"Not good enough, but it can be used as an auxiliary," Isabel said. "We've decided to focus our main assault on another direction."
"What?"
"A crowd-sourced design competition with prizes." Isabel stated.
Jiang Ye listened intently, his expression one of great interest.
"We plan to announce that we're making an open-world, large-scale game," Isabel said. "The game's name is tentatively set as Super New Planet."
"Super New Planet," Jiang Ye scoffed. "How cliché."
Isabel smiled and continued:
"Normally, game development teams create a game, then promote it to attract netizens to buy it."
"But with our game, we're having all netizens serve as the design team."
"We'll open a website and let netizens describe what this Super New Planet is like."
"After netizens write their articles, they'll be posted on our official game website. Other netizens will read them, give likes, and those with more likes will be pushed to the trending list. We'll give real cash rewards for any article that makes it to the trending list."
Jiang Ye understood. "So, everyone writes the setting for a virtual planet, and those who write well get paid?"
"Yes, that's exactly it," Isabel nodded. "We plan to divide it into several sections. Netizens can post their setting articles in different sections. For example, in the species section, netizens can create a fictional creature, describe its appearance, habits, whether it lives in mountains or plains, and how many subspecies it has. In the history section, netizens can create the planet's history, its prehistoric eras, primitive human eras, the first alien civilization visit, and so on."
"It feels a bit like a novel website," Jiang Ye said. "For these settings, those that get the most likes will likely be published in the form of novels, right?"
"Precisely." Isabel gave a thumbs-up. "The best format is novels. When people read them and find them fascinating, many readers will start to imagine, and when their imagination reaches a certain level, a collective consciousness field will form, eventually becoming reality."
Jiang Ye looked up and thought for a long time, unable to make a judgment.
He didn't know if this method would work. Theoretically, it seemed possible, but in practice, it might not.
The virtual planet plan was the first of its kind in the entire galaxy, so they couldn't follow in the footsteps of predecessors. They could only explore and experiment.
"Do you know about online novel culture?" Isabel asked.
"I've read quite a few online novels, but what do you mean by culture?" Jiang Ye inquired.
"When a new genre of online novels first emerges, there are often many novels with completely different settings, unrelated to each other," Isabel explained. "However, if one or two of them become explosive hits and represent the genre, their settings will be borrowed by subsequent novels, forming a conventional culture."
"For example, in cultivation novels, the progression of realms like Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul is passed down through generations of novels," Isabel said. "Readers understand what these terms mean immediately. If a cultivation novel has Golden Core and Nascent Soul settings, and another novel also has Golden Core and Nascent Soul settings, readers won't find it abrupt. Instead, they'll feel it's normal, subconsciously believing that cultivation should be like this."
"I understand what you mean. It's like some well-known, established literary traditions," Jiang Ye realized.
"Yes, if a genre of novels develops sufficiently, many common elements will emerge. When you read these novels, you get a feeling that they are happening in the same place," Isabel said. "For instance, I enjoy reading tomb-raiding novels. Almost all tomb-raiding novels feature countless tomb passages, mechanisms, feng shui secret arts, strange creatures, and desolate wilderness. It's as if there's a planet covered in ancient tombs, with thousands of tomb-raiding teams working there, and each team writing a novel to support the thriving tomb-raiding market."
"I get it, I completely get it," Jiang Ye nodded vigorously. "So, you plan to have netizens create a planet. Once enough netizens participate and write enough fictional settings, common concepts and terms will emerge that everyone knows, right?"
"Exactly!" Isabel exclaimed. "This method should create the strongest and longest-lasting collective consciousness field. For example, when I was young, I read so many tomb-raiding novels that I genuinely believed some tomb-raiding events had actually happened, with the novels just dramatizing them. If one day I'm eating at a restaurant and people at the next table are discussing tomb-raiding, I'll believe they're real."
"Impressive," Jiang Ye said. "But the feasibility is questionable."
"Let's give it a try," Isabel said. "The artists I've gathered are already starting to write settings. They'll post the first batch of compelling settings on the official game website to guide netizens' imaginations in a specific direction."
"It feels like establishing a school of thought," Jiang Ye smiled.
"Precisely. Besides settings, we also plan to use more resources to hype up the concept of Super New Planet."
"For example?"
"For example, we'll take a portion of the intelligent fungi and combine it with drawing AI to create a drawing studio," Isabel said. "Once a netizen writes a highly liked setting, the drawing studio will immediately start working, creating stunning, realistic, and visually impactful illustrations based on the netizen's content and posting them to deepen the netizens' impression."
"Excellent!" Jiang Ye agreed. "Combining text and images. In the future, when netizens discuss a certain setting, everyone's mind will automatically conjure up that image, and the collective consciousness field formed will surely be very pure. For example, the Great Wall. When people see this term, the Great Wall that appears in their minds will be that specific form. Similarly, for some classic advertising slogans, just by reading the text description, many people's minds will play the advertising's sound and visuals."
"Yes, illustrations are just the first step. As this project progresses, incredibly popular novels will be written," Isabel said. "We'll then adapt these novels into film and television dramas, sell merchandise, and further strengthen the public's impression."
"And you'll make games, right?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Of course. Don't forget this project was initially intended to create a game," Isabel laughed heartily.
"After all this talk, I suddenly realize your work is essentially creating a super IP!" Jiang Ye scratched his head. "A large number of novels, films, TV shows, and games will all revolve around the Super New Planet IP."
"That's right. It's essentially this process: promoting a concept until it's known by everyone, and then the collective consciousness field emerges," Isabel said. "This is the main direction we've discussed in our meetings so far."
"I think it's quite good. Other planets that undertake virtual planet plans are all losing money hand over fist. We're creating our own cultural concept. Although it will require significant investment, we might even make it back. It could potentially cultivate a major cash cow," Jiang Ye paused. "But... for such a big cash cow, do we really need such a ridiculously cliché name as Super New Planet?"