you rush up to give the code, you might expose your information and be outmaneuvered by the other side, which could cause trouble."

"But if we continue to wait and see, then there's no point in us initially establishing symbolic intentions."

Qin Yao thought for a moment: "But there's nothing we can do to avoid it, right?"

Cai Zhiyuan nodded: "Yes, but if we take this situation into account in advance and agree on how to deal with it, we might be able to gain an advantage in the game."

Lee In-sook considered for a moment: "This is indeed a topic worth discussing. Does anyone have any thoughts?"

This discussion was not mandatory; some players left, but others returned.

Wei Yinzhang said first, "I don't think we need to worry too much about this issue."

"Because it's quite difficult for copycat games to pass the arcade's review, the design can't have any major flaws."

"If the makeup masks were designed using chess pieces, and there were more than 6 players and duplicates occurred, this design would definitely be a poor one."

"Unless there is a deeper meaning behind such a design, copycats should have some way to distinguish and avoid it."

"For example, add some other 'secondary elements' besides the pieces for identification, such as color, number, letter, symbol, etc."

"The information we prepared also includes this information, and if we combine them in pairs, the possibility of duplication is very low."

"By the way, when I was designing the 'April Fool's Game,' I also considered another design:"
"If multiple players choose the same animal mask, they will be distinguished by number according to the order in which they chose it."

"For example, there could be two 'lions,' one called 'Lion 1' and the other 'Lion 2.' "But later we felt that such a design was a bit outdated, so it wasn't adopted in the end."

"However, this design does have other advantages as well."

Qin Yao asked, somewhat puzzled, "What benefits?"

Wei Yinzhang explained, "For communities that have agreed on representative elements in advance, they will definitely be selected with a higher number."

"To give an extreme example, suppose we use chess pieces to design makeup masks in a game. If players in our community see 'King 1' to 'King 6', then we can be fairly certain that Boss Wang is either 'King 1' or 'King 2'."

"Because it was agreed in advance, Mr. Wang could make a choice without hesitation, but those communities that were not agreed upon would have some hesitation."

"Similarly, if you see a player with a high number but not Boss Wang, he could be a strong core member in another community."

"Of course, the premise is that there are enough repeated masks or costumes. The more numbers there are, the more accurate the pattern should be."

Everyone nodded.

Cai Zhiyuan thought for a moment and said, "Hmm, that is indeed a good idea."

"However, I have another strategy in mind. It may be subject to stricter conditions, but it should be effective if the conditions are met."

Lee In-sook asked curiously, "Hmm? Is there another strategy? What is it?"

Cai Zhiyuan said, "If there is a limit to the number of masks of a certain intention, and that number is relatively small, then ordinary players in our community can actively choose the same mask as the core of the game."

This statement surprised many people.

Wei Yinzhang, being the copycat, was the first to react. After considering for a moment, she said, "Hmm, that is indeed a good idea."

Qin Yao was still puzzled: "I don't quite understand. Could you explain it in more detail?"

Wei Yinzhang explained: "Let's take the 'King' mask as an example: Suppose in a game, there are 6 different chess pieces, and a total of 18 players participate in the game. Each piece's mask can be repeated by a maximum of 3 players."

"Once the number exceeds this threshold, the remaining players must choose other masks."

"Under these rules, ordinary players in our community have two different choices:"

"The first option is to choose pieces according to your own preferences and habits, such as choosing 'pawn,' 'horse,' or 'elephant.'"

"Only Boss Wang would choose 'King' first."

"However, players in other communities do not have this convention, and they may slowly choose 'King'."

"In this way, even if we know that 'King 1' is more likely to be Boss Wang, it is still quite difficult to find Boss Wang among these three 'Kings', because we can be sure that the other two 'Kings' are players from other communities."

"However, players in our community also have a second option:"

"Go and rob the 'King' too."

"The ordinary players in our community can wait for two or three seconds to also try to grab the 'King' title. This way, they won't run into Boss Wang, and they can also block players from other communities who want to choose the 'King' title."

"In this way, it's like having players from our community collectively reserve the spots, making it safer to identify players using the 'King' element."

(End of this chapter)