Chapter 429

"I've seen others play it, it looks really fun."

"One hundred people parachute down, pick up gear; besides three teammates, everyone else is an enemy, scavenging gear while firing, and in the end only one squad can win……"

Fu Lan Duo thought Liang Yan didn't know what game this was, and began to explain the gameplay to him. However, Liang Yan not only knew this game called 'chicken dinner', he had even played it for a while.

Of course, he also knew how popular this game would become later.

The loot‑shoot‑withdraw gameplay mode was not invented by PUBG, but in the category of PVP online games, PUBG truly pioneered it.

A hundred‑person large‑scale confrontation, although it also involves eating teammates, places more emphasis on individual performance; this differs from the warfare gameplay of the Battlefield series. In this era that values 'individuality', this game is practically tailor‑made for players with a hero complex, so its popularity is inevitable.

But Liang Yan quit after playing for less than half a month.

Because there were too many cheaters.

I vaguely remember it started from the second week; Liang Yan almost every match could encounter cheaters, and reporting was useless, so he realized the game's future would be overrun by cheaters with no fair competition, and thus decisively quit.

Many people said PUBG was the doom of lol.

But Liang Yan knew the game wouldn't stay hot for long; it would soon be killed by cheats.

And the facts proved him right: PUBG's popularity was directly proportional to the number of players using cheats; as time went on, those who couldn't tolerate cheats quit, while those who couldn't win joined them, eventually reaching a point where almost everyone was a cheater, to the extent that even some big streamers started using cheats.

Then PUBG's popularity plummeted, and with the emergence of similar competitors, it quickly became a thing of the past; although it didn't die completely, it was far from what it once was.

Although lol was also losing players, it still remained firmly atop the peak of popularity.

As for this timeline, the launch of PUBG would certainly cause some impact on lol's popularity, but Liang Yan felt it would be much smaller than the impact in that other timeline.

Faced with Fu Lan Duo's earnest invitation, Liang Yan smiled and said:

"I don't really want to play now; I'll talk about it again when he gives me money."

"What nonsense about paying money; you're dreaming."

Fu Lan Duo didn't understand Liang Yan's meaning, scoffed at his words, didn't keep recommending it, paid for the game herself, and began downloading and installing.

The network speed at Ji Di base was unbeatable; Fu Lan Duo had the game installed in about ten minutes, opened it and immediately started blasting away, shouting and yelling while playing. Xiao Duan heard the commotion, came over to take a look, and without a word opened Steam, paid, and downloaded the whole package, quickly joining Fu Lan Duo's team (forgot whether we could squad up at the start; if I got it wrong, don't flame me!).

The two men shouted and yelled while shooting together; not long after, Gangzi also joined the shooting frenzy, and soon the entire Ji Di base was filled with the three men's strange cries.

Liang Yan didn't worry about them wasting away; a temporary obsession didn't matter, for they would soon experience the cruelty of technology.

Zhu Xiaolong came over and quietly asked whether he should remind him; Liang Yan smiled, shook his head, and said:

"No need; it's fine to relax once in a while, as long as it doesn't affect training."

Since Liang Yan said that, Zhu Xiaolong didn't bother anymore.

As for what Liang Yan meant by his earlier reply to Fu Lan Duo:

PUBG's rapid rise wasn't just because the game was fun; the publisher's all‑out promotion was the main reason. This promotion case later became teaching material for new hires in the publishing departments of major game companies, thus also giving rise to the later era's unbeatable money‑making ability of big streamers, because capital finally realized that the best way to promote a game is to have game creators and players play it, especially PUBG, a buy‑to‑play game, for which the publisher didn't particularly care about player retention—hence the rampant cheating. What they did was the one‑time transaction of players paying to buy the game—at least at first—until later, after the new "leeches" (new players) had been exhausted, they began the steady‑stream business of selling in‑game items, and only then did they truly start to crack down on cheating, but by then it was too late.

So what Liang Yan meant was that unless the game company was willing to spend a lot of money to hire him for ads, he wouldn't touch the game.

……

The chicken‑dinner craze sparked by PUBG continued to sweep the globe.

As time went on, game companies increased their promotion efforts; many lol streamers received sponsorship deals and began inserting PUBG segments into their lol streams, and the game's popularity among players kept rising.

This wind likewise blew into the lol professional scene; it was inevitable that some players would become addicted and unable to pull themselves out, while various big and small PUBG tournaments were quickly set up, and some players who felt they had a talent for chicken‑dinner started thinking about switching careers.

Liang Yan also received two inquiry letters from game companies, but he didn't reply to either. Although he was already a world‑renowned big streamer, he rarely took on ads, so he really wasn't clear about the current rates for streamers bringing goods; therefore he wanted the other side to quote a price first, and if their quote met his expectations, he wouldn't rule out taking it.

His psychological price was extremely high; the other side would hardly be able to come up with it, but if they really were willing to pay, Liang Yan wouldn't complain about too much—he could donate whatever he couldn't spend to charity.

Getting back to the point, Liang Yan has secretly donated an eight‑figure sum so far, all through donation platforms he himself used, such as xx fundraisers and such.

He certainly knows that the money he donated won't all end up in patients' hands, but as long as half of it reaches them, Liang Yan feels it's worthwhile.

As for why Liang Yan does this, there's a saying: helping others brings joy.

Those who have truly helped others know that doing good really brings happiness, and that sense of fulfillment and achievement is hard to obtain from other pursuits.

……

The LPL spring regular season is still underway; after returning to the intra‑group round‑robin stage, VG continued its victorious march, defeating GT, QG, and NB in succession with 2‑0 scores……

When facing QG, Sima Laozei, up against Ali, a WE. A teammate from the S4 era, still played especially aggressively; Sima Laozei, who rarely voiced opinions on bans/picks, even unusually asked for Lu Xi An and hoped to be paired with a strong‑lane support.

Everyone present knew the grudge between Sima Laozei and his former support Ahri; QG wasn't considered a particularly tough opponent, so regarding Sima Laozei's request, everyone naturally had no objection and was happy to comply.

Thus QG's bottom lane became like a mahjong parlor that needed to be visited by the whole VG team every few days.

Sima Laozei was delighted, and in a post‑match interview he gave an affirmative response:

"Mm, I'm very happy today."