Honestly, Lifre hadn’t expected Lena to go for the defensive game. Although the defense ticket was more valuable in the grand scheme of things, she knew that Lena’s skills were more suitable for infiltration and assassination. Is this like how Tsubaki does those Trials of Blood all the time? She thought to herself, tilting her head.
These two games were already starting to get a fair bit of attention from the other people attending the meeting, whether they were Keepers themselves or invited guests. Lifre honestly couldn’t tell the difference between them. All she knew was that people kept walking onto the platforms, either alone or in groups.
Some were drawn by the rather attractive prizes, and these people would go in alone like Lena. Others, those that entered in a group, did so because they simply enjoyed the games themselves.
Personally, neither of these games were all that suited for Lifre herself. She could see the enjoyment of them, but they didn’t match her skill set, or her drive for adventure. She began rocking back and forth on her heels, debating whether or not she should wait for Lena to emerge from the game, when a voice called out from behind her.
“Thinking about giving it a shot?” Chelsea asked, and Lifre turned to look at her with wide eyes. She had almost forgotten that Chelsea and James had joined the meeting group this time, though they had done so only after applying a disguise to themselves to ensure that they wouldn’t be recognized by any old Keepers that knew them.
For Chelsea, this was rather easy, as she had been a human in her past life. Thus, her typical kitsune form was plenty of a disguise. James had to make a bit more of a drastic change. His skin was covered with dark fur, with nine, lashing tails behind his back. He looked almost like a nine-tailed dovah, oddly enough.
“Hmm?” Lifre blinked, remembering the question that Chelsea had asked her. “Oh, no! Lena just went in the defense game, so I was thinking about whether or not I’d wait for her, or go find something to do and meet up with her later.”
“Defense game, huh?” Chelsea asked, eyeing the game. “I’ve never had the chance to play it before… maybe I should.”
“You haven’t? But– Ooohhh, right!” Lifre quickly nodded her head, remembering that Chelsea’s past life was similar to Terra’s. She wouldn’t have been able to play games like this for profit, as it would have broken the rules set by the system. While she could technically play the game, there was no reward in doing so, so Chelsea must have made better use of her time helping out elsewhere. “Why don’t you give it a go, then?”
Chelsea stroked her chin for a moment, before nodding her head. She walked over to the platform, disappearing into the Keeper Defense Protocol game. James gave a soft chuckle as he saw that, looking down at Lifre. “Looks like it’s just the two of us. Any idea where you want to head next?”
“You’re not going to wait for Chelsea?” Lifre asked in surprise. “If it’s her, won’t she clear the game really fast?”
James let out a light laugh, shaking his head. “Oh no, quite the opposite. I’ll come and check if she’s out of the game tomorrow, but she might spend two or three days in it. If I remember this game right, at least. She’s the type that will try to plan for every contingency, and she will take the time to thoroughly make those plans.”
“Ohhh.” Lifre nodded her head in understanding. She was imagining Chelsea looking at a list of assets, drawing out meticulous plans and contingencies, with branching paths depending on exactly what type of situation developed. “Yeah, I can kind of see that. As for me… I dunno! I was just going to run around and see what else I found. You?”
“Pretty much the same, really. The layout of these meetings changes every time, and there are new games getting added whenever someone comes up with a new idea. You can never really be sure what you will find.” James said with a small grin, nodding his head.
The two of them split off to walk in different directions, Lifre humming lightly to herself as she thought. New ideas can lead to new games, huh? New games would be kind of exciting, right? A game that not even another Keeper had seen before…
How would I make a game like that? And how would I present it to other Keepers… Lifre found her steps carrying her out of the gaming space, and into the streets. Would I be able to earn a profit like that? Hmm… if only there was someone to talk to!
As Lifre thought that, she saw a small kiosk appear a few dozen meters ahead of her. Standing at the kiosk was a woman with short, brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a business suit and having a warm smile on her face. Lifre blinked, walking over. “Is… this an information kiosk?” She asked, to which the woman nodded.
“That’s right. There are often people like yourselves that have questions involving the meeting space. For the sake of convenience, kiosks like this will appear to help guide you to your objective. For now, you may call me Carla. Now, what can I do for you?” She asked, Lifre arching a curious brow.
“Can’t you already read my mind, if you’re part of the system? Why would you ask me to ask what you already know I want to ask? That’s giving me a headache just thinking about that.” Lifre said, bringing a hand up to her head.
However, Carla simply chuckled. “You’re overthinking it, Lifre. The truth is, many times, a person’s questions can be resolved by the simple act of asking them. Doing so allows you to organize your own thoughts, and will bring you closer to the conclusion that you are seeking.”
Lifre pursed her lips, but nodded her head. “Right… does this kiosk have a privacy setting?” She asked, looking around.
“That’s right. If you wish, I can activate the privacy filter, so any questions here will not be heard by the outside.” When Lifre nodded her head at that, Carla lightly tapped the kiosk, a thin veil falling around it. “Go on, then.”
“Okay… so, I’ve got this idea that I want to try out. But I don’t really know if it’s a new idea or not. And if it is, there are some things that I’d like to try to do for it in terms of prizes, but I’m not sure if I can do that.” Lifre began, before taking a deep breath. “I’m sure the concept of live streaming isn’t new to… any Keeper that has made it this far.”
“You’re referring to the act of broadcasting your activities for the entertainment of others, correct?” Carla asked, to which Lifre nodded her head. “That’s right. There have been times that people did live streaming in these meetings, as well. However, the trend quickly died down, due to it strengthening the competition.”
“Strengthening the competition?” Lifre blinked, Carla smiling and explaining.
“Remember, your Keeper is ultimately a mortal enemy of many Keepers here. If you were to live stream yourself playing a game, and someone else used that live stream’s content as a guide to earn more points in a game than they otherwise would, you would be directly benefiting your Keeper’s enemies.”
“I… hadn’t thought about it like that.” Lifre rubbed the back of her head, chuckling. “Oh! But what if the game that is live streamed is one that is created from the imagination of the streamer themselves? That way, other people couldn’t use it as a guide to beat a game that doesn’t exist!”
Carla thought about that for a moment, before nodding her head. “That would surely be possible. However, if the game is entirely created from the streamer’s mind, then the difficulty level would typically be rather low, leading to a smaller reward.”
Lifre hesitated, before an evil grin came over her face. “What if it was interactive? So… the viewers watching could pay a small amount of points, or there were regular periods where viewers could vote for what to happen next, with the streamer themselves unaware of the choices made until it was already happening?”
“As for the rewards, you could make it so that the game itself doesn’t give any rewards at all. The rewards could come from a combination of viewer donations to trigger events, as well as a rating system, similar to how the performance building already works. So the more people that watch the stream and enjoy it, the more points the streamer gets awarded.”
Carla crossed her arms beneath her chest, seeming interested. “So, rather than streaming a game, the stream itself would be the game. I won’t say that it is a horrible idea, though there are a few flaws that I need to point out, given my role as an information kiosk.”
Lifre quickly gestured for her to continue, and Carla smiled. “First of all, the way that you act will offer insights into your Keeper’s world, and give your enemies clues on how to attack your world. If there is a situation that leaves you completely dumbfounded, as a representative of your world, they will see this and think that it is something your world has never encountered, and doesn’t know how to deal with.”
“Secondly, your viewers would be limited to those that actively choose to view your stream, rather than having any sort of guaranteed audience. In a worst case scenario, you will go your entire stream without ever hitting more than ten viewers.”
Lifre pursed her lips at the first problem, but her eyes quickly lit up at the second. “That’s easy! Just let the streamer have one short segment to advertise their streams in the performance theater. If anyone is interested due to what they saw in that segment, they can continue to watch the stream from there, and word can start to spread. I might not get a lot of viewers this time, but if I do it every meeting…”
Carla thought about that, before ultimately nodding her head. “Repetition would allow you to grow your audience, though it would diminish your earnings in the meantime. However, you have yet to develop a countermeasure for the other problem that I mentioned.”
Lifre stuck her tongue out playfully. “There’s nothing that I can do about that, right? I mean, I kind of hope that they send those kinds of situations at me! It’ll be more fun, and more thrilling for the viewers to watch! You can even call it ‘Adventure Streaming.’ Starts out procedurally generated, based on a basic input from the streamer, and develops based on the viewer interaction.”
“Oh, but would it be possible to implant some system knowledge into the streamer? For instance, let’s say I wanna use a magic system that’s not in my Keeper’s world. Would you be able to give me the skill in that magic system equivalent to my normal magic skill?”
“That is something that can easily be done, and is in many games.” Carla confirmed. “Are there any other features that you’d like to add?”
“Hmm… oh! Just one. Montage mode! For instance, if the streamer activates montage mode, they will enter a different flow of time from the viewers, allowing them to do longer tasks like traveling, grinding monsters, sleeping, or cooking. For the viewers, they will get cinematic shots or a montage reel, and montage mode will either end with one of three conditions. Either the streamer disables the montage, they try to engage with their viewers directly, or an unexpected event begins that starts an exciting new scene! Nobody wants to just see me walk down a road for a few hours, after all.”
Carla nodded her head in confirmation. “Of course. All of this can be added into the new game. I’ll place a new streaming building next to the performance theater, to promote more foot traffic.”
“Thanks, Carla! You’re super helpful! If I didn’t think you’d smite me as an avatar of the system I’d definitely jump up and hug you!”
Carla simply giggled at Lifre’s enthusiasm. “For those seeking to genuinely enjoy themselves and even share this entertainment with others in this space, it is only natural that I do my best to accommodate them.”
“Weird that you worded it like that, but I’ll take what I can get!”
