Your comments, reviews, and votes really help me out so much and they make me super motivated to keep working on this story!Pat*eon : belamy20
Mavi's video streaming website was booming, thanks to the strong advertising effect he created with just over a million dollars. It was far more effective than traditional, expensive advertising because he was the first to do something like this, which naturally drew a lot of attention.
Just as his streaming platform was taking off, he received more good news via a phone call. "Chairman Mavi! The 'Counter-Strike: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' game you had us develop last year is currently in testing and will officially launch in two days!" the president of Blizzard Entertainment reported proudly.
This news was a perfect fit for Mavi's streaming platform, giving it another popular game to feature. The in-game monetization, or "pay-to-win," elements gave Mavi an idea: what if he did a live stream where he went on a crazy spending spree? He could burn through a ton of money right in front of the viewers.
This would be a win-win situation, as it would promote the new game, Counter-Strike: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and create a huge buzz for his streaming platform, VKe Live.
Mavi had never done a "pay-to-win" stream before, but he remembered a popular streamer in his previous life who opened Hearthstone card packs live, drawing in over 200,000 viewers. The lively atmosphere and crazy comments were unforgettable.
"Okay, I understand. Great job. By the way, get me a beta account. I'd like to try it out when I have some free time," Mavi told the Blizzard president.
His words seemed to catch the president off guard. He wondered when his boss had started playing the games they developed. After all, when Counter-Strike, Warcraft III, and World of Warcraft were released, Mavi only looked at the performance reports and never mentioned playing them.
"Oh! Of course, Chairman Mavi! I'll have the IT department set it up for you immediately!" The "setup" the Blizzard president mentioned was more than just a beta account. First off, Mavi's account would come with a full set of cosmetic items in the game, both rare and non-rare.
On top of the cosmetics, his beta account would have special privileges. For example, if he was playing and saw someone he didn't like or suspected of cheating, he could kick them offline or even ban their account outright. This kind of account couldn't be bought for any amount of money because Blizzard wouldn't sell it, and they wouldn't even tell anyone about it.
Two days later, the Blizzard IT department got an earful from their boss (the Blizzard vice president). The reason was that the big boss, Mavi, had way too many cosmetic items in his inventory. This would completely ruin his pay-to-win stream, as there would be nothing for him to actually "pay for."
So, they were told to immediately remove all the cosmetic items while keeping the other special privileges. They were also told not to secretly adjust the drop rate of the cosmetic loot boxes. He wanted them to be normal so that he wouldn't get a rare item every time he opened one.
Despite these "odd" requests, the Blizzard IT department had no choice but to follow orders and make the changes. They secretly wondered, "The big boss's thinking is really hard to figure out. Having a full set of rare cosmetic items would look so cool in the game, even if he's not good at playing. Why would he not want them?"
Mavi, on the other hand, couldn't be bothered with what his employees were thinking. He was busy opening up the VKe Live streaming app on his desktop computer, logging into his backend account, and getting ready for his first pay-to-win stream.
The account he was using was the one he'd spent $1.15 million on two days earlier, "Mavi", a premium "emperor" account with 135 followers. One of those followers stood out: the female streamer "Annie Hatherley".
Because Mavi was the big boss, his VKe Live account naturally had special privileges. As soon as he created his pay-to-win stream room, it instantly appeared on the homepage of the streaming platform. There was also a sitewide announcement, so without doing anything else, Mavi's stream drew in a huge number of viewers. The number of people online in his room shot up to over 500 in the blink of an eye.
"Huh? What does a 'pay-to-win' game stream mean? Is that even a game?" one person asked in the comments.
"Streamer, why is your screen black? Where are you? Or where's the game screen?" another person asked.
"I think 'pay-to-win' is the term for Thorium in World of Warcraft, right? Could the streamer be playing World of Warcraft?" a more knowledgeable person chimed in. It's safe to say, real-time comments were a great thing. They made interaction between viewers more immediate and increased their engagement with the site.
The term "pay-to-win" did, in fact, originate from World of Warcraft. Other terms, like "Thorium-infused" (氪金) or "Thorium-fueled" (氪金狗眼), also came from the community.
Just as the viewers were having this discussion in the stream, Mavi finally finished setting up his software, and the screen switched to his desktop. Mavi himself didn't show his face, only his voice could be heard every now and then.
"The pay-to-win stream is about to start. I'm going to play a new battle game that just came out today, Counter-Strike: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The 'pay-to-win' part is that there are paid loot boxes in the game that can give you rare cosmetic items. I'm going to start by topping up my account with $200,000. Let's see what kind of good stuff I can get."
Mavi's voice was calm as he spoke on the stream.
This might have seemed like a normal thing for him, but to the 800+ viewers in the room, it was like a thunderclap that instantly sent a flood of comments.
"What? Did I hear that right? The streamer said he's going to spend $200,000? Does this game cost that much?"
"I remember the key for 'Counter-Strike: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' only cost $49. Streamer, are you sure we're playing the same game?"
"After hearing what the streamer said, I secretly looked at his account. 'Mavi,' a level 56 'emperor' account. He's the same rich guy who gave Annie $1.15 million the other day! No wonder he's willing to spend $200,000 on a game. Rich guy, please accept my respect!"
As more and more people recognized Mavi's account, no one dared to question his claim of spending $200,000 on a game. After all, he still held the number one spot on the VKe Live rich list, leading the second-place person by over $600,000.
His stream was promoted all over the site, and in less than five minutes, the number of people watching his stream had already surpassed 1,000 and was still climbing. Some enthusiastic viewers even started sending him the "silver chests" they had won over the past couple of days to show their support and boost his popularity, affectionately calling him "Emperor Ma."