Chapter 407 Shifting the Blame

It's easy to understand why these players were cursing up a storm.

Due to the time difference, most of the viewers who managed to stay up until now had crawled out of bed at 3 AM. After cultivating immortals (staying up late) for several hours, they got this kind of result. It would be hard for anyone to accept.

Today's matches were basically a repeat of the first day of the group stage.

One team lost like they had diarrhea, and the other team lost like they were constipated.

The former was okay, at least they were eliminated decisively, ending with a score of 1-3. At least they weren't whitewashed, preserving a sliver of dignity. The latter was more awkward. They persevered to the tiebreaker, where victory meant advancement. The teams traded wins, and it seemed like they had a great chance, but in the end, they fell just short.

A hair's breadth of difference can lead to a divergence of a thousand miles.

Is it more infuriating to have no hope at all, or to be given great hope only to have it cruelly snatched away?

Hard to say.

But without a doubt, the viewers' anger needed an outlet.

Both clubs issued apologies on their Weibo accounts immediately after being eliminated, but it was useless. Enraged players directly occupied all the hot comments, and some had already planned out the route for them to swim back.

Pei Qian felt like he was seeing the online frenzy after FV Club's 3-0 loss in the quarterfinals all over again.

These two clubs lost, but they weren't the number one seed and didn't represent the highest level of domestic IOI.

So, while they would be flamed, it would probably only last for a week.

When FV Club's quarterfinal match started next weekend, and the number one seed was whitewashed 3-0, the viewers' anger would definitely be focused on FV Club, and it would be ten times worse than now.

Pei Qian was already looking forward to it.

Just then, FV Club posted a Weibo.

Wu Yue hadn't forgotten President Pei's instructions and was always stirring things up!

The content of the new Weibo post was "Me and my teammates," and the accompanying image was of a person leaving, carrying a large black garbage bag in each hand, heading towards a trash can in the distance.

The person's head had the FV Club logo, and the two large garbage bags had the logos of the other two clubs.

Pei Qian couldn't help but give a thumbs-up when he saw this Weibo post.

Well done!

This Wu Yue really did exactly as I said. The hatred, it's drawing so much attention!

The two domestic clubs had just been eliminated less than ten minutes ago, and the viewers who stayed up late to watch the matches were still full of pent-up anger. FV Club's Weibo post was like finding the perfect place for them to vent!

Sure enough, the number of comments below the Weibo post grew rapidly.

"Nice one! Those two teams are trash! You've voiced my thoughts!"

"Keep the trash talk coming, I suggest you go harder!"

"FV, you have to train hard! We won't flame you if you play a full five games in the quarterfinals."

"Still stirring things up? Have you practiced the OP heroes of the current version? Have you prepared secret weapons? Have you paid attention to the mental state of the players? You're the only hope left! If you get whitewashed 3-0 again, it's all over!"

"Can't you try to win at least one game?"

"You're good at kicking someone when they're down. You're happy to see your brothers eliminated? I'm telling you now, no matter which foreign team you draw, you're destined to be whitewashed 3-0! The higher you jump now, the harder you'll be flamed later. Just wait!"

Two opposing groups were dancing wildly and fighting fiercely beneath FV Club's Weibo post.

Fans who were angry at the other two clubs for not living up to expectations felt that FV Club's trash talk was great and found an outlet for their emotions. Fans of the other two clubs were heartbroken and their hatred for FV Club skyrocketed.

Some hoped FV would win, and others hoped FV would lose. Players with different stances were all attracted, and this Weibo post once again generated a high level of attention.

Pei Qian was very satisfied with this.

The higher you're praised, the harder you fall. The more traffic you get now, the more severe the traffic backlash will be when you lose the match in the future!

Thinking of this, Pei Qian sent Wu Yue a message: "Good job stirring up trouble, keep it up!"

...

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, at the IOI World Championship venue.

Zhao Xuming was scrolling through his phone backstage, seething with anger.

"Is this FV Club crazy?"

"Don't they realize how embarrassing it will be if they lose the match and get whitewashed 3-0?"

"Don't they leave themselves any room for retreat?"

"Just trying to be witty, ending up making everyone lose face, are they sick!"

Zhao Xuming was simply furious.

At this point, all the group stage matches had ended, and the top teams from each group had advanced. The four group winners and the four number one seeds were re-drawn to determine the quarterfinal schedule.

For Zhao Xuming, the current situation was a double blow.

His ideal scenario was for at least one domestic team to break out of the group stage, and if the draw was lucky, they could face FV Club. One domestic team would be guaranteed a semi-final spot, which would be somewhat presentable.

But both teams that played in the group stage were eliminated, so FV Club, the easy target, would naturally be taken advantage of by others!

As for why FV was considered an easy target, wasn't it obvious?

Longyu Corporation was completely letting FV Club run wild. They weren't playing high-end ranked games or scrimmaging with any European or American teams. Their gameplay was still stuck in the previous version. Wasn't that just giving them a free win?

Even if they were constantly practicing with SUG, so what? SUG was also a noob, so they could only get worse with practice.

When FV was also whitewashed 3-0 cleanly, the scene would be too embarrassing.

What was even more discouraging for Zhao Xuming and Finger Corporation was that, apart from the group with the domestic teams, there were upsets!

The other two groups were also very intense, and both went to a do-or-die game. The viewers enjoyed it very much, and the online discussion was also high. In short, everything was great.

The only thing that wasn't great was the upset!

A veteran club that Finger Corporation had arranged to forcibly terminate their contract was eliminated! And another team that no one was optimistic about, and wasn't arranged to have their contract terminated, entered the quarterfinals.

Zhao Xuming carefully counted and found that one of the eight teams even had a GOG logo on their team uniforms!

FV Club's team uniforms didn't have a GOG logo, but the problem was that everyone knew this was a club invested in by President Pei, so it was the same whether it had a logo or not.

This was very depressing.

The difference between 0 and 1 is the difference between nothing and something. It wasn't a very serious matter, but it was very annoying.

So, Zhao Xuming was getting more and more annoyed as he watched the quarterfinal draw.

At this critical moment, FV Club had stirred up even more trouble, mocking the two domestic teams and all the foreign teams in the quarterfinals, going all out.

Zhao Xuming was even angrier.

The fact that they were mocking the domestic teams made Zhao Xuming feel like he was losing face!

For the official organization, even though the teams had lost, they definitely couldn't step in and criticize them, as that would affect the image of the official organization, the entire region, and even the game itself in the players' minds.

No matter how badly they played, the official organization had to mainly express regret and encouragement, at least on the surface.

So, when Longyu Corporation released their press release, the main content was definitely: "The two teams underwent rigorous training and made many attempts and changes in the matches, but failed to achieve good results due to objective reasons such as version understanding and weak foundations. We hope they will adjust their state and continue to work hard, and we also hope that the players will offer more support and encouragement, etc."

But FV Club jumped out to mock them, which was a bit like going against the official organization, and it didn't look good.

What's more, Zhao Xuming had spent Longyu Corporation's money to bring these two teams to Los Angeles for advance training. He had spent the money but got no results, so Zhao Xuming couldn't explain it well to the Longyu Corporation executives.

No matter how he thought about it, it was a huge loss!

Zhao Xuming couldn't help but frown, seriously considering what he should do to reverse this unfavorable situation.

Suddenly, he looked up at the draw results on the big screen, and his eyes lit up.

He had an idea!

The rules of the draw were that the four number one seeds would draw four group winners, and whoever they drew was who they played. There were no rules to avoid the same region.

And FV Club just happened to draw the European club that had crushed the domestic team!

And the veteran powerhouse FRY Club drew the American club that had fought hard and defeated the other domestic team in the do-or-die game.

Based on the current strength, both quarterfinal matches would be one-sided crushes, and the viewing experience would be relatively poor.

But for Zhao Xuming, this draw provided him with a valuable opportunity to manipulate public opinion.

Zhao Xuming's assistant was sitting next to him, also paying attention to the feedback on the internet.

The difference was that Zhao Xuming mainly focused on domestic feedback, while the assistant mainly focused on comments from foreign players on Twitter.

"President Zhao, FV Club's picture has gone viral on Twitter."

"There are already many people spamming words like 'cnioinoob', and there are also people re-creating that picture, and the target of the ridicule has risen to all domestic IOI teams..."

"What should we do?"

Zhao Xuming took the phone from the assistant.

FV Club's picture of "Me and my teammates" was posted on both Weibo and Twitter, and both received a lot of attention.

But the feedback from domestic and foreign players was different. Domestic players were divided into two factions, one criticizing the two clubs and the other criticizing FV. The attitude of foreign players was relatively unified, and they were all mocking.

Below the tweet, many foreign players were spamming "cnioinoob", meaning that the level of domestic IOI was too trash and was just at the noob level.

The most upvoted picture was a re-creation of the previous picture. The original picture was of a man carrying two large bags of garbage to the trash can, while this picture was of the man headfirst in the trash can, with the two large bags of garbage thrown to the side.

The meaning was clear: FV Club, don't stir up trouble and laugh at the other clubs, you are trash too!

It was normal for such public opinion to appear. After all, judging from the results of the group stage, the two domestic teams were eliminated, leaving only the number one seed trembling in the quarterfinals, while the teams in the European and American regions successfully broke out of the group stage and joined the number one seed in the quarterfinals, presenting an encirclement of the remaining FV.

Most foreigners were the type who would ride on your face and mock you when they won. Now that many people felt that victory was already in their grasp, it was not surprising that similar comments appeared.

Zhao Xuming was silent for a moment, and sighed helplessly: "Alas, what can we do. E-sports still depends on strength, and we can't get angry when other people's teams win and mock us."

"We grabbed a bad hand from the start, and we can't win no matter how we play. There's no way around it. But we still have to try to play the hand we have well, and lose as little as possible."

The assistant nodded: "So what should we do specifically?"

Zhao Xuming considered for a moment and said: "Heat, traffic, voice!"

"Now that the two domestic teams we had high hopes for have been eliminated, and we can't count on FV Club either, it's impossible to positively promote ourselves based on results."

"If FV Club gets good results, it's not good news for us, of course, the probability of that is already very low."

The assistant nodded, immediately understanding Zhao Xuming's words.

Everyone knew that FV Club was President Pei's club. Now that the two domestic teams had been eliminated in the group stage, if FV Club won the quarterfinals, it would be considered "President Pei's success" rather than "Longyu Corporation's success" by the players.

And if FV Club lost, although Longyu Corporation would still be the first to be scolded, at least it wouldn't create heat for President Pei anymore.

Zhao Xuming's idea was to temporarily not consider the issue of being scolded, and find a way to focus the heat on the IOI national server and Longyu Corporation!

Zhao Xuming explained: "Next week, the GPL spring competition will start, and this is a very sensitive time. Because next week is also the day the quarterfinals start."

"FV Club will most likely be whitewashed 3-0 on that day."

"The most unfavorable thing for us now is that the failure of the domestic team in the IOI World Championship will greatly extinguish the enthusiasm of IOI national server players and hurt their sense of belonging and pride in the region."

"There will definitely be many people who will switch to watching the GPL and switch to playing GOG because of this. This is unacceptable for us!"

"So, we must prepare for the worst and find a way to keep these players."

"We must vigorously promote that many people play IOI abroad, and it is the most popular game in the world; and although GOG is well-organized, only domestic players are playing it, and it is not well-known abroad at all."

"Moreover, we can come up with a lot of evidence to prove it."

"For example, the IOI Global Finals are held in a large 20,000-person venue in Los Angeles, while GOG is only held in a studio in Jingzhou; for another example, the domestic teams in the IOI Global Finals were慘败(miserably defeated and eliminated), while the domestic teams in GOG swept the top three, which shows that there are more players playing IOI abroad, and the competitive level is higher than GOG."

"If you want to connect with the world and experience the most competitive game, you still have to look at IOI."

"In this way, many players will feel that GOG players are in a 'sit井观天(sitting in a well and looking at the sky, meaning narrow-minded)' state. The reason why GOG's global invitation tournament can sweep the top three is just because foreigners don't play it, and IOI is the game with the highest attention in the world, and playing this should give them a sense of superiority..."

"Although it is a mental victory, it should also have some effect. Online disputes between netizens are also a kind of heat, which is better than being ignored."

"If we want to grab traffic from the GPL spring competition opening game, we can only do this, which is a last resort."

The assistant couldn't help but give a thumbs-up: "President Zhao, you are so amazing that you can come up with this kind of method in this extreme passive situation!"

Zhao Xuming's trick was actually reversing black and white.

Countless people have already popularized on the Internet that GOG's market share overseas is not low, and it is basically evenly divided with IOI in the PC field, and it is unique in the mobile game field.

But many people still have the illusion that "foreign monks know how to chant sutras better."

In the minds of many people, foreign things are good, and domestic things are pirated. Since IOI is a foreign game, it must be more high-end than GOG.

Therefore, although GOG's localization is higher, the style is more in line with the aesthetics of the Chinese people, and the gameplay is more suitable for most ordinary players, there will still be people who think that it is not as good as IOI, the "foreign monk".

This concept has always existed, and what Zhao Xuming has to do is to spread messages on the Internet and strengthen this inherent stereotype, deliberately creating a feeling that "IOI players are more noble than GOG players."

In this way, the fact that IOI teams are beaten abroad and GOG dominates domestic teams has completely changed.

The former is because IOI is an international event, and the domestic level is really not good, and it is a challenger's posture, and it is normal to lose; while the latter is because GOG is a domestic club entertaining themselves, and abusing foreign teams cannot explain the problem.

In an instant, he turned the guest into the master and reversed the unfavorable public opinion situation!

Of course, there is a distortion of the facts in this argument.

But in commercial competition, similar rhetoric is very common. Everyone says what is good for them, which is understandable.

The assistant immediately arranged according to what Zhao Xuming said.

...

...

January 2nd, Monday.

In the study room, Pei Qian was reviewing.

Although he had many places to review, such as Mofuyu Internet Cafe, his own home, the company office, etc., after trying them all, he found that the study room was the most efficient place to review.

I have to say that sometimes, if you want to concentrate on doing something, the environment is very important, and relying on self-discipline alone is not enough.

This week will be the official exam week, especially for the closed-book exams. Pei Qian felt a lot of pressure and could only seize the time to sharpen his spear at the last minute.

Halfway through the grinding, Pei Qian habitually took out his mobile phone and browsed the forums.

It was just a subconscious act, but he didn't expect to have an unexpected harvest!

In the major forums, the curses about the miserable defeat in the IOI World Championship were still endless, and there was no sign of stopping after a whole day, which was enough to show how angry the players were about this.

But what surprised Pei Qian was that the direction of public opinion seemed to have changed subtly!

This could be clearly seen from the titles of some popular posts in the forums.

In a post titled "Domestic esports started late and has a weak foundation, we must continue to work hard", the poster explained in great detail some of the objective reasons for the failure of the IOI World Championship.

For example, the IOI branches of major clubs have basically been affected by GOG, there have been personnel changes, and due to the lack of scrimmages, the state of many players is difficult to maintain, and so on.

Similar problems are objectively present, and you can always find a lot if you want to.

But this is not the point.

Someone in the post refuted the poster's point of view: "How can IOI represent domestic esports? The GOG Global Invitation Tournament just passed a few months ago, and didn't it just beat the foreign team? Why doesn't GOG have this problem?"

As a result, this reply was right up the poster's alley.

"Is it meaningful to discuss the results of a game that only Chinese people play and has a low reputation in the world? Currently, everyone abroad is playing IOI, and foreign clubs are also mainly IOI. What does it mean that GOG has dominance?"

Someone immediately refuted below, saying that those foreign veteran clubs also have GOG branches and participated in the GOG Global Invitation Tournament, but they just couldn't beat them. Otherwise, why wouldn't they come to take the prize money if there was so much prize money?

But the poster still had something to say.

"These veteran clubs only established GOG branches because Tengda gave them money, and it is said that they gave a high sponsorship fee, and people play with you for the sake of money. To put it bluntly, the invitation tournament organized by GOG is just spending money to invite foreign teams to be sandbags to satisfy the vanity of the Chinese people. Don't really think that this is the real competitive level of domestic and foreign teams, right?"

The two sides held their own opinions and quarreled.

Obviously, the poster's argument still had some deception for many unsuspecting melon eaters, and with the help of water armies, the debate between the two sides was very fierce.

Many GOG players were also very hard and painstaking to popularize, telling everyone that GOG's market share abroad is also very high, and it is not much different from IOI, but it had little effect.

Because the die-hard players and water armies of IOI were not here for rational discussion. No matter what the GOG players refuted, they just kept spamming arguments such as "entertaining themselves" and "spending money to find foreign grandpas to accompany them in studying."

Repeatedly emphasizing will aggravate stereotypes. In online disputes, the truth is not important. Most people only need to repeatedly emphasize a fixed label, even if this label is very low-level and brainless, but as long as it is emphasized many times, someone will always remember it.

The so-called "discussion" on the Internet is often the same as a shrew scolding the street. It's not about who is right, but who has the loudest voice.

Obviously, these people deeply understand the principles of arguing on the Internet, and use a small number of people to achieve excellent results.

Many GOG players were very angry because of this, but Pei Qian was very happy instead.

Okay, it seems that Longyu Corporation is not a waste of money, it is finally working!

During the IOI domestic qualifiers, Longyu Corporation performed too badly. Pei Qian only went to the scene to watch a game and did nothing, and Longyu Corporation collapsed without a fight, which was really disappointing for Pei Qian.

But now, Longyu Corporation is finally starting to struggle!

Pei Qian said that he was very pleased, and hoped that they could increase their efforts!

As long as you continue to blacken it, and when the FV team is abused in the quarterfinals this weekend, and the water army will brush more "entertaining themselves" and other remarks when the GPL starts, it will definitely affect the heat of the GPL spring competition!