1 Soul Bound
1.2 Taking Control
1.2.2 An Awakening Epiphany
1.2.2.15 If you can't enjoin them, beta them.
CEO’s Office, XperiSense HQ, Huabo Road, Guokeng, Quanzhou, Fujian, China
Akechi raised his head from looking at the plans to host a dinner for yet another government official who wanted to be able to claim responsibility for XperiSense’s success, as a knock sounded at his door. It wasn’t his secretary, and he didn’t have a meeting scheduled for another forty minutes, which meant this might actually be interesting.
Shigen: “Hey Boss, may this penniless one have a moment?”
Akechi: “As long as it isn’t to try to get me to go out to a bar after work. You know I’m married now.”
Shigen: “Yes O Venerable One.”
Akechi: “Cut the crap, Shigen. I may be stuck doing all the paperwork nowadays, but I can still kick your butt in-game.”
Shigen: “And Kaixiang can beat us both combined. Left handed.”
Akechi: “Which is why I hired him. He’s done a beautiful job on the combat system. He’s been spending a lot of time on The Burrow recently. He tells me he’s picking up ideas, and wants to send them models of a few monsters.”
Shigen: “It was the Wombles I wanted to talk to you about, actually. I just got a message from the expert system running the deity Cov in-game. It still freaks me out, a bit, how similar its talk and thoughts are to my own.”
Akechi shrugged: “Well, eight of us were the test subjects used to develop the improved vessel system. It was either re-use those expert systems for something, or wipe them. Making yours the deity in charge of protecting the adventurers seemed a natural choice, given that your department tries to improve the enjoyability of the game from the user’s perspective. Same mindset needed for both jobs.”
Shigen: “Oh, I’m not complaining. Now the company has expanded so much, being there from the old days is a badge of honour. Even Satori has a sign on her desk, decorated with a white lily, saying ‘Your new code will be tested in proud isolation’.”
Akechi: “Only because I burned the one which said ‘You don’t have to be evil to work here, but it helps.’.”
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Shigen: “Getting our code passed by Quality is a trial we all have to bear. And, on the whole, I’m glad they are zealous. Testing is a good thing. Better than finding the problems only once you’ve gone live with a feature.”
Shigen: “So, anyway, the message said that Cov had visited Torello to speak to Alderney out of character, and wants to give the Wombles formal status as Beta testers.”
Akechi: “What!?”
Shigen laughed: “Yeah, that was my first reaction too. But Cov included with the message two experience logs; one from speaking to Alderney, and an earlier one from speaking out of character with Kafana. I reviewed them, and Cov’s behaviour and recommendation makes a sort of sense. So have a look yourself? And if you sign off on it, I’ll set it up.”
[...]
Akechi: “Does that girl never stop talking? I’d swear she spouted at least 20 ideas in the first minute, of which 5 would destroy the game, 5 were weird, 5 we are already planning but have not announced, and 5 which we have not thought of but would be good to implement.”
Shigen: “I was more impressed by her line that if they are running the risks of being the first people to test some of our features live, then it is only just that they get the status and a fast means of providing us feedback.”
Akechi: “You and your desire for justice. It makes you a good advocate for the players, but it will get you in trouble one of these days. Reality does not work that way.”
Shigen sighs: “I know, I know.”
Akechi: “Still, in this case I think it might be a useful way to keep tabs on them. User Accounts tells me their fees, contact details and connection are all anonymous, and they have no idea where these people live in arlife, other than they are not in lunar orbit or beyond, because their lag is too low.”
Shigen: “So go ahead?”
Akechi: “Yes. Don’t give them any in-game advantages, but if it helps keep them happy with carrying on playing, it is worth doing. There was a measurable increase in game subscriptions following the live-streamer broadcast event today. If they feel we are listening to their complaints, they’ll be less likely to complain in public. I’ll have a word with Legal, so they don’t kick up a fuss over liability from not having arlife signatures on tester agreements signed by them.”
Shigen: “Ok, I’ll set it up, use my judgement on how much flexibility to allow, and keep you in the loop.”
Akechi watched as Shigen left his office. Informality was a useful tool with some subordinates. Shigen responded well to feeling special, feeling trusted, and he was modest enough to avoid mistaking workplace trust for friendship. But he didn’t have Akechi’s vision. He didn’t see how important the vessel system was going to be, not for the company but for the whole human species.
With a lightning-fast series of taps upon his keyboard, he isolated the process used to produce Kafana’s strawberry gelato, and sent a converted copy of it to his wife to pass onto their caterer with a note to add it to the meal for the government official. It would provide him an opportunity to bring mealtime conversation around to the subject of the potential benefits of crowd-sourcing creativity, and let him explore what the official was really after in return for the cooperation of his department.