Since moving here, Yan Qi and his staff had developed new working habits.

The main reason was that the efficiency of debugging in this feng shui treasure land varied greatly depending on the time!

If working overtime all weekend didn't find as many bugs as working one hour on a weekday, then what was the point of working overtime?

Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that some bosses were black-hearted and forced their employees to continue working overtime even though they knew they wouldn't be of any help to the project.

But Yan Qi was clearly not that kind of person.

After moving here, he also realized that the rules of this feng shui treasure land were not immutable. It wasn't just about "no weekends" and "spherical range"; there were exceptions.

For example, it didn't work on some individual weekdays.

At first, Yan Qi racked his brains trying to figure out what was going on, but after searching for the reason with other designers in the group for a long time, he failed.

He had no choice but to give up.

After all, with metaphysics, you can only guess when looking for patterns. If there's really no trace to be found, then you can only resign yourself to fate.

So Yan Qi stopped dwelling on it. Anyway, it was already confirmed that the game would make money, so there was no need to be so anxious. He would work when he was efficient, and do something else when he wasn't.

Today happened to be the first update day for *Eternal Reincarnation*. Yan Qi had pre-ordered the game when the announcement came out and was just waiting for the time to download the content and experience it.

Anyway, it was only 30 yuan, which Yan Qi thought was practically free.

After all, in mobile games nowadays, 30 yuan is just a monthly card.

"*Eternal Reincarnation* is a DLC for *Turn Back Ashore*, so the gameplay should be similar in theory. But I heard that President Pei personally oversaw it and had the original novel author participate in the development, so it's worth looking forward to."

Yan Qi checked the time and saw that it was almost time, so he started downloading the game content.

...

At the same time, in an inconspicuous little café.

At a corner table, Pei Qian, Li Yada, and Tang Yishu were staring at each other.

"Sir, your coffee is here... Oh no!"

The waiter came over with a tray carrying the three coffees, but just as he reached the table, he stumbled, and it looked like he was about to fall forward.

Pei Qian and Tang Yishu, who were closer to the waiter, reached out at almost the same time to steady the coffee cups on the tray.

However, Tang Yishu's movements were flustered, and she almost knocked over her chair when she stood up, while Pei Qian was quick and calm.

The three coffees were saved, but the third cup was not directly supported, so it bumped slightly against the other two, and a little bit of coffee splashed out.

Pei Qian calmly took the two intact coffees and handed them to Li Yada and Tang Yishu.

The waiter hurried to apologize, "I'm sorry, sir, I'll get you another cup."

Pei Qian waved his hand and sent him away.

Heh, luckily I was alert and sensed that there would definitely be a problem.

Pei Qian pulled out a napkin from the side to wipe the small amount of coffee stains on his hands and looked at the two people sitting across the table from him, feeling somewhat emotional.

Why does meeting my own employees feel like a secret rendezvous with underground party members...

Since Dawn Games Platform had turned from danger to safety, Pei Qian had been racking his brains thinking about how to turn it back again.

After thinking for a few days, although he hadn't come up with a great solution, he had finally made some progress.

So, he wanted to meet with Li Yada and Tang Yishu to chat a little.

Pei Qian considered that it didn't seem very safe to either go to Dawn Games Platform himself or have Li Yada and Tang Yishu return to Tengda. There were too many people and too many eyes, and if the secret was leaked, it would be a big problem.

So, he had no choice but to find a café on the side of the road for a secret meeting.

"President Pei, let me report on the specific situation of Dawn Games Platform during this period..." Li Yada had already prepared to report before coming.

Pei Qian shook his head, "No need, I already know what I need to know."

Li Yada nodded slightly.

As expected, President Pei still attaches great importance to this game platform! He's always paying attention to the platform's every move!

This further confirmed her and Meng Chang's guess: Dawn Games Platform was clearly a large-scale experiment, an innovation in the game platform model. Once successful, it would fully connect with Tengda Games and soar to the sky!

Pei Qian didn't know what Li Yada was thinking; he was just sorting out his thoughts, thinking about how to turn Dawn Games Platform around.

After all, the platform's current situation was only a lucky escape from danger. Although it hadn't died suddenly, it was still far from becoming a real hit.

There was still room for redemption.

Soon, a new cup of coffee was brought over, and this time there were no more problems. Pei Qian picked up the coffee, took a sip, and asked, "How are the recommendations on Dawn Games Platform currently… arranged?"

Li Yada was slightly stunned, then secretly delighted.

As expected, President Pei saw that Dawn Games Platform had achieved success in the first phase, so he was starting to arrange the work for the second phase!

She immediately answered truthfully, "It's similar to other game platforms, manual review plus data filtering."

"For games that have passed bug testing, we first give a general rating based on the game's quality. The higher the rating, the better the initial recommendation slot."

"After getting the initial recommendation slot, we can see the corresponding data, such as click-through rate, retention rate, payment rate, etc. Then we will make subsequent arrangements based on this data. Games with good data will continue to the next round of recommendations, and games with poor data will be recommended again after a period of time."

"Of course, we also give certain preferential treatment to particularly outstanding games. For example, those excellent single-player games and indie games in the *Poor Road* project will have some inclination in terms of recommendation resources."

Pei Qian took a sip of coffee and remained noncommittal.

Obviously, this was the recommendation mechanism currently adopted by most mainstream platforms, including official game platforms. Sites for novels and videos basically use similar mechanisms.

Various data can comprehensively and objectively reflect the popularity of a game, and it is not easily affected by too many subjective factors.

Based on objective data, combined with the judgment and analysis of professionals, and making corresponding interventions in areas where the data is inaccurate, a relatively good result can be achieved.

Of course, different platforms have different emphasis on "data" and "human intervention."

Some platforms rely more on data, and are completely data-driven. No matter how good the reputation of a game is, if the profit data is not good, then they will not give recommendation resources. The advantage of this is that it can boost performance, make more money, and avoid errors caused by subjective human judgment.

And some platforms give a lot of weight to their staff, and which recommendation slot to put a game in is completely up to internal arrangements. Sometimes, after a private deal with a game developer, a not-so-good game can occupy the best recommendation slot for a long time, which is also a common occurrence.

After all, the ultimate goal of the platform is to make money. It's not embarrassing to openly price the recommendation slots. As for the possible impact and losses to the platform... it's actually not that big. As long as the developer pays enough, everything is negotiable.

But for Pei Qian, this matter seemed somewhat difficult.

Rely entirely on data?

But in many cases, the data is indeed quite accurate. Although a small number of good games may be buried, overall it is still a very fair system.

Not to mention anything else, the games that are pushed to the forefront by data, regardless of their quality, are mostly very profitable games right now. With a 50-50 split, the platform will definitely not make less money.

But relying entirely on human intervention is also not appropriate.

Because Li Yada understands games, and it's not just her, many people on the entire platform understand them.

Even if Pei Qian arranges a few people who don't understand games very well to manage this, they will inevitably be influenced by the Tengda spirit and guided by other employees, and will eventually choose some relatively good games.

Combine data and human intervention?

Wouldn't that be back to square one...

Pei Qian considered for a moment and said, "I think... the arrangement of recommendations should be entirely up to the players!"

Li Yada was stunned, "Up to the players?"

Pei Qian nodded, "That's right."

"What I'm considering is, through a certain mechanism, to select a small number of players from among the players to act as opinion leaders. These people will have a special tag on the platform, which can also be called 'Connoisseurs'."

"The Connoisseurs have the power to decide the game recommendation slots."

"Which game gets which recommendation slot does not depend on the game's specific data at all, but on the ideas of these Connoisseurs."

"Of course, there is a certain screening and removal mechanism for Connoisseurs. You guys should think about this carefully and show me the plan after you come up with it."

Pei Qian's idea was very simple, which was to deliberately induce internal strife among the players through this system!

If all players voted publicly, it would actually just be a rating system with more power.

The games that are selected for recommendation would mostly still be games that are played by many people and make a lot of money, which would not achieve the desired effect at all.

So, he had to find a way to divide the players, let a small number of players become Connoisseurs, and have the right to arrange recommendation slots for games, while most players could only watch.

Among the Connoisseurs, there would also be different preferences, and they would definitely fight fiercely for the recommendation slots.

And the game companies would also try to curry favor with these Connoisseurs and exert influence on them; ordinary players would also try to pull down the existing Connoisseurs and take their place.

In short, on other platforms, the right to recommend is in the hands of the platform itself. No matter how it is arranged, the final result is mostly to make money, but it's just a difference between making money with this game or making money with that game.

But after Pei Qian's operation, the recommendation slots on Dawn Games Platform were actually given to a few players in a very irresponsible manner.

Many players now seem upright and righteous, saying that they will judge these games fairly.

But if a few people become Connoisseurs and gain the power to manipulate recommendation slots, will they still stick to their previous ideas?

Will those who become Connoisseurs be able to maintain their original intentions?

Will those who don't become Connoisseurs be able to accept it calmly?

Pei Qian felt that it was mostly unlikely!