Why are players called the "Fourth Scourge"?
Is it simply because they rely on virtual currency issued by the system to restore their in-game "avatars"—clones in another world—allowing them to respawn endlessly and become immortal?
That's certainly part of it. Being immortal is enough to qualify as a scourge.
But the most important reason is that they are uncontrollable. No one can order them around. Everything Viserys had done up to this point was coaxing them: Do this quest, and you'll get this reward.
He had to coax the players like children to achieve his goals.
And he couldn't make every quest about himself, or the players would get bored, even if his game was the only one of its kind in the world.
For example, with the recent missions, he couldn't just order the players to wipe out the Pentos City Watch first and then go do the mercenary quests.
He had to entice them: Go do the quests. There will be rewards. There will be loot from the "mobs."
Sigh. The player base is powerful, but no one knows what they'll do or when they'll do it.
Sure, Viserys had told the players from the start that he held the power of life and death over their accounts—the ban hammer. Even if they changed accounts, they couldn't log back in.
Basically, he could unilaterally close the connection for a specific person on Earth.
But Viserys couldn't rely on the threat of banning to make players do his bidding forever.
That wasn't realistic. On Earth, even if you know a clothing store has great clothes, would you go back if the service was terrible?
The principle was the same. Besides, if a stubborn player decided to stab him just for the lols, what use would banning everyone be after he was dead?
Viserys was troubled. His peripheral vision caught Daenerys sitting quietly nearby, flipping through an ancient book.
"What are you reading?" Viserys asked.
"The legend of Visenya... Visenya Targaryen," Daenerys said with a faint smile. It was clear she was genuinely interested.
"The first rider of Vhagar and the original wielder of Dark Sister. Look, the songs about her take up four pages. I think she must have been a great warrior woman."
"Mhm. People have always said so." Viserys replied noncommittally.
Watching Daenerys engrossed in her book, Viserys felt like he grasped something for a moment. A flash of inspiration struck him.
In my previous life, when did I start going on killing sprees in GTA or Red Dead Redemption, becoming a walking butcher?
It was after completing all the main quests and side quests!
Before that, although his character occasionally broke the law and attracted bounty hunters, he generally followed the mission objectives.
Why follow the mission? Because the story attracted him.
The open-world game he was providing to the players now operated on the same principle as GTA or RDR. For the players, this was a more realistic platform where they could do whatever they wanted.
Since the path of lawlessness and freedom was the same across all three, could he use the story to restrain the players? Could he guide their slaughter and bizarre ideas toward his enemies?
Admittedly, some players logged in just to kill and destroy. It hadn't shown yet because the novelty hadn't worn off. But once the players adapted, Viserys didn't think for a second they would show kindness to passing commoners.
He feared even a passing dog would get kicked.
Those who just wanted to climb mountains to chase monkeys or dive into the sea to catch turtles for hidden achievements... in Viserys's eyes, those were the normal ones.
Viserys had designed a story for the players at the beginning: Restore the Kingdom, avenge the Usurper. But that was too grand and hollow.
Did the players empathize? No. It was too distant for them. If he dropped them in Pentos and let them hack people every day, they might happily play for a year or two without caring about the throne.
Many players might even stay in the "Novice Village" forever because the future plot didn't hook them. If it's just killing NPCs for fun, does it matter where you do it?
Riding dragons and commanding armies... those were just carrots on a stick for leveling up. That was game mechanics, not game story.
As for knighthood? Players didn't care. Or rather, they only craved the power of a knight. As for the chivalric code? They didn't give a damn.
It seems I need to design a proper storyline for the players. A story they can immerse themselves in.
Viserys thought.
What kind of story should it be? The first thing Viserys thought of was Honor. Do people in the real world really not need honor? Do they not need praise and recognition from others?
It's not that they don't need it; they just don't believe in it, or they've lived half their lives without encountering it.
But a game is different. A game is "virtual." Here, anything is possible. As long as it could slightly restrain or control the players and make them settle down, Viserys had plenty of storylines.
For example: Liberating the slaves of the Free Cities.
When playing Red Dead Redemption, people cried their eyes out over the story. Viserys refused to believe that when countless eyes looked up at a player with gratitude, tossing them into the air and cheering "Long Live," the player wouldn't be moved.
Of course, once you have hundreds of players, you get all kinds of weirdos. There would naturally be some who didn't care about this.
What Viserys needed to do was to filter out these people as much as possible when recruiting new players in the future.
How many people are on Earth? Eight billion!
Would people play a virtual game that gave them an extra dozen hours of life out of thin air?
Absolutely. But did Viserys need that many people?
No. Giving him 150,000 to 200,000 players would be enough to conquer the world. Not just the Seven Kingdoms—George R.R. Martin's world was vast enough for the players to wreak havoc in.
"System Sprite, come out."
Thinking of this, Viserys summoned the unscrupulous Fireboy in his mind.
"What are your orders, Host?"
"First, set up a forum on the official website. Then, update the website's interface." Viserys commanded.
"Understood! That will cost a total of..." The "hair" (flames) on the Fireboy's head seemed to grow lusher as it excitedly calculated the cost.
"Alright, alright, stop counting. just deduct it!" Viserys waved his hand impatiently.
He really wasn't short on money lately. Being the black-hearted dev he was, after giving out a wave of benefits to the first 200 players, he had dumped all the weapons and armor from Illyrio's armory into the Player Shop at low prices.
Zero cost, all profit.
Although the players were currently broke and couldn't make him financially free instantly, he had enough capital to upgrade the website.