After Ye Xing went offline, he found his private messages had exploded.
"Hello, Great Ye Xing, I'm an old fan of yours. I watched your live stream all day yesterday. Can I use the live stream recording footage in my video? I will credit the source."
"I want to make a preview video about the game Xing Hai. Can I use clips from your live stream video?"
"I'm producing a show discussing the technological innovation of Xing Hai. Would it be convenient for you to accept an online interview?"
...
There were countless similar inquiries, and even more asking how to get internal testing qualifications. Some even expressed willingness to pay a large sum for his internal testing account.
Since he couldn't reply to each one individually, Ye Xing changed his personal status to "Feel free to use live stream footage. I don't know where to apply for internal testing qualifications either; I was randomly selected."
After changing his status, he saw that the fan group was frantically @ing him. It turned out that a user claiming to be a Xing Hai game planner had left a message under his video, posting the official website link.
The one who posted this link was precisely Lu Yuan, using a newly registered account specifically for this purpose.
Lu Yuan had never opposed live streaming. Now, after Ye Xing's all-night stream, Xing Hai's popularity had fermented on multiple websites and platforms, experiencing its first surge.
The official website was launched at just the right time.
Currently, there isn't much content on the official website. There are some introductions to the game's background and gameplay, basic information on class sequences and attribute points, plus a few game screenshots.
In this era of information explosion, introducing these things isn't the main function of the official website; the player community is its core.
Only 1 hour has passed since the website link was posted, and the community's registered users have already reached 150,000. Furthermore, discussions are very lively, especially in the "Game Improvement Suggestions" section.
The reason is simple: Lu Yuan wrote a pinned announcement.
【Navigator】: "Welcome to the Xing Hai player community! Thank you for your attention to this game!"
"Currently, due to technical reasons, we can only allow a small number of internal testing players to explore the vast star sea. We will increase the number of internal testing players periodically."
"A portion of the increased spots will come from recommendations by existing internal testing players, and a portion will be drawn from community users."
"We prefer to recruit players who love games, have rich gaming experience, are multi-talented, and have unique insights into large-scale online games."
"At the same time, we are also committed to building a positive player community atmosphere for all players. Therefore, every one of your posts may influence our selection. If you can maintain friendly communication while posting high-quality content, then congratulations! You are very likely to become one of the next batch of internal testing players!"
No need to apply for a spot; you might get internal testing qualifications just by being active in the community.
After the game's quality and fun have already been demonstrated through live streaming, as long as this rule exists, there's no reason for the player community not to explode in popularity.
For a considerable period, Lu Yuan will need a small number of elite players, aiming for quality over quantity.
He needs players who are driven, professional, and follow instructions.
He doesn't need players who are very skilled but might suddenly decide one day to rush into a native town and start killing indiscriminately to become a five-star good citizen.
Of course, such players aren't necessarily bad people in real life; they might just be exploring gameplay or simply creating content for live streams.
However, this is, after all, a parallel reality packaged as an online game, and such behavior would cause unnecessary trouble for Cangyuan Future Technology.
Currently, the life support system of the aerospace plane can support a maximum of seven people. Beyond this number, the recycled water system becomes somewhat insufficient.
In other words, Lu Yuan can summon two more players.
These two players should ideally have inverted sleep schedules, with their online time staggered from the current three, at least ensuring someone is online while he is sleeping.
As for the screening method, he currently finds it difficult to identify talent solely through community posts and can only rely on internal recommendations.
Lu Yuan quickly found Ye Xing, who had just completed registration, via his IP address.
【Navigator】: "Hello! I am a planner for the game Xing Hai. Are you the internal testing player Mr. Jin Yi Ye Xing?"
"Ah, yes, that's me... How did you know it was me?"
【Navigator】: "Haha, that kind of thing is quite simple for us. Getting back to the point, I contacted you mainly because we will be recruiting two more internal testing players soon. We prefer to prioritize recommendations from existing players. Do you have any suitable candidates?"
"I do know quite a few people who are obsessed with games, but it depends on what type you need."
【Navigator】: "They need to have strong combat ability, and preferably be able to ensure they are online during the daytime."
That's a very specific requirement, Ye Xing thought.
As a full-time streamer, he could adjust his schedule to be online during the day, but there are more viewers at night, so he naturally prefers to play in the evening and early morning.
After adding these two screening conditions, Ye Xing's list of candidates narrowed down to just one person.
"There is one such person."
【Navigator】: "Who?"
"My cousin. She inherited our family's excellent gaming genes and is a hardcore fan of Soulslike games and sandbox-style level games."
"She studied finance, and because she has to monitor the stock market across the ocean, she starts work at 9:30 PM every night and finishes at 5:00 AM."
Lu Yuan did some mental calculation.
That means she could be online from roughly 1:00 AM to 4:00 PM Li Star time, which is quite good.
"Also, my cousin is a beauty~ You can trick her into creating a character using her own appearance."
【Navigator】: "Haha, is that so..."
"Yep! It's settled then!"
In another city, Jubian, who had just completed a spacecraft design project, decided to relax his mind in a special way.
By doing math.
He wanted to calculate the flight parameters of the aerospace plane in reality so he wouldn't have to use up valuable game time.
This task didn't take Jubian much time; similar problems had been calculated too many times during university.
Afterward, Jubian started playing on his phone. Before long, he learned about the launch of the Xing Hai official website, excitedly rushed to register for the player community, and was then caught by Lu Yuan.
"A high-level player with an inverted sleep schedule..."
Facing the same question, he quickly locked onto a candidate.
"There's a girl who's quite suitable. She was my classmate during my time studying abroad, one year ahead of me. I met her when we were part of the gaming club. She's mixed-race, received education domestically before university, speaks Chinese very fluently, is good at almost all games, especially enjoys story-driven games and horror games."
【Navigator】: "Understood. Is it convenient to ask about her major?"
"Double major in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics. She later switched her Applied Mathematics focus to AI and got a doctorate. She's a programming expert."
【Navigator】: "Impressive. What about her sleep schedule?"
"I'm not sure about that, actually. We've only exchanged holiday greetings since graduation. Besides, if highly skilled personnel from over there frequently contact us here recently, it seems they might be invited for tea by the FBI, oh no, it should be coffee!"
"But considering the 13-hour time difference, she would roughly be online between 2:00 AM and 4:00 PM Li Star time."