ctnovel Chapter 37: The Trouble Begins
Chapter 37: The Trouble Begins
"Can I register for the forum?!"
Looking at the prompt that was quietly floating on the panel, Jiang Yong was initially pleasantly surprised, but then felt a chill run down his spine as if struck by lightning.
The official forum for *Star Age: Evolution* is integrated into the game and can be accessed by logged-in players at any time. While other users who haven't purchased a game console can also access the forum through the official website, they cannot register an account and can only browse, not post.
In other words, to open a forum account, you must first have a game account, which means registering and filing with the game company's servers and agreeing to be bound by the game's terms of service (although most players don't even read them).
So here's the question: how did a time traveler like him get a game account?!
"Could this really be Sword Art Online?"
"Then what about the actual knowledge and skills I have in my head?"
Jiang Yong is a bit lost.
The game company isn't so insane as to design a perfectly self-consistent physics system for the entire world. If players try to communicate with NPCs about specific knowledge, they'll only hear a bunch of incomprehensible gibberish; the effect of the communication will be displayed on a panel. Similarly, players must rely on the panel to impart knowledge to NPCs, but few people do this. After all, NPCs can't learn things instantly by spending experience points; learning a skill requires a lot of time, and apart from a very few hardcore character development enthusiasts, most players don't have that patience.
Jiang Yong had always believed that he had traveled into a real world, but the current situation made him unsure.
Is this another world, or a virtual game?
Am I a real living being, or just a bunch of data in a server?
Why did the timeline rewind to when the server first launched?
Is there another version of yourself in the real world?
Jiang Yong had no intention of giving any thought to any of these issues.
Thinking about things that are completely unverifiable and have no impact on the current situation is just a waste of time and energy. If Jiang Yongzhen cared so much about these trivial details, he would have been dumbfounded when he discovered he could use the game panel and experience points, and then died in the cave with Xi Yong.
Since we're already here, what else can we do?
Instead, you should think about how to use this forum feature to help yourself live a life like Carlos.
"Since I can post on the forum, perhaps I can try using this to guide the players..."
Jiang Yong stroked his chin, his eyes flickering: "However, the probability is not high. After all, players are relatively passive in the early stages and can only explore the Fire Ring Star System little by little according to the progress of the civilization. It is a bit difficult to personally contact players... However, the Wan family has no shortage of people who are happy to cause trouble, so it is not hopeless."
"In short, I might be able to contact players on Carlo Star, but it's unlikely I'll actually be able to contact players on Carlo Star..."
(???)
"Hey, don't learn this line."
Jiang Yong's lips twitched, and he quickly and temporarily severed his fusion with the Spirit Breath Cocoon, fearing that its head would become pointed.
Given its level of thinking, it's too early for it to understand such an advanced language.
After watching the Spirit Chrysanthemum drift away thoughtfully, Jiang Yong continued to ponder over the player forum.
"Compared to players at this stage, I have access to game information for the next few years. Just a little leak would make me an instant celebrity on the forums. But the problem is how to guide players to help me now..."
"Why don't we just publish the exact coordinates of Planet Carlo and let the players tell the Arcadis Federation? Putting aside the fact that Planet Carlo isn't a high-value target, in the Federation's eyes, these players are just a batch of newly created synthetic humans whose knowledge has been uniformly instilled. It would be almost unbelievable for them to say such things; on the contrary, they might be thought to be acting crazy because their nervous system hasn't adjusted properly..."
Jiang Yong rubbed his temples in distress.
"Sigh, this is difficult."
……
Meanwhile, on Earth, June 12, 2132, inside a technologically advanced building.
"The forum has been open for an hour, how's it going?"
"Excellent! We've already surpassed five million registered users! And that number is still growing rapidly, and this is without us buying any promotional traffic!"
"Hmm, not bad, not bad. How's the server load?"
"Let me see... I'll go get 65 for now? It's holding up for now, but the video upload is already a bit delayed. I didn't expect our previous promotional efforts to be so effective..."
"Then hurry up and connect all the other nodes! Do you want to crash our server?!"
"Okay... all done."
"It's just opening a forum and this is happening... Will our main server be able to handle it when the game actually launches?"
"Why are you still asking? You know perfectly well what's going on with our main server..."
Time slipped away quietly amidst the hustle and bustle. Several hours later, it was finally time to leave work, and the employees immediately dispersed.
The 22nd century is characterized by highly developed productivity and advanced social concepts. The world has adopted a three-day work week and a four-day weekend, and labor protections are fully implemented. Except for a very few extremely high-paying industries, there is no overtime work.
However, somewhat unusually, "programmers" happen to be one of those very few professions. Although most tasks can now be handled by AI, certain extremely important programs or hardware that run 24/7 still require human supervision. Today is the first day the forum is open, and logically, a few people should be on duty to oversee it.
The reason for this lies in the nature of Star Age: Evolution – it is a unique AAA title.
What is 3A?
It's all about AI planning, AI production, and AI operation, with humans only responsible for oversight and peripheral maintenance!
Even in the 22nd century, this completely entrusted model is quite rare. After all, while humans may not be as good at coding as AI, they still excel at providing creativity, brainstorming, creating engaging content, and delivering unexpected surprises. Most people also don't want to be idle all day and want to find some social value for themselves. Therefore, although AI can also handle these tasks, most companies are willing to create more human positions in order to obtain generous employment subsidies.
The problem lies in the fact that this game company's self-developed AI has reached an almost terrifying level of effectiveness. Not only can it perfectly simulate a vast interstellar society beyond human imagination and endow every NPC with true intelligence, but its performance in other aspects outside the game is also impeccable. So when they discovered that their interference in any area would negatively impact their performance, the company became more subdued, essentially becoming a hands-off manager except for content review.
So, no one noticed that on the screen, which was running automatically and refreshing every second with countless new accounts...
An unknown account without an IP address, like a ghost, flashed by and was then buried in the vast sea of data, like ripples on the surface of water that rise and then disappear.